Why Do Most Indian Men Have a Protruding Potbelly?

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]So, the question we're going to resolve today is why do most Indian men have this protruding pot belly? Indian women also are getting larger midsections as well. Why is this and what could be done about it? When I was in practice, a good portion of my patients were from India. And the reason they came in is to get rid of this belly fat.

[00:00:21]But, it's not just belly fat. There is a huge component of digestive problems.

[00:00:28]Anytime someone has a belly, they're also going to have a fatty liver. And then when you do a deep dive into the topic of digestive problems in India, well, we don't really know. It's unknown. It's probably stress. It's a lack of exercise. But, they're missing the obvious. What's the elephant in the room? Let's dive into that topic right now. If you understand the word omnivore, that's a specific diet that involves plant-based as well as animal products like meats. Then you have the word herbivore, um who eats plants.

[00:01:03]And if we look at a gorilla, which is an herbivore, and they're grazing all day long to get enough food, they always have a protruded huge belly, sometimes even wider than their shoulders. Now, if we compare that to a chimpanzee, who is an omnivore, they will eat other animals and meat as well as plants. Chimpanzees have flat stomachs. We have a goat named Billy. Karen was gone for a few days, so I was looking after the goats and I noticed baby Billy had this huge protruded stomach and I was concerned.

[00:01:41]And so, I drove Billy in my car over an hour to go to the vet to see what was wrong. And the vet took one look at Billy and said, "This is normal. Goats are supposed to have a belly." And I'm like, "Oh, okay. I had no idea." So, what's going on there and how is that similar to humans? Well, in an herbivore situation, they are fermenting fiber. But, it's actually the microbes in the gut. And so, the animal gets its protein from the bacteria that's eating the fiber, okay? Because bacteria is like 60% protein, which can then be absorbed by the herbivore.

[00:02:18]Because these animals cannot digest the fiber directly. Out of all the countries in the world, India consumes the least amount of animal meat. They're getting way too much fermentation in the small intestine. And there's a condition called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And that's a situation where you're getting fermentation in the wrong place because you have the stomach, then you have this long small intestine, and then you have the large intestine.

[00:02:47]The way it should work is that you should digest the fiber in the large intestine.

[00:02:52]If you look at the history of what an Indian ate 5,000 years ago, 100 years ago, they were not big meat eaters.

[00:03:01]However, they did eat meat here and there. And occasionally they had goat and sheep, but not beef. In the current diet, the three primary ingredients that are in pretty much all ultra-processed foods are the sugar. This is glucose syrup, okay? So, it's not even like real sugarcane. It's synthetic sugar. And then you have the seed oils right here.

[00:03:24]Highly industrial processed, highly inflammatory.

[00:03:28]And then of course, we have the starches in the form of maltodextrin food starch. We're not talking about potatoes. We're not even talking about like unrefined rice. We're talking about refined starches. So, we have all of that in their diet. Especially when someone doesn't have the money and can't afford higher quality foods. And so, if we add that into the mix, now we start to really break down the stomach lining to the point where you can get ulcers, something called gastritis. And it's when we start eating junk foods and we weaken the system that that microbe comes out and starts creating a wearing of that mucus lining in our stomach.

[00:04:12]Suspect that's H. pylori. And H. pylori has a very interesting strategy to help it survive decreasing your stomach acid. So, it starts making ammonia. And so, that changes the pH of your stomach. So, now it can survive.

[00:04:28]And here you are having a a stomach that's no longer acid. So, now try to digest, right? And now you can't kill off the microbes. Not to mention, a lot of people take antacids, which weaken the system even more. And that can even increase the risk of getting the H.

[00:04:44]pylori. And then when a GI doctor looks at you, they're not finding anything.

[00:04:48]So, they just treat you. They're not trained in diet or food therapy. That's the big omission. That being said, how do we correct this problem? Anything that's bloating you is not good for you.

[00:04:59]Mark it off the list. Don't eat it again. And this could involve fiber, vegetables. It can also involve fruit.

[00:05:06]And a lot of these grains also are very high in omega-6, so it's going to create inflammation. Now, the other thing I would do parallel to this is I would not do snacks between meals.

[00:05:18]I would do intermittent fasting because that's going to instantly give your digestive system a break, a chance to heal. Now, what's interesting about meat, there's something called the carnivore diet. I'm not telling you to do it. I'm not telling you not to do it.

[00:05:33]But, a lot of people do the carnivore diet to heal their gut because you eliminate all these other fibers that are irritating the inflamed stomach.

[00:05:42]Meat is loaded with glutamine that seals the gut. I tried to be a vegetarian and I got too much bloating because in my mind I thought that, "Oh, well, you need fiber to eliminate." And that is absolutely positively not true. Now, whether you're going to do a carnivore or not based on religious reasons or whatever, uh you do want to start introducing more protein.

[00:06:06]And that can be fish, eggs, things like that. And typically, animal protein is much easier to digest. So, what I'm telling you to do is clean up the refined carbs, okay? See how that goes.

[00:06:20]And if you still have bloating, you're going to have to start eliminating some of these other foods. There's a couple other things I would recommend. One remedy is called betaine hydrochloride.

[00:06:30]The only time I wouldn't take it is if you have an ulcer or gastritis. It's going to increase the acid of your stomach. And so, when you take this betaine hydrochloride, you should take like maybe five or six of them at a time before you eat, your stomach's going to start feeling better and better and better because you're reestablishing that pH. So, when you eat food, if there's pathogens in there, they'll be killed. And then they won't end up in your small intestine and start to ferment and all these other issues. So, I think this is a really good start to turn things around. But, for a more detailed understanding of the digestive system and what to do for various situations, I put that up right here.

[00:07:07]Check it out.