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Belly Fat Increases Risk For Disease? It’s Time To Work That Waistline!

Are you asking yourself where your waistline has been? Are you relatively skinny but yet looking for your waistline? Is it surrounded by “belly fat”? Yes! This fat is different. Don’t be surprised if the nurse whips her measuring tape out and wraps it around your waistline. It doesn’t matter how think you are. Measuring your waistline is equally important instead of just relying on your BMI or the weighing scale, to explain your health condition, as per the American Heart Association in their new guidelines published on Thursday.  

Belly Fat Increases Risk For Disease? It’s Time To Work That Waistline!

Researchers have mentioned that having a tummy could be a sign of, something that’s known as, VAT- visceral adipose tissue. VAT is known to be a dangerous form of fat that wraps itself around and deep between the organs, in your body. Studies have also proved that having visceral fat is a health hazard, said Dr. Tiffany Powell-Wiley, chief of social determinants of obesity and cardiovascular risk.  

Belly Fat Increases Risk For Disease? It’s Time To Work That Waistline!

As mentioned above, belly fat is different. It increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and high cholesterol. As per experts, visceral fat creates more inflammatory proteins which help raise blood pressure and inflame tissues and organs.  

Now here’s the twist, you cant consider yourself safe from visceral fat if your overall weight is healthy, as per the experts. Why, because you cannot be having dangerous visceral fat if you’re not considered obese as well as not have visceral fat and be obese. Being overweight is considered to be a BMI of over 25. How to find out if your visceral fat is in a danger zone? Help yourself do a gut check- First, locate your hipbone, get a measuring tape out, and without sucking your tummy in, wrap the tape around your waist, at the top portion of your hipbone. While measuring, inhale normally making sure the tape isn’t tight to your skin.  

Women, not known to be pregnant, with a waist more than 35 inches (88 cm), and men with a waistline above 40 are known to be at a higher risk, as reported and mentioned by US CDC. As per the Endocrine society, if you’re an Asian, the benchmark drops low to 31.5 inches for women and 35.5 inches for men. Another way to have a home check is to check your waist to hip ratio. You can measure your waist, as mentioned above, and then keep the measuring tape on your hips at the widest part of your buttocks (as you can see a side angle in the mirror). 

As you divide your waist measurement to your hip measurement, a ratio greater than 0.9 inches, in men, is closer to a high risk of obesity-related diseases. Meanwhile, in women, a ratio greater than 0.8 inches shows an increased risk towards obesity-related issues. These ways of checking are crude. The most reliable way to be sure is to check your visceral fat through an MRI or a CT scan hence allowing you to speak about any self-concerns with your doctor.  

What Can People With Higher Visceral Fat Handle This Situation? 

As per AHA Committee, the best, known to be, physical activity to work out the visceral fat area are aerobic exercises. Reaching a target of 150 minutes per week by doing physical activities may be enough to help control the abdominal fat. In case of no weight loss, aerobic exercises are the most beneficial way to control visceral fat. As Powell-Wiley said, a decrease in mass (fat) with no absolute weight loss could be related to an increase in fat-free mass or muscle mass can be worked out through aerobic exercises. Filling your gut with rich fiber food is another way of taking care of your gut health. Food plays a big role in keeping your visceral fat in control. Many people struggle hard to control their abdominal fat even though working out with all the effort continues. The food you consume helps you get the health you should be having.  

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