Waist Control

What is the one measure that can predict your overall health most accurately? It is the size of your waist! For decades experts have said that waist size could be your most important vital sign. As you get older, your body tends to accumulate more fat around the waist. Before forty years of age, Testosterone in men and Estrogen in women distributes body fat more evenly and prevents it from piling up in the middle. Between the ages of forty and fifty, these hormones usually decline, causing body fat to accumulate. During menopause, women have higher levels of insulin circulating in their blood which in turn leads to more body fat storage. This explains the common adage “middle age spread.”

Excess weight from any source, lean or fat, may not be healthy in the long run. However, it is important to note that all fat is not the same. There is the pinchable, superficial flab you may see jiggling about your body, and then there is the visceral fat which is far riskier. This type of fat is dangerous because it infiltrates your internal organs and makes your belly stick out. This fat can almost be compared to a hyperactive beast which is continually spewing out more fatty acids, hormones and inflammatory compounds into your bloodstream causing much damage to your body. Amongst other things, it will make you age prematurely and increase your risk of developing many diseases like depression, heart disease, Cancer, Arthritis and Dermatitis. It may also predispose you to developing high blood pressure, elevated levels of cholesterol, triglycerides or blood sugar and lower testosterone/more estrogen levels in males.

A popular method to define excess body fat is to measure BMI or Body Mass Index BMI is a ratio of a person's weight to height in meters squared. Most population studies that research the relationship between obesity and disease have relied on BMI. BMI though, does not take into account the composition of the weight. However, it can still be used to predict the risk of death due to excess body fat when it is used in conjunction with waist circumference. For instance, someone not even considered to be overweight according to BMI, but who has central adiposity (fat around the middle), may have twice the risk of dying compared to someone who is overweight or obese according to weight and height but where the body fat is distributed more evenly around the body. This is why the WHO (World Health Organization), NIH (National Institutes of Health) and AHA (American Heart Association) recommend measuring both BMI and waist circumference. This may be especially important for older women, who lose 13 lbs of bone and muscle as they age from twenty-five to sixty-five, increasing their visceral fat stores almost four times! Men’s visceral fat stores only tend to double. So, even if a woman is not gaining any weight according to her bathroom scale, she may be gaining fat.

What is the healthy waistline cutoff? Increased risk of metabolic complications starts at an abdominal circumference of 31.5 inches in women and 37 inches in most men. For Japanese, Chinese and South Asian men, the guideline is even more conservative, being closer to 35.5 inches. The risk profile for all disease goes up substantially at 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men.

Unfortunately, there is no fool proof method of correctly measuring waist circumference since there is no standard protocol that is followed. Some measure it at the belly button while others take the halfway point between the top of the hip bones and bottom of the rib cage. In view of this confusion, the simplest formula to remember is to keep your waist less than half your height. Waist to height ratio has been shown to be a better predictor of both body fat percentage and visceral fat mass than BMI or waist circumference alone. For instance, while screening for heart disease and diabetes risk in adults, the calculation of waist to height ratio appears superior to BMI. This method seems to work for children too when measuring body fat.

What is interesting is that while it is easiest to put on fat around the waist either by eating too much, eating the wrong foods or by exercising too little , middle fat is also the first to go. This can be achieved by following a guided, goal-oriented wellness plan consistently. Your goal should be waist control not weight control. You might even find yourself gaining weight (but losing waist) because you gained muscle and lost fat. Muscle weighs more than fat and body composition (percent of muscle tissue) is more relevant to your health than body weight. And remember fad diets never work in the long run. Often people eliminate entire groups of foods in their pursuit of weight loss. Carbohydrates for example are commonly demonised. However, if you don’t eat quality carbohydrates, your body will look for energy from other sources which then leads to cravings for unhealthy sugary foods.

The perfect way of eating for waist control is one which

● Does not cause your blood sugar and insulin levels to spike.

● Puts your body in inflammation and omega balance.

● Tastes good and changes cravings.

● Does not require you to count calories.

Want to learn more? Sign up for a free consultation at www.rimabhealth.com.