“visceral fat it’s the most dangerous type of fat,” says health expert David Zinczenko, who has written extensively about the scourge in books such as Zero Sugar Diet and the Eat this, not that! Serie. “Because it’s hidden inside your belly. I’ve called it a ‘parasite’ that lives inside you for good reason: It wraps itself around your organs, which can activate your fat cells and also cause inflammation. This impact can seriously increase your chances of contracting a number of diseases, from diabetes to Heart problems.” Not to mention that it can make your intestine stick out, in an unsightly way. So how do you get rid of visceral fat? Read on for 6 practical tips that have been proven to work, and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss out. Sure signs you’ve already had COVID.
“In a British study published in the journal ObesityIn 2017, researchers took a strand of hair from 2,527 men and women over the age of 54 and found that people who had higher levels of cortisol present in their hair tended to have larger waist circumference measurements, were heavier and had a higher body mass index (BMI). Ultimately, they found that chronic stress is associated with higher levels of obesity and that the stress hormone cortisol plays an important role in metabolism and determines where fat is stored,” says Zinczenko. Meanwhile, another study, published in 2016 in the journal Scientific Opinion in Behavioral Sciencesmade an equally striking case for a direct connection between your metabolism and your body’s stress response.”
“Chronic stress can lead to dietary overconsumption, increased visceral adiposity, and weight gain,” researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, write in the report. “Cortisol directly affects fat storage and weight gain in stressed people,” write researchers at the University of New Mexico. “And not only that, they write, but elevated cortisol directly affects your visceral fat — for you and me, that’s your belly fat,” says Zinczenko.
“You’ve probably heard of the term ‘high-intensity interval training’ (HIIT) before,” says Zinczenko. “In its most basic form, it means doing short bursts of really intense exercise, like throwing ropes at the gym, doing all-out sprinting (walking or cycling), doing burpees or mountain climbers, trying out the VersaClimber at your gym, or anything else that is very, very difficult and that you can only do for a relatively short period of time, and then rest for a short period of time (like, say, five or 10 seconds) and then do it again.” “This places a high metabolic demand on the body, burns a lot of calories in a short time, results in a high calorie burn after exercise, and helps improve fitness level,” explains Kathleen Trotter, personal trainer and author of Find your fit. “Also, intervals are a fantastic workout regardless of your fitness level; you tailor the intensity of the interval to match your current ability.”
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“While it’s true that egg whites are low in calories, fat-free, and contain most of the protein found in an egg, eating the whole egg is beneficial for your metabolism,” says Zinczenko. “The yolk contains fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids, and most importantly, the B vitamin choline, a powerful compound that attacks the genetic mechanism that causes your body to store fat around your liver. Choline deficiency is directly linked to genes that cause visceral fat accumulation, particularly in the liver, yet according to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only a small percentage of all Americans eat daily diets that meet the Adequate Intake from the US Institute of Medicine of 425 mg for women and 550 mg for men.”
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“A recent study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that for every 10-gram increase in soluble fiber consumed per day, visceral fat fell by 3.7 percent over five years,” says Zinczenko. Vinegar also has benefits. “Great in salad, and has now been shown to ‘turn on’ genes that release proteins that break down fat. In a study of 175 overweight Japanese men and women, researchers found that participants who drank 1 to 2 tablespoons of vinegar of apple cider a day for 12 weeks significantly reduced their body weight, BMI, visceral fat and waist circumference. Plus: “Slightly green bananas are rich in something called resistant starch. This type of starch not only increases satiety, but also, as the name implies, resists digestion. The result: the body has to work harder to digest food, which promotes fat oxidation and reduces abdominal fat.
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‘Heat your fuel burn by keeping things cool at home. Research published in Clinical Research Journal reveals that exposure to temperatures between 60 and 61 degrees over a 10-day period produced significant increases in healthy brown adipose tissue, the kind that can increase metabolism and burn dangerous visceral fat,” says Zinczenko.
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The researchers published the results of a five-year study of the sleep cycles of 13,742 participants in the journal. Obesity, which found that there is a direct correlation between sleep duration and waist circumference (and body mass). “Compared with participants who reported sleeping 7 to 9 hours a night,” the researchers concluded, “short sleepers [or those who log less than six hours of sleep per night] they were more likely to be obese and have abdominal obesity”. Go rest, and to protect your life and the lives of others, do not visit any of these 35 places where you are most likely to get COVID.
