This fat is the most dangerous to your health, but learning a little more about it can help you make it disappear.
Belly fat doesn’t just innocently sit under your skin and force you to loosen your belt another notch. It lives deep in your body, around your organs. And like the bad kid poking the innocuous one he’s sitting next to, that deep fat is a troublemaker. It cranks out hormones and proteins that can trigger chronic inflammation and raise your risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and even colon cancer. That’s why you need to know a little more about your belly fat:
You need to eat fat to lose fat.
It’s time to stop being fat-phobic and start focusing on getting the right fats. Eating healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats—those are the types found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts—may trim what’s around your middle. One study found that people who got 25% of their daily calories from healthy fats gained less belly fat than people who ate fewer healthy fats.
Belly fat hates whole grains.
That’s why you should love them. Refined grains like white pasta and white rice tend to feed a muffin top—and may increase your risk for problems like diabetes, too. But eating whole grains like quinoa, barley, and whole wheat pasta might boost weight loss. In one study, people who included whole grains in their diets lost nearly eight pounds in 12 weeks, while refined-grain eaters lost only about six.
Belly fat thrives on stress.
When the pressure’s on, your body produces the “stress hormone” cortisol, which makes fat pile up around your midsection. Try instant calmers like tea or some soothing music and start getting stress under control in as little as 60 seconds.
Dropping it can revive a lot more than just your old wardrobe.
Too much belly fat can lower a man’s testosterone level and dampen his sex drive. But losing that spare tire helps revive libido and lower the risk of erectile dysfunction.
