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ngdawg · 08-31-2007, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Even though everyone has one, I hadn’t heard of this organ before. We didn’t learn about it in school, and I hadn’t heard it discussed anywhere else. We are always hearing about the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, stomach, and brain, but how often do you hear talk about your omentum?

So what exactly is an omentum? Your omentum is:

A fatty layer of tissue located inside the belly that hangs underneath the muscles in your stomach. - Dr. Oz

Its main purpose is to store fat. Because the omentum lies underneath the muscles, this is why some men have what is commonly called a “beer belly”, however when you touch it, it is hard rather than soft and mushy like a marshmallow. This is because the fat that is protruding their belly is inside their body rather than subcutaneous fat that resides just underneath the skin’s outer layer.

The omentum has become so large and fatty that it has created a fat belly while inside, it’s squishing and crowding the other inner organs out of the way, taking up valuable real estate.

When I read this, it truly motivated me to get moving. I couldn’t stand the thought of having some fatty organ inside my abdominal cavity just laying around and causing all kinds of havoc.

I kept reading and learned that the omentum is the best indicator of how you deal with chronic stress. If you are under constant stress, your body “releases high amounts of steroids into your bloodstream in the form of the hormone cortisol”. Your body has to deal with these excess hormones, and this is your omentum’s job. Your omentum takes these hormones from your bloodstream, and the hormones in turn step up the ability of your omentum to store fat.

This results in a fat belly for you, which is the easiest indicator of how much chronic stress you are under in your life. The problem (besides your dismay over your looks) is that the fat stored in your omentum is the first source of fuel that your internal organs use, especially your liver. All of those added hormones throw off your metabolism by making your omentum resistant to insulin, which means that sugar is floating around in your bloodstream instead of being used as normal by your cells. The results are:

Tissue damage from chronically raised blood sugar.
Your hormone balance is upset due to your omentum taking in an abundance of inflammatory chemicals.
More inflammatory chemicals are sent marauding around your system because your omentum is sending “high-octane” fat as a form of fuel directly to your liver, which in turn sends out the chemicals.
Your omentum creates inflammation throughout your system (a serious health risk) by giving your internal organs fuel. Remember, the fat in your omentum is the first source of fuel for all internal organs, not only the liver.
Your omentum causes (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise by fueling your liver with its fat.
So, you get the point that having a fat-clogged omentum in your abdominal cavity isn’t the best thing for your health, or your looks. Since the only way to measure the size of your omentum is with a CT scan, how can you easily tell if your omentum is overweight? If you have a (hard) beer belly, or an apple shaped body, your omentum is likely storing fat.

You can also measure your waist: if you are a woman and you measure over 35 inches, or a man over 40 inches, then your omentum is taking up space. These measurements put you at major risk for a heart attack since your omentum is now approximately 5 inches thick (). It is in there, creating an inflammatory process that will irritate your arteries and possibly block them.

Who knew???