Let it Flow

My day ended on the early side yesterday and as I unwound and began preparing dinner, I put the TV on in the background. Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of the book You on a Diet was on Oprah and until yesterday I had never had the opportunity to hear what he had to say about dieting and weight loss. I believe this episode was a rerun, however it was new to me.

He had a lot of great things to say about weight loss. The one thing I want to share today is a little bit about Omentum. Have you heard of it? I had not.

What is Omentum?
According to Dr. Oz, omentum is a fatty layer of tissue located inside the belly that hangs underneath the muscles in your stomach. (see picture below, from the show).

Dr. Oz is holding unhealthy omentum which is filled with fat. Oprah is holding “healthy” omentum.

On the Oprah show Dr. Oz stated, “When someone’s beer bellied, you know how it gets that tense, big look? That’s this,” he says. “That’s [the omentum] pushing up against your stomach, and it coils up in there.”

The hard truth: the unhealthy omentum pictured above once belonged to someone 30 to 40lbs overweight. The individual died of heart disease.

When I look at the size differences in the picture I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be if your omentum is that big and coiling up inside your stomach. This photo and information definitely gets me thinking.

Instead of weight size think waist size.
The omentum contributes to the size of your waist. The more fat in your body, the larger your omentum, the bigger your waist. On average a woman’s waist is healthy at no more than 32.5″, a male at 35″. He also said you can calculate by dividing your height in inches in half. If you are a female who is 60 inches tall (5 ft), then your waist should be no more than 30″ round.

To properly measure your waist size, lift up shirt, place one end of tape measure over belly button, suck in stomach as much as you can, and then wrap the other end of the tape measure around your back to meet the other end. This is your waist measurement. Dr. Oz says sucking in pulls the muscles, not the omentum and it’s the omentum you want to measure.

I checked my waist size and based on the 32.5″ guideline for women I am in good shape. Are you at a healthy waist size?

Gross you out? Get you thinking differently about the foods you put in your body? I imagine that was the plan. It’s not often we get to see what happens inside our bodies. I think that’s why I enjoyed yesterday’s episode so much. It’s time we pay attention to what’s happening on the inside of our bodies as well as outside! The phrases “out of sight, out of mind” and “Ignorance is bliss” are coming into my mind. In this case, ignorance can truly kill you. What are you going to do about it?

For more information on yesterday’s episode, visit Oprah’s website.

Tags: Fitness and Exercise, Food and Diet //