Jeff's Thoughts

• The Big Fat Belly

  24 February, 2016

  It is all about calories right? Surely if you don’t overeat you can’t put on weight? If you grossly undereat for some time, you might find that you are putting on weight in one specific spot more than others – that is the belly.

  I have done many consults where a busy executive male or female works hard, putting in 80 hour weeks with a lot of stress in their job. but simply forget to eat. These people often weigh in excess of 100kg (both male and female). There normal eating day goes something like this

  Breakfast: Coffee (they don’t eat because they are not hungry)

  Mid morning-  Coffee

  Lunch – 6 slices of sushi

  Mid afternoon – Coffee

  Dinner – Something quick and easy containing refined carbohydrates and also protein and good old vege.

  I am not going to even bother waisting my time and adding up the calories – they are grossly under-eating, yet they can power through a day and are not hungry – How can this be?

  These people all have mid section body fat as well – otherwise known as metabolic syndrome which is something we should be looking to avoid.

  “just a slight increase in waist circumference…..is linked with increased risk of developing diabetes, metabolic imbalances, and elevated cardiovascular risk later in life”

  Mike Mutzel MSC, Belly Fat Effect.

  The simple  answer is your ability to adapt – lets make this point very clear – if your brain doesn’t have enough glucose you will die!! So when someone does not eat (which is one of the more internal stressful events that the body can go through) your body will adapt. It adapts by releasing your stress hormone cortisol to raise blood sugar. So you will be raising your blood sugar whether you like it or not, through either eating or the release of cortisol. The problem of relying on cortisol is that you are always living in a stressful state, this adapting to living in a stressful state has its consequences

  “Such a shift in the nervous system signaling drives the adrenals to release more stress hormones, which increases blood sugar, constricts blood vessels, raises blood pressure and speeds heart rate. The shift also reallocates nutrients and blood to the lungs, heart and muscle tissue, and brain. Digestion, muscle building, production of growth and sex hormones come to a screeching halt”

  Mike Mutzel MSC, Belly Fat Effect.

  Note that digestion slows down in the presence of stress. And after time you will be increasing your odds of having an unhealthy gut. When your gut is unhealthy and unable to absorb what it should and keep out what it should – this will set off an immune response which leads to more stress – which leads to belly fat.

  “imbalances in intestinal bacteria, along with stress, medications, alcohol, and processed foods, increase gut permeability (leaky gut), allowing immunologically stimulating particles such as endotoxins to be absorbed. These inflammatory molecules stimulate components of the immune system…..many studies have found leaky gut to coexist alongside obesity and metabolic syndrome”. 

  Mike Mutzel MSC, Belly Fat Effect.

  So it is not about calories – leave this thought process behind. Look at balancing blood sugar through eating  regularly and enough not to have the body go into panic mode. And make sure you eat breakfast, not cereal to set off high and low blood sugar for the day, but a good protein and vegetable breakfast (yes I said vegetables for breakfast).

  Remember too much food is not good – but not enough can also be just as bad!!!!

   

   

   

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