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| mouse on a wheel | photo: riekhavoc |
Word is buzzing about a new hormone that has just been discovered. Called irisin it's believed to effectively help shift adipose (fatty tissue) from white fat to brown fat. Brown fat is desirable because it essentially burns fat. Babies have a lot of it but it decreases as they grow. In adults it tends to be concentrated in the upper areas of the chest and neck.
I'm not writing to you about this discovery so that you'll all want to run out and get some. I'm writing because I want to warn you. This is being touted as a possible new weight loss discovery. From the article I read studies showed that with exercise and irisin there were changes to the body including subcutaneous fat becoming browner, better insulin metabolism, and an increase in energy expenditure (read fat loss). The results were better in mice than in people but apparently the people results were encouraging enough that, although no one is ready to market anything, there was mention of the possibility of some day creating an injectable version. Chances are, over time, we're going to start hearing a lot more about this.
Folks there is no magic pill, potion, or injection that will cause you to lose weight without having to make changes. The biggest and most positive health changes (which are not always weight loss I might add) come about from changing the diet and changing your level of exercise. Even small changes can have a big result. Some pills and potions have had devastating effect on it's users (remember fen-phen?) while others have simply done nothing.
My suggestion is that you not rely on some apparently magical ingredient to lose weight. It's not easy and it takes time but truly the answer is to eat less, eat the right things, and move more. If you need support that's fabulous, work with a Health Coach, a Nutrition Professional, a Fitness Coach, a Wellness Coach, if you can do it on your own that's great too. Because the simple truth is that the answer doesn't lie in a pill or an injection. You cannot continue to eat Krispy Kreme donuts and lie on the sofa watching Law and Order Marathon session and expect to be in good shape or to lose weight. So now you know the word (irisin), you can ignore it and bypass what I expect to be growing hype. Focus your energy on you, your health, your journey, in a safe and healthy way.
