I was reading Better Nutrition magazine and came across this article:
Find out why your waist-to-hip ratio is more important then you think
Fat that's stored around the middle is known as VAT - visceral abdominal tissue. You may affectionately refer to it as a beer belly or love handles, but it's anything but benign and has nothing to do with love. A Substantial amount of research has shown that VAT significantly increases the risk for all kinds of problems, from high blood pressure to diabetes to metabolic syndrome. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that excess abdominal fat almost doubled the risk of death from a host of diseases, including stroke, heart disease, and cancer.
Why is belly fat so much more of a problem than regular, garden-variety fat?
The answer seems to lie in the difference in how adbominal fat actually functions. It tends to be more active in producing hormones and chemical messengers that cause inflammation thoughout the body. "Most of the research suggests that abdominal fat at least triples the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal cholesterol levels," says Dr. JoAnn Manson, a Harvard Endocrinologist.
I'm going to mention the diseases several times until you get it,
Why is health care so expensive they ask?
Subcutaneous fat- the kind that gets stored on the thighs, butt, and upper arms - is the kind you can pinch and is stored right below the skin. Unattractive and annoying, but basically harmless... except if you don't mind losing your knees or ankles due to stress and extra weight but that is going to be address in another blog.
Way to measure:
#1 measure your waist
The danger point seems to be 35 inches for women and 40 inches for the men
That's why a metric called waist-to-hip ratio may turn out to be more important than either your weight or your body mass index (BMI), the old standard wway of calculation if you are overweight.
Here's how to do it, my measurements are included:
Measure the circumference of your waist at its smallest point (30.5)
Measure the circumference of your hips and their widest point (36.5)
Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement (= 0.83)
Women within the 0.85 and with men at 0.9 range seem to be less susceptible to all sorts of major diseases, from diabetes to heart disease to cancer.
I have one thing to say about this:
STOP EATING SUGAR, REFINED SUGAR!
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thank you for this tip. what is refined sugar?
ReplyDeleteRefined Sugar - The Sweetest poison of All...
ReplyDeleteWhy Sugar Is Toxic To The Body
for more information:
http://www.ghchealth.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html
Sugar's effect on your health
The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.
In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year! Cardiovascular disease and cancer was virtually unknown in the early 1900's.
http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm
Refined Sugar can be found in all "Packaged" products. If it comes in a package and is processed, you can bet it has refined sugar.
And people, do a little research on what you are putting in your mouth. You have the choice when buying food to choose what to eat. When entering a supermarket, try to shop from the perimeter (against the walls). It's the food in the middle aisle that is full of wasted/empty calories.