American women are obsessed with being thin.  Ironically, as a woman ages, if she becomes too thin, she also looks older.  The face needs fat to look young and the body needs fat to create the curves that define femininity.  Deprivation diets and extreme exercise can produce thinness, but should thinness be the goal? 

A recent Japanese study found that extremely thin people shorten their life span by 5 years.  The study included people between the ages of 40 and 79.  Other possible parameters to account for thinness, such as smoking or illness, were taken into account and the findings were still found to be significant.

I am not at all surprised by this study.  Most extremely thin women have over-dieted and made unhealthy food choices.  As someone who assesses tissue quality every day in the Operating Room, I’ve seen first-hand how their tissues pay a price, appearing physically older than their chronological age.  Ironically, I observe poor quality yellow fat more frequently on very thin women than the preferred resilient brown fat.  So skinny is not good!   Most super-thin patients that I see are not healthy, which supports the findings in this Japanese study.

However, you can be attractively thin and healthy!   To accomplish this goal, you must eat well to supply all tissues with the nutrients necessary for continuous repair and restoration.  This need to consider tissue quality when making food choices is at the heart of The Brown Fat Diet:  Lose weight, but maintain a healthy layer of fat to look good and feel energized all of the time.  

This study does not take into account the fact that extreme thinness is a symptom of poor quality tissue,   It is not the thinness per se that defines lifespan but the tissue quality.  You can be thin, increase your lifespan and be very healthy if your tissues are lean in the sense of “healthy lean”, not “deprived lean.”  The Brown Fat Diet can achieve this goal:  shred yellow fat (become thin) but replace it with a healthy layer of brown fat and a global improvement in the quality of all tissues.

As a plastic surgeon, an architect of the body, I find the balance of form and shape to be intuitive.  This is what happens when you spend 28 years creating shapes.  And I love it!  

It is my firm opinion that the eyes and the brain perceive things differently.  The eyes sense the objectivity of the viewed image.  The brain is fed that information which is then processed through other channels, such as the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, and “appreciates” the object differently.   It is this second “interpretation” that the individual really “sees.” 

Studies have shown that shapes and contours are best appreciated by the brain.  Volumetrics applied to the face and body is the answer to creating results, whether after dieting or surgery, that are self-pleasing.  Volumetrics is the ability to use volume to create beauty.    

In The Brown Fat Diet and exercise programs, the thrust is to change shape, not simply lose weight.  Once the brain sees a pleasing shape — a shape that makes a woman feel sexy and attractive — the positive endorphins will protect against future weight gain.   

At the other end of the spectrum, a drive to be skinny is not about volumetrics.   It is about weight.  The brain does not see pleasing contours and shapes and the subject either eats again and gains weight or continues to lose weight thinking that this will achieve that elusive self-satisfaction in the mirror.  

A women needs volume to look great, and the language of volume is the language of fat.

One of the most common complaints I get from my patients is that they hate their fatty arms. Women notice that despite their best efforts to exercise, their bodies begin to deposit fat in the triceps (arm) area.  In some, this deposition, combined with loose skin, creates the “bat wings” effect.  In addition to never wearing sleeveless dresses, these patients complain that they can’t wear suits since their arms are too bulky!

This problem is due to fat deposition:  After menopause fat begins to deposit in a characteristic way and unfortunately, one of the selected sites is the arms.  This is an estrogen-dependent phenomenon and not really related to exercise per se.  So no need for self-blame or guilt here. 

I have performed innumerable brachioplasties (arm lifts) and liposuctions on such patients, both very effective techniques; however, most women can do quite well with a double-pronged attack on their arms, the attack that I propose in my book, The Brown Fat Revolution.  There are two components here:  diet and exercise.  By adhering to the principles of the Post-Menopause Brown Fat Diet and, at the same time, increasing the number of days per week doing arm exercises specifically targeting the triceps, a woman can wave goodbye to fatty arms.  As the loose yellow fat shreds off of the arm, the lean muscle increases and the new layer of healthy fat supports the skin so it does not sag.  These effects can be seen within weeks after starting the combined program.  It is all about fat!

Brown fat  is the key to looking young at any age.  I have interviewed thousands of women in the last 30 years and let’s just get it out there:   They want to look young!  Not younger chronologically, but youthful, energized, attractive, glowing, on the upside of the life curve!

Here is The Secret:  Stop trying to lose ALL of your fat! 

You need fat to look young, to get rid of wrinkles, to be sexy, to literally look like a woman!  But not the loose, greasy yellow fat that you get when you are either overweight or poorly nourished. 

Wait – you can be  poorly nourished and fat?  Yes, you can still have fat when you’re skinny!  And that fat, too, is soft and jiggly.  It doesn’t hug the underlying muscles of your body or support the overlying skin the way brown fat does.  I bet you’ve seen women on deprivation diets who are skinny but who look much older.  This is a typical result of the no carb diets.

Start The Brown Fat Diet today and shed your unattractive yellow fat while you replace it with healthy, toned brown fat to look young at any age.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little stressed that suddenly I can’t get a parking space and I have to wait for a workout machine at my gym.  Who are all of these strangers?  They’re January resolutionites!

As the author of The Brown Fat Revolution,  where were I present a diet and fitness program to shred yellow fat and build brown fat,  I wish I could get on a megaphone and personally direct all of these newcomers before they fall prey to the typical syndrome of quitting in a month or so.    There are so many people working out feverishly to get rid of that “Holiday Fat!”   I’d tell them this is great, but they’ll need to focus on their diets at the same time if they want results.

Weight training is part of my DNA; however, I am the first to admit that 85% of losing fat is determined by what you put in your mouth (diet), and only 15% of fat loss is determined by what you do with your muscles (exercise – including cardio).  So if you’re a post-holiday cardio-aholic, work out, but don’t expect to achieve your resolutions unless you eat well.

Here are some tips from The Brown Fat Revolution on how to shred that hanging yellow fat and build firm, youthful contours with muscle and brown fat.

1. Eat breakfast within one hour of waking.  You need to refuel a body that’s been without food all night.
2. The Brown Fat Diet, I recommend 6 meals a day, including a pre-workout and a post-workout meal.  If you think of your metabolism as a furnace, it’s like adding kindling wood to a fire.
3. Drink water instead of juice.  Drink green tea instead of coffee.  Juice —even natural juice — is full of sugar, and coffee causes bloating.
4. The Brown Fat Diet cycles a protein day after a carb day in a one-to-one rhythm.    Change the rhythm to two or three protein days in a row after a carb day.  You’ll quickly see yellow fat melting away from your waist and “love handles.”
5. Minimize carbs — even brown carbs — and eat only vegetables as your source of carbs.  Carbs produce weight.
6. Limit alcohol.  Alcohol = liquid calories!  If you want turbo improvement in your shape, no alcohol until you get to your desired shape and weight.

So go to the gym.  Boost your endorphins, sweat, and feel proactive and positive about controlling “Holiday Fat.”  But remember, the real changes will come from how you choose to eat!

There has been recent buzz about juicing in the nutrition/diet world.   As with all trends, the commercial explosion of bottled or canned juice is now “it” and more juices are appearing on the shelves labeled with all the buzzwords.    Fruits and vegetables are the cornerstone of The Brown Fat Revolution eating program and as the author, I highly encourage this commercial focus on vegetables and fruits.    Music to my ears!   However, if given the choice between commercial or fresh juice, I strongly recommend that you choose the latter.  Forget the bottled stuff.

Freshly prepared vegetable and fruit juice is resplendent in healthy Phytochemicals:  anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins.  Commercial juice is pasteurized, filled with sodium (some are low sodium) and sugar (high glycemic index fruits).  Get a juicer!  It’s so easy, quick, health-producing and inexpensive to buy fresh veggies and fruit.

From the earth or the tree/vine to your body…directly….without processing, without man adding stuff….Wow!  Fresh juicing provides the ultimate in quality nutrition and your body will show it!  It’s an anti-aging secret to the nth degree; your tissues will be toned, rejuvenated and your fat will move in the brown, young direction.

About 60 years ago, the man whom I consider the father of the “exercise/nutrition culture,” Jack LaLanne, is reported to have said, “If it is made by man, do not eat it!”  He was spot on then as he is today, a genius in understanding how to live a long life and look great at the same time.    Thank you, Mr.LaLanne, for your amazing foresight.

He popularized a “juicer” for vegetables and fruits years ago and his brand stands as the gold standard today.   I have one at home and one in the office.   If you make juicing available and easy, you will have no problem getting those veggies in each day.

Go online and get a juicer.   Then, do me a favor and go to the organic market, buy leafy green and colorful vegetables and your favorite fruits and put together your own, personalized juices.  You will see the difference in clearer skin, a higher energy level, a flatter abdomen, and an improvement in your overall sense of well-being.

Juicing embraces the basic concept behind the The Brown Fat Revolution:  a revolution  to make the quality of food as important as the quantity.  High quality nutrition builds high quality tissues, which make for a healthier and younger looking you.

Fresh veggie or fruit juice will be a daily treat for you and your body!   Go for it!

A shout-out to Jack LaLanne, who underwent heart surgery in December.  He stands alone as an icon for the importance of  nutrition and exercise in defining the quality of life.  This man was 50 to 60 years ahead of the times!  The eating and exercise program in my book, The Brown Fat Revolution, is totally in keeping with his principles.  Jack went out on a limb in those early days and recommended weight training for women.  I, too, believe that women should weight train, definitely not to bulk up, but to strengthen muscles and bones and to increase basic metabolism by increasing lean muscle mass.

Jack is reported to have made two comments about food:  “If it is man-made, do not eat it;” and “If it tastes too good, spit it out!”   Readers of The Brown Fat Revolution learn quite quickly that natural food selections are mandatory, and processed foods are taboo.   With respect to tasting too good:  After being on The Brown Fat Revolution program for a few weeks, you will savor the natural taste of foods and they will taste delicious … and of course, you will not spit them out!   Jack is referring to fatty or sweet foods and as usual, he’s right … spit them out!

The Brown Fat Revolution was listed by Time Magazine as one of the “Top Ten Notable New Diet Books” of the year!  I can’t think of a better way to start 2010.

General brown fat discoveries dominated the headlines in 2009, to the point where the topic was considered a “Top 10” health news story at year’s end by media ranging from WebMD to Time Magazine (here in its “Top 10 Everything” list). I’m grateful to these journalists for taking the mystery out of brown fat and spreading the word.

To me, there’s no mystery.  As a surgeon and fitness expert, I’ve been studying brown fat in a clinical setting for the past nine years, with a goal of developing my own eating and exercise program for my female patients.  When I saw the amazing results, I knew I wanted to help all women, not just those whom I see in the office.  That’s why I wrote The Brown Fat Revolution.  It truly is a groundbreaking book on fat, weight loss, and aging.  This book is about volume, not wrinkles.  It is about the quality of tissues (yes, good, brown fat), not unhealthy crash dieting.  It is about real behavior modification:  learning to eat well for life, not just an event.  It is about harnessing lean muscle mass to increase metabolism all day long, not just for the hour after cardio.  It is about developing a body that’s lean and toned, but also curved and attractive.  And it works.

So bring it on, Top 10!  David Letterman, are you listening?