Americans’ bellies are getting bigger, and it isn’t just about obesity. Even skinny folks these days are sporting bigger tummies.
–Among men who are 30 pounds overweight, the proportion whose girth exceeds 38 inches has increased 40 percent.
–Since 1970, the number of NORMAL WEIGHT women whose waist circumference exceeds 34 inches has increased 30 percent.
Want to know why our bellies are getting bigger? We’re in the middle of an epidemic of “hyperinsulinemia”—excess secretion of the hormone insulin. (“hyper“ means too much; “emia” means in the blood.).
Insulin is the “belly fat hormone.” Because the fat cells in your abdomen are more responsive to insulin than those in other parts of your body, excessive insulin packs fat into your belly. That’s why the first sign that you’re producing too much insulin is a protuberant abdomen.
You can’t live without insulin; you need it to metabolize carbohydrates. However, too much insulin causes problems. It not only leads to belly fat and weight gain, it can bring on diabetes and, in women, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)–America’s number one cause of infertility.
-By Age 40, approximately one third of Americans are hyperinsulinemic.
Lower the Hormone, Lose the Belly
Here’s the good news. The opposite is also true. If you reduce the amount of insulin your body produces you selectively remove fat from your abdomen–your belly shrinks before everything else does. You also go a long way toward preventing diabetes and heart disease. As you will see, this is not about dieting or huffing and puffing at a gym; it’s a matter of finding the right strategy. I’m going to help you do that.
If you think the problem is simply that you like to eat too much, you’re wrong. More important is the way your body responds to insulin. Once you understand the concept of insulin resistance and a way of measuring the effects on the body of different foods called glycemic load, your eyes will open to the double whammy that causes your body to produce too much insulin. You’ll see that the solution is much easier than you thought, and it does not involve dieting or rigorous exercise.
The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model
Every five years, the Scientific Advisory Committee to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a team of recognized experts on diet, issues recommendations to the FDA as it publishes its Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Be ready to be surprised. Because of new insights into the effects of diet and exercise on health, experts now view obesity and belly fat through the lens of a concept called the carbohydrate-insulin model. Their recommendations differ dramatically from previous ones.
As a full time practicing preventive cardiologist–board certified in internal medicine, cardiology and lipidology (the treatment of cholesterol disorders)–I specialize in treating conditions that lead to heart disease, including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol imbalances. I’ve published several books on diet including the #1 Amazon best seller, The Glycemic Load Diet. Most important, virtually every working day of my life I treat people dealing with the consequences of hyperinsulinemia, including belly fat, obesity, diabetes and PCOS.
The key to reversing these problems is to stop your body from overproducing insulin. Remember, as recently as 50 years ago excess belly fat and diabetes were much less common than they are now. Something we’re doing or not doing is pushing fat into our abdomen and raising our risk of diabetes. Whatever folks did then to stay slim and avoid diabetes couldn’t have been too difficult. They didn’t put much effort into it, and you shouldn’t either. Once you understand what causes hyperinsulinemia, you’ll find that reversing this common hormone imbalance is easier than you thought.
Not liking your belly is one thing; overproducing insulin to the extent that it increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease and PCOS is another. Click here to tell if you’re producing unhealthy amounts of insulin.
Once you understand the concepts of insulin resistance and glycemic load, you’ll see how easy it is to eliminate the double whammy that causes your body to overproduce insulin. Start with “Job One” to eliminate the insulin resistance that makes you vulnerable to abdominal obesity and diabetes. Combine that with “Job Two” to replace high glycemic load carbohydrates with richer, tastier food that triggers less insulin secretion. “Job Three” is to prevent whatever carbohydrates you do eat from spiking your insulin levels. Reading the other topics will give you an even deeper understanding of what causes hyperinsulinemia and how to get rid of it.
Suggested Next Topic: The Double Whammy
