Excess belly fat is extremely unhealthy.
It’s a risk factor for diseases like metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer
Here are some of the causes
I know this is sad news for folks that like eating sugary foods and beverages, all those muffins and donoghts can contribute to having a big belly!
In a controled 10-week study, overweight and obese people who consumed 25% of their calories as fructose-sweetened beverages on a weight-maintaining diet experienced a decrease in insulin sensitivity and an increase in belly fat.
A second study reported a reduction in fat burning and metabolic rate among people who followed a similar high-fructose diet.
So you see, consuming foods and beverages which are high in sugar or high-fructose corn syrup may cause belly fat gain.
My Alcohol lovers, this is your own😛
Alcohol when consumed in moderate amounts, especially as red wine, may lower your risk of heart attacks and strokes (I know some of you like that one😂😂) but high alcohol intake may suppress your ability to burn fat such that the excess calories from the alcohol are partly stored as belly fat — hence the term “beer belly”
Studies show that daily drinkers who consumed less than one drink per day tended to have the least abdominal fat, while those who drank less often but consumed four or more drinks on “drinking days” were most likely to have excess belly fat.
So please, do alcohol in moderation!
As a matter of fact, some have said that alcohol can kick you out of ketosis if you’re doing the ketogenic diet🤷♀️
Trans Fats are the unhealthiest fats on the planet!
They’re created by adding hydrogen to unsaturated fats in order to make them more stable.
Trans fats are often used to extend the shelf lives of packaged foods, such as muffins, baking mixes and crackers(I knew crackers cannot be healthy!)
Meanwhile I consumed alot of crackers in my earlier “dieting days” thinking they’re healthier🙄. Ignorance!😭
I know some of you ladies still do crackers as part of your “healthy” diet! Biko, #STOPIT
At the end of a 6-year study, monkeys fed an 8% trans fat diet gained weight and had 33% more abdominal fat than monkeys fed an 8% monounsaturated fat diet, despite both groups receiving just enough calories to maintain their weight.
Inactivity! The master of it all!!!
Raise your hand if you have a desk job or a sedentary job?
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest risk factors for poor health.
Some of you will call junior who’s in the room to come help you pick the tv remote that is in front of you in the living room instead of getting up to pick it yourself!🙄
#Stopit ! Get up and move your body!
An observational study carried out compared women who watched more than three hours of TV per day to those who watched less than one hour per day😁
The group that watched more TV(as expected😁😁) had almost twice the risk of “severe abdominal obesity” compared to the group that watched less TV😁
One study also suggests that inactivity contributes to the regain of belly fat after losing weight.
Even though Menopause is a naturally occurring condition in women, it has also been linked to belly fat accumulation. And is also extremely common.
Here’s why
At puberty, the hormone estrogen signals the body to begin storing fat on the hips and thighs in preparation for a potential pregnancy. This subcutaneous fat isn’t harmful, although it can be extremely difficult to lose in some cases.
Menopause officially occurs one year after a woman has her last menstrual period.
Around this time, her estrogen levels drop dramatically, causing fat to be stored in the abdomen, rather than on the hips and thighs.
However, another study shows that women who complete menopause at a younger age tend to gain less abdominal fat
( to be continued)
