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Interior belly fat -- aka visceral fat -- is the fat you cannot see (at least not yet) that's building up around your internal organs and damaging your health. Not only does it increase your risk for prediabetes and diabetes, but it also damages your cardiovascular system.

A study in European Heart Journal used AI to evaluate imaging from more than 21,000 folks and found that hidden visceral belly fat speeds up stiffening of blood vessels and arteries and inflammation of the heart. And you can be a "healthy weight" and still be at risk from your visceral fat deposits.

What makes this life-shortening fat accumulate? Eating a lot of processed and sugar-added foods, as well as poor sleep and chronic stress, can cause your body to make more visceral fat than it can burn up.

But you can take steps to relieve your internal organs from visceral fat's silent assault. My 7-point plan: 1. Build muscle with strength-training; 2. Get your heart pumping to boost metabolism; 3. Get a dose of protein with every meal; 4. Eat more fiber -- it helps prevent absorption of fat; 5. Stick with black, filtered coffee, water and tea for beverages and limit alcohol; 6. Walk for 15 minutes minimum after each meal; and 7. Talk to your doc about getting a bio-impedance analysis or DEXA SCAN to assess your amount of visceral fat.

If you try the first six steps without benefit, then talk to your doc about taking a GLP-1. For more tips, sign up for the free newsletter at 4YOUngevity.com.

Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Check out his latest, "The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow," and find out more at www.4YOUngevity.com. Email your health and wellness questions to Dr. Mike at questions@4YOUngevity.com.

(c)2023 Michael Roizen, M.D.

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

(c) 2025 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.