Do you want to get rid of your belly fat? ‘It is impossible to lose weight in a specific place’ | Healthy

First this: losing weight in one specific place is impossible. Whoever wants to get rid of his belly fat, will therefore have to get his entire body weight down. And that’s a lot less simple than supplement manufacturers and other shady internet experts would have us believe. “People want a quick solution: if I drink ginger tea all day, I get a flat stomach. But that’s not how it works,” says De Beule.

“Fat doesn’t melt away like those marketing machines promise. Yet people fall for it, because swallowing such a pill is simply easier than adjusting your lifestyle. While the latter is the most important. Roughly 75 percent of our health is determined by our lifestyle, 10 percent by our genes (such as stress sensitivity or predisposition to depression) and 15 percent by happiness and environmental factors. So we really have a lot in our own hands.”

“Ideally, your waist circumference should be half your height,” the dietitian continues. “Too much belly fat or too much fat mass in general gives an increased risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and obesity. Proper nutrition is very important in this regard. There are good unsaturated fats and bad saturated fats. The first are mainly found in plant foods, the second in animal foods. In short, unsaturated fats open up our blood vessels. Saturated fats, which are mainly found in dairy and meat, make them silted up and increase the risk of the aforementioned diseases of affluence.

We need the most of plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, potatoes and nuts. They contain a bomb of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and unsaturated good fats. Don’t worry about which foods contain which vitamins and minerals. If you try to turn every meal into a rainbow, you’ll be fine.”

Plant-based foods are low in calories. In addition, they contain fiber. They have a satiating effect, ensure faster transit and help to lower bad cholesterol. Fiber also feeds our gut bacteria, making them more numerous and diverse. A good intestinal flora ensures that you can better deal with everything your body ingests.”

Yet eliminating that tummy is not just a matter of eating the right fats. The amount is also important. “Our body still functions like that of our ancestors, who did not always and everywhere have food available to them,” explains De Beule. “Surviving in a context of scarcity and unpredictability has programmed us to store what we overeat into fat mass. We can draw from that stock if there is a shortage. However, most people no longer know these periods of scarcity. As a result, the stock remains untouched or continues to grow. So eat until when your body indicates that it has enough. Not too little and not too much.”

Regardless of what you eat, your timing also plays a role. De Beule: ,,When we eat, our blood sugar level rises. Our body does not like that and wants to reduce it as quickly as possible. This causes the pancreas to release insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels. As long as insulin is released, no fat burning takes place. They are, as it were, opposites of each other. This lasts on average up to two hours after the meal. In concrete terms, this means that it is best to eat three varied main meals a day. In between you take a meal break. Eating breaks are not only a moment of rest for mind and body, they also ensure that you go into fat burning.”

Because nutrition is not an isolated story, belly fat and other fat will shrink faster if you also get enough sleep, adopt an active lifestyle and practice stress management. “Getting enough sleep is fundamental. The link between sleep deprivation and diseases of affluence has been confirmed time and again,” says De Beule. “This relationship has already been shown with less than six to seven hours of sleep. Your hormones get out of balance when you are sleep deprived. For example, the hunger hormone ghrelin increases and the satiety hormone leptin decreases. In plain language: you are more hungry and you do not have enough quickly. After one night of bad sleep, you eat up to 500 kcal more the next day. Your body and mind are tired and require more energy. Sugar- and fat-rich snacks will give you the fastest and greatest satisfaction. It is therefore logical that you reach for a chocolate bar and not a healthy salad.”

It’s an open door, but just as deadly for a healthy fat mass is a lack of exercise. “If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, break that down by moving at least twice an hour,” De Beule tips. Get down on your knees ten times, walk to the kitchen for a glass of water, jump up and down five times, have a meeting standing with your laptop on a high table or make a phone call while walking. It does not matter! Muscles largely contribute to our combustion. More muscles therefore also means more combustion. Strength training not only provides combustion during the workout, but also has a long-lasting effect because it increases your metabolism, even at rest. If you are not that sporty, but you move enough, that’s okay too. Cleaning your house, working in the garden, cleaning the windows… these are chores that can be considered a workout.”

And last but not least: if you have too much fat mass, then you may also need to take a closer look at the amount of stress in your life. “Prolonged stress is unfavorable for our mind and body,” says the dietitian. Our body then produces too much cortisol for too long. This can lead to increased blood pressure, depression, obesity and excess belly fat. This is because cortisol ensures that the sugar stores, which are stored in our body, return to the blood. Result: high blood sugar, causing our pancreas to kick in and release a lot of insulin, so there is no fat burning. Emotional eating due to stress also causes excess fat storage.”

Research also shows that people who drink alcohol on a daily basis have too high cortisol levels. “A glass of wine can give you a relaxed feeling in the short term, but if you do that too often, you increase your cortisol concentration and therefore also your chance of being overweight. Just think of the classic beer belly.”