Blasted Belly Fat: What You Can Do
As frustrating as it is to carry around that spare tire or suffer from “muffin top” syndrome, you might find some comfort in the fact that a slimmer, trimmer middle is something that everyone strives for, even celebrities (OK, I realize that’s little consolation). But my point is that, whether your goal is to lose weight to improve your health, to look better, or to feel better — or all three — it can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to whittle your waist somewhat and, perhaps most importantly, lower your risk for a host of health problems. Blasting Away Belly Fat: Here’s How Losing weight can be a challenge, and it seems to be harder for some than others. Plus, depending on how much you want to lose, you may be in it for the long haul. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and what may work for one person may not be the best option for someone else. There really is no magic bullet…yet. And if there were, all of us would have heard of it by now. That being said, last week I mentioned that liposuction (not exactly a feasible option for many people due to the cost) is not a contender for losing visceral fat. So what does work? Here are some possible options: Move it. Yes, you do need to exercise. There’s no way around it. For some people, exercise doesn’t result in actual weight loss (meaning, the scale may not budge), but it can and does shrink visceral fat. Even if you haven’t gained weight, you may notice that fat redistributes itself and tends to settle around your middle. This is especially true of women who have gone through menopause. A study done at Duke University showed that men and women who did no exercise for six months increased their visceral fat by 9%; those who exercised regularly decreased their viscer Continue reading >>
10 Diabetes-friendly Meals That Beat Belly Fat
These recipes are delicious: That’s the first thing you need to know. And we’re not talking “delicious for diabetes-friendly” food—no, these are good without any ifs or ands. The only but is that all 10 of the following recipes are especially formulated to help flatten your belly and fight diabetes. Some are loaded with fruits and veggies, others feature lean proteins or fish, some contain whole grains—and all have an added dash of monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs for short, which help target belly fat, control blood sugar levels, and reduce insulin resistance. Whether you’re craving French toast, pasta salad, or chicken parm these 10 meals will help keep your blood sugar steady, your taste buds happy and your belly nice and slim. 600+ Diabetes-Friendly Recipes from Your Slow Cooker! Pick up your copy today! It’s the quintessential Sunday morning breakfast—with a twist: Swap standard white for whole grain bread (one study showed that simple step could reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 20%); and top your toast with strawberries (which research suggests helps regulate blood sugar) and MUFA-rich almonds. See the Strawberry Almond French Toast recipe! Yes, you can most definitely still have pasta—just bulk up the dish with nutrient-rich vegetables, like broccoli—it’s packed with cancer-fighting vitamin A and it’s a good source of fiber, which helps slow the rise of blood sugar after you eat. Stir in belly-flattening olives and 2 tablespoons of pesto for extra flavor and more MUFAs. See the Tortellini Pasta Salad recipe! You’ve heard people say avocado is full of "good" fat, but do you know how good it is? Research suggests MUFAs (found in avocados and other foods) not only help you lose weight and shrink belly fat, but they specif Continue reading >>
What's The Best Way To Get Rid Of Belly Fat?
Muffin top, spare tyre, blubber, belly fat, beer belly - a multitude of names but they all mean the same thing. Abdominal fat. And in the summer many turn to quick fixes to get rid of it, writes Saleyha Ahsan. The problem with belly - or abdominal - fat isn't just the way it looks on the beach. It could be a sign that your health is at risk. Belly fat is around our midriff - the subcutaneous fat that we are referring to when we ask if you can pinch more than an inch and also the visceral fat around our organs, like the liver, pancreas and intestines. Last year I had an MRI scan which showed me the fat I had around my own organs and it was a sobering moment. Fat around our vital organs can lead to adverse health effects. Find out more Saleyha Ahsan (pictured) is one of the presenters of Trust Me I'm a Doctor: Summer Special, on BBC Two, Tuesday 12 July at 20:00 BST - catch up on BBC iPlayer Take the test: How can I lose an inch of belly fat in four weeks? Visceral fat is believed to be more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat and has a higher turnover. If you gain weight you put it on there first - and if you lose weight, you lose it from there first. Although it is considered the more dangerous to our health, the good news is that it is easier to shift than the subcutaneous fat. But the question is how. On health and fitness websites you can see the promise of "spot reduction" of belly fat. These are the quick-fix tricks that promise to help melt fat away. But how reliable are they? The Trust Me I'm A Doctor team have done some experiments to finally get to the bottom of it. So how do you get rid of it? We recruited 35 volunteers - splitting them into four groups - along with two experts in the field of exercise and diet. All the volunteers carried abdominal fat Continue reading >>
Exercise Alone Can Melt Away Dangerous Belly Fat In Diabetics
Just by increasing their physical activity, people with type 2 diabetes can lose fat that accumulates in the liver and abdomen and lower their risk of heart problems. Doctors recommend that people diagnosed with diabetes get regular exercise, since physical activity can keep them at a healthy weight and help organs like the lungs, liver and heart to work at their best. But the details of how breaking a sweat influences the different fat deposits around the body are not so clear. There is increasing evidence, for example, that buildup of fat in the abdomen and deep in organs such as the liver and heart, can be more harmful than fat deposited just under the skin, since the more deeply embedded fat, known as visceral fat, releases hormones and other compounds that can affect how efficiently the body breaks down calories. But because most studies involving exercise also allow volunteers to change their diet, pinpointing how physical activity changes fat depots in the body has been hard to document. To gather more information on this relationship, researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands turned to detailed MRI images to study 12 middle-aged diabetic patients both before and after they participated in a six month program of moderate-intensity exercise. The volunteers exercised for 3.5 hours to 6 hours a week, and participated in two endurance and two resistance training sessions, finishing up with a 12-day hiking expedition. Throughout the study, however, they were told not to change their diet and eating habits. After the training, the researchers found that the participants’ heart functions remained relatively unchanged, but the second round of MRI scans revealed significant decreases in the volume of fat that surrounded the heart and lungs as Continue reading >>
Effect Of Pioglitazone On Abdominal Fat Distribution And Insulin Sensitivity In Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Effect of Pioglitazone on Abdominal Fat Distribution and Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetic Patients University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Search for other works by this author on: University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas 78229 Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Ralph A DeFronzo, M.D., Diabetes Division, University of Texas Health Science Center, Room 3.380S, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900. Search for other works by this author on: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 87, Issue 6, 1 June 2002, Pages 27842791, Yoshinori Miyazaki, Archana Mahankali, Masafumi Matsuda, Srikanth Mahankali, Jean Hardies, Kenneth Cusi, Lawrence J. Mandarino, Ralph A. DeFronzo; Effect of Pioglitazone on Abdominal Fat Distribution and Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetic Patients, The Journal of Cli Continue reading >>
- Effects of resveratrol on glucose control and insulin sensitivity in subjects with type 2 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis
- Effects of resveratrol on glucose control and insulin sensitivity in subjects with type 2 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis
- The Effect of Walking on Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes and Healthy People
'visceral' Fat Removal Prompts Hope
The patient was neither obese enough nor desperate enough for stomach-stapling surgery. But he had raging diabetes and a daunting load of the most dangerous fat: the ‘‘visceral’’ kind that surrounds internal organs and swells pot bellies, inviting heart disease and stroke. So he chose to undergo an experimental operation based on a radical proposition: that simply slicing out a hefty chunk of his visceral fat, by removing a curtainlike flap of internal abdominal fat called the omentum, might help with his diabetes and other health problems. Unlike liposuction, which sucks out fat just under the skin, the omentum operation has no cosmetic effect, and is not aimed at weight loss. Rather, it reflects a mounting push among researchers around the world to understand and neutralize visceral fat, now that a growing body of data is showing that it is more harmful than fat near the surface. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center surgeons, working with obesity specialists at Joslin Diabetes Center, have tried the experimental surgery on four patients in recent months, using a two-hour laparoscopic procedure that involves pulling strips of the yellow abdominal fat out through tiny holes. Their study, still underway, is the first to examine the possible health benefits of removing only the omentum. Excess fat is the major cause of Type 2, or adult onset, diabetes, which affects about 17 million Americans, more than twice as many as in 1980. If the experiment pans out, it could conceivably give these multiplying millions a one-time surgical solution to replace a lifetime of medication, said Dr. Edward Mun, director of bariatric surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess and the study’s leader. But ‘‘I think that’s a real long shot, and I don’t want to speculate that far of Continue reading >>
Fat Loss From Pancreas 'can Reverse' Effects Of Type-2 Diabetes
INDYPULSE Fat loss from pancreas 'can reverse' effects of type-2 diabetes Less than half a teaspoon of fat is all that it takes to turn someone into a type-2 diabetic according to a study that could overturn conventional wisdom on a disease affecting nearly 3 million people in Britain. Researchers have found it is not so much the overall body fat that is important in determining the onset of type-2 diabetes but the small amount of fat deposited in the pancreas, the endocrine organ responsible for insulin production. A clinical trial on 18 patients with type-2 diabetes has found that the loss of just one gram of fat from the pancreas can reverse the disease to the point where patients were once more are able to control levels of sugar in the bloodstream using their own insulin. Diabetes comes in two forms. The “type-2” version affects about 90 per cent of the diabetic population and this is the disease associated with diet and obesity in adults. It occurs as a result of the failure of the body’s insulin hormone to control blood-sugar levels – by the pancreas not producing enough insulin, and the body becoming resistant to its own hormone. If fat in the pancreas really is the key factor that triggers type-2 diabetes, it offers a potential target for reversing the disease through drugs. However, at present the only way of lowering fat levels in the pancreas is to go on a strict diet that lowers fat elsewhere in the body – a weight-loss procedure that is notoriously difficult to maintain. Another problem is how we define “pancreatic fat”, according to Professor Stephen O’Rahilly of Cambridge, who has carried out extensive research on metabolic disease. “The term ‘pancreatic fat’ is used very loosely. The pancreas is 99 per cent digestive glandular tiss Continue reading >>
Abdominal Obesity
Abdominal obesity, also known as central obesity, is when excessive abdominal fat around the stomach and abdomen has built up to the extent that it is likely to have a negative impact on health. There is a strong correlation between central obesity and cardiovascular disease.[1] Abdominal obesity is not confined only to the elderly and obese subjects.[2] Abdominal obesity has been linked to Alzheimer's disease as well as other metabolic and vascular diseases.[3] Visceral and central abdominal fat and waist circumference show a strong association with type 2 diabetes.[4] Visceral fat, also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat, is located inside the peritoneal cavity, packed in between internal organs and torso, as opposed to subcutaneous fat, which is found underneath the skin, and intramuscular fat, which is found interspersed in skeletal muscle. Visceral fat is composed of several adipose depots including mesenteric, epididymal white adipose tissue (EWAT) and perirenal fat. An excess of visceral fat is known as central obesity, the "pot belly" or "beer belly" effect, in which the abdomen protrudes excessively. This body type is also known as "apple shaped", as opposed to "pear shaped", in which fat is deposited on the hips and buttocks. Researchers first started to focus on abdominal obesity in the 1980s when they realized it had an important connection to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Abdominal obesity was more closely related with metabolic dysfunctions connected with cardiovascular disease than was general obesity. In the late 1980s and early 1990s insightful and powerful imaging techniques were discovered that would further help advance the understanding of the health risks associated with body fat accumulation. Techniques such as compute Continue reading >>
Coolsculpting, Belly Fat And Diabetes. Is There A Benefit?
I have type 2 diabetes. My A1C fluctuates between 5.3 and 6.4. I walk about 25 miles per week and go to the gym 3 times a week. I am not overweight by much, but I have belly fat that I cannot seem to get rid of. I have heard that type 2 diabetes is directly related to belly fat, so would cool sculpting benefit me in my quest to win the fight with my A1C? Continue reading >>
11 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Belly Fat
Getting rid of your belly bulge is important for more than just vanity's sake. Excess abdominal fat—particularly visceral fat, the kind that surrounds your organs and puffs your stomach into a "beer gut"—is a predictor of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and some cancers. If diet and exercise haven't done much to reduce your pooch, then your hormones, your age, and other genetic factors may be the reason why. Read on for 11 possible reasons why your belly fat won't budge. Health.com: 24 Fat-Burning Ab Exercises (No Crunches!) You're getting older As you get older, your body changes how it gains and loses weight. Both men and women experience a declining metabolic rate, or the number of calories the body needs to function normally. On top of that, women have to deal with menopause. "If women gain weight after menopause, it's more likely to be in their bellies," said Dr. Michael Jensen, professor of medicine in the Mayo Clinic's endocrinology division. In menopause, production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone slows down. Meanwhile, testosterone levels also start to drop, but at a slower rate. This shift in hormones causes women to hold onto weight in their bellies. The good news: you can fight this process. Read on. You're doing the wrong workout A daily run or Spin class is great for your heart, but cardio workouts alone won't do much for your waist. "You need to do a combination of weights and cardiovascular training," said Dr. Sangeeta Kashyap, an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic. Strength training increases muscle mass, which sets your body up to burn more fat. "Muscle burns more calories than fat, and therefore you naturally burn more calories throughout the day by having more muscle," said Kate Patton, a registered dietitian at Cle Continue reading >>
Belly Fat Causes Diabetes, Heart Attacks
Abdominal obesity comes from high blood insulin levels. To prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high after you eat, your pancreas releases insulin, which converts blood sugar to a type of fat called triglyceride. Insulin drives triglycerides into the fat cells in your belly. So having high triglycerides and a fat belly are signs of high blood insulin levels, and high blood levels of insulin constrict arteries to cause heart attacks. Insulin also acts on the brain to make you eat more and on your liver to manufacture more fat, and on the fat cells in your belly to store that fat. The liver removes insulin from the bloodstream, but insulin causes fat to be deposited in the liver which prevents the liver from removing insulin from the bloodstream. People with fat bellies store too much fat in their livers, which prevents the livers from removing insulin, so insulin levels rise higher and higher to cause heart attacks, more abdominal obesity and eventually diabetes. If you store fat primarily in your belly, you should restrict refined carbohydrates: foods made with flour, white rice, milled corn or added sugars. See Treatment of Insulin Resistance Fat cells in your belly are different from those on your hips. The blood that flows from belly fat goes directly to your liver, whereas the blood that flows from your hips goes into your general circulation. The livers of those who store fat in their bellies are blocked from removing insulin by the extra fat and therefore do not remove insulin from the bloodstream as effectively as the livers of people who store fat primarily in their hips. People who store fat primarily in their bellies have higher blood insulin and sugar levels, which raise levels of the bad LDL cholesterol that causes heart attacks, and lower levels of th Continue reading >>
Does Injected Insulin Hold Fat In The Stomach?
I am 83 years old and have had diabetes for 48 years. I have tried for seven years to lose weight, and I lose it everywhere except my stomach. I've injected insulin in my stomach for 45 years. Is it true that the insulin I inject holds the fat in my stomach? If so, how can I get rid of the stomach fat without moving the injection site to other parts of my body? Continue reading >>
Losing Just 1 Gram Of Fat In The Pancreas Can Reverse Type 2 Diabetes
Losing a single gram of fat could be enough to reverse the symptoms of type 2 diabetes – as long as that fat comes from the pancreas, researchers in the UK have shown. It's already known that weight loss can greatly help manage type 2 diabetes – a progressive condition where the body either stops being able to produce enough insulin, or becomes insensitive to it – but this is the first time that researchers have shown the exact type of weight loss that's needed to get the condition under control. The study followed 18 obese participants with type 2 diabetes both before and after gastric bypass surgery. Using a super sensitive MRI scan, the researchers revealed that the diabetics had abnormally high levels of fat built up in their pancreas – the insulin-producing organ – even when compared to other obese people without type 2 diabetes. But the surgery helped them to burn off that fat, restoring their insulin levels to normal and allowing them to come off their medication. The results suggest that excess fat in the pancreas is specific to type 2 diabetes, and is somehow clogging up the normal release of insulin. "When that excess fat is removed, insulin secretion increases to normal levels," a Newcastle University press release explains. "In other words, they were diabetes free." It's a pretty incredible discovery, but unfortunately it's not as simple as just losing a little bit of weight and choosing where it comes from. "If you ask how much weight you need to lose to make your diabetes go away, the answer is 1 gram! But that gram needs to be fat from the pancreas," said lead researcher Roy Taylor. "At present the only way we have to achieve this is by calorie restriction by any means – whether by diet or an operation." What's particularly interesting is that Continue reading >>
How To Lose Belly Fat: 11 Steps + Why It’s Important
There’s loads of advice out there regarding how to lose weight quickly, and often with the least possible effort involved. And while your primary reason for wanting to learn how to lose belly fat may be due to vanity, there are also loads of convincing health reasons for wanting to trim down your waistline as well. For example, dangerous visceral fat — the type of deep fat that tends to accumulate near your belly, surrounding your vital organs — raises the risk for serious conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and many others. According to a report published in the Lancet, as of 2005, globally “Excess body weight was the sixth most important risk factor contributing to the overall burden of disease worldwide.” (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2005 approximately 1.6 billion people worldwide were overweight and that at least 400 million adults were obese. Have a stubborn midsection? Click here to download 7 methods for eliminating your belly fat safely! The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK) seconds this, stating that obesity— which presumably includes carrying extra belly fat — can contribute significantly to the following health problems: Type 2 diabetes Coronary heart disease and stroke Metabolic syndrome Certain types of cancer Sleep apnea Osteoarthritis Gallbladder disease Fatty liver disease Pregnancy complications However, fortunately research shows that losing just 10–20 pounds (or around 5–10 percent of your total body weight) — including finding out how to lose belly fat — can make a real difference in terms of lowering your risk for developing these serious diseases. How & Why Belly Fat Increases for Most People If you’re like a high percentage of adults, including e Continue reading >>
Ada: Belly Fat Loss Best To Halt Diabetes
PHILADELPHIA -- Although two bariatric surgery techniques resulted in similar weight loss, the one that shaved more belly fat led to a better rate of diabetes remission, a substudy of the STAMPEDE trial found. Moderately obese patients with uncontrolled diabetes who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy had similar weight loss as judged by their body mass index (BMI) at 2 years: 27.4 versus 28.2 kg/m, reported Sangeeta R. Kashyap, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues. That means that changes in BMI could not explain the significantly higher number of patients in the bypass group who achieved remission: 33.3% versus 10.5%, Kashyap said here during a late-breaking presentation at the American Diabetes Association meeting. The answer, she said, was the significantly larger decrease in abdominal fat by those who had bypass surgery compared with sleeve gastrectomy (15.9% versus 10.1%). The 1-year results of the original STAMPEDE trial, reported at the 2012 American College of Cardiology meeting, showed that either of the two surgical techniques plus optimal medical therapy was better than optimal medical therapy alone at controlling type 2 diabetes. At 12 months, more surgical patients had hemoglobin A1c levels of 6% or less compared with those in the medical therapy arm. In this substudy, researchers analyzed data from the first 20 patients randomized to each arm (the dropout rate was 10%). Kashyap noted that patients were in their late 40s with a mean BMI of 36. The average duration of diabetes was from 7 to 10 years. Many were on three or more medications and had metabolic syndrome, and more than half were already taking insulin. Researchers performed a Mixed Meal Tolerance Test to determine the glucose metabolism. At baseline, both surgical gr Continue reading >>
