By Andy Kress
Obesity concentrated at the waist has been linked as a precursor to many other health related diseases. The biggest concern for excess visceral and central fat is its link to type 2 diabetes , both correlated well with each other and with the waist circumference. Cardiovascular disease is not far behind as the one of the top related symptoms.
The bear community compounds their by problem by cultivating the look, while achieving this debilitating disease. Abdominal fat is no joke when it comes to your overall health and look. The proud “beer belly” that is sported by this group will in turn be the death of them. CUBS and BEARS are now warned: abdominal fat is bearly essential.
Body fat comes in quite a few different forms. Visceral fat–the one that is targeted in this article–is also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat. This is located at the peritoneal cavity packed in between the internal organs and the torso. Subcutaneous fat is found underneath the skin and tends to pocket itself in specific areas. Intramuscular fat is dispersed throughout the skeletal muscle, like marbling in a piece of red meat.
Of all the fats listed, visceral fat is the most detrimental to your health. The “pot belly” or “beer belly” are cute nicknames for excess visceral fat, where the abdomen protrudes excessively. There is one easy way to tell if you have too much visceral fat–use a tape measure around your waist. No need for a body mass index (BMI) test, your waist size alone will tell you if you have too much visceral fat and are putting yourself at risk to a slow, early grave.
Waist size over 38 inches is not a fashion statement , regardless of your height. If your stomach is sticking out past your chest and you can’t see your crotch, it is time to do something about it. Visceral fat can be easily avoided by eating a proper diet. Variety is the spice of life, and that is true for your diet too.
Eat a wide variety of carbohydrates, proteins, dairy products and healthy fats for a complete diet. Portion control is also another easy way to prevent and fight abdominal fat. Eating smaller meals throughout the day or “grazing” is the way a human is supposed to eat.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are the three main times of day for eating by tradition, but eating five or six small meals a day is much easier for the body to burn the energy consumed. Large meals are like throwing large logs in a fire place to burn. It takes a long time to break down and burn up that energy.
But if we eat smaller portions, just like kindling, it takes less time to burn, leaving less unused energy to be stored as fat. Less stored fat means less visceral fat, leaving a leaner, healthier you. Exercise always helps to burn calories and helps prevent fat storage production. Light weights and resistance are all that is required when eating smaller portions, meaning less strenuous exercise and more ultimate results.
There is no need to do 500 crunches a day either, twisting the torso is the best way to achieve an all around tapered look around the mid-section, shaping the sides, as well as the front. The moral of this article, your belly of today will be your health problem of tomorrow. Eat wisely. Bear are fun to hug, but not to lift in a coffin.