Transcription
10 foods that cause the most visceral fat. Avoid these.
There are 10 foods that you're probably eating silently feeding your visceral fat, and that's the fat that's wrapped around your organs, and it's acting like a toxic sludge. And most people think all belly fat is the same. But here's what doctors don't want you to know. Visceral fat has a completely different biology compared to the fat that you can pinch. It's metabolically active. It's pumping out inflammatory chemicals, and it's destroying your health from the inside out. But that's not even the crazy part. One in two people are drinking one of these foods and two in three people are eating these visceral fat builders.
My name is Michael Diamonds. I'm a medical doctor, scientist specialized in biochemistry and microbiology. I am a pro-natural bodybuilder and I've been coaching business athletes over a decade, telling them what to eat and what not to eat to reduce their visceral fat and also see their six-pack. And I'm going to completely flip everything you know about burning belly fat. And in this video, I'm going to reveal the 10 foods that you're basically feeding that dangerous fat and probably eating them every single day without realizing them. By the end of the video, you'll know exactly which foods are sabotaging your results and what to do about them. Let's not waste time and dive straight in.
And before I jump into food number one, I just need to put this disclaimer out there. The goal of the video isn't to demonize food, but it's just to bring you to higher consciousness of what you're putting in your body and to help you potentially make a better choice. Again, health is all a spectrum. There's things that are really bad for you and things that are really good for you. And having one of these things occasionally will not hurt, like drinking for example. So, I just want to put that out there and this will help you make better decisions.
Now, food number 10, Tropicana orange juice. You see the label, right? 100% orange juice, purely squeezed, no added sugar, and then you're thinking you're making the healthy choice, right? Wrong. So, here's the deal. A 12 oz glass of Tropicana orange juice contains 34 grams of sugar, right? That is about eight and a half sugar cubes. That's one eight and a half. That's 8 and a half sugar cubes in one glass. And that's all because the fiber from the orange has been stripped away. And that sugar hits your bloodstream like a freight train. There's a 2021 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and they tracked 783 people from infancy through adolescence. And what they found was so interesting that each additional serving of fruit juice per day predicted significantly higher visceral fat for years. And the problem, it's the liquid fructose. And think of it like this. Your liver is a nightclub bouncer. And when sugar comes in slowly like from the whole orange with fiber, the bouncer can handle it no problem. But when you slam it with 34 grams of liquid sugar from Tropicana, the bouncer gets overwhelmed and all that excess fructose gets converted into visceral fat through a process called de novo lipogenesis. And the liver literally turns it into fat and stores it around your organs. And there's a 2023 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and it found that whole foods actually decrease body weight by nearly 1 kilogram, right, which is 2.2 lb and your waist circumference by almost 2 cm. Same fruit, completely different impact on your body. So the fix, let's ditch the Tropicana, eat the whole orange instead, and you'll get the fiber and you'll feel fuller for longer and your liver will actually thank you.
Let's go into food number nine. Our favorite Starbucks Frappuccino. It's one of the most popular drinks in America with over 3 million sold every day. This is a Grande 16 Starbucks caramel frappuccino containing 420 calories. That's 66 grams of sugar and 15 grams of fat. Let me show you what that looks like. That is 16 and a half sugar cubes. 1, 2, 15, 16 and a half, 16 and a half sugar cubes in this Starbucks Frappuccino and exactly 15 grams of fat. Let's call each one of these 10 grams of fat. So this and a half sized gram of fat. So this is exactly what you're putting into your body, right? And that's 3 teaspoons of fat in one drink. It's basically a milkshake disguised as coffee. Now this is what makes it even worse. People don't think of it as food, right? They think of it as their afternoon coffee break. So, they drink their sugar and fat combination on top of their regular meals, adding 420 calories that they didn't even account for. So, there's a 2024 study in the Obesity Journal that found that sweetened coffee drinks are strongly associated with an increase in visceral fat accumulation when it's consumed regularly. So, here's the science. The 66 grams of sugar, which is 16 teaspoons, spikes your insulin through the roof. Your pancreas dumps your insulin into your bloodstream. Your body shifts into fat storage mode and all that extra sugar gets converted to visceral fat. Now, the fix is if you need your Starbucks fix, simply just order regular coffee like an Americano. You can add a splash of whole milk if you need to, but I recommend going for a skinny, which means just a low fat. And you can add a little bit of cinnamon for flavor. They do sometimes offer sugar-free options, so you can just go for that.
Food number eight is Wonderbread. This is the classic white bread that's been in American households for over a hundred years. Soft, fluffy, perfect for sandwiches. Right? Wrong. Now, again, this one I'm holding here specifically isn't Wonderbread, but I'm talking about white breads in general. Two slices of Wonderbread contain about 29 grams of refined carbohydrates and only 2 grams of fiber. So, first you might be asking, okay, Dr. Mike, what exactly is refined carb? So, here's what happens. Whole grains start out as three parts. The bran, which is fiber-rich, the outer layer, the germ, which is the nutrient-dense core, and then the endosperm, which is the starchy middle. When grains are refined, manufacturers strip away the bran and the germ, leaving only the endosperm. You lose the fiber, the B vitamins, the iron, and the healthy fats. What's left behind is pure starch that your body treats almost exactly like table sugar. This is the problem. Without fiber to slow the digestion, the refined carbs spike your blood sugar faster than the whole grains. And there's this 2010 Framingham heart study and they basically tracked 2,834 people using CT scans and they found that the highest refined grain consumers had approximately 12% more visceral fat than those who ate the least refined grains. But here's the kicker. People who ate the most whole grains had about 17% less visceral fat. But here's the catch. Whole grains only helped people if they kept their refined grain intake low. So, if you're eating four or more servings of refined grains per day, adding whole grains won't help you at all. And there's another 2017 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and it showed that people eating whole grains burned about 92 more calories per day compared to their refined grain eaters just from better digestion and metabolism. So, Dr. Mike, what's the fix? I got you. So, we want to swap the Wonderbread for more so whole grain bread and look for options with at least 3 to 5 grams of fiber per slice. So, do take your bread and look for this label and just read it, right? And an example of that is maybe Dave's Killer Bread, Ezekiel bread, or even sourdough made with whole grains are infinitely better choices.
Food number seven is margarine. Marketed for decades as healthier than butter or lower in saturated fat or hard healthy. But here's the truth. The stuff can contain something dangerous. Artificial trans fats to be specific that form partially hydrogenated oils. A 2011 study in Nutrition and Diabetes gave women trans fats for 16 weeks and they found that they decreased their good cholesterol by 10% and they increased their bad cholesterol by 18%. A six-year primate study showed that trans fats diets scored 7.2% body weight gain versus just the 1.8% from healthier fats with most of that weight going straight to visceral fat. Trans fats just don't increase inflammation. They actively signal your body to redistribute fat storage to the abdominal cavity. Your body literally chooses to store it around the organs instead of under your skin. So, this is the fix. Let's replace the margarine. Just use real butter instead. Right? Preferably grass-fed or preferably switched to olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil. Your body knows how to process real fat. These processed vegetable oil blends, even without trans fat, are still inflammatory and inferior to real natural fats.
Before I jump over to food number six, let me know if you guys are enjoying this level of research into these foods by leaving the video a gentle thumbs up. And let me know if you guys want more of these cuz there's like 10 or 20 more that I know you guys are probably eating that you shouldn't be. Let me know in the comments.
Now, food number six is the infamous and the best McDonald's French fries. Again, like once in a while is okay, but let's talk about this. McDonald's French fries are the most consumed fries on the planet and one of the biggest contributors to visceral fat that you can eat. A medium order of these McDonald's fries contains 380 calories. That is 19 grams of fat. Two of these whole things. That's what 19 grams of fat looks like. And 48 grams of carbs. That is 4 teaspoons of fat and equivalent of 12 sugar cubes. This is essentially what you're consuming. But here's what's really happening inside of your body when you consume these, right? McDonald's fries are cooked in a blend of canola oil, corn oil, and soybean oil, and some of those hydrogenated soybean oils I mentioned earlier. And they're highly inflammatory oils that are loaded with omega-6 fatty acids. And there's a 2024 study in Food and Function that tracked over 27,000 people for 8 years. And they found those who ate fried foods 1.5 servings or more per day had a 31% increase in obesity and a 27% higher abdominal obesity risk. But it's not just the oil. When potatoes are deep fried at high temperatures, they create compounds called advanced glycation end products, AGEs. And these are protein or fat molecules that have bonded with sugar molecules in a process triggered by heat. Now, AGEs accumulate in your tissues and trigger oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. They directly promote insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation. So, fried potatoes specifically were the most dangerous offenders in the study, showing a 45% higher risk in obesity and a 49% higher abdominal obesity risk compared to non-consumers. Plus, the fries are loaded with sodium. A medium fry has 260 milligrams of sodium, which causes a lot of water retention and bloating. It may make you look and feel bigger than you actually are. Now, I love French fries and McDonald's fries as much as the next person, but here's the truth. McDonald's fries are engineered to be addictive. This is the fix. Make your own fries at home. Cut up some potatoes. Toss some olive oil on it. Season it with some pink Himalayan salt and paprika. Add it to an air fryer and bake it at 425 Fahrenheit for 25 minutes in the air fryer. Get them crispy in texture without that inflammatory oil bath that contains all those AGEs.
But let's move on into food number five. Our favorite Skittles. You're consuming pure concentrated sugar in one single pack. So in a 2.17 oz pack of Skittles, which is the standard size you grab at your gas station or at a movie theater, contains 45 grams of sugar. That's 11 sugar cubes in one pack. So in this bag of Skittles, there's 11 sugar cubes. So when I say sugar in a pack, that's what I mean. And that's more sugar than a glazed Krispy Kreme donut. It's also high in fructose corn syrup and sugar. There's no fiber. There's no protein. There's just no nutrients. And it's like you're pouring gasoline directly on a fire. And there's a 2024 study that tracked 3,300 adults for 30 years. And it found that greater added sugar intake was associated with a 28% increase in obesity risk and a 27% increase in abdominal obesity risk. So here's what happens when you eat these Skittles, right? You have a massive sugar load coming into your body that spikes your insulin through the roof. Now insulin is your body's fat storage hormone. When insulin is high, your body can't burn fat. It's in fat storage mode. And guess where it loves to store fat? Around the liver, the pancreas, your intestines, and that's visceral fat. But here's the kicker. Personally, for me, in my experience, it's addictive. I have a sweet tooth, right? And research shows that the sugar lights up the same brain regions as cocaine. And you're not weak for craving Skittles. You're just literally wired to want them. Plus, remember how I talked about the fructose metabolism earlier? That high fructose corn syrup in Skittles bypasses your normal metabolic regulation and gets converted directly into fat in your liver through de novo lipogenesis. It's not just the calories, it's the type of sugar that matters. But of course, your boy got a fix for you. If you need something sweet, a few squares of dark chocolate. Now, this one is 90% cocoa. This might be a bit too bitter, but I recommend 70% cocoa or higher or a piece of fruit or Greek yogurt drizzled with some honey. I have this Jell-O that I've been making. It's one pack of Jell-O, sugar-free. And on that Jell-O, you can add the Light and Fit Greek yogurt and then just add berries for them from sugar. Thinking about it gets me going.
Food number four is baloney. It's a lunchtime staple for a lot, but here's the truth. Processed meats like baloney drive visceral fat accumulation through multiple mechanisms. Right? So there's a 2022 study and it tracked 7,300 adults and it found that the highest processed meat consumers had a 22% higher visceral fat and higher central obesity risk compared to those who ate the least. So why baloney? And again, I'm just using this as an example to talk about processed meats in general. This is loaded with sodium. One serving has 310 mg, right? It has preservatives. It has nitrites, low-quality scrap meats and filled with fillers and additives. And these chemicals can increase inflammation throughout your body and can cause insulin resistance, and both of which signal your body to store more fat around the organs. Plus, the baloney is calorie-dense and nutrient-poor, meaning it packs on fat without giving your body any vitamins or minerals that it actually needs to function. Think of processed meats like sending your body a corrupted file. It recognizes it as food, but all the important data, the nutrients, swiped and stripped out and replaced with additives that trigger more error messages like inflammation throughout the system. Now, the WHO classified processed meats as a Group 1 carcinogen, the same category as smoking. Let that sink in. And there's a 2025 study in Nature Medicine that found processed meat consumption increased type 2 diabetes by 11% and colorectal cancer by 7%. The fix. Choose fresh unprocessed meats. It can be grilled chicken. It can be grilled turkey breast. It can be just grilled meat but more sliced, right? Or grass-fed beef. If you love deli meat, go for a minimally processed option like roast chicken or roasted turkey with no added nitrates. Read the ingredient list. And if there's things on there that you just can't pronounce, it's probably time to skip it.
Let's move to food number three. Ben & Jerry's. It's the most premium, most popular ice cream brand in America. A pint of Ben & Jerry's, the Chocolate Fudge Brownie to be specific. 1,040 calories, 52 grams of fat, and over 100 grams of sugar. That's 10 teaspoons of fat and 25 sugar cubes in one pint. Let me show you guys what that looks like. That is 25 sugar cubes. 2, 12, 14, 25 sugar cubes. And in terms of fat, we have 52 grams of fat. So each one of these represents 10 grams. 52 grams of fat in one pint. That's more calories than 2 and a half Big Macs. Now, I'm not saying you're sitting down there and eating the whole pint in one sitting, but let's be honest, like, we've all been there. And here's why Ben & Jerry's is in this visceral fat accumulation. It's combining the sugar with saturated fat and often artificial ingredients in one creamy, delicious package, and it's engineered to be irresistible. There's a 2021 study. It was a trial that found that each 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption, including ice cream, increased visceral fat by 0.09 standard deviations. Now, that sounds small, but it adds up fast. The problem is this combination, right? It's the sugar spike causing an insulin spike, and that tells your body to store fat. The saturated fat slows digestion, keeping those calories in your system longer, and together they create the perfect storm for visceral fat accumulation around the organs. But here's the fix. It's a game changer. Make your own ice cream, right? I highly recommend investing in like a Ninja Creami and you can make your own healthier ice creams and I've made videos on those. Or you can freeze your Greek yogurt and mix some protein powder with some fruit, a touch of honey, and blend it into an ice cream with complete control over the ingredients. This is a brand I have here. Also 300 calories, right? Exactly the same pint, but a third of the calories and much better macros. But you can go for Halo Top in your country. It's usually between 280 to 300 calories per pint with 20 to 24 grams of protein and only 16 to 20 grams of sugar. That's about five sugar cubes for the whole pint compared to the 25. Now, my opinion, the key difference between these two is the protein. The high-protein ice cream is going to keep you fuller for longer. It's also going to prevent those heavy sugar spikes that you're getting, and it's going to prevent that heavy visceral fat storage. Plus, you're less likely to eat the whole container when you start getting those satiety signals. And I actually ate ice cream every day to get a single-digit body fat.
But let's move on into food number two. Now, food number two is going to be alcohol. In a single 12 oz Budweiser, there's 145 calories, 11 grams of carbs, and that's three sugar cubes per beer, right? And drink three or four during a football game and you've consumed 600 calories and 12 sugar cubes worth of liquid carbs with zero nutritional value. Now, there's a 2019 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology, and it measured visceral fat in 998 Japanese men using CT scans. And they found that the men consuming 483 grams of alcohol or more per week, so that's about seven drinks, had 26% more visceral fat than non-drinkers. Their visceral fat area increased from 105 cubic cm to 133 cubic cm. So here's the science. You drink a Budweiser, your liver will prioritize metabolizing the alcohol over everything else. It's like your liver puts up a wall. All those extra calories from the beer and the wings that you're eating on the side go straight to visceral fat storage and around your liver and all your organs. Plus, alcohol also increases cortisol. That's your stress hormone, which also loves to store fat around your belly. And here's the kicker. Beer contains phytoestrogens from hops, which can increase estrogen levels in men, leading to more belly fat and even man boobs. So there's a 2023 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association and they found that heavy drinking, more than two drinks per day, increased pericardial fat, fat around your heart, by 17% and liver fat by 3.8%. Compared to a lifetime of abstainers. So think of alcohol like putting your metabolism on pause while your liver is busy processing the ethanol. Your body's fat-burning machinery sits on idle and any incoming calories get routed directly to storage, preferentially to your visceral fat compartment. Something I found interesting when matched for alcohol content, beer shows similar effects to spirits. So, it's all really about the alcohol itself and not the beer specifically. And I'm not saying you can never have a beer, but if you're serious about losing your visceral fat, you need to cut back. If you must drink, choose the low-calorie options like the Michelob Ultra. There's 95 calories in that. You'll get like stuff like Bud Light, which are better in calories, or if you must, dry wine, spirits, maybe with some soda water and lime. And never drink on an empty stomach. It will spike insulin and fat storage even more. I know that's a common one that people ask.
But now that we're done with alcohol, let's move on into the final food. So, the last one, the regular Coke. This is the number one worst food for visceral fat, and it's not even close. Coke is the most consumed sugary drink on the planet. 1.9 billion servings are consumed every single day worldwide. Now, I will say I drink Coke myself, the zero calorie version. But a single 20 oz bottle of Coca-Cola contains 65 grams of sugar. That is 16 sugar cubes in one bottle. 14, 16 in the regular bottle. Not this one, in the regular bottle. So, a lot less. Right now, there's a landmark study, right? It's a heart study and it tracked over a thousand people for 6 years using CT scans to measure the visceral fat content. And they found that the daily sugar-sweetened beverage drinkers accumulated 27% more visceral fat compared to non-drinkers. The difference, 852 cubic cm versus 658 cubic cm of visceral fat. Here's why Coke is so deadly, or more so the sugary drinks. The liquid sugar bypasses your satiety signals. When you eat solid food, your stomach stretches. Hormones like leptin signal for fullness, and your brain registers that you've eaten. But when you drink Coke, your brain doesn't register the 240 calories the same way. So, you're piling all these calories without feeling full. You've technically eaten a full meal right after as well. Plus, the Coke is also pure high fructose corn syrup, unlike glucose, which your muscles can use for energy. Fructose goes straight to your liver. The liver gets overwhelmed trying to process all that fructose and it converts directly into visceral fat through the process I mentioned earlier, de novo lipogenesis. And there's a 2009 study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that proved this. They compared people who drank fructose-sweetened beverages versus glucose-sweetened beverages for 10 weeks. Both groups gained the same amount of weight, but only the fructose group showed increased visceral fat. Now, the fructose group also had higher triglycerides and worse insulin sensitivity. So, think of Coke like opening a direct pipeline from your mouth to your abdominal fat cells. The fructose bypasses the normal metabolic checkpoints and it gets converted to visceral fat with minimal regulation. So what's the fix? You must please stop drinking regular Coke and go for the zero. If you can, cut out all the sugary drinks. Now I drink Coke Zero, right? Just to show you guys that this is more for education to help you make choices. But drink more water. Drink more sparkling water. Drink sparkling water with um adding Robinsons, a water enhancer. Add black coffee. Have unsweetened tea. And if you need flavor, add some lemon, add some lime. This one change alone can transform your body faster than anything else.
So, those are the 10 foods that are increasing your visceral fat that you're probably eating. I want you to remember that these specific brands are more so just to show you an example and it really is more so a blanket for all the other foods that fall in the same category. Let me know if you guys found this video helpful by leaving a gentle thumbs up and if you want to know the 10 other foods, I'm happy to make that video. But if you want to know what 10 foods you should be eating to get rid of your visceral fat, watch this video right here. Cheers.