Uncertain High Risks Associated with Belly Fat on Your Health- Ways to Control and Reduce Belly Fat

Are you embarrassed by your large bulky waist? Do you feel hesitant to wear tight clothes? Are your super-sized belly tires humiliating you in public? If the answers to the above questions are “YES”, my friend you’re on the road towards heart diseases and diabetes. Obesity, weight gain and excess fat deposition in body have almost similar health hazards in the long run. They not only make you feel uncomfortable and fatigued but also trigger several chronic health conditions that could seriously damage your prime organs. The fat that lies beneath your skin in most of the body parts which can be grabbed easily with your hands is known as subcutaneous fat. 

Belly Fat or say Visceral Fat

Around your stomach region the fat that builds up in the spaces between your internal organs (intestine and stomach), and viscera is known as visceral fat. This fat generates more toxins affecting the primary body functions. According to American Diabetes Association, the chemicals present in visceral fat called as cytokines, trigger the risk of heart diseases making your body minimal sensitive to insulin causing chronic diabetes.

Moreover, these chemicals cause severe inflammation in your body leading to cancer such as colon cancer, pancreas cancer and esophagus cancer. An increased waist-to-hip ratio have increased heart attack risks in both men and women. The difference compared with BMI, waist-to-hip ratio is kind of similar which means for overall health, belly fat can be highly risky for both genders, according to the professors of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Hence, if your spare tires are feeling tighter these days, it’s probably the time to take some control measures to reduce belly fat. 

High Risks Associated with Belly Fat

1. Metabolism breakdown

Visceral body fat or large bellies tend to lose sensitivity to insulin, the key hormone that helps body to burn energy. So, when insulin loses its potential, the body responds in pumping out more of these hormones that off-balances the body system leading to metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance syndrome.

2. Increased heart diseases

Extra belly fat or central obesity is a sign that you have excess visceral adipose tissues that wraps around abdominal region and organs increasing the risk factor of cardiovascular diseases and heart strokes. The chemicals present in visceral fat called cytokines are they key reason behind the increased risk of heart diseases.

3. Risk of diabetes

According to Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine, abdominal fat or visceral fat is directly linked with type-2 diabetes and the reason is your body fat lose sensitivity to insulin causing insulin resistance syndrome. People with high insulin resistance develop type 2 diabetes along with heart diseases and increased cholesterol which is a significant high risk of belly fat on your health.

4. Increased blood pressure and cholesterol

Metabolic syndrome is also associated with insulin resistance in your body in which your body is unable to use hormone insulin properly. Hence, insulin released by pancreas turns sugar or glucose in your blood to energy for the body. When your diet is rich in sugar and saturated fats, your body makes cholesterol in your liver to accumulate energy for future use, which increases the risk of heart diseases. This entire process maximizes triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels in your body by minimizing high-density lipo-protein or good cholesterol in your blood.

Ways to Control and Reduce Belly Fat

Your spare tires become a subject of embarrassment in public, which results in stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, low self-confidence and numerous health conditions. Hence, to control or reduce belly fat, you need to follow few strict rules that would definitely improve your overall health.

1. Avoid processed foods

Processed foods work always in the favor of weight gain and obesity. Added sugar, preservatives, artificial color and synthesizers, trans fat, sodium and loaded calories make processed foods no less than toxins. These compounds in processed foods are the key reasons behind low metabolism, weight gain, extra fat build up and growth of cancer cells.

2. Regular workouts

Regular workouts can help significantly in staying healthy and getting rid of those visceral fats. Strength and cardio workouts are some specific physical activities to defeat stubborn belly fat. Strength training helps gaining muscles and muscles help in burning calories as well as body fat. Cardio exercises are helpful for burning rigorous calories and increasing metabolism which clearly helps in shedding your extra pounds.

3. Eat healthy

Switching your unhealthy and complex diet with healthy option would be great to control and reduce belly fat effectively. Vegetables, fruits, nuts such as chestnuts, walnuts and almonds, seeds such as sunflowers seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds, eggs, leafy veggies, legumes and fatty fish are the best healthy foods to include in your diet to get nutrition as well as fit and active health.

4. Say “NO” to junk foods

Junk foods such as deep-fried foods, French fries, pizza, burger, chips, cakes, milk chocolates, pastries and puffs are related directly with belly fat triggering high risks on your health. These foods are severely loaded with sugar, calories, trans fat, carbohydrates, saturated fats and excess salt which can cause severe health issues in the long run and obesity for sure. 

5. Cut down sugar intake

Sugar intake is never recommended by doctors, if you want to live a healthy and active life. Sugar is usually referred as empty calories which means the food that are high in sugar have high calorie count and have no other essential nutrients. Sugar significantly contributes in weight gain and obesity leading to diabetes and heart diseases.

6. Do meditate

Stress can be a great problem if you’re already fat and obese. Health conditions along with stress can be deadly. Beating stress is important to reduce the negative impact of health conditions and losing weight. Stress is directly associated with weight gain as it affects sleep and other essential body functions by misbalancing body hormones. Meditation helps beat stress and stay calm.

7. Enough sleep

Sleep deprivation leads to obesity. According to a comprehensive review in Sleep Medicine Reviews, chronic insufficient sleep is linked with a higher risk of cardiometabolic conditions including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Controlled studies have shown sleep restriction—sleeping 4 hours per night—reduces insulin sensitivity by about 30% and raises cortisol levels, a key stress hormone, which can exacerbate the risk. Sleep deprivation also triggers spike in stress levels. Hence, getting good sleep is important to lose weight or beat belly fat.

8. Drink more water

Dehydration or drinking less water hampers body functions by reducing metabolism process remarkably. Drinking enough water is important to balance digestion, hormones, kidney function as well as healthy heart function. Drinking water before meals can help you suppress your appetite to burn extra calories. In fact drinking warm water with lemon every morning in empty stomach can also help getting rid of stubborn belly fat.

9. Reduce extra weight

If your weight is way too high along with belly fat, you need to shed some pounds first. Minimize your food intake slowly and spend more time in exercises and workouts to lose extra weight so that your belly fat gets some extra time and effort to vanish gradually.

10. Stop alcohol consumption

Another best idea of controlling and reducing belly fat is cutting down alcohol consumption completely. Alcohol consumption is the prime reason behind belly fat. Alcoholics especially who prefer beer get beer belly in just few months of regular consumption. Alcohol drinks have extra calories that adds to your obesity and weight gain chart.