Happy Monday everyone
Hope you all had a great weekend. How about that weather…I get the feeling Spring has sprung 🙂
Saturday Krystie and I went out for a date night. It was actually our first solo (just us) date night since Milly was born. That’s one year and nine months…I feel like we deserved it.
For those wondering, that’s not Kombucha in Krystie’s glass and the dessert isn’t gluten, dairy or sugar free. Oh and the smile on Krystie’s face would suggest she may have had at least two glasses of that red drink 🙂
On with the post. Today I want to share with you my top 5 belly busting tips. They’re not what you think
Hundreds of crunches, sit ups, core exercises, ab king pros and every other fitness infomercial gadget, celebrity diets, fat burners… they all promise a toned, flat and defined midsection BUT the reality is that these misconceptions deliver very little return on investment.
To be honest…for most part they are a waist of time (did you like my play on words there?)
Belly fat is made up of two different types of fat.
1 – Subcutaneous fat
This is the stuff found just beneath the skin. It’s the fatty tissue that you can grab and pinch.
2 – Visceral fat
This is the hard, intra-abdominal fat that sits deep deep within the abdominal walls surrounding your organs. This fat is the worrying stuff, it has been linked to everything from diabetes, heart disease, hypertension through to age associated diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The accumulation of visceral fat is a result of a diet high in trans fats, heavy alcohol consumption, processed foods, refined sugar, high toxic loads like heavy metals, pesticides, rancid vegetables oils and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
In order to lose the belly fat we need an effective strategy on both subcutaneous fat and the nasty visceral fat. Here are my top 5 tips on banishing the belly fat.
NOTE – Unlike the Ab King Pro or the Ab Hancer these actually work!
 
1 – You must Stabilise blood sugar and insulin
The number one thing you can do for belly fat is to stabilise blood sugar and insulin. How do you do that? Food choices, portion control, food quality, nutrient density.
Consume nutrient dense ‘real food’ – emphasize organic, wild, grass fed, pasteurised proteins to encourage greater fat loss, minimise food cravings, preserve muscle and fuel your brain.
Eat plenty of fiber rich, non-starchy vegetables. Green leafy veggies are fantastic 🙂
Add some healing fats such as coconut oil, avocados, olive oil and organic whole eggs.
Top off with some belly busting herbs and spices such as turmeric, chilli peppers, cinnamon and cacao.
2 – You must Avoid pro inflammatory foods
Wheat, gluten, grains, vegetable oils, low fat spreads, low fat foods, commercial dairy, processed sugar, artificial sweeteners, soy and chemically laden fake foods. These foods are problematic for a lot of people. You may not have an intolerance but there is a high chance that you will be sensitive to many of these foods. Even just small amounts of these foods can induce inflammation, disrupt insulin and increase belly fat.
3 – You must have Healthy functional adrenal glands
When cortisol (your body’s stress hormone) is chronically elevated or depressed, fat is gained around the belly. Abdominal fat has 4 times as many cortisol receptors than any other body part. Meaning your belly is highly sensitive to soaking up that excess cortisol circulating around.
Cortisol dysregulation is caused by chronic stress. But what causes chronic stress? Yes it may well be your stressful job but stress comes in many forms.
- It could be stress from pain, maybe an injury
- Inflammatory stress from poor food choices like excess sugar, vegetable oils or any other foods sensitivity
- Sleep deprivation
- Emotional stress
- Mental overload
- Existential stress
- Environmental stress
Your body doesn’t differentiate the stress. It’s all just stress. And the more stress – the more adrenal dysregulation – the more fat. Especially belly fat
What can we do about all of this?
For those that don’t know the other part of our (Krystie and myself’s) job is something called Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. We have a company called Functional Wellness where we use functional lab work to get to the root cause instead of just treating symptoms. We run labs on adrenals, hormones, gut function, immunology, and gastrointestinal.
To support the adrenal glands we use a protocol that is proven and potent. The protocol we use can be broken down into 5 areas – Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress reduction and Supplementation also known as The DRESS for Health Success Protocol.
For more information on how we can help go here http://www.functionalwellness.co.nz/
4 – You need to exercise smarter
Conventional wisdom would tell you that in order to burn the belly fat you need to exercise more BUT that’s often not the case. Most people don’t need more exercise they need to exercise smarter. What is smarter exercise you ask?
- Resistance training is essential for burning the belly fat. Choose large multi-joint exercises such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, push ups and chin ups. These multi-joint exercises have a higher metabolic cost compared with isolation exercises like bicep curls of tricep dips.
- Interval training is another very effective method for burning the belly fat. Interval training is essentially an intense effort for a given period of time followed by a rest or active rest for a given period of time. An example of a simple yet incredibly effective interval protocol is as follows…
Jump on a bike, rower, treadmill or x-trainer. Warm up at a comfortable pace for 3 minutes. Then perform 1 minute of all out sprinting. Follow that with 2 minutes at a comfortable pace. Then you will again go for 1 minute all out sprint, again followed by 2 minutes comfortable pace. Repeat the cycle for 20 minutes. That’s it. Â
- A balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic exercise. When it comes to exercise most people think more and harder are always better but the truth is most people are way too sympathetic dominant. The sympathetic nervous system is your fight and flight branch. This is your go go go autonomic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is your rest and digest branch. Exercise that comes under the parasympathetic branch includes meditation, Tai Chi and box breathing. For all the working out you are doing you need to have the equal amount of working in.
5 – You must reduce toxic load
The accumulation of toxins can affect the endocrine system, liver function, brain function and our ability to lose belly fat. The liver becomes overburdened and overloaded with toxins from excess alcohol, processed foods, pesticides, crappy personal care products that are full of chemicals, heavy metals, environmental toxins and pollution. Over time these toxins build up in one’s body and begin to trigger a number of health problems from brain fog, headaches and memory loss to weight loss resistance, an increase in visceral fat and fatigue.
There you have it. My top 5 tips on beating the belly bulge.
This week’s podcast recommendation
Dr. William Davis, author of wheat belly, stops by UW Radio to discuss how eliminating wheat from our diets can prevent fat storage, shrink unsightly bulges, and reverse myriad health problems. Topics include why excess fat has nothing to do with gluttony, sloth, or too much butter, the harmful effects of wheat, and why eliminating wheat is the key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health.
http://undergroundwellness.com/podcasts/wheat-belly/
Paul ”six pack abs” & Krystie ”you mean flabs :). Don’t worry I have ordered you an Ab Hancer for Christmas” Miller
P.s – Â REFERRALS
Krystie and I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has referred a friend to Results FitnessCamp. We rely on word of mouth and appreciate you helping spread the word.
Remember if you refer a friend to Results FitnessCamp and they sign up…. You’ll receive $50 cash as a thank you from us
This newsletter was brought to you by Results Personal training Hawkes Bay. For more on how they can help you go here >>>bootcamp hawkes bay<<<
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