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LIVING HEALTHY IN PATTAYA

Busting the Beer Belly Myth

By Khun Dee

If you have a beer belly and you haven't lifted anything heavier than a Heineken since you’ve been in Pattaya, take a minute to consider your future on that bar stool. Better yet, think about getting off your bum and onto a treadmill. Just twice a week will help reduce that ‘beer belly’ and increase your longevity. But if you continue feeding that girth in an otherwise sedentary existence you will be a prime candidate for:

- Heart disease

- Diabetes

- Metabolic Syndrome

- Gall bladder problems

- High blood pressure

- Colorectal cancer

- Stroke

- Fatty liver

Those are only some of the risks faced by men whose waistline is 94 cm (37’) and climbing. Hundreds of studies have concluded that any excess fat can be problematic, warns Dr Jeffrey Flier, researcher at the prestigious Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. ‘But,’ he adds, ‘it’s much, much more dangerous when it’s accumulated in the abdomen.’

If such threats are not enough motivation, consider this: A new US study of more than 700 adults indicates a link between beer bellies and Alzheimer's disease. ‘We have all heard how a beer belly can be bad for our heart, but this study suggests carrying excess abdominal weight could also increase your risk of getting dementia,’ says Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society.

Getting it off

What can be done to trim a beer belly? The most obvious answer is stop drinking beer. But, interestingly, beer may not be the problem. In fact, there is no evidence that the ‘misnomered’ bulge is caused by drinking beer. Only one study has been done on the subject and it concluded that those who think ‘people are obese because they drink too much beer’ are wrong. And a leading authority on alcohol and health at the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Meir Stampfe, contends that ‘though it's often called a “beer belly,” beer does not promote weight or waist gain any more than any other source of calories.’

So even if you stop drinking beer altogether you probably will maintain your impressive girth if you consume more calories than your body burns. And if you’re over 35, you’re burning fewer calories than in the past because the aging process has slowed down your metabolism. Furthermore, according to a Swiss study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, alcohol in the blood stream can slow down fat metabolism more than 30 percent.

Want an easy way to eliminate that beer belly? There is none. It takes commitment and hard work. Your best approach is a multi-pronged attack: consume fewer calories (including beer), eat a healthy diet, and get active. Aerobic exercise is your best ally. Run, walk, swim, bike, play sports—nearly anything that builds up a sweat. Augment such fat-burning exercise with strength training, but start slowly and give your muscles a day or two of rest between sessions. Also, there’s no way to spot-reduce a beer belly.

Sexy Man

But don’t be discouraged. One group of men took only 15 weeks of twice-a-week workouts--no dieting, no cardio--to trim their belly fat and add lean muscle. Both are desirable results if you’re trying to improve your overall health (not to mention button your jeans). The workouts consisted basically of strength training--squats, curls, and bench presses. Now, if you were to add a daily routine of aerobics or just fast walking for one hour, plus a sensible diet, you would be well on your way to deserving the soubriquet ‘sexy man.’

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-- Pattaya One 2010-10-20