10 Steps to Maintain Healthy Weight as We Age

Is it normal and unavoidable for our bodies to expand every year? I don’t think so. Weight gain is NOT not a necessary part of aging. We sometimes think of midriff fat as negative only for our outer appearance. But in fact the midriff bulge hides invisible health risks inside your body in both men and women. There are myriad causes and cures for the expanding midriff. It’s a poorly understood topic that affects millions. In this heavily researched article I’m offering a multi-leveled approach to causes and solutions to the expanded midriff.

Why do so many people put on weight, in spite their best efforts to prevent it? Not all experts agree on how to reverse this trend, yet most acknowledge that there are multiple key factors. We’re dealing with food habits, lifestyle, attitude, and thinking patterns which lead to an accumulation of two kinds of fat: subcutaneous and visceral. Accumulation of dangerous visceral fat is often said to be caused by “complex pathological patterns reflecting both environmental and lifestyle interactions”. My translation: “It’s always about food and the mind.”

The most significant major diet trend in recent years is that people now eat more processed and packaged foods, with fewer fresh plant foods. This shift in the most recent one hundred years is that we consume more high calorie, low nutrient foods such as packaged, fast foods, sugars, sodas, processed vegetable oils, and all types of high-carbohydrate snacks. But there’s more, much more.

The Mind-Body Challenge

The biggest challenge we face in being overweight is not our waistline or our weight. It’s not even the belly. It’s the mind. To heal obesity and lose a belly, we’re going to have to change the way we think, to bring our thoughts into better harmony with the body.

In order to lose weight, you need to first lose the thoughts that keep you stuck in an endless cycle of unconscious eating and yo-yo dieting. You will let go of the beliefs and perspectives that sabotage your objectives for permanent weight loss and vital health. The same thinking that got you into this situation will only lead to more of the same.

Your mind and body are unique, so your best solution to lose the belly will be unique and different from anybody else in the world. Remember that your healthiest body may not fill a particular stereotype. It’s important to listen to your body and use your common sense in applying these solutions. Here’s a tip: Choose the one step that is most distasteful to you, most difficult, or the one which you feel most resistance to. And do that one. Really do it. This just might be the #1 key to change your life.

Numerous factors contribute to belly fat, and over many decades of seeing patients, I’ve found when they focus on these top ten strategies, they’re able to normalize sugar intake, lose stubborn belly fat, and finally gain vibrant health. If after you’ve done EVERYTHING in the 10 steps, you still have no change in your weight, I suggest you seek the advice of a specialist, as you may have some unusual factor that neither of us is aware of.

A diet of bread, wine and dairy could lead to an expanded belly.

A midriff bulge is simply an accumulation of our eating and lifestyle habits over time. These personal habits are often some of the most difficult things to change. We can definitely turn the tide and reduce the belly, once we understand the roots of it. Let’s look at the top causes of belly fat.

What are the Top Causes of Belly Fat?
In priority order, they are Sugars, Sweets, GMO foods, Soft Drinks, Pesticides & Herbicides, Bread, Flours, Cookies & Crackers, Potatoes, Noodles & Pasta, White Rice, Extracted Vegetable Oils, Packaged Foods, Alcohol, Overeating Big Meals, Coffee, Prescription Drugs, and Erratic Mealtimes.

#1 Top Culprit in Belly Fat: Sugars

Yep, our main sugars are Glucose and Fructose. Glucose is the sugar that goes immediately into the blood stream, creating high blood sugar. We often measure glucose with ” glycemic index”. Fructose on the other hand is a sugar from plants that’s harder for your body to break down. Fructose sugar goes to be processed in the liver, creating gas, bloating, fatty liver, high cholesterol, and weight gain. Fructose occurs naturally in some fruits, especially dried fruit, as well as honey, carrots, and onions. But since we don’t have a “fructemic” index, this sugar is often happily ignored in “low glycemic claims. Don’t be fooled. Glucose and Fructose sugars are equally dangerous. Fortunately you can check the total sugar content on any packaged food, which includes both Glucose and Fructose.

Fructose is in many packaged foods, often labeled “corn syrup” or “high fructose corn syrup”. High-Fructose foods include soda, candy, sweetened yogurt, salad dressing, frozen junk foods, bread, canned fruit, juice, boxed dinners, snack bars, granola bars, breakfast cereal, baked goods, sauces & condiments, cereal bars, snacks, coffee creamer, energy drinks, jam & jelly, ice cream, nutrition bars, etc.

Fructose:  A Key to Reduce Belly Fat

High fructose levels don’t just exist in a vacuum – they damage every other body function. Fructose causes surges of insulin in the body that affect other hormones like leptin, the hormone that tells you when you’re full. When fructose or insulin block leptin, your body thinks it is starving even after after eating. Did you ever wonder how you can still be hungry right after a big meal? That’s the insulin surge and the leptin resistance.

Fructose looks and tastes just like table sugar. Table sugar is half fructose and half glucose. More than any other food, fructose sugar can hijack your brain chemistry and your metabolism. You’ve just created insulin resistance and all the health risks that go with it, including a belly that keeps growing.

Fructose is the most metabolically damaging sugar. It goes directly to your liver, where it creates fat deposits, which trigger more insulin resistance and cause chronically elevated blood insulin levels, encouraging your body to store everything you eat as – you guessed it – dangerous belly fat. You may also get a fatty liver which causes inflammation. Chronic inflammation causes weight gain and diabetes. It’s a vicious cycle – and you can break it.

A significant problem with fructose is that it doesn’t send normal feedback to the brain to signal that a load of calories just came into the body. This effectively hijacks the brain to think we’re still hungry, so we continue to eat. Our bodies are programed to store belly fat in response to fructose sugar, so that we can survive a cold winter when food is scarce. Genetic considerations are minor in comparison to this general rule. When we can stop the surges of insulin, we can arrest belly fat storage and cravings.

#2 Top Culprit in Belly Fat: Toxic Chemicals in Wheat and Other Farm Products

One of the main factors that can block weight loss success is endocrine disruption from industrial chemicals such as Glyphosate, Atrazine, Chlorpyrifos and others. Yep, toxic chemicals used to hasten wheat maturity and increase crop yield, are affecting our health. The most common wheat harvest protocol in the US is to drench the wheat fields with Roundup several days before the combine harvesters work through the fields, because this practice brings the farmer an earlier, easier, and bigger harvest. Pre-harvest application of herbicides such as Glyphosate to 80% to 95% of non-organic grains as a drying agent, has been routinely used in the US since the 1990’s.

According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT who has studied the issue in depth, spraying wheat crops with Glyphosate just before harvest came into vogue in the 1990’s with the result that most non-organic wheat in the US is now contaminated with it. Seneff explains that when you expose wheat to a toxic chemical like Glyphosate, it actually releases more seeds resulting in a slightly greater yield:   “It ‘goes to seed’ as it dies. At its last gasp, it releases the seeds.” says Dr. Seneff.

Sorry to say, our grocery stores are filled with breads, sweets, cookies, and crackers infused with farming chemicals, which cause bloating, disrupt the endocrine system, damage gut bacteria, and encourage belly fat. The best solution is to eat 100% organic and avoid simple carbs.

 

What are the Best Ways to Lose Belly Fat?
In order of priority, you’ll lose belly fat quicker when you eat Low Carb Meals, Eat on Time with Dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime, Drink plenty of water, Eat smaller portions, Walk in Nature, Eat high Fiber foods like brown rice, Eat Organic Foods, Eat lots of Green Veggies, Cruciferous Veggies, Celery, Coconut Oil, High Protein meals – esp for breakfast, Eat Seaweed, Turmeric, Nuts & Seeds, Berries, Avocados, and Legumes.

 

10 Steps to Lose Belly Fat Forever

1. Eat Real Food, and Eat Mindfully

When we eat real food which is high in nutrients, we feel more satisfied, we eat less, and can lose belly fat. Getting enough vitamins and minerals will help you burn calories efficiently. This in turn helps to regulate your appetite, lower inflammation, boost body detox, aid digestion, to regulate stress hormones and insulin levels. Along with lots of green vegetables, include some protein in each meal since studies show you’ll feel fuller longer so you lose more weight.

  • Eat real foods from nature, instead of processed foods in packages or boxes. This is one of the best and easiest things you can do to lose weight. Real foods are the ones that humans have eaten for all of history: vegetables, fruits, seeds, clean meats and fish, and legumes, grown in healthy, rich soils without industrial chemicals.
  • Eat a low-carbohydrate diet. That means more vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, organic meat and dairy.
  • Eat detoxifying, liver-repairing super foods. Like cilantro, parsley, garlic, grapefruit, berries, berries, beets, avocados, leafy greens, spirulina, chlorella, organic liver, eggs, and green tea.
  • Eat cruciferous veggies: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Try my Cruciferous Veggie Stir-fry.
  • Add vitamin-rich green veggies. Think celery, kale, collards, arugula, and spinach.
  • Eat tart fruits at different times from other foods for clean digestion. Like apples, pears, strawberries, grapefruit, kiwi, and blueberries.
  • Eat lots of healthy fats, like coconut oil, olive oil, and ghee. These can help cleanse the liver and arteries. Contrary to popular belief, fat doesn’t cause weight gain – it’s SUGAR that leads to extra pounds.
  • If you crave carbs, look to root veggies and squash, sweet potato, pumpkin, beet, carrot, rutabaga, turnip, celeriac.
  • Eat 100% organic. Avoid GMO’s, pesticides, herbicides and toxic chemicals, which cause bloating and alter intestinal flora. That’s right, Glyphosate destroys your microbial balance, and causes bloating. All foods both GMO and Non-GMO are infused with chemicals such as Glyphosate, Atrazine, Chlorpyrifos and others. If you’re eating these, expect to be “gluten-intolerant” and bloated.
  • Boost your metabolism with some fat-burning foods like cayenne, turmeric, seaweed, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, ginger root, and matcha green tea.
  • Power up with protein at every meal, especially breakfast. This is a key to balancing blood sugar levels to reduce cravings and give your liver the nutrients it needs to detoxify. Start the day with farm fresh eggs or a protein shake.
  • Enjoy protein such as nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, chicken or grass-fed meat at every meal. A good protein serving is four to six ounces, about the size of your palm.
  • Eat mindfully with gratitude. This is a key. Don’t eat while distracted. Avoid multi-tasking. Slow down while you eat. You’re less likely to scarf down too much, too quickly. Relax and allow your digestive organs do what they were born to do.
  • Think about eating to support long-term health, rather than just to lose weight quickly.
  • Optimize your nutrient levels. Take a high-quality multivitamin with blood sugar-balancing.
  • Optimize omega-3 fats are important for controlling insulin function. Sources include Mackerel, Salmon, Cod Liver Oil, Sardines, Seaweed, Chlorella, Spirulina, Chia seeds, Hemp nuts, Flax seeds, Walnuts.
  • Optimize vitamin D by walking out in the sunlight for an hour daily. Low vitamin D levels impair appetite control. Wear a sunhat at peak hours.

Consider keeping a food log, and plan your meals to help develop new food habits.  

2.  Eat 3 Small Meals a Day at Specific Times:

The timing of your meals is perhaps the most important key and critical factor that determines whether your food goes to energy or to a larger belly.

  • Eat at these times: Breakfast 7-9, Lunch 11-1, Dinner 5-7. According to Chinese medicine, these are the optimum mealtimes during the day.
  • Eat dinner at least 3 hours before bed. Eating late and going to sleep with a full tummy can lead to additional belly expansion.
  • At dinner skip the carbs, since they promote weight gain during the night. That means no dinner potatoes, rice, bread, etc. This simple tip makes a huge difference.
  • Eat a generous breakfast, medium lunch, and a very small dinner. There’s no need to count calories or weigh your food. Simply eat 70% to 80% of your previous portions. Try eating on a smaller plate. Be aware of how much food it takes to make you feel satisfied.
  • Eat light. Overeating taxes the digestive organs and disrupts their normal functions. When these organs fail to handle the extra stress, the result is poor digestion, slow metabolism, stagnation, and internal phlegm.
  • Avoid Skipping Meals. Skipping meals is risky, because it often destabilizes the metabolism and encourages over-eating later. It’s far better to eat three small meals a day at the optimum mealtimes.
  • Consider Intermittent Fasting. While this may seem like a contradiction, The simple technique of intermittent fasting can help you lose weight, provided that your digestion is healthy and you don’t succumb to overeating later. There are several ways to practice intermittent fasting. One way is to skip breakfast a few days a week. Another is to limit your eating hours to just 6 or 8 hours a day. Intermittent fasting can help normalize insulin levels and reduce overall calorie intake, both keys for losing the belly.

“Eat breakfast like a kinglunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” Adelle Davis

3.  Eliminate the Top Food Culprits: 

Sugar is your number one biggest problem, as in raises insulin levels. Sugar is different from other calories that come from whole foods, protein, fat, or green veggies. Sugar is high in calories, but contains no nutrients. Sugar scrambles all your normal appetite controls. So you consume more and more, driving your metabolism to convert it into dangerous belly fat.

  • Reduce simple carbs: Skip sweets, breads, crackers, chips, wheat, all noodles, flours, honey, all packaged foods, fruit juices, and sweet fruits. Skip these common culprits: GMO foods, trans fats, pressed vegetable oils, and alcohol. These are the foods that created the problem in the first place. Yep. Just do it. Or do what you can.
  • Avoid all GMO’s, pesticides, and herbicides, which scramble your metabolism, damage your endocrine system, destroy beneficial intestinal flora, and create bloating. Yep, this means eating 100% organic.
  • Avoid fake foods at all costs. These are many of the foods found at your local supermarket: bagged, boxed, frozen, foods loaded with unhealthy additives and preservatives you don’t want to be putting into your body.
  • Avoid Gluten-free foods. These are mostly simple carbs, which digest as SUGAR. The most common ingredients in gluten-free foods actually increase blood sugar higher than wheat, such as rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, and potato flour. This contributes to diabetes and belly fat.
  • Stay away from extracted vegetable oils. Avoid ALL canola, soy, corn, sunflower, safflower, and peanut oil. Instead use organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, ghee, or butter. Extracted vegetable oils are often GMO, and also a root of poor health, cancer, high blood pressure, bloating, and excess fat.
  • Get fewer calories from carbs. Eat fewer grains, sugars, potatoes, noodles, rice, carbonated beverages, and refined carbohydrates. Your body mass will start to firm up.
  • Just Say NO to unneeded prescription meds, which often slow your metabolism and trigger constipation. You may be taking meds for pain, indigestion, muscle spasms, seizures, kidney stones, low iron, or high blood pressure, but the side effect is still often constipation. If you have difficulty, talk to your doctor, who may be able to suggest something that doesn’t cause constipation.
  • Skip heavy foods that cause congestion, such as red meats, brisket, pork belly, and ribs can cause constipation. Dairy products, eggs, rich desserts, and sugary sweets can, also cause congestion. Always balance them with plenty of fiber-rich vegetables whole grains like kale, collards, broccoli, wild rice, and quinoa in order to stay regular. Complicated food combinations can also cause congestion. Read my article on food combining
  • Reduce intake of grains, especially refined ones. All grains are not bad (especially whole, sprouted, gluten-free grains), but grains will never help you lose weight. Instead, focus on vegetables and fruits that are low in sugar and high in fiber, like raspberries, blueberries, tart apples.
  • Monitor alcohol. An alcoholic drink a day can do more harm than you know, especially if you’re struggling with weight loss. Two glasses of wine a day add up to 72,000 extra calories, which means an extra 20 pounds a year, straight to your belly. Stop alcohol for one month, and notice how you feel.
  • Address food sensitivities. We often crave the very foods we are allergic to. Getting off them is not easy, but when you eliminate them, you’ll soon feel renewed energy, relief from cravings, and begin to lose belly fat. Food intolerances can create roadblocks that make losing a belly almost impossible. Start with these: The top 10 most common food intolerances in the USA are: sugars, coffee, cow dairy, milk chocolate, potatoes and other nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), oats, corn, rice, tapioca, GMO & refined foods. 
  • Try the HCG Diet. This is an ultra-low calorie diet, taken with injections of HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin which makes dieting almost painless. The diet was developed by a British doctor Albert Simeonis  to reduce stubborn or hidden body fat. I consider it is quite safe and effective when taken under a doctor’s care.

4. Move Your Body

  • Exercise regularly. After changing your diet, exercise is probably the #1 best medicine to reduce a big belly. When the lymphatic system is stagnant, weight gain will always result. Exercise is the best way to move the lymph.
  • Walk at least 30 minutes every day. For some people, 30-60 minutes of a more vigorous aerobic workout four to six times a week may be necessary.
  • Take a 15-minute morning walk before breakfast to boost your metabolism. You’ll be amazed how it changes your day.
  • Take up bicycle riding, starting with short distances to develop your muscles.
  • Practice Taichi, Qigong, and / or Yoga three times a week. The effects of these gentle, harmonizing practices is far more than physical. They can improve balance, self-image, lymphatic drainage, blood circulation, increase muscle strength, and regulate the emotions.
  • Have sex. Yes, I said it. Healthy sex dissolves many invisible maladies. It removes stagnation – physical, mental, and emotional.

5. Clean up your Attitude and your Words

  • For every negative thought, think 3 positive ones, to retrain your brain pattern. This is a fun exercise that may distract your brain in a positive way.
  • Breathe! Whenever you feel down or emotional, take a few deep breaths and clear your lungs.
  • Notice your self image. Do things that make you feel proud of yourself. Talk to yourself to raise your level of joy.
  • Be aware of the people around you. Do they uplift you, confuse you, drag you down, or make you angry? You have creative choices in your associations, and it has a huge impact on your health.
  • Fill your day with positive energy that serves you and everyone around you. Breathe, enjoy life and laugh a LOT!

6. Manage Stress Levels, and Get 8 Hours of Sleep Every Night.  

Sleep deprivation and constant stress are a deadly combination that will trigger weight gain. Yep, chronic stress causes your brain to shrink and your belly to grow. Over time, chronically elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol will lead to high blood sugar, cholesterol, depression, dementia, and promote the accumulation of belly fat. When we’re under pressure we crave the comfort of sugar and carbs. If you’re burning the candle at both ends and are even slightly sleep deprived, it drives up your appetite hormones, which leads to craving sugar and simple carbs.

  • Develop strategies to handle or reduce stress. Think about the underlying causes of your stress. Are they internal? External. How can you change them? Reorganize them? How can you shift your reactions to situations that make stress worse and affect your health?
  • Face emotional eating. Find better ways to handle stress levels in your life. Provide yourself alternative snacks that are delicious and healthy.
  • Notice triggers and stressful situations that make you crave junk food throughout the day. Awareness is everything.
  • Prepare for sleep. How do you wind down and get ready before bed? This is a skill you can develop. Check out my article: 28 Practical Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep on this blog.

7. Ask Friends and Family for Support.

  • Talk with your family and friends to rally support for your efforts.
  • Recruit a buddy or a group to commit to do a lifestyle change together.
  • When others see your commitment, they will be likely to support you, and this can strengthen your resolve.

8. Drink Up to Increase Hydration 

Drinking lots of pure clean water is absolutely essential to help move the lymphatic system that is responsible for cleansing your cells. You bathe the outside of your body, but do you drink enough water to keep the inside clean? As we age, we’re more likely to get constipated. That’s partly because we may be less active, but it’s also because the body naturally slows down. Talk to your doctor about changes that can help you stay regular as you age.

  • Drink a minimum of 2.5 quarts of water daily, in small portions all day.
  • Make sure your water quality is very good. Tap water is not healthy. Filtered water varies in quality. Believe me, the quality of your water makes a huge difference in your health and wellbeing.
  • Be aware of your bowel regularity, and adjust your water intake accordingly.
  • Check out my article: Do You Drink Enough Water? on this blog.

9. Cleanse Your Intestines with Fiber 

Yes. Fiber is your friend. Your body takes nutrients from the food you eat and turns them into energy. Fiber can’t be broken down by your body, and that’s a wonderful thing. Fiber creates “bulk” in your stool that cleans the intestinal lining and absorbs water, which keeps you regular. Eat plenty of fibrous foods like brown rice, fruits, and veggies, to keep you regular.

The intestines need to be kept clean just like the outside of your body. If your belly is large, it is likely that you are storing several pounds of mucoid plaque, or rubbery coating in your intestines. This is caused by an accumulation of gluey substance after years of eating flours, extracted oils, and sugar. These three foods combine into a sticky mess that’s not easy to remove. But there is hope.

  • Eat clean, fibrous foods, and let the fiber clean your intestines slowly and naturally over time.
  • Have 3/4 cup of cooked brown rice daily. Other possible sources of fiber are chia seeds and flax seeds.
  • Have a colonic every 3-4 weeks. This helps keep the large intestine clear of junk and debris.
  • Do a Bowel and Liver cleanse. There are various types, and these are often essential first steps. I recommend three and you can choose: Dr. Richard Anderson Method Colon Cleanse, The Budwig Center – Health Recovery Guide,  Cleanses We Love by Vinova.

10.  Have Patience and Compassion.

  • Love and honor your body, because it is your best and most trusted friend.
  • Accept your body exactly as it is. Love it and care for it now and forever. Go for total health, not weight loss. Remember, your ideal weight may be different from those slender movie stars.
  • Do something positive every day to improve your health a little bit.
  • Give yourself small interim goals and rewards. Example: “I get to go to the movies when I lose 5 pounds.”
  • Keep going one step at a time. Don’t let anything distract you from your goal.
  • Look for the one step you find most uncomfortable, and do that. It may be the single thing that breaks a fixed pattern and starts you on the road to recovery.
  • Remember, you’re unique. If you’ve done all 10 steps and still have no progress, consult a specialist.

Two Different Types of Fat: Subcutaneous vs. Visceral

This article would be incomplete without a mention of the two kinds of fat in the body. Subcutaneous fat is just under the skin. Yes, the love handles you can pinch or measure with your fingers, the jiggly fat you can see just under the skin. Subcutaneous fat is normally harmless and may even protect against some diseases.

Subcutaneous vs. Visceral fat: While subcutaneous fat loss may be the goal for people who want to fit into smaller clothes, visceral fat is far more damaging to health. Yes, it is possible to lose both subcutaneous and visceral fat. Visceral fat is also known as skinny fat, deep fat, killer fat, deadly fat, toxic fat, hidden fat, flat belly fat, beer belly, Abdominal Obesity, internal fat, epicardial fat, etc.

Visceral fat is fat that surrounds the organs. It is a far more dangerous kind of fat that builds up as a hard coating around the internal organs. Visceral fat is not visible from the outside. It can happen even in slender people, and may accumulate undetected for decades. Visceral fat is associated with numerous diseases.

What if your Belly is Not Fat, but Rather Visceral Fat and Organ Expansion?

Expansion of the internal organs can also create a big belly. Let’s first take a quick look at the anatomy of the gut. Your digestive organs are like a long tube, and each part along the line plays it’s role. The Stomach is the first step, receiving and digesting food with powerful enzymes. The Liver and Gall Bladder are responsible for processing nutrients, filtering toxins from the blood, and digesting fats.

Next is the Small Intestine, which is about 6 meters or 20 feet long. Its job is to sort your food and pass molecular nourishment into the blood. The Small Intestine wall is lined with millions of tiny, finger-like projections called villi to allow for the maximum surface area in the lining of the small intestine. These tiny villi are filled with blood vessels, which allow digested nutrient molecules to go directly into the blood. Yep. Last is the large Intestine or Colon. It is about 1.5 meters or 5 feet long. The large intestine removes water from the digested material, and eliminates waste out of the body. That’s it!

Now that you know the functions of the digestive organs, which ones can become clogged and create a big belly? Yes, ANY or ALL of them.

How Can the Organs Expand the Belly?

Organs can become coated in visceral fat, which will cause them to increase in size. But there’s also organ expansion that happens as we age. The Stomach is the first organ in the chain – it can become bloated by food intolerances, poor food combinations, low enzyme levels, stress, etc. Next is the Liver – when it is contains many toxins filtered from the blood, such as GMO’s and other garbage that sometimes build up in the liver ducts, it can cause stones and other unwanted accumulation that expand the size of the Liver.

Good function in the Small Intestine depends on a clean intestinal wall, so the millions of villi are free to exchange nutrients with the blood. Certain foods can create a sticky coating like glue that slows its function. This is called intestinal mucoid plaque, usually a mixture of sugar, flour, and extracted vegetable oils. When there’s a build-up of plaque in the lining of your Small Intestine, it creates a hard black coating that expands the size of the small intestine and damages food assimilation. The solution is to increase fiber and water consumption for an extended period of time to clean and clear the surfaces.

Lastly, the Large Intestine or Colon can also suffer from sluggishness and build-up of mucoid plaque and undigested matter. Normally 1.5 inches in diameter, the Colon can expand to 3 inches in diameter when it is clogged with old, poorly digested food. Possible solutions are to move the body with exercise to speed the metabolism, increase fiber, change the diet, flush with salt water, and get a regular colonic.

How to Lose Visceral Fat.

You can lose visceral fat the same way as subcutaneous fat. The weight loss steps are the same: Eat a low-carb diet, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, exercise, eat fiber, manage stress, get lots of sleep, eliminate sugar and junk foods.

Now do you see that each organ can contribute to a belly bulge? So part of your belly may be caused by subcutaneous fat, some can be due to visceral fat, and part can be organ expansion or sluggishness. Everybody is different in this regard.

In conclusion, yes, you can shrink your belly. Everyone is unique in this regard. This article suggests various causes and solutions, some of which may apply to you. With a plan and a bit of consistent daily effort, you can change your habits. While every person’s perfect body may be different, we just don’t need to carry extra pounds around the middle. If you do even half these suggested steps, your belly will begin to shrink. I wish you success in all your efforts toward health and wellness.


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