Thursday, January 29, 2009

Simple Tips to Burn Belly Fat

By Ricardo d Argence

A popular new year's resolution is to lose weight, quite often around the waist. Few actually like to have excess belly fat, as it is stubborn and ugly and seems extremely difficult to get rid of. If you want to burn away extra fat around your stomach, you need to understand what it is and why its stored there.

The body can store fat in any area of the body, and for some people the first area seems to be the belly. Belly fat is the accumulation of visceral fat around the midsection. People with this problem are commonly referred to as having an "apple" shape.

Fat around the midsection is more problematic because it accumulates around the important organs in the belly. Other types are merely interspersed between skeletal muscles or under the skin.

When you have belly fat, you are then at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and insulin resistance. It is important for fat around the midsection to be thought of as a serious issue.

belly fat can be caused by a lot of circumstances. Some of them are listed in the next lines:

Genetics- Look around at the people in your family that are overweight. Where do they tend to store the most fat? If it is around the midsection, you could have a genetic predisposition to belly fat. Habits- Poor eating habits are another common cause of belly fat. Stress- This is a big contributor to belly fat. When you are stressed there is a hormone released called cortisol. Cortisol increases your energy by boosting glucose production, which in turn stimulates appetite increasing your caloric intake and this is converted to stored fat. Generally around the midsection so that it is readily available for the body to burn.

Junk food must, of course, be avoided. The best weight gainer is a rich in calories food with less nutritional quantity. Some other foods you should avoid are:

Candy bars, brownies, and soda. They have a high caloric value and little or no nutritional value.

Instead of all the sugar and carbohydrates, you will want to focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins. For example instead of a bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast, you could consider this sample breakfast:

2 poached eggs or bowl of oatmeal, small glass of orange juice, fruit of your choice and a whole grain toast.

It's impossible to really talk about weight loss without talking about one key aspect: the importance of regular exercise. Even 15 minutes a day walking at a brisk pace will show dramatic results.

The worst thing you can do for your body is to introduce pills and weight loss drugs. Most do not work and those that have any affect depend on harsh chemicals that increase heart rate or worse. The best plan is a balanced diet and simple exercise. - 15634

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