By Dave Warner
Is it eating the wrong foods, a sedentary lifestyle, your genes, hormones, your age or bacteria that are causing your belly to grow these days?
All of the above could be culprits, and sometimes they work in combination with each other.
Health professionals are concerned about girth growth because of the long list of diseases and conditions that it can cause: heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, fatty liver, liver cancer, stress, depression and Alzheimer’s.
It’s really the fat below the surface that is the big worry – it’s called visceral fat, which is really deep inside you.
Scientists believe that it does its damage by producing hormones and chemicals that can cause heart disease, and chronic inflammation of some body parts.
There is some evidence that the deep-seated fat lies near an important vein, leading to the liver, and that vein can then transport fatty acids to the liver. The result: high blood lipid readings.
Besides looking in the mirror or stepping on the scale, how do you know how big is too big – in other words, when your stomach is putting you in peril?
You can start by consulting with your doctor and asking for a Body Mass Index reading. That will tell you whether your height and weight are in proportion. But it doesn’t really tell you where you’re carrying your fat. Keep in mind that BMI may not be accurate if you are very muscular.
A general guideline has it that a woman with a waist of more than 35 inches, and a man over 40 inches, could be at more risk than if they were slimmer.
Chances are that most people struggle with their weight, including belly fat, as they get older. For one thing, metabolism tends to slow down as you reach middle age and beyond. And for another, middle-age folks tend to begin losing lean muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat.
Indeed, your metabolism can slow by 5 percent per decade after you enter your 30s. That means you’ll be burning fewer calories if you’re eating and exercising at the same rate as you did when you were younger. And if all that is true, you’ll be packing on the pounds.
But of course there’s more to the belly issue than that.
Menopause
Typically, women face the menopause phase of their lives sometime between the ages of 45 and 55. It is a profound change for women, whose bodies are by then producing less and less estrogen and progesterone.
One of the results of this change can be weight gain, and that gain tends to be around the middle of the body, rather than the hips, which is where body fat can accumulate in a woman’s younger years.
That shift can begin even before menopause, in the period that is called perimenopause.
Due to these hormonal changes, women can see a larger weight gain in those years than do men, which can be especially true if women also decrease the amount of exercise they are doing at the same time.
Some women can see an increase in their waist, even if they don’t gain weight overall – a symptom of the body shifting where it puts on the pounds.
STRESS
Some research indicates that cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, is involved in both over-eating and the addition of fat to the belly, particularly in relation to stress. When we are stressed, our initial instinct is not to eat. In an emergency, our body shuts down all non-essential functioning to help us focus on the danger. Once that initial danger is over, however, many of us react to the stress by wanting to eat sugary foods. Some investigators believe that cortisol, which has been circulating in the bloodstream as a result of the stressor, triggers the release of a neurotransmitter that stimulates your appetite for calorie-rich foods. In addition, the cortisol may overwhelm another hormone, leptin, that lets you know when you are full.
The result – overeating. And it may be that cortisol also causes your body to store those extra calories as visceral fat, exactly the type of belly fat we don’t want.
We could be benefitting our bellies when we find ourselves in a stressful situation and take just a few minutes to breathe deeply and calm down. *
GENES
Especially for women, there is evidence of a genetic link that can lead to a big belly.
Studies suggest that belly fat is not caused by genetics in premenopausal women, but indicate there is evidence of a genetic issue in postmenopausal women.
Other studies suggest that we all carry genes that determine first if weight will be an issue for us, and second if it is, where that weight will end up on our bodies. Men for most of their lives are more likely to have fat tummies, while premenopausal women pack on the pounds around their hips.
Researchers are trying to find out what genes we all carry push us to gain weight in different areas at different ages.
Germs and Viruses
Is it possible that other forces exist in our bodies that end up with weight gain no matter what, or how much, we eat?
Some researchers think so.
A study by microbiologists at the University of Washington in St. Louis, for instance, tested the premise on two groups of mice. One group was kept germ free, and fed more than the other group. The result: skinnier mice, 50 percent less body fat than the others.
But then researchers exposed them to typical bacteria, and they gained weight, fast. In two weeks, their fat stores soared by 60 percent, and they became insulin resistant.
Said Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, the senior author of the university study, “It raises the possibility that an individual’s predisposition to obesity or leanness may be partly determined by the composition of the microbes living in the gut.”
In another study, at the University of Wisconsin, researchers found evidence that a human adenovirus can cause chickens to get fat, sending scientists off on a hunt to identify viruses that can do the same thing with people.
These are early animal studies and are not yet applicable to people, but do open interesting areas of scientific study.
Food
As the saying goes, we are what we eat. While scientists and researchers push for more answers on what causes belly fat, food itself is the central focus of much of the expert advice on the subject.
As a society, for instance, we are surrounded by sugar, some of it hidden in soft drinks, candy, cake, cookies and pies, to name a few. It’s a high-calorie proposition, of course. There’s a real danger that too much of it can lead to too much of you.
The American Heart Association recommends that women limit sugar consumption to 100 calories a day, which amounts to about six teaspoons. For men, it’s 150 calories, or about nine teaspoons.
Of course, there’s a long list of foods that are good for you, and that could help you control belly fat or keep you from putting it on in the first place.
The good news is that when you watch your caloric intake, the first place you tend to lose weight is in your belly.
Here’s a partial list of foods that can help you change your body shape: whole grains in products like bread, and cereal; beans; fish; green vegetables; for snack time, nuts and berries.
A caution on the food front: stress can send you straight to high-calorie snacks, filled with sugar. That’s just the type of eating that can bloat your belly.
And finally, even if you’re switching to more healthy foods, be careful how much you eat. Controlling portion sizes is a key to trimming your weight.
Exercise
On paper, losing belly fat is a simple formula. You reduce your caloric intake, and burn more of the calories you do have through exercise. Easier said than done, of course.
What types of exercise? Here’s a partial list of activity that can help you:
- Get moving. Walk, run, get on a treadmill. Start slowly, on a few days a week, and then work up to a daily routine that forces you to exercise for at least 30-90 minutes a day.
- Strength training with light weights. Don’t overdo it, choose weights that you can lift a dozen or so times, and do it at least once a week, or more if you can.
- Toning exercises. You want to lose your tummy, and also look and feel fit. That’s where toning comes in. There are many ways to do this. Some recommend specific and fairly simple routines, others more structured exercises. (See below for more information.)
Body toning and core strength
First, know that you can’t tell your body exactly where to lose weight. So doing thousands of sit-ups in hopes of getting those six-pack abs isn’t going to do it. You’ll end up with stronger tummy muscles, but not necessarily a slimmer belly.
So, be mindful that you can be toned, and look better, but that spot weight reductions doesn’t work.
For a structured way to improve your core strength – that consists of those muscles deep within your stomach and your back you can try Pilates. Some Pilates routines can work all of your “powerhouse” muscles (your core) and give you a toned appearance and feeling.
You can enroll in classes for Pilates, and for other types of exercises that can help with your flexibility and posture – Yoga and Tai Chi for example. They all serve to get you fit, and together with a good diet and aerobic exercise can get you on the way to a trimmer tummy and smaller-appearing waist.
Tips for a Flat Belly
In the end, nothing beats exercising more and eating less. To have a flat belly, you need to lose visceral fat, and there is no magic pill to do it.
You can:
- Fill you plate with whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruit. Use monosaturated fats like olive oil when possible.
- Cut back on sugar. Try swapping one sugary food for a piece of fresh fruit to see if it satisfies you. Every little bit helps and every little extra adds up.
- Watch for hidden calories such as flavorings in coffee, an extra large glass of wine, or butter slathered on vegetables
- Do aerobic exercise, aiming for an hour a day if possible (no injuries!) to burn fat and calories
- Try exercises like Pilates and Yoga that help core muscles through the belly, back and shoulders. This kind of training may tighten tummy muscles but can also improve posture, which gives you the look of a flatter stomach.
- Work with a trainer to create a weight-lifting routine, especially if you are a woman. Adding muscle mass will keep your metabolism high.
- Try adding deep breathing and meditation to your regimen. Even a few minutes can help calm your mind and circumvent stress eating.
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