Visceral fat is fat that wraps around organs in your belly that are deep inside you. It can surround your liver, intestines, stomach, and other internal organs. According to Webmd.com, it’s healthy and normal to have some visceral fat as this fat can protect your internal organs, but too much visceral fat isn’t good for you. It comes with more risk for health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Also read | Do you have visceral fat? Doctor shares 7 indicators: Apple body shape, hard belly and more signs of this ‘hidden fat’
Visceral fat: a harmful consequence of high insulin
In a September 22 episode of The Diary Of A CEO, Dr Pradip Jamnadas, who trained at the University of London College Medical School and is an interventional cardiologist and founder of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Central Florida and of Aristotle Education, discussed the connection between sugar consumption, also known as glucose, and the subsequent release of insulin in the body.
According to him, the frequent intake of glucose stimulates insulin production, and when this consumption is repeated throughout the day, insulin levels remain perpetually elevated. This sustained elevation, Dr Jamnadas said, can lead to insulin resistance, requiring the body to produce even more insulin to manage blood sugar. He added that this background of high insulin, even when blood sugar levels appear normal, is destructive to metabolism and causes visceral fat to accumulate, particularly around the internal organs and in the liver, leading to a condition known as fatty liver. This visceral fat is specifically produced from glucose and is considered a particularly harmful type of fat, he said.
The dangers of elevated insulin levels
Dr Jamnadas said: “Any hormone that stays in your body for a long time, the body becomes immune to it. So now you produce a whole bunch of insulin in order to bring that sugar level down. So then you say, okay, well, it doesn’t matter because the insulin is bringing the sugar level down. So what’s the harm – you’re not a diabetic. No, but it’s that background, high insulin, that is destroying your metabolism. It’s that high insulin level in the background. So insulin pushes glucose into the liver and you develop a fatty liver. It pushes the calories into production of new fats around your viscera.”
“The viscera means in your belly, around your pancreas, you get visceral fat. Now this fat is produced from glucose – it’s a different kind of fat. Look, if I gave you a high-calorie diet right now, of all sorts of foods, you put on weight everywhere. Okay? But if I give you glucose you put it on mostly in your stomach and your stomach will protrude and that’s called visceral fat. It’s on the inside. You can’t pinch it around the organs. This is very detrimental fat. And that’s the epidemic that we have today,” he added.
Fasting: a solution to reduce visceral fat
So what can you do? According to Dr Jamnadas: “The only thing that will make you lose that fat very quickly is to change your diet, of course, and you have to do fasting because fasting brings your insulin level. See this is where fasting comes in… you see when you don’t eat, your insulin levels come down because you are not stimulating your pancreas anymore. So you want to bring your insulin levels down.”
He added, “The best thing you can do in the world is to do fasting because if I just simply cut down on my calories, then there’s a different physiology that’s going to take place in the body, and when you fast there’s a totally different physiology.”
Dr Jamnadas explained: “When you cut down on calories the body senses that this caloric deficit your metabolic rate muscles included. So you lose fat and you also lose muscles. On the other hand, when you’re fasting, it’s a different physiology. Fasting is I’ve put on fat. Now I’m going to take it out of the bank. Now the bank is going to be available for me to pull out my calories and use it now.”
“And you start burning the fat. So in the first 12 hours of a fast, you take out all the glucose in the form of glycogen from your muscles and your liver. After 12 hours, you start pulling the fat out. And the first place the fat comes out of is going to be visceral fat. That is why fasting benefits you so much because it gets rid of that worst fat. The fat that is very inflammatory,” Dr Jamnadas concluded.
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This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice.