Thursday, July 2, 2009

Interesting fact on derriere size

I was reading Real Food for Mother & Baby the other day (great book by Nina Planck), and learned a surprising fact: women store a certain type of fat in their hips and bottom (referred to scientifically as gluteofemoral fat) which is very stubborn (hard to get rid of by dieting & exercise), and is made up mainly of the type of fatty acid found in fish oil! This is also the fat that is so important for baby's brain development. If the mother doesn't consume enough of this fat while pregnant & breastfeeding, her body will feed the baby (through breastmilk & the placenta) off her fat stores. Now let me be clear here -- what the mother eats is still critical; fat stores alone will not provide plentiful amounts of DHA in her breastmilk (for example, vegetarians have MUCH lower concentrations of DHA in their breastmilk than omnivorous mommies). However, feeding your baby a bit of these fat stores is one way to "move" this weight.

I used to have what is referred to not-so-delicately as a bubble butt, but I noticed that while I was pregnant (I was pretty much vegetarian at the time, by the way) my bottom got quite a bit flatter -- noticeably so, and not really in a good way. Apparently I was feeding Oliver my butt fat! At last the mystery is cleared up!

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