Why You Want Brown Fat & How to Get It

Hey JJ Here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my books stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style give can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, don't that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with ease. If you're ready to make your home feel as good as it looks, get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style Every home that's W A Y F A I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything, they just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order.

Some people think nature is like this, but actually it's like this. That's why Colombia engineers everything we make for anything nature can throw at you. Columbia engineered for whatever.

Hey, this is JJ Virgin. Thanks so much for joining me. This is Ask the Health Expert. In each episode, I put the power of health in your hands and share ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your gut, detox, and lots more so you can look and feel better fast. If you'd rather watch the video, hey, I did put on my makeup and do my hair, so check it out on my YouTube channel.

Hey, it's J.J. here. Now let's be honest. The holidays are basically a financial ambush. Travel, hosting gifts, surprise holiday school things. Suddenly you're wondering how December turned into a spirit spending spree. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. What really grabbed my attention is how fast those little holiday expenses pile up with Monarch. Seeing everything in one place makes it a lot harder to accidentally overspend. And honestly, I appreciate anything that keeps me from starting January with a money hangover. You'll love exploring the holiday spending category. Imagine how good it will feel to actually see what's happening before your credit card statement does that whole dramatic reveal thing. Monarch basically shows you exactly where the money is going in real time, and that level of clarity could change everything, right? Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with code Virgin.

This episode is brought to you by Buffalo Trace Distillery. Powerful yet smooth. Contained but never tame. Proudly going their own way but never going alone. This is the spirit inside Buffalo Trace Bourbon made at Buffalo Trace Distillery. The world's most award winning distillery. Buffalo Trace is always perfectly untamed. Distilled, aged and bottled by Buffalo Trace distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky. 90 proof, 45% alcohol by volume. Learn more@buffalotracedistillery.com Please drink responsibly.

If I told you all fat is not created equal, you may go. Of course I know that there are healthy fats and there are saturated fats and trans fats and you'd be right but that's not the fat I'm talking about. I'm talking about body fat. There's also good body fat and bad body fat. Did you know that? And you actually want more of the good kind. And I'm going to give you three easy ways to get it. Hey, it's jj and I'm here for one reason. To help you get healthy. And bonus, quite often, you'll lose weight as well if you need to, and you'll definitely feel better. Now, if all that sounds good, hit like and subscribe, and I'll keep the videos coming. Okay, let's talk about body fat. That's not always fun, but I promise you're going to love this one. It's so cool and amazing. So there's this new research on fat and how fat. Yes, fat can help you get healthier and drop weight. Like what? Yep, it's true. First, you have to know a bit about the different kinds of fat, or as it's called, adipose tissue we have in our bodies. They're different colors and they have different functions. So there's white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue, and there's also beige, but I'm going to save that one for later. Now, these fats are not created equal. It turns out one of them is really good fat to have on your body, and that's the brown fat. Now, the difference between white and brown is that white fat, which is the fat you're probably thinking about when I say fat keeps us warm and stores energy. It's the fat that leads to obesity. And excess white fat is a primary cause of inflammation, which can lead to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, especially when it's around your abdomen.

Brown fat, on the other hand, stores.

Energy in smaller places compared to white fat. And more importantly, it burns energy. Brown fat is really important component of weight loss. The more brown fat you have, the faster you'll lose weight. It's packed with mitochondria, which are full of iron, and that's how it gets that brown color. Now, when brown fat burns, it creates heat, also called thermogenesis, and that burns calories. So easy to remember. This way, white builds brown burns. Okay, now, fun fact. Brown fat is what babies use to regulate their body temperature before they develop the ability to shiver. Now, crazy. Did you know that babies need to develop the ability to shiver? I didn't know that. So, scientists used to believe brown fat disappeared by adulthood. But now we know we can still produce brown fat as adults. And you want to do this because it helps you drop weight, reduce inflammation, and lower your risk for disease. A 2016 study published in the Diabetes and Metabolic Journal showed that brown fat might be a treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases. And other studies have shown that brown fat burns calories and can help control blood sugar. So if you can rev up your brown fat activity, you can significantly decrease calories. Excess body fat. The analogy I think works best here is, think of it like revving the gas pedal in your car when your car is in neutral so you can burn a lot of gas. So when your body is more brown fat and it's burning that in the background, it lowers your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And bonus, you also lose your belly fat. Okay, so you probably guessed that the higher your belly bmi, the less brown fat you have, but you want more brown fat because it helps you lose weight. That's kind of a catch 22, right? But you can do something about it. So, of course, the big question now is, how do we brown our fat? Okay, the first great way to brown your fat is through exposure to cold. And no scoping out what's in the freezer is not what I mean here. So get this. When it's cold, brown fat generates heat to keep your body warm. And some studies show, can actually brown your white fat or turn it beige. There it is, the beige fat I promised. So one way to do this is by cold plunging into an ice bath for a few minutes. Water actually removes heat more than 20 times faster than air. So just a couple minutes in cold water activates your brown fat. Now, if the idea of that stops your heart, and I hate being cold, let's be clear, I hate being cold. So I'm going to tell you how I did this. I actually have a cold plunge at home now. I got one. But you can start in your shower. And all you do is start in your shower and just turn the cold water on at the end. And all I did to start was I went, if I get in front of the cold water and turn to the front and circle around, I won. And I just stayed longer and longer and longer, right? And then I, I started with my cold plunge. At first I was like, I just need to get in there and think of a really high, very cold 50, 45 to 55 degree bathtub. I just need to get in there and get out. Now I'm up to the point where I can be there for five minutes. So when you're getting out of there, like if you get out of the cold shower, you're Going to be shivering. And that's fantastic. That's a sign that's working. You can also get the same benefit if you do cryotherapy or you sleep in colder temperatures. By the way, in our house we make sure that every night we have the temperature down to at least 68. You should be sleeping, sleeping somewhere between 65 and 68 degrees. And I'll also tell you something interesting. My older son Grant has become obsessed with cold plunging. And bam. He was having, he had this little bit of fat still here from all of his accidents and medications and he got a six pack and it's big shift that he did was getting in and cold plunging every day. So like bonus couple minutes. Okay. Second way to brown your fat is through your diet. Now this is fun and super easy. Remember that these strategies are helping you activate brown fat and accelerate weight loss at the same time. So when you do all of these together, it's super powerful. And I'm going to get to number three in a second. Let's go back to number two. So first for food, focus on getting more thermic foods. Because thermic foods require the most energy to digest and they activate brown fat. And the most thermic food is protein. I mean by far three times more thermic than carbs or fat. So think about lean meats, cold water, fish, and even plant based protein here. Super important. Okay. We also know we got to get enough protein to have muscle. Right. And repair. All right, Next thing is spicy foods. Spicy foods are great for browning your fat. You know how you eat when you're sweating the number six on the. Or how you're. You eat and you start to sweat when you're eating that Thai food. Yep. It's the things like cayenne pepper and chili peppers and wasabi. If you eat sushi like I do and you get those head explosions, all of those things. Jalapenos, habaneros, poblano peppers. Load them up, load them up to just where you can stand them. And the reason they're going to set you on fire like that is because of the capsaicin in them. And capsaicin activates brown fat and then it produces heat as it burns. That's the sweating part. And, and it's also triggering the browning of white fat. Okay. There's different thermic herbs and spices and flavanols that are going to activate brown fat as well. So this, there was a great study that showed that flavoring your food with flavanols will burn excess fat and it's not going to be painful. You're like, what, what? Flavanols. Okay. Cocoa? Yep. Apples, grapeseed, red wine. Hello. These are not things you're going to suffer with. They also can help combat obesity, lifestyle related diseases because you're browning that fat. It's so good for your metabolism. And they do this by activating the sympathetic nervous system, which is basically your fight or flight response. Though researchers don't really know how that's working yet, but truthfully we just know it does. So that's good enough for me. Another one that can help here is turmeric. So curcumin in turmeric, that's the active thing in turmeric, is anti inflammatory and that's what makes it yellow. And There was a 2016 study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry which looked at, and I quote, dietary agents that contribute to the browning of white adipose tissue in order to combat obesity by promoting energy expenditure. And what they found was that curcumin activated this browning. So get more turmeric in your diet. You can add it in soup, stew, salads, rice and just, you know, it makes everything tastier. I also take my little curcumin chews by Reignite Wellness. Every day I take two of those. Tastes like a nectarine mango starburst. So another thing that I love and there's no added sugar, another cool nutrient that's super helpful here and I this is like, I think one of the most underutilized amazing nutrients is berberine. So berberine is when you want to do as a supplement, it activates brown fats and also increases brown fat mass. Plus why I've been using it, I wasn't even aware this. I've been using it for years to help stabilize blood sugar. It's literally one of my favorite all time supplements that like seems like nobody's ever heard of. Now one that we've heard a lot about is resveratrol. It's the polyphenol and blueberries and pistachios and dark chocolate and grapes, red wine. So there's your red wine and dark chocolate. That's like two of my favorite food groups. It's anti inflammatory. In fact, There was a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Obesity that found that resveratrol helps manage blood sugar by accelerating the conversion of white fat cells into brown fat cells. And in the more good news department, I mentioned red wine. But coffee and green tea or green tea extract can also help brown your fat. And they can both help increase your body temperature. But green tea also helps boost metabolism, which of course, then leads to quicker weight loss. All right, final thing I'm going to mention for ways you can brown your fat with diet is intermittent fasting. Yet another benefit of intermittent fasting. There are so many. There was a really significant study on mice that showed that every other day fasting called eodf, stimulated beige fat development in white adipose tissue and dramatically impacted obesity and insulin resistance. So check out my video on intermittent fasting for details on the best ways to incorporate that. Okay, the third way you can brown your fat in addition to exposure to cold and diet is, you guessed it, exercise. I mean, it makes sense. Exercise has always been part of any successful plan to lose weight, right? When you work your muscles, you release something called erisin. And this is a chemical that helps brown your white fat and increase your metabolism. And then there's akg, alpha ketoglutarate. Now, AKG is a molecule involved in many metabolic pathways, and. And you can increase it with resistance exercise. And when you raise a kg, it activates your brown fat and burns your white fat. Okay, so in a nutshell, here we go. These three things, exposure to cold eating, thermic foods, and intermittent fasting and exercising, will brown your white fat like a.

Marshmallow over an open flame.

All right, in this case, that's a good thing, right? Now, one final note. Jump on these things while your fat is still easy to brown, because new research suggests that excess weight becomes a bigger problem when it loses its plasticity, meaning its flexibility, and it won't respond to your body's cues, which can happen, Sorry, as you age, this all leads to insulin resistance and inflammation, which just makes it that much harder to take the weight off. So there you go. Three easy things to incorporate into your lifestyle to brown your fat. Now, I hope you're already plotting about how to make them part of your lifestyle so you get healthier and feel better fast. Now, join me next for a look at exercise. Does when your exercise matter? Does when you eat increase the impact of exercise? And then which specific exercises should you do to get the most bang out of your exercise buck? I'll be sharing all of that with you in the next video. See you soon. For more info on this and other health topics I cover or to rate and review, find me on Instagram, Facebook and my website, jjvirgin.com and don't forget to subscribe to my show so you won't miss a single episode. Go to subscribetoj.com. thanks again for being with me this week.

Foreign hello listeners. This is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things Books in Reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshould I read next podcast.com to find out more.