It shrinks quickly with estrogen/cortisol lowering compounds so I doubt it's mostly fat.You can figure out if it's fat or not with a skin fold test or an electronic body fat percentage test. If it's shaped like love handles though I wouldn't waste your time, it's fat.
Are you saying that you are lean and had no noticeable fat deposits until this mid-section development post-eating meals of potatoes with coconut oil etc.?
I think all of those things play a part in health, but it's impossible to make an unequivocal statement about it. Some very skinny people who can't gain weight at all eat food that gives them "food comas" often, whereas some obese people don't get that feeling after eating. Personally I get a food coma usually from mixing starches and fats in large amounts, like a meal of rice with a fatty cut of meat. I've seen some attempts at explaining what the food coma is but I am not fully convinced. It seems to have something to do with insulin, but in my experience is related to macronutrient composition more than purely stimulating insulin with sugars.
No , I've had it before but diet seems to make it come and go pretty quickly, meals of potatoes + coconut oil and some low fat animal proteins have had very different effects depending on the day : I can get relaxed , warm (if it's warm outside, sometimes to the point of sweating, no cold hands) , or I can get very low energy , very sleepy for a long time, hard to function etc..
Other times I've mixed potatoes and goat cheese with no issues, only steady energy throughout the afternoon. I'm trying to refine my understanding so I can replicate the feeling good, warm without drop of energy most times but it's hard to undertand at times. Maybe being eating so much in favor of carbs means one needs to do some form of short intense exercise often.