Great Health Part 2.

Improving Your Metabolic Health.

Great health requires resilience in the following 4 domains:
1.  Physical
2.  Social
3.  Mental
4.  Emotional

THE LIVER STORES GLYCOGEN, glucose in chains, for energy use.
THE LIVER STORES TRIGLYCERIDES,  a form of fat which stores the most energy per gram.

DIET and EXERCISE affect the amount of GLYCOGEN and TRIGLYCERIDE and the amount of GLYCOGEN and TRIGLYCERIDE affect the health of the liver and the body parts downstream.
Here is the NEXUS of DIET and EXERCISE!

The liver stores glucose and triglycerides when fed and releases them to the body parts downstream when fasting.
TOO MUCH STORAGE causes liver dysfunction.
TOO LITTLE STORAGE causes starvation.
JUST RIGHT STORAGE allows optimum liver function and optimum body function.

The healthy liver also removes toxins and drugs and synthesizes proteins, fats and other nutrients for a healthy body.

How does one create a JUST RIGHT STORAGE of glycogen?

When the liver glycogen is low but not empty, like a car in motion with a falling fuel indicator but without a refuel light on, the liver interestingly intakes DIET and makes glycogen and healthy fats.

But when the liver glycogen is full, like a car with a full tank of fuel, the liver cannot make glycogen and converts DIET into unhealthy fats which the body stores in the fatty liver and stored fat in fat cells.  Body fat is stored in 2 separate "tanks" the VISCERAL FAT tank and the PERIPHERAL FAT tank.

Does visceral and body fat excess indicate metabolic syndrome, a disorder of energy utilization and storage diagnosed by a co-occurrence of three out of five of the following criteria below:

1. Increased waist circumference, > 40 in for men and > 35 in for women.
2.  Increased systolic blood pressure, >140.
3.  Increased diastolic blood pressure, > 90.
4.  Increased fasting glucose, >100.
5.  Increaed Triglyceride, >250.

Approximately 25% of Americans have metabolic syndrome and climbing.  Metabolic Syndrome leads to diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes.  Diabetic patients for any given age relative to non diabetic patient have three times the rates of dementia, heart attacks and osteoporosis.  Metabolic syndrome leads, in effect, to the ravages of advanced degenerative diseases usually associated with very advanced aging.

Promoting healthy energy utilization and storage by understanding the NEXUS of intermittent exhaustion of stored liver glycogen through a healthy DIET and EXERCISE is the JUST RIGHT STORAGE or optimum condition to live a healthy life.