The Hidden Dangers of Visceral Fat: 3 Steps to Eliminate It

Find out how to permanently eliminate visceral fat in 3 simple steps.

How many times have you declared war on fat by embarking on "innovative" diets, using "magic" supplements, or doing grueling workouts?

And how many times , unfortunately, have you lost this fight?

In this article, you'll discover how to win the battle against fat forever and achieve the physical shape you've always wanted.

New scientific evidence on fat mass

Although, until a few years ago, fat was considered a simple reserve tissue , today we know that this is not the case: it is a determining factor for our health .

In addition to storing energy, covering vital structures and reducing heat loss, fat modulates the functions of our organism by secreting a vast range of hormones : adipokines .

Adipokines are a type of hormone with localized action and specific functions: they regulate the sensation of hunger and satiety, modify the degree of glycemic sensitivity, the inflammatory state, the activity of the immune system, the conversion of certain hormones and thermogenesis.

If in the modern era excess fat, from a social point of view, can damage intra- and interpersonal relationships , from a medical point of view there is no doubt about it... excess fat is a risk factor for all chronic degenerative diseases: from T2DM to PCOS, from hypertension to heart attacks, from dyslipidemia to tumors.

However, not all fat is the same: we can distinguish between beneficial fat, subcutaneous fat, and harmful fat, visceral fat.

Subcutaneous fat, located precisely under the skin, is characterised by a soft consistency just like “ love handles ”.

It has anti-lipotoxic, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and preventive properties against cardiovascular diseases .

In fact, it produces two adipokines: leptin , which improves the feeling of satiety , and adiponectin , which reduces inflammation, reduces blood lipid levels and improves glycemic sensitivity.

Visceral fat , on the other hand, located around the organs and characterized by a hard and prominent consistency , increases the feeling of hunger by triggering the phenomenon of leptin resistance and insulin resistance . It also reduces the production of adiponectin, promoting the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Having high levels of visceral fat, therefore, can not only worsen social relationships, but also promote the onset of numerous pathologies.

How much fat should we have to be healthy?

While too much fat is bad for you, too little fat can also negatively impact your health.

Levels below 5% in men and 12% in women can cause alterations in the gonadal axes (repeatedly testosterone deficiencies and amenorrhea), stress fractures , alterations in sleep and mood, overtraining syndrome (typical in athletes).

This can be accurately measured with a BIA ( bioimpedance analysis ) or a skinfold .

A healthy amount of fat varies between 10% and 20% in men and between 15% - 25% in women .

While values >20% in men or 25% in women are associated with an increase in pro-inflammatory fat, i.e. visceral fat.

To accurately measure visceral fat, you need to undergo a DXA scan , but a tape measure is sufficient to get a sufficiently precise estimate.

According to European guidelines, visceral fat, measured by waist circumference , should be <94cm in men and <80cm in women .

What to do if you have excess abdominal fat?

Intervening by changing your diet and lifestyle represents the only real solution to winning the "war" on fat.

The factors that increase abdominal fat , technically defined as "visceral", in fact, can be traced back to diet, lifestyle, stress and sleep quality:

- Diet : Consuming processed foods, rich in refined carbohydrates, sugars, and vegetable oils, such as snacks, sweets, ultra-processed cereals, soft drinks, fast food, chips, crackers, candy, fruit juices, low-fat fruit yogurts ... promotes the accumulation of abdominal fat.

- Lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle, where you move from bed to car seat, from office desk to kitchen table, significantly reduces energy expenditure and worsens the glycemic sensitivity of muscle tissue.

- Stress : overloading yourself with commitments, being afraid of the future, believing you're not up to it... increases stress .

Stress activates cortisol , a hormone directly implicated in the accumulation of visceral fat as it increases blood sugar levels and worsens insulin sensitivity.

- Sleep : Poor sleep is another factor that promotes the accumulation of abdominal fat. Sleeping poorly (or too little) in fact equates to a decreased production of GH , a hormone known for its lipolytic and hypertrophic effects .

Poor quality sleep reduces weight loss and significantly increases hunger.

In fact, there are numerous studies that demonstrate an intake of approximately 300kcal extra in subjects who sleep little.

Shift workers should therefore be very careful, as should all those who spend too much time in front of the TV or on social media : in addition to promoting a sedentary lifestyle and an increase in kcal intake (why don't you eat a few biscuits in front of the TV?), it also leads to a worsening of sleep which will cause a reduction in nocturnal GH and a subsequent alteration of the cortisol curve, reducing the ability to respond to stressful life events and entering into an endless loop:

Little sleep = more hunger = more nervousness = more heaviness and tiredness = more sedentary lifestyle

4 strategies to reduce visceral fat

Eliminating visceral fat is an operation that not only benefits your interpersonal relationships, but also helps you improve your health.

There are no magic solutions, but commitment and consistency :

1. Calorie deficit: You lose weight when you eat less than you burn. This is undeniable. When we want to eliminate energy reserves accumulated over time, we must reduce energy intake. To make weight loss sustainable, it is recommended to set a daily deficit of 350-500 kcal , which varies depending on the individual. The choice of macronutrients and caloric allocation throughout the day is extremely subjective: excessively cutting calories at dinner for a highly stressed individual could further increase their cortisol levels, worsening their sleep quality and causing them to wake up at night from hunger. Excessively cutting breakfast for a hypothyroid individual could further aggravate their condition, given that the thyroid has a morning biorhythm. For this reason, it is always important to contextualize and avoid "do-it-yourself" approaches.

1. Physical activity: By increasing energy expenditure, exercise helps you avoid crash diets and improves adherence. Exercise also stimulates the development of new muscle mass, increasing your basal metabolism , oxygenating your tissues, and releasing beneficial molecules (e.g., endorphins). Being more oxygenated, feeling better, and seeing your body change for the better boosts your self-esteem and reinforces new habits. Which activity should you do? A mix is the best choice. Endurance activity (e.g., running, swimming, cycling ) increases calorie expenditure on the day you exercise but doesn't significantly alter calorie expenditure at rest. Resistance activity (e.g., working out at the gym ) increases calorie expenditure slightly during activity but significantly during rest. This latter activity, in fact, stimulates the development of new muscle tissue more, increasing your metabolism.

2. Stress management: As we've already explained, thoughts can be our greatest allies or our worst enemies. Through our thoughts (i.e., the way we see reality), we generate our emotions (i.e., hormones and neurotransmitters), pushing us to act one way or another. Our emotional state, therefore, is nothing more than the sum of our thoughts. Constantly having catastrophic and pessimistic thoughts will produce excessive amounts of cortisol , which, in addition to making us feel tired and stressed, will increase our hunger and make us gain weight. Thoughts of gratitude, love, and joy, on the other hand, will produce molecules like serotonin that can relax us and increase oxygenation. Increased tissue oxygenation increases fat oxidation, but above all, it prevents binge eating… a phenomenon typical of highly stressed individuals who mismanage their thoughts. You should know, in fact, that our body isn't stupid; on the contrary… it's incredibly intelligent and wants to feel good! Precisely for this reason, it implements compensatory behaviors to counteract excessive stress. Binge eating is a prime example: through food intake, we temporarily interrupt the excessive production of cortisol... the problem is that the satisfaction quickly fades and gives way to feelings of guilt, further worsening our physical and mental health. By learning to control our thoughts, we can improve our health and achieve better weight loss.

3. Sleep : Improving the quality of your sleep is a matter of habit . Set a time limit after which you turn off the TV, disconnect from social media, and dedicate time to yourself. You can write a short journal, reflect on the day, or plan the next one. Wear blue light blocking glasses. Avoid exposure to bright LED lights. Avoid talking or thinking about work or life problems. Read a book. Make room for dreams, goals, and objectives... these are all strategies for improving the quality of your sleep. Natural aids include magnesium, melatonin, or ashwagandha.

3 Secret Strategies to Eliminate Visceral Fat

So far, we've discussed the strategies universally shared by science, but are there even more powerful, lesser-known ones? Of course!

These are precisely the strategies we use with our patients within the GRN® programs , capable of making them lose +10kg and +10cm from the waist in 3-4 months , without suffering from hunger, without having energy crashes and restoring all (or almost all) of their blood tests.

1. Advanced dietary techniques: kcal are not all the same, macronutrients are not all the same. Food can modulate our hormones, our immune system, our nervous system, and our intestinal microbiota, activating completely different functions. When we want to address a problem at its root, we must be clear about our body's functions and how we can modify them with food. Examples include flaxseed and salmon ... both are rich in omega-3s; in fact, flaxseeds contain 10 times more. But their forms are completely different: flaxseeds are rich in ALA ( alpha-linolenic acid ), the biologically inactive form, while salmon is rich in EPA and DHA ( eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid ), the biologically active forms. Since the conversion between ALA and EPA is 10% and to DHA 5%, eating salmon has a completely different function... better in terms of omega-3s, but worse in terms of fiber... in fact, flaxseeds are much richer. An in-depth knowledge of the properties of foods , combined with knowledge of biochemistry and PNEI ( psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology ), allows us to "biohack" the body and improve the patient's health. Dietary techniques such as low-carb, carb-cycling, and the ketogenic diet can help you lose abdominal fat even faster than traditional "low-calorie" counterparts. In fact, they stimulate the production of a series of hormones (such as catecholamines, GH, CCK, etc.) that will accelerate weight loss. Furthermore, drastically reducing carbohydrates will profoundly alter your gut microbiota , improving the production of beneficial molecules like propionate, butyrate, and vitamin K2, and will reduce chronic inflammation by positively modulating the immune system. Finally, by keeping your blood sugar levels stable, you'll permanently eliminate sweet cravings, avoiding dangerous binge eating.

2. Supplementation : Using supplements such as berberine, magnesium, alpha-lipoic acid, omega-3s, and B vitamins will help reduce inflammation , oxidative stress , and insulin resistance . You'll also support your detoxification system (liver) while avoiding the typical side effects of dieting without a thorough understanding of our body's physiology: toxins. In addition to storing energy, fat accumulates toxins, and as it oxidizes, we also release large amounts of toxins into the bloodstream, which can cause tiredness, fatigue, and headaches. Using supplements is an extremely subjective practice and requires professional guidance for proper dosage. The risks of "do-it-yourself" supplementation include overdosing or unnecessary expense.

3. Thermoregulation: As we mentioned previously, not all fat is created equal. Delving further into these cells, we distinguish between white adipocytes (with low metabolic activity) and brown adipocytes (with high metabolic activity). The latter develop thanks to constant exposure to cold. Therefore, taking ice-cold showers or ice-cold baths (preferably in the morning), in addition to improving willpower and reducing inflammation, triggers " browning ," or the transformation of white adipocytes into brown ones.

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If you too want to eliminate visceral fat with a personalized 3-6 month program, book your Functional Nutrition consultation with the GR® Team now.

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