Here’s what you need to know about belly fat
What do you think these numbers represent: 69.3, 195.5, 39.7? And 63.8, 166.2, 37.5?
No, they’re not the stock price of Tesla and Snapchat over the past week. They’re the height, weight and waist circumferences of the average American man and woman! And they add up to huge health problems. The biggest culprit? The waist measurements — 39.7 inches (guys) and 37.5 inches (gals) — indicating that most of you have large deposits of visceral belly fat surrounding your internal organs.
Study after study shows that whether you’re normal weight, overweight or obese, it’s the amount of visceral belly fat you have pushing your belly button ever-forward that puts your health at greatest risk.
What sends fat to your belly? Visceral fat is deposited when you eat more calories than you burn and eat highly processed and sugary foods.
THE HEALTH RISKS
Recent studies show how far-reaching the impact of visceral fat is on your health and well-being.
Belly Fat and Stress: Chronic stress drenches your cells with cortisol. That, in turn, stimulates glucose production in the liver that, if excessive, gets stored as fat. Then in a vicious, visceral cycle, fat cells in the belly stimulate production of cortisol in surrounding tissue.
Belly Fat and Cancer: The American Institute for Cancer Research says that the risk of colon cancer increases five per cent for each oneinch increase in waist size.
Dialing in Diabetes: Excessive belly fat is associated with a twofold increase of your risk for diabetes — even if you’re a “normal” weight.
Cascading Cardio Problems: All that abdominal fat increases the load of free fatty acids in the liver, which in turn increases lousy LDL cholesterol and lowers heart-friendly HDL cholesterol.
FLAT-BELLY BOOSTERS
You can banish that belly fat by changing your diet and exercise habits: you’re aiming for a waist size of 35 inches or less for women and 40 or less for men.
Physical activity: Get a minimum of 150 minutes weekly of extra physical activity; better yet, get 10,000 steps per day and two to three, 30-minute sessions of strength training weekly.
Nutritional Upgrade: Ditch trans fats. Lab studies show that eating trans fats causes up to 30 per cent more visceral fat to be deposited in the belly. So steer clear of margarine, store-bought baked goods, frostings and crackers, microwaveable breakfast sandwiches, frozen pizza and any food that has partially hydrogenated oils or fats listed on the ingredient label. Also, stick with 100 per cent whole grains, and ditch saturated fats found in dairy and red and processed meats.