Belly Fat Solutions for You
The Merry Month of May! Yes, it's that time of year when we shed the undisclosing garb of Winter to reveal that traffic-stopping physique.
Oops! But what about that bulge just below the waistline? Here are some explanations and solutions for belly fat, many of which you may never have thought of. Also, you will find some new perspectives on familiar ideas.
While weight loss and getting more exercise, especially abdominal exercise, are usually some of the first things that come to mind, there is much, much more to know. To help you look great in that bikini (or those swim trunks), this is the definitive guide to getting rid of belly fat.
My interest in writing about belly fat is much deeper than just surface appearances. In this article, I will be not only covering what you can do to look better, but to feel better and be healthier. How your abdominal area looks is a reflection of many aspects of your health.
Belly Fat Blues
Can you guess which area of the body I have found most disliked by people in my 30-year career as a hands-on structural body therapist (Certified Advanced Rolfer)?
You guessed right if you said 'the belly.' In fact, this article was inspired by a client who recently came in for a Rolfing session and voiced great dissatisfaction about the shape of her abdominal area. She is an attractive woman, and definitely not fat.
I know how it feels, as I had such issues for years. If you have similar concerns, fear not. By the time you finish reading this article, you will know all you need to know to achieve your goal of having your belly not only look good, but feel great. And you will know more about achieving vibrant health, as well.
The Great Sit-Up Myth
Let's start with something that most people think of when they think about belly fat; sit-ups.
The client who inspired this article complained that with all the sit-ups she does, her abdominal area has not improved, and in fact looks worse! How can this be?
Let me say that this is a woman who is slender and does some regular exercise. Her whole purpose in doing sit-ups was to get rid of belly fat!
While some abdominal exercises do firm the abdomen and enhance the beauty of the torso, the way many people do sit-ups is not one of them. Here's the explanation; When most people do sit-ups, the rectus abdominus (most surface muscle of the belly) mounds up and pushes outward, pulling away from the deeper abdominal muscles. Over time, the result is a bulging mound of overworked muscle tissue.
If you look at it rationally, when you flex a muscle, it will generally bulge and increase in thickness. Many years ago the 'sit-up king' of my dorm in college could do 400 sit-ups in a row. His abdominals were not slim and aesthetically pleasing - they stuck out in a big bulge - and he was not a fat guy. All those sit-ups accomplished the opposite of what most people intend when doing them. If sit-ups were a solid solution to a bulging belly, that fellow should have had the torso of an Adonis!
Regular sit-ups don't get rid of belly fat! All they do is build up a mound of muscle under the fat, and increase the size of the belly.
It is deceptive, because we often see people who do sit-ups looking better, but it is not a 'controlled experiment.' There are other factors, such as the fact that they are eating better and exercising more in general. Sit-ups alone do not make belly fat go away.
How Can You Do Sit-ups that are Beneficial?
This section has been moved to http://www.peak-health-now.com/abdominal_exercises.html
Your Spine Influences the Shape of Your Belly
Here's how:
When observed from a side-view, you may notice that some peoples' lower spine is pushed too far forward. Their lower back is too curved, and their pelvis tipped too far up and back behind them. This swayback look is known as 'lordosis.' You will also notice that in these cases, the belly protrudes and often hangs forward and down.
Many people of normal weight have lordosis, and consequently a 'fat' belly. The 'fat' is not fat, but simply the contents of the abdominal cavity being shoved forward by the excess curve of the spine. The solution is not dieting and losing weight, though those things are important for overall health and fitness. What is needed is to develop a more supple, responsive, and aligned spinal structure. Doing exercises that explore the many options for spinal movement, as well as balancing ventral (front) and dorsal (back) muscle tone will develop a graceful and responsive midsection.
Another thing that influences spinal curve, pelvic tilt and belly contour is your legs. For example, if your quadriceps (large muscles in the front of the thigh) are too tight, depending on other aspects of your structure, they may very well pull the front of the pelvis down. This is part of the lordotic pattern and results in that 'fat belly' that is not actually fat.
There are other aspects of structural balance that would be too extensive to elaborate on here, but this should give you enough to consider body structure as an influence on abdominal shape.
Following are other possible causes and solutions to be considered for a protruding belly.
The Belly Reveals
Your belly is shaped by many influences, not only diet, how much and how well you exercise, but other influences. For example, did you ever consider that your habitual breathing pattern - the movement of your respiratory diaphragm, intercostal muscles (the muscles between your ribs), and other structures related to breathing, affects the shape of your belly?
An Easy Breathing Exercise You Can Do Right Now
A simple exercise will help get you in touch with your breathing pattern. Take just a minute or two, and give this your full attention...
Back your chair away from the computer, put both feet flat on the floor and sit squarely on your 'sitbones.' Without leaning against the back of the chair, sit tall while still keeping your body supple, and find a comfortable balance point.
Take at least a minute or two to let yourself relax into a neutral state of mind, simply feeling the natural movement of your breath. Notice all physical sensations you feel as you breathe without deliberately changing anything. Resist the temptation to make judgements about what you notice. Don't try and breathe the way you think you're 'supposed to.'
What often happens is that as you simply relax and notice your breath, its movement expands on its own. That is very good.
Fully open and conscious breathing is actually a luxuriantly sensual experience. Let yourself enjoy how it feels to breathe!
Next, allow (you notice I didn't say force) your breath to expand gently upwards, filling the area just below your collarbones. Keep encouraging more space to open up there with each breath. Gently remind yourself to sit tall.
Next, imagine you can invite the breath further up, into your throat and across your shoulders. Keep noticing how you feel. Do you feel more relaxed?
Now, notice how your abdominal area feels. Does your torso feel more lengthened, less compressed? If you answer 'Yes,' you have really allowed yourself to feel your breathing, and probably feel better right now than before you began this exercise!
Emotional Patterns Shape the Body, Too!
Habitual emotional patterns are a major influence on body shape, too. Remember, emotional states have a strong influence on breathing pattern!
For example, have you ever noticed how a cat's breathing pattern changes when they are just about to pounce on something? Or how a dog pants fast when nervous or highly excited? People do the same. In decades of work with the movement patterns and body structure of my clients, I acquired a natural ability to better understand them simply by noticing how they look and move.
While this is a subject that deserves an in-depth article of its own, I can drop a few hints that will help you develop your own ability to see more deeply.
Breathing and Feeling Helps With More Than Belly Fat!
I told you my passion to write this article was more than skin deep...
Hint: you can only perceive aspects of others that you can perceive in yourself, and the ability to feel your body is an important part of perception!
One example; to know if someone else is being honest or not, you have to know that about yourself. When you take the time to tune in to the messages of your body, you will notice that your body feels different when you are honest with yourself than if you are not. Then, when you tune in to others, your body will also give you the correct message.
The more you know yourself, the more you know others. Following the path of self-knowing will help you respond appropriately when faced with challenges in your relationships, work and other aspects of life, helping you make better decisions..
The most important thing I can say is that the more you tune and refine your own instrument (body), and open to noticing how your emotions, biochemistry, and biomechanics interact, the more you will refine your ability to see those things in others. Being honest with youself is key, as well as optimizing your health.
A Hint for Handling Stress
One hint I can offer here is to notice how your body feels when you are under stress. This is the condition under which everyone, (myself included), finds it most challenging to feel the body and receive its messages. Make a mental note to notice what's happening in your body during a stressful encounter. With practice, you will find this a tool of empowerment, and be able to utilize stress as a learning and empowering exercise. Especially, notice your belly and your breathing!
Of course, a good preparation for being aware while under fire is paying attention to refining your body consciousness during exercise and other enjoyable activities.
Candida Albicans and Other Intestinal Yeast Infections as Cause of Protruding Belly
In my Rolfing practice, it was not uncommon to see a thin client with a protruding belly. Some of these clients later told me they had been diagnosed with candida or other intestinal fungal infections. Fungal and yeast infections of the gut can result from various causes:
1) Use of antibiotics, which destroys beneficial (probiotic) bacteria in the gut, leading to impaired digestion, gas and bloating.
2) Excess carbohydrates, including:
a) sugar
b) alcohol
c) grains (refined and even whole grains)
d) fruit juice, dried fruit, (and even too much fresh fruit, particularly sweet ones such as oranges, pineapple, grapes, etc.).
e) too many nuts, especially peanuts and cashews
Too many carbs tend to cause replication of fermentative bacteria in the gut, leading to bloating.
3) More than a cup or two of coffee per day
4) Drugs (both prescription and illegal)
5) Stress
6) Too many cooked foods, not enough fresh foods
7) Processed foods
Everything in the list above will diminish the healthy probiotic bacteria in the gut that fight and destroy candida and other harmful microorganisms (for in-depth information on beneficial bacteria in the digestive system, see labels 'probiotics' and 'supplement scams' on the left side of page).
One of the many distressing symptoms of poor diet and imbalanced intestinal flora is what looks like belly fat, but is actually gas, bloating, and poor digestion caused by overgrowth of fungal forms in the gut. To succeed in changing this situation, a diet of fresh whole foods with more low-carb, nutrient-dense foods, and in most cases a probiotic supplement, is needed.
It is also important to note that not only can the dietary influences listed above cause imbalance of microorganisms in the body, they can also result in water retention and inflammation (a defensive response of the body), both of which cause excess fluid build-up in tissues. Again, that includes the belly.
Patience and consistency is a must! It takes time to restore correct balance of microorganisms in the gut, and for the body to eliminate toxins that build up through poor food choices and through intake of harmful substances such as alcohol.
Too Many Carbs Often Cause Fat Accumulation!
Not only will too many carbohydrates promote growth of fungal infections in the gut. Excess carbs are stored as FAT! As Dr. William Campbell Douglass says, 'What do they feed cattle and pigs to fatten them up?' Not protein and fat - grains (carbs)!
You are likely to lose belly fat by cutting down or eliminating most grains, sweets, alcohol, and very sweet fruits such as bananas and oranges. Increase high-quality protein such as poultry and eggs, and get more healthy fats such as those from grass-fed beef, lamb, poultry or dairy products. Many people find this a great way to slim down and feel better. While you may be one of those people who stay trim on a diet of mostly vegetable foods, if that isn't working, you will want to explore some alternatives.
Eat a Diet of Organic and/or Locally Grown Foods if at all Possible
Here is something you may NEVER have thought of as having anything to do with belly fat! It is an unfortunate fact that these days, you never know what is in your food. I know you do your best to eat well, but you may want to think about this.
Pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and many other things found in conventionally-raised food are not good for our human bodies. Irritants, allergens and toxins of various kinds tend to cause an inflammatory response. This is the body's way of trying to get rid of harmful substances. Inflammation causes water retention and swelling. Not only can this increase the size of our belly because of the excess fluid, but it can also cause us discomfort. Water retention and inflammation can trigger headaches, joint pain, indigestion, depression, anxiety, fatigue and irritability. The cleaner your food, the less toxins you will be exposed to.
Below: Shredded Beet and Carrot Salad With Goat Chevre, Walnuts and Currants
The beets, carrots, and chevre are from local farmers. Dressing: very simple - 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar and 2 Tablespoons first cold-pressed olive oil
If you can grow some of your own food, that is ideal. Otherwise, your best choice is locally grown food, even if it isn't officially clasified as organic. It is fresher, and the farmers likely eat their own produce, so many of them use a minimum, or no pesticides and keep their soil naturally fertile with manure and other healthy soil amendments.
Lessons From the Past
While the bulging muscularity of competitive bodybuilders is not an ideal most of us strive for, we can learn from the musclemen of decades past. They came by their Charles Atlas physiques honestly. Anabolic steroids and powdered amino acid formulas didn't exist back in the day of Vic Tanney, Jack LaLanne and their Muscle Beach contemporaries.
What did these athletes consume as their daily diet? You guessed right if you said 'raw eggs, cream, beef and lamb, etc.' Their animal protein and fat-rich diet was a far cry from the soy protein isolate and creatine-rich artificially flavored bodybuilding products of today. Most of them also did not eat a high carb diet.
In studying photos of some of these legendary men, I find a striking difference in the quality of their bodies as compared to many modern-day weightlifters. What do I see? More connectedness, harmony, uplift and grace. Higher-quality, healthier-looking muscle and skin. I believe this to be in good part due to the high quality foods they ate.
While you may not aspire to compete in the Mr. Universe contest, there still is a lesson to be learned from the physical culturists of a past age.
Here, you can view an example of the kind of physiques these men had:
http://www.ifbb.com/halloffame/2005/tanny.htm
Nutritional Supplements to Increase Lean Muscle Mass and Reduce Fat
More muscle and less fat - if that is what you want, you will be interested to know the best nutritional supplements to support a lithe, strong body.
What must a supplement or food do to fulfill that purpose?
It must do one or more of the following:
1) Help normalize blood sugar.
2) Prevent muscle wasting.
3) Increase muscle mass.
4) Increase oxygen in the body. Oxygen is needed to burn fuel (calories), and to properly assimilate nutrients.
5) Support normal thyroid function.
...I am still writing more - to be added to soon...
Utilizing the suggestions in this article, your reward will be a more aesthetically pleasing body, and increased enjoyment of life.
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