Take Control Of your Body

There are 3 types of fat:

• • Subcutaneous fat is the looser fat that sits just under the skin.
  • Intramuscular fat is found within skeletal muscles.
  • Visceral fat is what is know as “belly fat” and it accumulates between your abdominal organs. It interferes with hormones that regulate appetite, weight, mood and brain function. Increased belly fat is likely to increase your chances of getting type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

Unfortunately there is no one best way to lose belly fat. Everyone is unique, as their DNA suggests, but there are a few simple actions that you can do that will reduce that visceral fat. It’s not just a case of counting your calories, you should be paying attention to exactly what you’re eating and drinking.

• Don’t eat foods high in trans fats. These fats make it their business to increase your belly size. So stay away from the usual cakes, biscuits, pies, fast food, fried food, etc.
• Don’t drink too much alcohol. The alcohol you consume turns in to acetate which your body cannot store making it your primary energy source. All the proteins, fats and carbs that you consume on top of the alcohol turns in to fat.
• Don’t neglect your gut health. The bacteria in your gut help to control your mood, regulate your immune system, digest food and extract nutrients along with a host of other useful things.
• Don’t get too stressed. Cortisol, the stress hormone can trigger the release of insulin when levels are too high. After shutting down your digestive system to deal with the stressful situation the increased insulin means your blood sugar levels are low. To replace those lost calories which your body thinks it has burnt you head for the trans fats.
  
  

Now those are out of the way, let’s look at the dos…

• Do consume a high fibre diet, preferably soluble fibre foods such as linseed, brussels sprouts, avocados and berries.
• Do eat a high protein diet which will release the fullness hormone PYY, which decreases appetite. Foods such as meat, fish, eggs and beans are a good source.
• Do aerobic exercise as this is an excellent way to burn calories and improve health. The frequency and duration are often more important than intensity. However, this is personal and will depend on your genetic makeup.
• Do resistance training or strength training. A combination of resistance training and aerobic exercise leads to the best results in burning visceral fat.
• Do get lots of sleep, as studies have found that those who don’t get enough sleep tend to gain fat more easily.

Exercising without addressing your diet is the first major mistake that people will make when trying to lose some body fat. Getting your diet right will always take precedent over exercising when it comes to burning fat. Coupled with manipulating your hormones in your favour.


So firstly, we need to look to reduce the foods which increase insulin levels such as, breads, cereals, flour and sugars. Then look to reduce inflammatory foods, which in many instances are the same foods as above and will have a negative effect on many extremely important metabolic reactions.


Putting diet to one side for a second, we also need to look at reducing and stabilising cortisol/stress levels and improving your sleep (easier said than done). For instance, sleep deprivation has an immediate effect with an increase in cortisol levels and a decrease in HGH (Human Growth Hormone) production. So, if you’re staying up late your cortisol levels will likely be through the roof, and you will literally be breaking down your muscle tissue for energy at an increased rate.


Let’s say we take 2 people following exactly the same 1500 calorie diet with a completely different hormonal response. What do you think will happen? Yes, you guessed it, they will have a completely different reaction to those same food groups and calories. And if either of them has higher stress levels, what do you think will happen? Their cortisol will be constantly elevated, thus breaking down beneficial muscle, whilst increasing fat storage. As soon as we’ve eaten a particular food our hormones are in complete control of where those foods are actually going.


We also need to remember a calorie needs to be judged upon the context that it comes from. Let’s take a quick look at protein for a second. The basic structural unit of protein includes amino acids, with digestion of protein resulting in its breakdown and release of individual amino acids. Classically there are nine essential amino acids that are required in the daily diet, as the body cannot make them.


Amino acids are required for the synthesis of tissue protein and other metabolic functions:

• Proteins Function
• Proteins are used to repair worn out tissue.
• Proteins are used to build new tissue.
• Protein can be used as an energy source.
• Proteins make up a large percentage of essential body fluids.
• Proteins aid in the blood transport of key nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fats etc.

So, in that brief explanation you can quickly see how important protein is, and the vast array of roles that it is utilised for. Simply put, a calorie of protein is far superior in term of “specific physiological requirements” compared to a carbohydrate.


So, a “Calorie” is not just a “Calorie”.