Welcome to TriVita VitalityPlanner. I'm Dr. Robert Sheeler, a Board-Certified Family Medicine doctor trained and certified in Integrative and Functional Medicine.

In this program, we'll introduce you to a broad range of cutting-edge health and wellness topics to help you take control of your life and your health. Each day will feature one topic and provide further options to learn more. We hope you'll find this of value and encourage you to share the link to this plan with your friends and family.

Today's subject is Visceral Adipose Tissue or VAT, better known as belly fat, which many of us get around the middle. However, VAT builds up on the inside of the abdomen, around the internal organs and in the chest surrounding the heart, as well as the outside.

High VAT levels are associated with a number of at-risk conditions, including resistance to insulin and pre-diabetes and diabetes. In addition, VAT increases your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and fatty changes in the liver.

To tell if your fat distribution is VAT, determine whether you're shaped more like an apple, round in the middle, or like a pear, with more weight distributed around the hips.

The pear configuration is called Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue or SAT, for fat beneath the skin. SAT can be associated with certain hormonal imbalances, but is not as much of a risk for VAT conditions and diseases.

A good way to see if you're likely to have a high VAT level is to measure your waist to hip ratio. For more information on how to do that and what it means, please see the infographic below.