Belly Fat

It seems the new diet buzzword these days is belly fat – like it’s a new concept that has suddenly occurred to dieticians and fitness gurus everywhere.

The term 'belly fat' gives rise to the age old spot-reduction fable – the one that says you can reduce the fat in a certain parts of your body. The belly, where the human body has the largest accumulation of fat cells, is the obvious target of this new marketing frenzy.

A close look at these “new” fad diets to reduce “belly fat” reveal they are nothing more than more of the same – i.e. mostly bunk with a leavening of common sense diet and exercise tips thrown in to make it look reasonable.

Just to set the record straight, you cannot spot reduce short of liposuction. Period. You lose fat evenly from all over your body. That the natural padding of fat cells on top of the stomach is the last to go is no surprise.

It’s your natural storehouse for fat and your body – depending on your genetics – likes to keep it at a certain size. That’s why it can be hard to drop the last few pounds on your belly.

Not everyone has the same distribution of body fat. The old apple vs. pear shaped body types have been around for decades, helping to explain higher incidences of heart attacks in people who tend to carry more fat in the upper torso instead of the thighs and buttocks.

Here's a video on spot reducing from Body Performance TV:

There are other reasons for having a large rounded pot belly, but they have little to do with being fat and more to do with being very unhealthy. There are two main causes: Fatty liver disease and an enlarged colon.

Fatty liver disease is generally associated with drinkers – hence the “beer belly”, but there is another form which has nothing to do with alcoholism that may be just as dangerous. According to the Mayo Clinic:

With the increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes in Western countries, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has become a growing problem. Although its true prevalence is unknown, some estimates suggest it may affect as many as one-third of American adults.

This illness may be caused by metabolic syndrome, a cluster of disorders that can cause diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Both genetic and dietary factors play a role, but there is still no consensus on the exact mechanisms involved.

The cure? I bet you can guess: That’s right, stop eating at McDonalds and hit the gym.

Another scary problem is megacolon. This is a medical condition when your colon swells to more than double its normal diameter. It’s only one of the many conditions that can cause an inflamed or enlarged colon.

Problems with the colon are relatively new and specific to areas eating Western diets which are high in saturated fats. The colon cannot process these fats and they tend to build up which leads to blockage, parasites and constipation.

Check out this site to see some of the things hiding in colons – beware, the images are a bit graphic: Colon Health

From his book “Cleanse and Purify”, Dr. Richard Anderson repeats what another medical doctor shared at a seminar:

"I have spent twelve years working in the field of post-mortem diagnosis. I have seen many thousands of dissected cadavers. Everybody has it in there. We have a way of attaching a hose to the upper intestines and with the aid of powerful chemicals; we literally blow the stuff right out of the intestines. I have seen the heavy “beer belly” and so called fat people lose all that bulk in five minutes. It wasn't fat. It was the mucoid layer. And, in that filthy substance we see all sorts of worms, bacteria, fungi, and many unidentifiable things. It is almost unbelievable that people can live with that filth in them. All these people were dead of course, and it wasn't hard to see why.

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