(upbeat music) The Greek definition for metabolism is to transform. Your metabolism is designed to take food and to transform it into energy so you feel good and burn fat. We are determined to deliver the science and art of metabolism to you. We bring on the thought leaders in this space to have life-changing conversations so you could apply it and upgrade your metabolism. The topics covered here include biohacking, ketosis, carnivore, fasting strategies, mindset, and metabolic health. Your body was built to be self-healing. Our goal is to identify the interference and remove it. You are a masterpiece because you are a piece of the master. Welcome to the Metabolic Freedom Podcast. My name is Ben Azadi. I'm the best-selling author of KetoFlex, and I wanna thank you for spending part of your day with me. (upbeat music) Visceral fat is the white fat around your organs. You could also see it visually around your belly fat, love handles, and hips. Not only is visceral fat highly inflammatory which leads to chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, it's also visually unappealing. It increases your body fat percentage and makes you feel lethargic and fatigued. In this lesson, I'll be sharing with you the seven worst things that contribute to visceral fat and the solutions for each of them. Let's start with the first thing. That's gonna be microplastics. Microplastics are tiny particles, typically less than five millimeters in size that results from the breakdown of larger plastic debris or are manufactured at the small size for the use in products like cosmetics, cleaning agents, water bottles, and others that will identify and make some swaps with. These particles can be ingested or inhaled and have been found in various environments including oceans, soil, and even human tissues. Studies even have shown that most males have plastics microplastics in their testicles. The research suggests that these microplastics will contribute to visceral fat by disrupting your endocrine function and promoting inflammation. When ingested, microplastics can act as carriers for harmful chemicals such as endocrine disrupting chemicals. These are called EDCs. This will interfere with your hormones that regulate metabolism and fat storage. This disruption will lead to fat accumulation, particularly the fat around your organs, your liver, your heart, these vital organs that we do not wanna add fat to and create pressure 'cause that is highly inflammatory and at the end of the day they contribute to metabolic syndrome and obesity. When we consume these microplastics in our environment, it disrupts our entire hormonal system. In response, the body may overproduce or even underproduce these mimicked hormones. These endocrine disruptors have been linked to the development of neurological diseases, immune system issues, and overall weight gain. Even low doses of these endocrine disrupting chemicals may be unsafe. The body's normal endocrine functioning involves slight changes in hormonal levels. And we know even these small changes can cause significant developmental and biological effects. Where are these microplastics found? They're commonly found in everyday products that contain plastics, BPA, personal care products that contain phthalates, pesticides, and industrial chemicals like PCBs. According to a study found in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, these new risk factors for obesity and diabetes are environmental chemicals. They are calling these toxins "obecigence" because of the impact they have on the obesity crisis we face. Harvard are saying that by the year 20, 30, 50% of Americans will be obese. A study from the Environmental Health Perspectives made a strong connection between toxins and weight gain. They cite that many in the medical and exercise physiology communities remain wedded to just poor diet and lack of exercise as the sole cause of obesity. However, researchers are gathering convincing evidence of these chemicals called "obecigence." Dietary, pharmaceutical, and industrial compounds that may alter metabolic processes and predispose some people to gain weight. These microplastics are called lipophilic, meaning they're fat-loving chemicals. And when they are consumed, they create larger fat cells. Here's how it works. The first thing to understand is this. The most important priority for your human body, the innate intelligence that interphysician is survival. The body wants to survive no matter what. So when these chemicals, these microplastics enter your body from food, from the environment, from breathing it, or from cleaning products or skincare products, what happens is the body does not want these toxins to cue you right away. So it activates a pathway called p-part gamma. This is going to shuttle those toxins out of the bloodstream into your fat cells. And why does it do that? Because the solution to pollution is dilution. There's a lot of room in your fat cells, and those toxins will go and hide out there. And if there's not enough room, your metabolism will increase the size of the adipocytes, the fat cells. And if you run out of room, it'll create new fat cells. That is correct. Microplastics will enlarge your fat cells and even create newer fat cells. And they stay there for a very long time. This has the potential for a vicious spiral, not only of increasing obesity, but also increasing the retention of other lipophilic pollutant chemicals with even broader ranges of adverse actions. The potential for a vicious spiral to be set up where obesity genes act to increase the amount of fat stored by increasing cell volume or increased cell number would be followed by a greater retention of these lipophilic obesity genes. So that's how they make you gain fat, especially visceral fat. But it's not just the fat, that's the problem. A groundbreaking study published in March 2024 from the New England Journal of Medicine revealed a significant link between microplastics in arterial plaque and an increased risk of heart attack, strokes, and mortality. The study analyzed plaque samples from 304 patients undergoing carotid endarctomy, which is a procedure to clear blocked arteries. Microplastics were found in 58.4% of the patient's plaque. And over a follow-up period of two to three years, those microplastics in their plaque were approximately 4.5 times higher, more likely to experience severe cardiovascular events or death, underscoping the potential dangers of microplastic exposure. So what's the solution? To reduce your risk of microplastics, do the following. Drink out of glass bottles, such as you see the one I'm holding up here from Mountain Valley versus plastic bottles. Look, plastic bottles will leach microplastics in the water. You might be thinking, you never heat up your water bottle when it's plastic. You don't leave it in the car, but here's the thing. You don't know what that bottle of water in plastic did to transport the grocery store where you bought it. It could have been in a truck where it got heated and the plastics will leach into the water. So get glass as much as possible. Second thing is you do not want to use plastic Tupperware and especially you don't want to heat up plastic Tupperware like in a microwave. That'll leach plastics into the food, even if you're not heating it up, but storing it in the fridge, it'll still leach plastic, especially if there's fat in that food from the plastic Tupperware. So use glass Tupperware as much as possible. You also want to switch from plastic cutting boards to wooden cutting boards because plastic cutting boards, although you may not see it, when you cut your meat or your protein or your onions and your garlic, whatever it is, there are tiny pieces of plastic that go into the food. But with wood cutting boards, you don't have the issues. So switch to wood cutting boards. And lastly, be sure to rinse your dishes before you put food on it. Even if it's sitting right there on the counter, there's micro plastics in the environment and your dishes could accumulate the plastic. So simply rinse it off before you add food to your plate. The second worst thing contributing to visceral fat is high fructose corn syrup. You might be thinking, I already know the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and fructose in general, by the way, not just high fructose corn syrup, but a high consumption of fructose. But there are hidden names, different names for high fructose corn syrup, and they're found in a lot of healthy products will identify all of them right now. If you have excess visceral fat, this might be the reason why. This hidden ingredient is found in the most popular healthy products out there. And if your goal is to burn, stubborn fat, and get rid of that visceral fat, you want to support the mitochondria. Fructose and high fructose corn syrup is mitochondrial poison. We know how important the mitochondria is for creating energy. It's also important for raising your metabolic rate and burning fat. Every cell in your body has mitochondria with the exception of red blood cells. The mitochondria produce an energy currency called ATP. And the more ATP you generate, the more calories you burn. With a consumption of high fructose corn syrup, it lowers the production of ATP and lowers your metabolic rate, causing you to store visceral fat around your organs. When you consume too much fructose or high amounts of high fructose corn syrup, it destroys your mitochondria and its ability to produce energy. Not only does this slow down your metabolism, it raises inflammation at the cell level, preventing your fat burning hormones from getting into the cell and doing its job. High fructose corn syrup does not trigger the same feelings of fullness as other nutrients leading to increased food intake. This lack of satiety can cause individuals to eat more than necessary contributing to visceral fat. High fructose corn syrup leads to insulin resistance, a condition where the cell's bodies become less responsive to insulin. This can result in higher blood sugar levels and increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen, visceral fat. Fructose, especially high fructose corn syrup, is primarily metabolized by the liver. Excess fructose consumption can lead to the conversion of fructose to fat, contributing to liver fat accumulation, and overall body fat. High fructose corn syrup can disrupt normal metabolic processes leading to the issues such as metabolic syndrome, which includes a cluster of conditions such as increased blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, excess body fat, especially visceral fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels. This metabolic dysregulation can make it harder to lose weight. - Today, I wanna talk to you about a very important issue. If you recently engaged in any sort of restricted diet or have taken medications to lose weight faster for the summer, be careful. There's a big chance that you created a nutrient deficiency that not only could harm your overall health as it could jeopardize your weight loss goals. Did you know that over 75% of Americans are already deficient in magnesium? Magnesium is a crucial mineral that is involved in over 600 biological reactions and offers amazing benefits for sleep, stress management, and hormone balance, all key supporters for keeping your weight on healthy levels. And if you're still taking medications, you may be dealing with uncomfortable side effects like lack of sleep, digestive issues, or irritability that can also compromise your willingness to a long-term commitment to your goals. With or without medications, it is critical to set healthy habits to maintain your weight over time, making sure you have all the magnesium you need to optimally function is one of them. 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One of the best ways to know if you are in a fat burning state or a fed state, which is a fat storage state, is to track post-prandial glucose, post-prandial meaning after eating. The higher your blood sugar rises after eating and the longer it stays elevated, the more insulin needs to be cranked out. An insulin is an energy-sensing hormone and it tells your body to store fat. Therefore, the higher your blood sugar levels after eating, the faster you store fat, and the longer it takes to going back to burning fat. Hands down my favorite way to track post-prandial glucose and blood sugar levels in general is with a continuous glucose monitor. I've been using Nutrisense and their amazing program for so many years and I've been able to pinpoint specific foods that raise my blood sugar levels after eating. I've also been able to pinpoint what quality sleep and lack of quality sleep does to raise my blood sugar levels, what exercise does. It is such an incredible way to customize your approach no matter what diet you are following. And one of the cool things about Nutrisense, they give you a professional in their app to monitor your progress and the human expertise also gives nutrition advice as well. These are eye-opening insights from CGM data to help you make actionable steps. Head over to Nutrisense.io/freedom and use the coupon code "Freedom" to get $50 off your first month, that is Nutrisense.io/freedom. coupon code is "Freedom". - When I interviewed author of "Nature Wants Us To Be Fat", his name is Richard Johnson on my metabolic freedom podcast, he showed that this ingredient, fructose, is what bears consume before they hibernate to put as much visceral fat as possible on their body. High fructose corn syrup can lead to higher levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream, which are a type of fat. Elevated triglyceride levels can promote fat storage and weight gain, particularly visceral fat. High fructose corn syrup can lead to oxidative stress and inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is linked to obesity and can hinder weight loss efforts by interfering with metabolic processes. So here are the hidden names of high fructose corn syrup that are found all over the place. You wanna read the ingredients and make sure it does not contain any of these hidden ingredients. The first one is the obvious high fructose corn syrup, but here are the other names for high fructose corn syrup. Corn syrup, glucose fructose syrup, isoglycos, my syrup, fructose glucose syrup, tapioca syrup, fructose glucose syrup, and high fructose my syrup. Here are the top three most popular brands of each of the top 10 most common foods with high fructose corn syrup. And these are considered, and I'm putting this in quotation marks, healthy foods. The first one is gonna be found in yogurt. The top three brands that contain high fructose corn syrup are yoplay yogurt, danden fruit on the bottom yogurt, and activity of light. Healthier swaps that do not contain high fructose corn syrup are the following. GT's cocoa yolk, wallaby organic Aussie Greek yogurt, maple hill creamery 100% grass-fed organic kefir. Then we have granola bars. Here are the top three brands that contain high fructose corn syrup. Quaker chewy granola bars, nature valley sweet and salty nut bars, and Kellogg's Neutrogran bars. Healthier swaps. Well, ideally these are not granolas, not to be used to get rid of visceral fat, but if you're gonna choose a healthier granola that does not contain high fructose corn syrup, I would recommend purely Elizabeth's granola. It's better than most options. Then we have protein bars. Here are the top three protein brands that contain high fructose corn syrup. Power bar, met RX big 100 bars, and Cliff builders protein bars. Healthier swaps are gonna be paleo valleys, beef sticks, epic protein bars, and bulletproof collagen protein bars. Then we have breakfast cereals that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup. Here are the top three brands to avoid. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, and General Mills Tricks. If you're looking for a healthier swap for cereals without the high fructose corn syrup and go with three wishes cereal and Catalina Crunch, although it's not the best, it's better than most cereals. Then we have smoothies and fruit juices. Now, they may contain high fructose corn syrup, but smoothies and fruit juices also contain a high concentration of fructose, which can also contribute to visceral fat. So in terms of brands that you wanna avoid, you wanna avoid Minute Made, V8 Splash, and Naked Juice Smoothies. They're loaded with high fructose corn syrup. Healthier swaps will just be to avoid smoothies and fruit juices altogether if you wanna get rid of visceral fat. If you're gonna have whole fruit, have it around exercise and activity. Then we have salad dressings that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup. Here are the top three brands, Craft Salad Dressings, Hidden Valley Ranch, and Ken Steak House Dressings. Avoid those. Healthier swaps are gonna be Primal Kitchen's Salad Dressings. Those are my go-to. Next we have condiments like Ketchup and Barbecue Sauces. Here are the top brands to avoid that contain high fructose corn syrup. Hines Ketchup, Hints Ketchup, Delmente Ketchup, Sweet Baby Raised Barbecue Sauce, KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce, and Craft Original Barbecue Sauce. Healthier swaps and brands that do not contain high fructose corn syrup are Primal Kitchen's Barbecue Sauce and Ketchup, and Annie's Organic Ketchup. Then we have whole wheat and multi-grain breads. Let's talk about the brands to avoid. Wonder Bread, Cerulee, and Arnold Brownberry Orowit. These brands contain high fructose corn syrup. Healthier swaps, this is gonna be a tough one 'cause I avoid bread in general, but if you're gonna go with one, go with base culture sourdough bread. Now let's discuss sports drinks that contain high fructose corn syrup and the top popular brands. The ones to avoid are Gatorade, Powerade, and all sport electrolyte drinks. Healthier swaps would be just taking a high-quality electrolyte sweetened with Stevia. My favorite brands are Element, Redman's Relite, Keto, Chow, and Ultima. Those are safe. Next we have Instant Oatmeal. Here are the brands that contain high fructose corn syrup that you want to avoid. Quaker Oat, Instant Oatmeal. Great value, Instant Oatmeal, and Market Pantry, Instant Oatmeal. Healthier swaps would be to avoid Oatmeal together if you're trying to burn visceral fat. Oatmeal promotes fat storage. A better breakfast option would be eggs and bacon cooked in butter. If you're wondering how to find all these healthier swaps, most supermarkets have them. I personally use a company called Thrive Market, which delivers these cleaning ingredients, a lot of the products that I mentioned right to my door. It's kind of like Whole Foods supermarket, meets Costco membership. And we have a special deal for you to get 30% off your first order with Thrive Market and a free gift when you use them. You could find a lot of these brands that do not contain high fructose corn syrup and are clean and deliver it right to your door. Go to the link in the notes down below to check that out. The next item that causes visceral fat is Artificial Sweeteners. Artificial Sweeteners will disrupt your gut microbiome and increase hunger. Studies suggest that artificial sweeteners are not properly metabolized inside of the body. And for some, it can raise insulin levels with promotes fat storage. Artificial Sweeteners are commonly used as sugar substitutes to provide sweetness without the calories associated with sugar. While they were initially believed to be healthy alternatives to sugar, emerging research suggests that these sweeteners may have unintended effects on the metabolism, including the potential to increase visceral fat. Visceral fat, as we establish, accumulates fat around your internal organs and it's very harmful, leading to various metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance, tecti-diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. One of the mechanisms by which artificial sweeteners may contribute to the accumulation of visceral fat is through their impact on the gut microbiome. Studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can alter the composition of gut bacteria in ways to promote glucose intolerance and metabolic syndrome. This dysbiosis can lead to increased inflammation and impaired regulation of fat storage, particularly the visceral fat. Additionally, some research indicates that artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body's natural ability to regulate energy balance by affecting insulin sensitivity and signaling pathways related to hunger and satiety. This disruption can lead to increase appetite and calorie consumption further contributing to the accumulation of visceral fat. So here are the artificial sweeteners to avoid that contribute to visceral fat and then the healthier swaps. You want to avoid sucralose. There was a study from May 2023 showing that sucralose called DNA damage. In other words, it's genotoxic. You also want to avoid aspartame and a sulcophane potassium called ACEK. Healthier swaps are going to be stevia, monk fruit, alulose, xylitol, and erythritol. The next item on the list that leads to visceral fat is alcohol. Don't shoot the messenger, but I have to tell you the truth here. Alcohol is a poison to your body. Every sip of alcohol will increase inflammation, kill brain cells, and promote fat storage. That's because alcohol is a toxin. And when you consume this toxin, even if it's the cleanest alcohol in the world, and I'll give you the worst options versus the best options in a minute, your liver needs to prioritize getting rid of that alcohol. And your liver not only is a very important detoxification organ, it's a fat loss organ. And when it's confused or distracted because it's working on removing the alcohol, it's not burning fat, it's not detoxifying, and you have a whole cluster of problems that can occur. So let's discuss, if you choose to drink alcohol, what are the worst options out there? That's going to be beer and wine. Let's discuss wine first. Dr. Zach Bush shared on my metabolic freedom podcast that the average california wine has 64 herbicides and pesticides in it. Pesticides contain glyphosate, and they're highly inflammatory. We'll talk more about them later. Additionally, there are 76 additives approved by the FDA for the use in winemaking, including toxins like dimethyl, dicarbonate. Many of the most popular wines are full of additives and high in sugar. With beer, that's also a problem. Beer can decrease your testosterone levels for up to 24 hours and increase estrogen by 300%. So the infamous beer belly is just an estrogen belly. Biochemically, the higher your level of estrogen is, the more you absorb alcohol, the slower you break it down. So we don't want that from beer, and we don't want that from wine. If you choose to have alcohol, I would recommend clear alcohols, like whiskey, vodka, and tequila, without any other mixers, just drink it with ice on the rocks. If you choose to drink wine, go with a European wine, or even better, a dry farm wine that's organic and biodynamic, low in sugar. I recommend, although I don't drink, but for those of my clients who want to drink, I recommend dry farm wines. They're clean, low in sugar, organic, no pesticides, and you can find their information over at ketocampwine.com. I drop a link for them down below. There's some things you can do if you have alcohol to mitigate the problems with alcohol as it relates to visceral fat storage. Number one is to drink a ton of water before the alcohol and with the water. That'll help with the metabolism of the alcohol. You also want to take a high-quality glutathione and a binder, like activated charcoal, right before the alcohol. That's going to help you metabolize it faster. Studies also suggest that eating asparagus with the alcohol will also help you metabolize it faster. And I'll drop links for that study, including the glutathione that I use and the binder that I recommend in the notes down below. The next item on the list here that contributes to inflammation, visceral fat, are seed oils, also called vextre boils, also called linoleic acid. These vextre boils are highly unstable. These are bad fats. And arguably, they are more inflammatory and lead to more visceral fat than sugar and smoking. I'll talk more about that in a minute. But first, it's important to understand why they're so bad for you. When we look at the chemical structure of vegetable oils, it shows a lot of double bonds. What does that mean? Well, the more double bonds a fat contains, the more aggressive it is at attracting oxygen. And the more oxygen it attracts at an aggressive rate, the more it oxidizes. That means it turns into an unstable, rancid, inflammatory fat. The perfect example is a vehicle, a car that's left on the lot for years. Unattended, under the sun, it starts to rust. Essentially, when you consume these vextre boils, it rusts yourselves, creating inflammation on your membranes, preventing your fat burning hormones from getting in, leading to the accumulation of visceral fat. These vextre boils are so inflammatory and found everywhere, by the way. There are 80% of the food supply in the United States. The reason why we want to avoid them is because their half-life is about 680 days. That means if you stopped eating them today, 680 days later, half of them will be in your body fat. That's crazy. Now, with fasting and ketosis and a lot of the things that I teach, you could speed up the removal of these vextre boils a lot faster. But a couple things here. I remember I interviewed a lot of researchers on the field and topic of vextre boils. Dr. Kate Shanahan is one of them. She has a fantastic book called Dark Calories. I've brought her on my metabolic freedom podcast several times, and another researcher who's an MIT researcher named Brian Pescan. I remember sitting down, I was here in Miami, where I live, recording a podcast interview with Brian Pescan. We were doing it at the restaurant. We just had lunch, we put it on the headset, and we were talking about vextre boils. And I said, Brian, let me ask you this. These vextre boils, we know they're so inflammatory, but do you think they're worse than smoking cigarettes? And he said, well, let's look at the research. He said, if somebody smoked two packs of cigarettes every day for 28 years, the chances of them developing lung cancer within those 28 years is 16%, 1%, 6%. Then he said, compare that to somebody consuming these cooked vextre boils every day for 28 years. The chances of them developing any cancer and/or heart disease is 86%. Let me know if you could relate to this health insurance. Oh, my gosh. What a pain in the butt it is to deal with health insurance. It is a broken system that is penalizing people who are truly trying to get healthier, like you, listening to this podcast. These health care costs are rising dramatically due to a broken insurance system that incentivizes higher costs and interventions instead of prevention. So what's the solution? I'm a big fan of crowd health. It's a better alternative to health insurance. It's not a health share. It's a decentralized community supporting each other directly for large health expenses. CrowdHealth is a revolutionary health care platform that empowers consumers by offering an alternative to traditional health insurance. It operates on a subscription model. This fee grants them access to a comprehensive suite of health care tools, resources, and personalized support through personal care advocates, as well as access to the crowd where they can submit any health care expenses over $500 for funding by the crowd. CrowdHealth is not an insurance company. It offers a consumer centric approach to managing health care expenses, focusing on transparency, community support, and cost sharing. CrowdHealth recently launched the carnivore crowd initiative. It's a crowd within the crowd, specifically for verified, metabolically healthy people who eat animal-based diets. Members of this crowd will exclusively fund each other's health care expenses. You can opt into this crowd and stop subsidizing poor diet decisions with rising premiums while saving money for being a part of a healthy crowd. For metabolic freedom podcast listeners only, you can join using the code vitamin G and get $99 per month for the first three months. When you sign up with this code, you will be temporarily added to the carnivore crowd until you submit the required metabolic tests. For more information on how it works, visit joincrowdhealth.com/carnivore or click the link in the show notes. Make sure you use the coupon code vitamin G. That's joincrowdhealth.com/carnivore. The code is vitamin G. Every morning, I've been putting something in my coffee, which has enhanced my health and wellness. I've been putting high-quality Sheila Jit. Sheila Jit is packed full of micro minerals and micro nutrients. And you have to remember this, the mitochondria, they run off of high-quality minerals and amino acids. When you consume Sheila Jit, a high-quality Sheila Jit, like the one I use from Man of Vitality, it's gonna provide your mitochondria and your cells, minerals in their most bioavailable form, supporting overall health, stronger immunity, and improved energy levels. The product I use from Man of Vitality has a combination of Sheila Jit and Ormis. Ormis is a supercharged supplement, and their unique formulation contains ormis elements in the most bioavailable form for optimal absorption. They source the ormis from the bottom of the Dead Sea, and they source the Sheila Jit from the top of the Himalayan mountains. Both are extreme environments, and what this does, it stresses the Sheila Jit and the ormis to become more bioavailable and stronger and more potent when you consume it. So I simply put a sashay in my coffee every morning, and you'll notice a difference the first time you use it. If you head over to mannavitality.com/ketocamp, and use the coupon code ketocamp, you'll get a nice discount off your order. Manna has spelled with two N's, M-A-N-N-A, vitality.com/ketocamp, go check it out. I think you're gonna love it just like I do. I asked Dr. K. Shanahan, who's a New York Times best-selling author, Kobe Bryant's nutritionist for the Lakers when he used to play back in the day. If Brian Peskin's research aligned with her research, she said actually it's closer to 100% disease is what she said. Dr. Kate said these vegetable oils are worse than smoking and sugar combined. In a recent study from Dr. Martin Grootfeld showed that five ounces of french fries, cooked in vegetable oils produced enough aldehyde content that are not dissimilar to those arising from smoking 25 tobacco cigarettes. Let's unpack that. That means five ounces of french fries cooked in vegetable oil is about 25 french fries, which equates to about 25 tobacco cigarette smoked. So one french fry, fried in vegetable oil, consumed is one cigarette smoked. Whoa, so let me give you a list of these inflammatory vegetable oils that promote visceral fat to avoid. Look at the ingredients and make sure you avoid these as much as possible. We have canola oil called rapeseed oil in the UK, corn oil, cotton seed oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, rice brand oil, grapeseed oil, refined peanut oil and even fish oil is inflammatory as well. Healthier swaps are gonna be saturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Remember, we just discussed the problem with the double bonds. Saturated fats contain zero double bonds and monounsaturated fats contain one double bond. That's why it's called mono. They're more stable. They lower inflammation and they help you burn visceral fat. So my favorite swaps are gonna be coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, butter, ghee, beef tallow, and duck fat and even lard if it comes from organic pastured pigs. The challenge is when you go to restaurants. Most restaurants, almost 100% of restaurants, even fancy restaurants, will cook their foods in vegetable oil. So I personally use my seed oil allergy card where it shows, dear chef, I have an allergy to these vegetable oils and it lists all nine of them. Can you make the swap to safer options which list the healthier options? You just show this to the server and they accommodate and make that swap and switch for you so you don't take the hit. Remember, it's 680 days for half of them to get rid of inside of your body. You can get this seed oil card for free over at seedoilcard.com. My gift to you, I'll put a link for it in the notes down below. Okay, next on the list of things that contribute to visceral fat are GMO foods that contain glyphosate. Glyphosate is a toxin that has the ability to alter your metabolism. It's a broad spectrum herbicide commonly used to kill weeds, particularly in agricultural settings. It works by inhibiting a specific enzyme pathway necessary for plant growth. Concerns have been raised about its potential effects on human health, particularly regarding its impact on metabolism. Some studies suggest that glyphosate may disrupt gut microbiota. In parent digestive health and leading to metabolic disorders. Additionally, it has been linked to potential endocrine disruption, which can interfere with hormonal balance and contribute to metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes. MIT researchers Stephanie Senneth and Nancy Swanson published data showing strong correlations between the application of glyphosate on the US food supply and specific diseases. So you can see on the screen here, they showed a direct link between the application of glyphosate and dementia. They showed a link between glyphosate and diabetes, autism as well, Parkinson's disease, and even Alzheimer's. So what do you do? How do you avoid them? That's where I'm going to share with you the dirty dozen versus the clean 15. The dirty dozen are the top 12 most common foods that are sprayed with glyphosate. When you consume these foods, they chelate vitamins and minerals from your body, starving your cells and not allowing your mitochondria to produce energy and burn fat, creating metabolic dysfunction. So the dirty dozen are the foods you want to make sure if you consume them are always organic non-GMO. Here's the list, the dirty dozen. Strawberries, spinach, kale, collard, and mustard greens will put in one category. Peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, grapes, bell and hot peppers, cherries, and blueberries. In lastly, green beans as well. I would add coffee and wine to that list personally. Then we have the clean 15. These are foods that are commonly non-GMO and typically not sprayed with glyphosate. So if you choose to buy them, it's always best to go organic, but if you cannot find them organic, they're much safer for you. So the clean 15 are avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, onions, papayas, sweet peas, asparagus, honeydew melons, kiwis, cabbages, mushrooms, mangoes, sweet potatoes, watermelons, and carrots. Other ways to avoid glyphosate or the removal of glyphosate from your body is to take high quality, fulvic, and humic minerals, which has been shown to remove glyphosate from the body. I use a company and a product called Beam Minerals. If you go to beamminerals.com/ketocamp and use the coupon code ketocamp at checkout, you'll get a nice discount off your order. We'll drop a link for it down below. And the next item that creates visceral fat is high levels of stress and the hormone cortisol and lack of sleep. We're gonna pair this together. Sleep is the Swiss army knife of metabolism. When you upgrade your sleep, every part of your metabolism upgrades. And the opposite is true. When you downgrade your sleep, every part of your metabolism downgrades. The health implications of inadequate sleep are extensive. Sleep deprivation is linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular, diseases, and various mental health disorders. The strain on the body from lack of rest exacerbates these conditions, leading to a cycle of poor health outcomes. Lack of sleep contributes to the accumulation of visceral fat in the four key ways. Number one, increase blood glucose in insulin levels. Number two, a slowed/ inefficient metabolism. Number three, a toxicity buildup leading to brain disorders. And number four, a circadian rhythm mismatch. Imagine your body as a well orchestrated symphony where each instrument represents a different aspect of your metabolism. Sleep acts as the conductor, ensuring that each instrument plays its part harmoniously. When you don't get enough sleep, it's as if the conductor is absent, causing the orchestra to fall out of sync. The stress hormones like cortisol start playing too loudly, drowning out the soft steady rhythm of insulin, which is crucial for regulating blood sugar levels. Simultaneously, the hunger hormones ghrelin and leptin, the satiety hormones start playing erratic and conflicting tunes leading to overeating. This chaos results in a disjointed performance where blood sugar levels rise uncontrollably, much like a symphony gone awry without its conductor. What does all that mean? That means when you're not getting quality sleep. The next morning, you're gonna have higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Glucose blood sugar levels fall cortisol. You're gonna be hunger 'cause it activates ghrelin and you're gonna eat more inflammatory, high sugar, high process foods. You're gonna be storing fat and it's gonna be really hard to burn visceral fat with lack of sleep. Your metabolism activates your fat burning hormones during deep delta sleep. You also manage stress and buffer stress much better when you get quality, restorative sleep. And research backs this up. Research presented at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting highlights the link between short or poor sleep and the increased risk of type two diabetes. Studies such as those published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and others highlight how sleep restriction and healthy adults results in decreased insulin sensitivity and hormonal changes that increase appetite and caloric intake. A study published in Diabetes found that restricting sleep to five hours per night for one week significantly reduces insulin sensitivity in healthy men. The study involved over 20 healthy participants and demonstrated a 20% reduction in insulin sensitivity following sleep reduction. When all these processes happen, your metabolism will not be efficient. It will continue to pack on that white visceral fat and it will prevent you from burning that fat. So you wanna prioritize mastering your stress. You wanna prioritize your quality of sleep. It's not necessarily about the total time of sleep. It's about the quality of sleep. You wanna aim to get 90 minutes of REM sleep and deep delta sleep. You go through three major cycles of sleep throughout the night. You have light sleep, REM sleep and deep sleep. Light sleep has some benefits, you're resting. REM sleep is rapid eye movement sleep where you store short-term memory for long-term memory. So it helps with your mental clarity and memory. The deep delta sleep is where you burn fat. This is important to get 90 minutes of deep, 90 minutes of REM. You can track your sleep with an or a ring like I have, a Fitbit, an Apple Watch, a Woot Band, there's different devices out there. Aim to get 90 minutes of each. Here is how you can do that. Making your bedroom cold, 65 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit is where the studies show you get most of that deep sleep. You want your body temperature to drop one degrees to enter that deep delta sleep. Making your bedroom as dark as possible will help. Wearing a sleep mask or having blackout curtains will help as well. Avoiding stimulation right before bed. That means artificial light and television, maybe wearing blue light blocking glasses at night will help as well. And lastly, no food, at least three hours before bed, will help you get that deep delta sleep. When you eat something and you're not actively burning those calories, your body is going to be in an inflammatory state. It'll raise your body temperature and prevent you from getting into deep delta sleep. So those are the top seven things that lead to visceral fat. You avoid them, you're going to burn fat rapidly. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) This podcast is for information purposes only. Statements and views expressed on this podcast are not medical or advised. This podcast, including Benazari, disclaim responsibility from any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own. And this podcast does not accept responsibility of statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representation to warranties about guests qualifications or credibility. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or non-direct interest in products or services referred to herein. If you think you have a medical problem, consult a licensed physician. You
