Hey FitFam!! You may have heard the phrases “visceral fat” and subcutaneous fat” thrown around but you might not know the difference.

Here’s the quick and easy explanation…

Subcutaneous Fat is the jiggly fat visible just under the skin.

Visceral Fat is fat that wraps around your abdominal organs deep inside your body.

Both are not good to have on your body but visceral fat is definitely the most dangerous because it surrounds your organs and causes health issues including pancreatic cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more.

You can measure how much visceral fat you have in two ways…

**Measure Your Waist.

**This is an easy way to get a rough estimate. Wrap a tape measure around your waist over your belly button. (Don’t suck in your stomach!) In women, 35 inches or more is a sign of visceral fat. In men, it’s 40 inches.

Look In The Mirror.

Where your body tends to store fat can offer you a clue. If you’re an apple — a big trunk and slimmer legs — it often can mean more visceral fat. This body shape is more common among men. Women are more likely to be pears — with bigger hips and thighs. Research shows that upper body fat is more dangerous to your health, which might be one reason why women usually live longer than men.

How do you get rid of visceral fat?

The increase in visceral fat has grown identically with our consumption of processed foods. These are foods that are packaged in a box, can, bag or container with a bar code.
Processed foods are furthest from foods in their natural state.

Foods like Cheetos, Oreos, gummy bears, energy drinks, chips, and other foods you could never find in nature.

One of the processed foods that is most dangerous is FRUIT JUICE. Yes, I know that might be surprising since fruit is supposed to be healthy for you but your liver isn’t prepared to handle such a high amount of sugar in a short period.

If you make orange or apple juice, it takes 4-6 to create one glass of juice. That would be REALLY difficult to eat that much in one sitting and you would naturally get full from one apple or orange.

But fruit juice makes it easy to consume 4-6 servings in one seating. That much sugar at once will hammer your liver and create a high amount of visceral fat.

The biggest takeaway I hope you get from this post is to be VERY mindful of the sugar content in your food and to consume as many whole foods as possible to eliminate visceral fat.

Processed foods are easy to overeat and are packed with hidden calories and sugar which causes fat gain.