What's FAT got to do with it? Everything!

Well, everything! This fat we're going to talk about today affects our insulin, and really leads to insulin resistance.

We have two kinds of fat in our body. One is subcutaneous fat. Now 'cutaneous' is the surface of the skin. So underneath that is the subcutaneous fat. That fat is usually found around the hips and the buttocks, perhaps the thighs, and so on. It really contributes to a woman's shape.

The second kind of fat is visceral fat. This fat is different. It is found deep inside the cavity of the body.

So it's around the liver, the heart, the stomach, and the intestines. It's deep inside there for women who are 45 years and older, who are either about to go through menopause or have already been through menopause. We tend to put on this visceral fat pretty quickly.

And even if we're not gaining weight, doesn't really seem fair, does it? This fat, this visceral fat, is biologically active. So it's not just fat that's stored to be used for energy. It's like an endocrine organ. So it secretes hormones and other substances that really impact a number of diseases in our body.

We can't see it and we can't really measure it like on a scale or anything like that. The way that it can be seen is via an MRI. And we're not going to go through an expensive procedure like that to look for our abdominal fat, but there is a way to really look at it and monitor it, and that is using a tape measure.

So here's what we do. We take this tape measure and we put it around our waist. It's not the necessarily the narrowest part of the waist, but really at the level of your navel and just above your hip bone.

You can kind of feel in there for the top of that hip ball. That is where you want to measure. Now, you're not trying to suck in your gut and get it as small as possible. And you're also not trying to pull the tape tight just to get a good number, okay! None of that! We want to see exactly what your waist measurement is.

It's not about one number and it's not about a specific cutoff number. We want to take this measure relatively frequently so that we can see if our waist is getting bigger. Remember - this, this fat can grow!

It can grow your waistline, even if you haven't gained any weight. You'll notice it, like your pants will feel a little snug, right? So now why is this important?

We talked already about the insulin resistance and type two diabetes, but it affects our whole cardiovascular system and our blood vessels, and creates a lot of inflammation in there. This is going to end up increasing blood pressure. It's going to increase blood sugar. It's going to increase triglycerides, which is fats in the blood. And it's going to decrease our HDL cholesterol, which is the good cholesterol.

If you remember, we talked about this last time, this cluster of symptoms is metabolic syndrome, and we know where that can lead, right? Pre-diabetes and diabetes! It increases our risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke. It also increases our risk for dementia, for asthma, for breast cancer, and for colorectal cancer.

Now, before you go running out of the room screaming, there is good news!

And that is, this fat is very amenable to lifestyle changes like changing what you're eating. And that means - I can just tell you right now, and you can probably say it yourself - reducing sugar, reducing processed food, packaged foods, and so on. Also, to add some movement, right?

Do some aerobic type exercise like walking and maybe doing some strength training. And that can be anything, including functional exercise, which is being able to lift groceries out of the car, carrying heavy boxes into the house, squatting down to pick things up, and reaching up high for things. That is functional exercise, or doing exercises that compliment or enrich those types of movements.

One thing I want to just say a quick fix does not work. Something like liposuction? Forget it! That's only for the subcutaneous fat. It cannot get into that abdominal cavity to get that visceral fat out.

So measure your waist and just keep a record. Maybe once a month, maybe once every six weeks, it depends a lot on how tight your pants are getting.

I am in the process of developing a program that gives you guidance and support every step of the way to manage, or even reverse, your type two diabetes. And I'm going to tell you more about that very soon. In the meantime, if you have questions about your diabetes and what you want to do about it, please click here and sign up for a health chat with me and we'll see what we can do.

Thank you so much for listening.

Dr. Elaine

To schedule a health chat, please click here: https://calendly.com/drstewart/healthchat

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.