8 Strategies to Reverse Skinny-Fat Syndrome

Hi, this is Dr. Mark Hyman. Welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, Doc, if I'm not overweight, do I really have to worry about the risk of heart disease and diabetes? Or do I just eat whatever I want? I mean, I drink sodas, I eat whatever I want, pasta, bread, sugar, and I don't gain weight. So should I be worried? Well, the answer is yes, because One out of four skinny people are actually what we call TOFI. That's thin on the outside, fat on the inside, also known as the skinny fat syndrome. So you might look thin, but inside you're fat because you have all this organ fat that's coating your liver and kidneys and your intestines, and that's the dangerous fat that causes problems. In fact, a guy, Jim, came in my office the other day, and he was like eating sodas, drinking lots of bread and pasta, he was thin, all sorts of junk food. And he's like, I'm not overweight, so do I have to worry? And I'm like, looked under the hood, and his triglycerides were through the roof, his blood sugar was almost in the diabetic range, his HDL, the good cholesterol, was low, his blood pressure was high. So even though he looked thin, he was actually very sick. In fact, people who are thin, who have prediabetes and eat sugar, are just at high risk of having a heart attack. In fact, the thin people who get type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of death. So how do you know if you have skinny fat syndrome? What do you do? Well, there's some very simple tests to learn. And you can do this some of them at home, some of them with your doctor. The first is look at your waist. If you have a little pot belly or a little pooching out of your belly and you might have that organ fat, that's a good clue. Second is look at your blood pressure. If it's a little high, it could be pre-diabetes or skinny fat syndrome. Also, look at your triglycerides. If they're high over 100 or 150, definitely a problem, and HDL if it's under 40. So you look at these numbers and you get a good idea of what's going on. You can also look at a special cholesterol test called the NMR. That's a test you can ask your doctor for. They don't usually do it, but I would demand it because the other tests are the cholesterol tests of the 20th century. This is the cholesterol test of the 21st century because it looks at the type and the number and the size of your particles of cholesterol. which is a bigger determinant of your heart disease risk than just the total number. So for example, if you have skinny fat syndrome, you can have a lot of small particles. So even though your total cholesterol might be 150, you can have tons of small little dense LDL particles that cause heart disease. So check that test and also check your blood sugar. You can do that at home with a finger stick or you can go to your doctor and ask them. But your fasting blood sugar should be between 70 to 90. And the sugar after you eat a big meal, should be no more than 120. If it's higher than that, you're in trouble. So you've got to find out if you have skinny fat syndrome, because it's lethal. And then there's a lot of things you can do to fix it. One, you can cut out all the refined sugar and processed foods. 152 pounds of sugar are consumed by every American every year. 146 pounds of flour. That's about a pound a day of sugar and flour for every man, woman, and child in America. That's a pharmacologic dose of sugar and flour. and that has horrible consequences for your metabolism because it causes a spike in insulin, which drives you to lose muscle, gain belly fat, create inflammation, lower your sex drive, drop your testosterone. It's a mess. It can also cause depression, dementia, cancer, not to mention heart disease and diabetes. So stay away from that stuff. Next, you got to eat more fat because fat will cut your appetite, cut the cravings. So olive oil, avocados, coconut butter, even Animal fats, fish oil, fish fat, and even grass-fed meat or lamb or healthy, sustainably raised animal products all have good fats in them that boost your level of health through actually providing a system that actually helps you burn fat, reduce your hunger, and increase your metabolism. Also increase your fiber intake because whatever you're eating, if you eat more fiber from fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds, you will actually reduce the total sugar load in your system. Also, exercise is really key. If you exercise, particularly strength training and high-interval intensity training, which is go really fast and then slow, that has a huge impact on reversing insulin resistance. Another big one is don't drink your calories, whether it's a sweetened coffee or sweetened tea or a sports drink or an energy drink. All those things, including sodas and even fruit juices, will spike your sugar and insulin. In fact, one study came out recently that sugar-sweetened beverages account for 186,000 deaths every year around the world from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. But you know what? Don't switch to artificial sweeteners either because they also cause diabetes and obesity. So there's no free lunch here. There's no sweet lunch, I should say. So make sure if you actually think you might be a skinny fat person that you go to your doctor, you get checked, you do your measurements, and see what's really going on underneath the hood. and then follow some simple steps to fix the problem. I've written my book, the 10-Day Detox Diet and the Blood Sugar Solution as a way of solving diabetes. There's all sorts of free resources. You can download my free ebook, quick start guide on a 10-day detox to get started right away. It's all sorts of wonderful resource for you for free. So I'd love to hear from you. Share with us your story. Are you a skinny fat person? Have you found out? What did you do about it? We'd love to hear what happened to you and your skinny fat syndrome. Also, if you enjoyed this video, sign up for my weekly house call newsletter and enjoy this every single week. And if you liked it, share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and get them involved in getting their health back on track. Also, I want you to submit your questions to me on www.DrHyman.com so next week I may make a house call to you.