The effects of excess visceral fat – aka ‘belly fat’ — can include an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, increased chance of heart disease, and an increased chance of suffering a stroke.
Unfortunately, there is no quick solution or pill that you can take to lose visceral fat. However, there are plenty of quick tips you can implement to help increase your chances of shedding belly fat effectively.
Reducing belly fat starts by incorporating a healthy diet plan into your lifestyle, in order to begin shedding the extra pounds. The NJ Diet program is a specialized program utilizes DNA testing to determine your ideal diet and workout plan, taking into account your eating behavior. We use personalized genetic testing can also used by any of your health care providers to help make critical decisions regarding your health. Each individual’s specific needs for essential vitamins, plus many more metabolic factors are assessed genetically to make sure you stay healthy for years to come.
In our new blog, NJ Diet shares the health risks associated with carrying extra belly fat, as well as provide our tips on how to lose weight, feel better and effectively lose the belly fat!
Health Risks Of Extra Belly Fat
Americans have had a growing issue with belly fat. The average American waistline has increased by over an inch since the year 2000! Additionally, the average female waistline has grown twice as much as the average male waistline. This can make fitting into your clothes difficult — but more importantly, it can cause serious health risks.
Risks of carrying extra belly fat can include:
- Decreased Sensitivity To Insulin
- Causes More Health Issues Than Fat On Other Parts Of The Body
- Increases Chance Of Cardiovascular And Heart Issues
- Raises Risk Of Developing Breast Cancer
Detailed information about the risks of carrying excess belly fat are shared below –
1. Insulin Resistance
Individuals with a high amount of belly fat tend to lose sensitivity to insulin. Insulin is a vital hormone that helps your body burn energy. As you lose sensitivity to insulin, your body starts to produce more to allow your body to react the same. Unfortunately, this only serves to throw the cycle off balance. Because of this, individuals with belly fat are incredibly vulnerable to a set of medical problems known as insulin resistance syndrome. This syndrome is thought to affect over 50 million Americans, and is incredibly serious. Those suffering from insulin resistance syndrome often end up developing type 2 diabetes, tend to have high blood pressure and high levels of bad cholesterol – which can lead to heart disease and strokes.
2. Belly Fat Vs. Other Fat
Fat that is stored in areas – like your thighs – doesn’t do much that actively harms your body. Belly fat, on the other hand, is considered biologically active. In fact, many experts consider belly fat to act more like an organ. This is because belly fat produces hormones that negatively affect your health. It especially affects hormones that control appetite and metabolism. Belly fat also increases your risk of lung problems, because carrying around extra weight strains your body. In relation to your lungs, the weight of fat on your chest decreases the amount of room allowed for your lungs. Your lungs have to work harder to maintain proper functioning, which can lead to many problems, like COPD and asthma.
3. Cardiovascular Issues
In addition to releasing additional hormones, belly fat produces cytokines. Cytokines are proteins that are associated with the immune system. An excess of cytokines causes a constant level of inflammation, which increases your risk for heart disease. Fatty acids released by belly fat are also linked to high levels of bad cholesterol, and low levels of good cholesterol. Unbalanced levels of cholesterol can lead to major heart problems.
4. Increased Risk Of Breast Cancer
Being obese or overweight increases your risk for breast cancer due to body fat encouraging the production of estrogen, which helps feed breast cancer cells. Belly fat, in particular, has its own set of risks. Pre-menopausal women with excess belly fat are more likely to develop triple negative breast cancer; a form of breast cancer that doesn’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors. While this form of breast cancer responds well to adjuvant chemotherapy, it also has a poorer overall prognosis. There are no targeted therapies developed for triple negative breast cancer to prevent re-occurrences of the cancer.
Tips For Losing Belly Fat
1. Exercise Tips
Most people try to reduce their body fat through exercise. While exercise by itself will not necessarily decrease stomach fat, it can have an overall positive effect, such as:
- Belly fat responds well to aerobic exercise. Running, biking, swimming, and any other activity that gets your heart rate up can help reduce belly fat.
- Raising your heart rate for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week can help slow down the rate of belly fat gains.
- High intensity interval training can also help you lose belly fat. This type of training, also known as HIIT, is a workout where you do a high intensity exercise for a set amount of time (usually around 5 minutes), and follow it up with a low intensity exercise.
- Increasing the amount of aerobic exercise you do, begin to do abdominal exercises. This include things like bicycle crunches, planks, and crunches.
2. Diet Tips
The most important area to tackle when trying to lose belly fat is your diet. There are some simple changes that you can make that will help promote overall belly fat loss.
- Increase Protein In Your Diet – As you get older, your body produces more insulin. Unfortunately, insulin promotes fat storage. A diet that is high in protein can help protect you against insulin resistance, and decrease your rate of fat storage.
- Consume More Vinegar – Studies have shown that consuming one to two tablespoons of vinegar daily can significantly decrease belly fat. The theory is that the acetic acid contained in vinegar helps produce proteins that burn fat.
- Incorporate Whole Grains In Your Diet – Whole grains change how your body responds to glucose and insulin, and helps your body melt fat faster.
- Drink Green Tea – Green tea contains antioxidants called catechins. Studies have shown that individuals who drink around 24 ounces of green daily are more likely to lose belly fat while exercising.
- Eat More Fiber – Studies show that individuals who increase their soluble fiber intake by 10 grams daily had an overall reduction of belly fat level. For example, 10 grams of fiber equals a cup of green peas, half a cup of pinto beans, or two small apples.
- Don’t Skip Breakfast – Eating breakfast within an hour of waking up helps keep your insulin levels steady, and can boost your metabolism.
3. Other Tips to Help Reduce Belly Fat
- Relaxation – Yoga and meditation are some forms of relaxation techniques. You want to reduce your levels of cortisol, which is the stress hormone. High levels of cortisol are linked to excess belly fat.
- Get Enough Sleep – Getting five hours of sleep or less a night increases levels of stomach fat. Additionally, you should also wake up and go to bed around the same time each night. Variable sleep schedules confuse your internal clock, which can cause your body to release hormones like cortisol.
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The bottom line is that when it comes to losing belly fat, maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle should be the focus. And while it may not seem easy, the benefits will last a lifetime!
If you are ready to lose weight and get healthier, NJ Diet is here to help! Every factor regulating metabolism, appetite, fat storage & fat burning is carefully energetically tested for success. Using DNA Testing over 40 different factors are assessed genetically. We help you not only keep the fat off, but to stay healthy.
Our program is not only aimed at promoting healthy weight loss, but aims to improve your total wellness — where the side effect is weight loss, but the end result is better overall health and well being!
When you come in for your initial evaluation and consultation at NJ Diet, we will explain how many metabolic factors are assessed to genetically make sure you not only lose the weight, but ensures you keep it off and stay healthy for a lifetime.
