By Barbara Jorgen Nance

Bears do, why not us? Pondering minds want to know the bear secrets. Ever since ancient times, anthropologists have argued from animals to men and back again with sophistication and success. What can bears teach us most about ourselves? What are the bear essentials we need to know about sleeping off our fat in winter just like bears do?

We might all like to cozy up, take a nice, extended nap and wake up ten or twenty pounds lighter. Pondering minds want answers! If we are, in fact, so similar to bears, why would it be too far-fetched to imagine sleeping off our fat in winter? So, I did a little research on bear fat to see if I could find any clues to the secret of fat loss while one sleeps. In my research, I learned that bears burn up around 4,000 calories a day during hibernation. Does that sound fair? Dens are prepared well in advance and, before entering, the bear must be in proper fat condition! Among those that will go underground for the whole winter, they pig out all through late summer and fall. It's actually called hyperphagia- that is eating as much as 20,000 calories per day for rapid weight gain! Non-denning bears don't show the same fat layer. Perhaps, we are more like them. The bears' overall awareness and seeming nonchalance is among the bear's most manlike capacities. Would we walk around all fall with blas+