Vanity may drive our desire for a flat stomach but it’s the havoc excess fat wreaks inside our bodies that should concern us.

There are 2 types of belly-fat or central obesity – visceral and subcutaneous. The fat depots buried behind your muscles and wrapped around your organs is visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the squidgy kind underneath your skin that you can see and grab.

Visceral fat has strong links to health problems and is an indicator of insulin resistance, which can lead to type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and more. A U.S. National Institute of Health study conducted on 359 middle-aged women (166 of them, of African heritage) found a direct correlation between visceral fat and long-term metabolic, sexual and mental health consequences.

People who constantly have protruding gut are often carrying visceral fat around and are at risk of health problems.

Why do we accumulate belly fat?

Simply put, our nutrition and lifestyle play major roles in the build up of stomach fat.

Nutrition. Insulin, the hormone that delivers sugar to cells for energy, plays a key role in central obesity. When you eat sugary or starchy foods, your blood sugar spikes and insulin is released. The body wants to use fat for energy, but can store fat more readily than sugar. If your plate is often laden with sweet treats, like doughnuts and pizza, your body stores the fat and utilizes sugar instead for energy. The sugar your cells don’t use is then stored as more fat.

Dieting, yo-yo or otherwise, is also a major culprit. Know that how you fuel your body and what you fuel with can create immense stress that results in sleepless nights, anxiety, short-temperedness, headaches and consequently, high cortisol levels.

Cortisol, also commonly called the “stress hormone,” not only promotes weight gain but causes fat to be deposited more in the stomach area than hips.Having a healthy relationship with healthy food and a healthful lifestyle is the best way to stay consistent and keep the belly fat at bay.
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Diet and exercise still remain the number one to burn fat.

Exercise of moderate intensity for 30 mins 5 days a week, and reducing the size of the portions you eat work. Instead of a big plate start using smaller plates to have your meals. You can even spread out the number meals you have from 3 to 5, eating smaller portions to help curb the hunger.