Freeze your buns off?  Maybe not. But the latest research from several universities show that you have a kind of fat that actually helps your body lose weight when the temperature is cool.  It’s called brown fat, and is a different kind of substance than the white fat you want so much to shed.

It was once thought that only hibernating animals and newborn babies had brown fat.  Now research shows that adults have it, too.  It comes in small amounts, mostly at the back of the neck and along the spine.  It’s function is to keep you warm when the temperature drops.

How can it help your fat loss plan?  It is full of mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cells.  It burns calories like crazy and turns them into heat to warm your blood.  In effect, it burns up your white fat faster by sucking up the glucose to fuel its heater.

Brown fat is a fairly recent discovery, so the full implications for weight loss is still not sure.  However, tests done on men wearing hospital gowns in a chilly room showed their brown fat clicking on and going into active mode. The men burned more calories at a faster rate than normal. (The next time you are freezing in one of those paper gowns in a doctor’s exam room, you can take comfort in the fact that you are burning fat!)

Exercise, especially in a cool environment, seems to turn the brown fat heater on, too. One site I checked out recommended taking cold showers and soaking your feet in ice water to lose weight.  Personally, I think that sounds a bit extreme for an unknown quantity of weight loss benefit.  However, there is no harm in turning down the thermostat, especially when you are exercising. Drinking ice water won’t hurt, either.

Shivering, by the way, stops the brown fat furnace.  It is another technique for getting warm naturally and takes over when the temperature is too low.  And how you could keep from shivering with your feet in ice water, I don’t know!  But, again, it’s worth a try to cool things down a bit and see if it gives your metabolism a boost.  Won’t hurt — except perhaps on your air conditioning bill.

Just a reminder — all of the metabolism boosters in this series consist of easy things you can do to give your body a little push toward burning fat and calories.  If you have a serious amount of weight to lose, a nudge won’t do it.  You need to get serious about your eating and exercise plan.  If you are doing other things right, though, the little boosts can make the difference in how soon you see results. For most of us, the sooner the better!

Eating to live and living for Christ,

Susan Jordan Brown