There are few body-image issues worse than cellulite. But what is cellulite and why does it affect some people more than others, notably women? And are there any solutions available? Read on and find out the difficult  truth.

Cellulite is a build-up of fat around parts of the body that gives the skin an uneven and lumpy appearance. If you pinch  the skin around an area of cellulite you often find it looks like orange peel. 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  sweeps up fat that the body wants to store as an extra amount of energy. When the  blood is exposed to a high concentration of sugar for a very long time, coming from calories, the body stores this in adipose  tissue.

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. This is roughly what cellulite looks like on your skin; soft butter squeezed through  strands of loosely knitted wool.

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. Firstly, use up more energy than you put into your body as calories. 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. Exercise also tones up muscles.  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. Cut down on foods that make blood-sugar go up very  fast, like sugar itself, candies, chips, alcohol, processed white bread, rice and noodles.  As the body needs blood with a high concentration of sugar to be able to store fat, it will be  physically impossible to gain weight.

Massage and creams that hydrate the skin are also used often. T These only give a temporary look of improvement, as they don’t remove the cellulite but swell the skin around it to make  it look smooth. They cannot replace a diet that is low in calories and sugar, and high in vegetable, fruit and  protein intake. Remember that cellulite is body fat just like any other – diet and exercise is the only way to combat  it.

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