This week’s One Health Tweak a Week podcast tackles a frustrating problem many of us recognise: you try to eat better, cut back on the obvious offenders, and yet your waistline still refuses to budge.
The reason may be that belly fat, especially the visceral fat around your organs, is not just a food story. In this episode, we look at the overlooked non-food factors that can quietly drive abdominal fat upwards, including poor or irregular sleep, chronic stress, low mood, loneliness, inactivity, menopause, sleep apnoea, and some medications.
We also explore why visceral fat matters for far more than appearance. Higher levels are linked to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, and a shorter healthy lifespan.
You’ll hear why the sweet spot for sleep seems to be around 7.5-8 hours, how fragmented or erratic sleep may work against you, why stress and low mood can become metabolic problems, and why a stubborn waistline is sometimes asking for a wider health audit rather than a stricter diet.
If you’ve been doing the sensible things and wondering why your middle still is not cooperating, this episode should help you think about the problem more clearly, and more usefully.
