Five Facts on Losing Belly Fat

Belly fat can not only mar your looks, it can cost you your life. Evidence is mounting that diabetes and belly fat are closely associated. Even a relatively modest weight loss can reap huge benefits. The golden rule however is: eat less and move more.

Reduce Your Diabetes Risk

Abdominal fat cells are different from fat cells anywhere else in that they act like organs in their own right, producing hormones and other substances that will directly impact the functioning of your other organs. Insulin resistance is a consequence of an over-abundance of hormones made by fat cells. And insulin resistance in turn is responsible for type 2 diabetes.

Reduce Your Breast Cancer Risk

Losing belly fat will also favorably affect your breast health: after menopause, abdominal fat cells are able to produce estrogen. Increased estrogen is at best a double-edged sword as the problems with hormone replacement therapy demonstrated. While estrogen helps reduce the pesky symptoms of menopause, it can also raise your risk of developing breast cancer.

Reduce Inflammation

Exercise, even when done modestly, can have a major influence on the size of your midsection. Exercise has been found to decrease abdominal fat as well as inflammation. The amount of exercise mice were subjected to at the University of Illinois can be translated, in human terms, to running on a treadmill five days a week, for a distance of a mere one-fourth of a mile. In human terms, this translates to about a 30 to 45 minute walk five times a week.

Sucking In

Your whole belly area needs to shrink and firm up. Belly fat cannot be eliminated through sit-ups and crunches. You might even make your midsection bigger by increasing muscle without losing the fat first. What you can do immediately is target the deeper abdominal muscles by learning to suck your stomach in, also called "abdominal hollowing." For a demonstration on how this works, get on all fours and let your stomach hang loose. Take a deep breath and then breathe out. When almost all the air is expelled from your lungs, draw your belly button inward and up toward the spine. This is a gentle movement and you will feel it in your waist. This is not meant to be an extreme sucking in of the stomach as when you try to zipper a pair of jeans that seems to have shrunk in the wash. Rather, imagine yourself squeezing through a door that is only partially open. Hold your breath for 10 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, and repeat 10 times. When you feel you got the hang of it, you can do this exercise standing up. No one will be able to tell because, remember, it is supposed to be subtle.

Expect Quick Results

As troublesome as belly fat is, it has one characteristic you will appreciate: belly fat is extremely responsive to diet and exercise. When you lose weight, you will probably notice it in your midsection first. And you don't even have to starve yourself when you moderate your diet. Some foods are perfect for cutting your appetite while being beneficiary to your health. Those foods include avocados, olive oil, nuts and dark chocolate.