Belly Fat : Beer belly or Pot belly

Beer belly is a problem for many people especially men.There are certain foods that are responsible for belly fat.

Abdominal fat (the excess calories) is primarily stored on top of your abs muscle tissue as layers. Two important types of fat depositions in abdominal area are android abdominal fat and gynoid abdominal fat.

The android fat is the excess subcutaneous truncal deposits. The subcutaneous fat lies under the skin that you can pinch on your tummy.

What is a pot belly? | Causes of Belly Fat | reduce belly fat | Diet to lose belly fat | abdominal exercises |
How to get smaller waist at home video

The visceral fat is the real culprit, lodged deep in your stomach around the intestines, liver and kidneys. As we get older, this visceral fat collects around our organs and keeps growing t. You may get concentration of fat around your abs due to stress, food allergies, bacteria, bloating and inflammation. The real culprit is the visceral fat, lodged deep in your stomach around the intestines, liver and kidneys. This keeps growing to give you the pot belly.

What is a Beer Belly?

You should know that gaining even 3-4 extra inches significantly raises the risk of various illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancers, in addition to destroy posture and spinal alignment over time.

According to the World Health Organisation, a belly is called a pot shaped belly when the abdominal circumference in male is more than 0.9 m (90 cm) and female is 0.8 m (80 cm) (waist to hip ratio).

Causes of Fat in Belly

1. It may be due to four reasons: Heredity or genetics, food, stress and hormones. Heredity plays a key role in how easily you will grow one. Your waist-to-hip ratio and the absolute waist circumference determine the severity of central obesity. While beer bellies are usually believed to be a result of drinking, sugar is also a culprit.
2. Beer belly is highly related with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and high blood pressure.
3. Eating excessive unhealthy junk foods. Eating too many simple carbohydrates and too much fatty foods, such as those found in processed sugary foods and deep fried foods, which when not burnt, turn into fat.
4. Consuming more calories than required, the excess calories get converted to fat and accumulates in the belly.
5. Digestion problems preventing food digestion.
6. Sedentary life style, insufficient exercise.
7. Stress triggers our bodies to produce high levels of cortisol, which drives up our appetite and makes us overeat leading to fat deposits at places depending on an enzyme known as lipoprotein lipase which is necessary for fat storage. Indian men are are pot-bellied because they have higher concentration of this enzyme in their abdomen.
8. A fall in sex hormones with age may cause belly fat in men and women.
9. Does beer responsible for your beert belly?
   

   It is a myth that a round, pot-shaped belly or what is called as a beer belly, is caused by drinking beer. In fact, it is commonly seen in non-alcoholic people as well. Occasionally drinking beer will not cause beer belly.

   A beer contains 5 per cent alcohol, so a 500 ml beer contains approximately 170 calories. Consumption of only 1 beer bottle may not give you a pot belly.
   Consumption of beer drops your normal blood sugar level, making you lethargic, leading to reduced physical activity which increases the fat in the belly.
   Beer consumption leads to hunger pangs so you eat more, usually unhealthy calorie dense foods.

You cannot convert fat into muscle and muscle into fat. So to transform your stomach into a flat one, you need to eliminate the layers of fat that are on top of your abs.

Lifestyle changes

It is very important to remain active to burn fat from all parts of the body.

Body fat is like one organ, that is throughout your body, and you can't take it off from just one spot, viz. belly.

1. Bend 90 degrees
   Pick up something from floor ensuring you bend 90 degrees to push the belly in. Do it few times a day.
2. Roll your shoulders back and down. This is a simple posture that makes you look slimmest and helps your tummy to stay in.
3. Pull up your abs and then push them up.
4. Remain physically active. Different activities burn different number of calories. Choose an activity suitable for you.
5. Stabilize your blood sugar by eating every 2-3 hours and eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, and whole grains with low GI foods
6. Drink 8 glasses of water daily to avoid fluid retention.
7. Do cardiovascular exercise (aerobics exercise for at least twenty minutes, five times a week) like walking, jogging, swimming, bicycling, tennis, basketball, etc. Remain in the target heart ratezone of the exercise intensity.
   Aerobic cardiovascular exercise gives whole body movement.
8. Walking briskly for at least thirty minutes (in one stretch or in parts) puts all of the abdominal muscles to work.
9. Add more mass to your muscles. Concentrate on all the muscle groups. Work down from the largest to the smallest muscles. Concentrate on these muscles in order: front and back of thighs, buttocks, back, chest, triceps, biceps, calves, hips, forearms and shoulders. Exercises ball workouts can be used for all the muscle groups.
10. Remain stress-free. Know the stress symptoms and stress management.
11. Take a deep breath through your nose and deeply exhale through your mouth as often as possible.
12. Right dress. Fabrics like cotton, silk and chiffon are more flexible. They will not cling to your skin hiding your belly.

What foods help lose belly fat?

1. Eat four 400 calorie meals daily.
2. Never go more than four hours without eating.
3. Incorporate mono-unsaturated fats into diet.
4. Learning to control the stress can go a long way towards reducing the belly fat.

Consume 3 servings a day of calcium-rich dairy products (not calcium supplements), recommend The University of Tennessee researchers.

1. Consult your doctor if you have sluggish digestive system or constipation. Chronic constipation may lead to a pot belly. You should include fibrous food in your diet to help promote the smooth movement of bowel. Eat high fiber foods
2. Avoid excessive eating. Eat frequent but small meals to help proper digestion. Eat five small meals to get rid of a pot belly.
3. Eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
4. Eat less fats and sugar.
5. Avoid high calorie and high fat foods.
6. Avoid foods made of refined products.
7. Avoid foods that form excess gas. Vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, etc. lead to a protruding tummy as these may promote gas.
8. Drink at least eight glasses of water in a day to promote bowel movement.
9. Avoid drinks with artificial sweeteners.
10. Do not drink beer.
11. Avoid soda drinks.
12. The list of fat burning foods include foods high in protein, calcium (high calcium food) and fiber, these are the best kinds of food to avoid fat around the middle.

Bad Foods For Belly

1. Discard processed foods and desserts in your diet.
2. Eat less sodium high foods.