Do you know what has been the major topic in health news for the last five years? If you browse through the news sometimes, you would already know, but if you haven't been concerned enough, let me tell you: it has mostly been about Obesity. Obesity is the leading cause of all Chronic diseases like Diabetes, poor metabolism, Cardiovascular complications, Blood pressure issues, Hormonal imbalances and even certain types of Cancers. And that is the truth but not the whole truth.
Don't get me wrong, if you are obese my friend, it is your wake-up call! But Obesity has become such a dread today that it has stolen all the focus away from the slightly overweight crowd 😛. Now everyone thinks that if they are skinny or chubby and not obese, they must be healthy and safe😄. What a fallacy! The truth is that having a pot-belly can be far more alarming than Obesity and in some cases, being skinny can be even worse. How can this be possible 🤔? Lets find out.
We all have that friend who doesn't gain an inch despite eating junk food all the time while you my unfortunate pal, you turn into a cow after eating just a single bite 😂. I know I have a hit a nerve there😛. We think it is an unfair advantage, must be the genes. Everyone's body is different, we have always heard that but we rarely wonder what it actually means. One of the factors that differs from person to person is the body's ability to store fat in various areas. Not everyone, I repeat... Not everyone has the capability to become obese, infact some people may never even get chubby no matter how crappy their diet be. Does it mean that such people are healthier inside? Well... No! Infact they may be more unhealthy inside than an obese person.
We live in a superficial world. We judge others and ourselves based on the way we look on the outside even though deep down we know that it is what is inside that counts, I mean that figuratively and literally! When we think about Obesity, we always picture a round person whose body jiggles on every step. What we don't know is that superficial jiggly fat is actually pretty harmless. Dangerous is the fat that is stored deeper inside the body.
Let's briefly understand how fat is stored in our body.
When we eat carbs, our body converts the excess carbs into fat. It first starts storing fat below the skin in Adipose tissues as Subcutaneous fat. This fat is pretty useful and harmless, infact it helps in Vitamin-D synthesis. As these adipose tissues start filling up with fat to nearly full capacity, they get increasingly inefficient at storing fat. So now the excess fat starts getting stored around our vital organs as Visceral fat also known as Belly fat. Visceral fat cells then go through the same fate and now the excess fat gets stored on and inside our vital organs! Well that's what's scary!
Many people who do not have the tendency to get obese is because their adipose tissues do not have a lot of capacity to store fat beneath the skin, so their excess fat gets stored around the organs and then inside the organs as Visceral fat which is usually visible as a pot-belly. Such people are at risk for chronic diseases like Fatty liver, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases much sooner than people who can become obese. Worse can be the case with those skinny people who are incapable of storing fat beneath the skin or around the organs, in which case the fat directly gets stored on and inside the vital organs. This condition is also called skinny-fat and such skinny people need to take extra care of their diet and lifestyle otherwise things can go south pretty soon for them without a warning. Ethnicity is also a major factor in fat distribution on the body. Indians and Asians do not tend to store much fat underneath skin so they do not become obese but gain belly fat faster. As a result, they can get chronic diseases sooner than an obese counterpart with the same body weight. Suddenly, obesity is starting to sound better than skinny-fat 😛. Well, it is! If you are obese, you have a warning system of visible fat gain that lets you know that you are now prone to chronic diseases so you can take corresponding action. On the contrary, Chronic disease can come as a silent killer for some skinny-fat people because they get no such warning and are often even less concerned about health.
But don't get disheartened, there is a silver lining to this fat distribution system in the body.
The more dangerous fat gets used before the less dangerous fat. This means that when you start burning fat, your body will burn the dangerous visceral fat which is inside and around the organs first. Fixing you from the inside first, before utilizing the superficial and harmless outside jiggle fat. So all your efforts in Workouts and Fasting and Keto are far more fruitful than you can actually see. Do I have you motivated now? 😃
So what can we do to ensure good health? First of all, understand your body and observe where you gain the fat. If you are obese, you already have warnings so don't hit snooze on those, do Keto, do those fasts or get your ass off that couch😛! For the lesser "Unfortunate folks" who think they are fortunate enough not to be obese, just look down at your pot belly, consider that your warning system, time to ditch the carbs and do those fasts and hit the gym. Now the "Unlucky ones" who never gain fat no matter what, well you my friend need to be the most cautious. Routine body checkups are a MUST! Generally everyone should get those done but you cannot afford to skip or skimp here. You need to know what's going on inside your body, you need to know if your blood sugars and insulin are under control, you need to know that you don't have a fatty liver, you need to know that your triglycerides are under tab. If you have any abnormal results, advice is the same try Keto, fasts and workout, essentially :
Burn that fat!
