Weight Loss,101

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For years we have been told that skinny means health and fat means unhealthy but I was reading an article the other day which might put that theory in a different perspective.

Many doctors and nutritionists now believe that the internal fat around vital organs like the heart, liver or pancreas, which cannot be seen, is more dangerous than the obvious external fat that stores underneath the skin.

This could of course make sense as after all fat stored underneath the skin is arguably stored excess and can be burned away with changes to diet and increased exercise.

A team of experts at Imperial College London lead by Dr Jimmy Bell took 800 people over the past 14 years or so and scaned them using modern MRI machines and create internal ‘ fat maps’ of where people retained fatty deposits.

It was seen that those people who used diet control as their main method of losing weight and and did little exercise has higher deposits of internal fat than those that carried out either a regular exercise regimen or a combination of diet and exercise.

This therefore throws in to question what effect diet only plans to lose weight are doing and according to Dr Bell the whole definition of being fat needs redefining as thin obese people (those with high levels of fat internally) may appear slim to the outside eye.

Without the obvious visual signs of large stomach, thin people may be deceived in to believing they are infact not overweight as they look healthy and strong.

A leading cardioligist Dr Louis Teichholz (Hackensack Hospital-New Jersey) said of Bell’s research that just because some one appears lean does not make them imune to diabetes or other factors for heart disease.

When carrying out the research Bell’s team found that even people with a normal BMI (Body Mass Index) have suprisingly high levels of fat tissue: upto 45% with a normal BMI had excessive levels of internal fat, while in men this figure rose to a stunning 60%.

In the words of Dr Bell “People who are fat on the inside are essentially on the threshold of being obese.”

These people have a too abundant diet in fat and sugars without exercising: they just do not eat enough to be fat. Many experts still regard normal values of BMI as an indicator of good health. But many doctors believe the internal fat is increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The fat could make the body to mistakenly store more fat inside organs like the liver or pancreas, which ultimately leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease. Indeed, experts have long known that fat but active people can be healthier than the skinny ones.

Dr Steven Blair an expert in Obesity at the University of South Carolina states that people who would be deemed normal weight but live sedentary lives and are generally unfit are at a far higher risk of death than people who are obese.

This means suprisingly maybe that in all likelihood a huge Sumo wrestler has a better metabolic profile than many of the apparently slimmer healthier (visually at least) spectators at such a sporting event.

Active people and sports people are not by nature fat (except for obvious exceptions such as Sumo wrestlers) and they are probably the least vunerable to fat build up in their vital organs.

In conclusion to look thin may make you feel good and that can be achieved by diet. But inorder to avoid potential health problems associated being thin obese you may need to look at building an exercise program in to your routine and overall plan.

This makes interesting reading and maybe is a serious condemnation of diet only plans to lose weight. I personally have always been an advocate of balance between exercise and dietary control if you are concerned about your diet plan you might want to try out some of the ideas for exercising on this blog.

Have a great day and an even better week

Graham

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