Thinking about our body fat may make a lot of us wriggle uncomfortably in our seats. Which is easy enough to understand, given how aggressively all those diets and “one simple trick/food/exercise” click-bait articles promising a shredded physique are being marketed to us on a daily basis. Not to mention all those pictures posted by Insta-famous influencers who further strengthen the message that body fat has no place in their perfect Insta-lives, and that perhaps you should be striving for this. #inspo #guilt.
It’s official – body fat has now joined the undesirable ranks of bum boils and foot fungus.
Which is a little unfair, as body fat does have a role to play in our bodies. Body fat not only provides cushioning and insulation for our bodies, we now know that it also plays a key role in energy storage and more importantly in the chemical and hormonal messaging system used by our cells to communicate. But not all body fat is the same; we’re going to take a closer look at tummy fat.
The fat around your tummy area can be divided into multiple compartments such as under the skin (subcutaneous fat) or packed between the organs (visceral fat). Visceral fat is hormonally active and can influence several normal processes in the body. Abnormally high amounts of visceral fat is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, certain cancers, insulin resistance as well as metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, abnormally high levels of fat under the skin – specifically in the belly area – has been linked to increased insulin resistance. This too plays a role in chronic diseases and metabolic syndrome. It is for these reasons that a high level of tummy fat (central obesity) has been receiving extra attention from health professionals.
What can you do to keep tummy fat within a healthy level?
Here are my top tips on keeping your tummy fat levels in check:
Know your risk
It is important you know where you stand in terms of tummy fat levels, particularly if you have a strong family history of chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. If you are male or a post-menopausal female, you are at a higher risk of a higher level of tummy fat.
It’s also important to know that weight and BMI alone is not an accurate predictor of risk – a person with a normal BMI can still have a high visceral fat level, which can make them equally at risk of chronic diseases as someone who is obese.
An InBody composition scan will not only tell you how much fat your body is storing in the tummy area, it also calculates the visceral fat levels. This will give you a good baseline to work towards reducing or maintaining.
Be energy smart
Body fat levels depend a lot on energy (calorie) management. To put it simply, if you’re like me and spend majority of the day sitting at the desk in the office and only getting up every now and then to go have a wee; then you’d probably wouldn’t need much energy to fuel your body. Which can be very difficult in our current food environment that encourages energy-dense processed foods – over consuming energy is often too easy, and all that excess energy needs to be stored somewhere.
Eating less processed food choices and choosing more wholefoods can be a simple and sustainable way to keep you satisfied whilst reducing your energy intake. You do not need to use expensive “super-food” options – just everyday foods will do. Here are some suggestions:
- Swap a meat pie for a roast beef sandwich
- Swap a sweet baked treat e.g. muffins or chocolate biscuits for some fresh fruit or some flavoured yogurt. Or a mix of both!
- Adding more vegetables to your meal. Check out some ideas on how you can do this without going into full “rabbit-mode”.
Move your body
Minimising the time spent sitting is another part of the energy management equation. To put it simply: if you are burning more calories by moving your body, you’re less likely to store the excess energy in the form of body fat. In fact, by creating a consistent energy deficit, your body will have to tap into the energy stored in body fat – reducing the amount over time. As a bonus, certain types of physical activity can actually help to counter the insulin resistance caused by high body fat levels by making your body more sensitive towards insulin.
Aiming for a minimum of 30 minutes of activity everyday can make a difference. Whether that’s going for a 30-minute “chin wag walk” with a friend (coffee in tow, of course), or jumping around shaking vigorously to your favourite songs (“Walking on Sunshine” is my personal wiggling fave), or the spin-class at the local gym; choose something you actually enjoy and make time for it a priority.
Making small but achievable and sustainable changes can go a long way.
Not quite sure where to start or how to apply the healthy eating habits to your lifestyle? We can help!
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