Cellulite – what to do?
There are few body-image issues worse than cellulite. But exactly what is it, and why do women seem to suffer more from cellulite than men, and some women more than others? And are there any solutions available? Here you might find some answers to this problem.
Cellulite is a build-up of fat around parts of the body that gives the skin an uneven and lumpy appearance. It is often called orange peel skin, resembling the look of skin being pinched. In general, cellulite is more commonly found on the hips, buttocks and legs, more than other parts of the body.
Fat stored in other parts of the body is the same type of fat that results in cellulite; this is also known as adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is a build-up of cells in the body that store any excess energy in the body as fat. The energy comes from calories and the body particularly tries to build up adipose tissue if it spends long periods of time with excess sugar in the blood.
Adipose tissue finds any available space in the connective tissue in the skin, resulting in skin looking like orange peel, which is probably the distinctive look everybody knows. It is a little bit like butter being squeezed through a knitted sweater. The butter will come squeezing through the various holes in between the strands of wool and you'll get an effect very like cellulite in the body.
The way fat is stored in female and male bodies is completely different. In men, adipose tissue settles more around the waist and abdomen, as well as close to internal organs. In women, it settles more round thighs and hips, where it becomes more visible in the form of cellulite. Also, the adipose tissue squeezes through connective tissue if it is more elastic, and sadly as we all get older, our connective tissue tends to loosen up.
But enough of the science - how to get rid of Cellulite? The key is simply to lose weight and there are two main ways to do this. First, make sure you take in fewer calories than you use up in energy. It is useful to exercise, as using up energy is only one result of exercising. Regular aerobic exercise will increase your metabolic rate and make the body burn more energy. It also helps improve muscle tone. As working the muscle fibres in the skin results in tighter muscles, cellulite will become less visible.
The second way to lose weight is to not allow our blood-sugar levels to rise too fast, and this means avoiding all those lovely things that we like to munch on. To achieve this, it is best to stay away from foods containing lots of sugar, French fries, white bread that has been processed, noodles, rice and alcohol. This is very important because the body doesn't find it very easy to put on weight if it doesn't have a lot of sugar in the blood to trigger the process.
Massage and creams that hydrate the skin are also used often. T hese will have the effect of swelling the skin around the cellulite to temporarily reduce the lumpyness associated with it. They cannot replace a diet that is low in calories and sugar, and high in vegetable, fruit and protein intake. Treating cellulite is the same as treating any other fat in the lobby - the only ways to fight it are exercise and diet.
