![\"circlemagazine-circledna-excess-belly-fat\"](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1591384640699-9a85bd036da2?ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8OHx8ZmF0fGVufDB8fDB8fA%3D%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&w=1000&q=80\")
<\/figure>\nHow can you tell if you have too much belly fat or a dangerous amount of it? Andrea Angioli<\/a>, a Registered Kinesiologist, Certified Personal Trainer and co-founder of Everyday Athletes Gym<\/a> explains how a person could know if they have a potentially unhealthy amount of belly fat. Angioli states, \u201cThe most reliable measurement of body fat would be to do an MRI scan but those scans are expensive, and inaccessible to most people. Most practitioners will therefore use a waist-to-hip ratio or just simply a waist measurement.<\/p>\n The chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke increases steadily as a man\u2019s ratio rises above 0.95; for women, risk begins to rise above 0.85. For the waist measurements, the risk is high for men at anywhere over 40 inches. Women should be concerned if they measure over 36 inches. Moderate risk is 37-39 inches for men and 31-34 inches for women. Low risk for men is under 37 inches and for women, they\u2019re at low risk if they\u2019re under 31.5 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n Indications that you might have excess belly fat that needs to be addressed therefore include a protruding belly and a waist measurement that\u2019s over 36 inches for women, or over 40 inches for men. Abdominal obesity can also be determined by measuring the waist-to-hip ratio, which is the circumference of your waist divided by the circumference of your hips. If this number is greater than 0.8 for men or 0.9 for women, then it means there\u2019s an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes associated with excess belly fat.<\/p>\n Too much belly fat around your organs can be dangerous. the fat can disrupt organ function and create problems with the circulatory system, which could lead to a heart attack or stroke.<\/p>\n Excess belly fat is visceral fat that gathers around your abdominal organs. To understand more about this, let\u2019s discuss visceral fat.<\/p>\n Subcutaneous fat is mostly harmless. That deeper belly fat, however, can be dangerous. It\u2019s this visceral fat that accumulates around abdominal organs and can encase your internal organs.<\/p>\n Visceral fat is basically the fat that you can\u2019t see, but it builds up around various organs in the body. Visceral fat is the most dangerous type of body fat <\/strong>around our abdomen because it collects around organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines. This is one of the reasons why excess belly fat can be so dangerous.<\/p>\n Excess belly fat has been linked with various health conditions and health risks including:<\/p>\n These are only some of the health risks associated with having too much belly fat. You might notice you have trouble breathing sometimes, or you have mobility issues. That should be enough of a reason to address the problem. If that\u2019s not motivation enough, just remember you\u2019re at higher risk of developing certain cardiovascular conditions, diseases and cancers if you ignore your excess belly fat for too long.<\/p>\n Visceral fat is also called active fat. Belly fat is metabolically active. What does this mean, when your fat is active fat? It means that it secretes inflammatory cytokines and hormones like leptin, which contribute to inflammation. The hormones and chemicals produced by abdominal fat that is \u2018active fat\u2019 can be detrimental to your health.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a normal weight, but you have excess belly fat, you might be wondering what\u2019s causing your protruding belly. It could be stress or an unhealthy lifestyle \u2013 and this could lead to heart disease, diabetes and more.<\/p>\n There are several factors that can lead to excess abdominal weight. \u00a0Eating too many calories per day while not getting enough physical activity; poor eating habits such as snacking on processed foods or drinking sugary drinks throughout the day; excess alcohol consumption; too much stress in your life; not enough high-quality sleep.<\/p>\n Kinesiologist and Certified Personal Trainer Andrea Angioli explains, \u201cSince you can still have dangerous belly fat without being overweight, the best way to decrease overall body fat percentage is with a good balance of a healthy diet and consistent exercise. The diet should consist of plenty of soluble fibre (~30g\/day), avoid trans fats, limit alcohol consumption, include an adequate amount of protein in your diet (1g\/lb of lbw), limit sugar intake, and replace refined carbohydrates with starchy carbs.\u201d<\/p>\n Some easy ways to reduce your sugar intake include watching what you drink and being mindful of those liquid calories<\/a>. Reduce alcohol consumption along with limiting your consumption of fruit juices and sugary sodas.<\/p>\n Try to walk for at least 30 \u2013 60 minutes every day. In addition to this, 3 \u2013 4 times per week you should try doing an exercise class, personal training session or gym session.<\/p>\n Are there any other ways to reduce belly fat, other than through diet and exercise? What about managing stress, reducing cortisol, and improving sleep habits<\/a>? Angioli confirms, \u201cYou can also help reduce belly fat by reducing stress in your life and by getting an adequate amount of sleep, at least 7-8 hours per night.\u201d<\/p>\n What should you do if you\u2019re dieting and exercising, but your belly fat is so stubborn, you can\u2019t get rid of it? Remember that belly fat is one of the most stubborn formulations of fat on the body. It will take time (even with consistent diet and exercise) before you\u2019ll see results. You might not see visible results around your belly for a long time, but that shouldn\u2019t discourage you from continuing to stick to your healthier diet and exercise routine.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s been months of consistently eating better and being more active, the best thing to do is get your body checked out by a doctor, so you can figure out what\u2019s going on. You can talk to a nutritionist about what you might be doing wrong in your diet, but your diet and exercise routine may not be enough to address the root of the problem. Your doctor can perform other tests to see what\u2019s going on, but they likely won\u2019t order these tests until you\u2019ve tried the healthier lifestyle changes. It\u2019s possible your doctor or naturopath will run tests that show that your belly fat is due to food sensitivities.<\/p>\n Can food intolerances and food sensitivities cause belly fat? Are certain foods going to make your belly fat worse? We know that stress is one of the main causes of belly fat, but what about your diet? What if you\u2019re eating certain foods you didn\u2019t know you were sensitive to or you weren\u2019t aware of food intolerance, and eating that food has been causing your bigger belly?<\/p>\n Eating healthy is not always the answer. Tomatoes are healthy, but you could have a food sensitivity to them. The best thing to do is get your blood tests done by a naturopath to see what foods you\u2019re sensitive to.<\/p>\n Another thing you can do is check your personalized \u201cfood sensitivities\u201d reports from the diet and nutrition section<\/a> of your CircleDNA test<\/a>.<\/p>\n Is belly fat genetic, and passed down from your parents? If one or both of your parents had an unhealthy waist-to-hip ratio or excess belly fat, this health problem could be genetic.<\/p>\n You\u2019re not completely at the mercy of your genes, however. You may be predisposed to storing fat around the belly, or you\u2019re genetically more likely to have a larger waist circumference, but you can change that with diet and exercise. You can fight your genes, you\u2019ll just have to work harder if it\u2019s in your genetics to have excess belly fat or obesity risks. If you\u2019re curious what your DNA says about your likelihood of struggling with belly fat or wondering what your food sensitivities and optimal diet types are based on your DNA, order your CircleDNA Premium Health Kit<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Although it is common for people to have excess belly fat, few are aware of the health risks. Excess belly fat is dangerous for your health, so… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1797,8170,8578,8720,54,49,4387],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-biopsychosocial-approach-to-health-en","tag-excess","tag-health","tag-personal-trainer","tag-skincare-en","tag-teeth-grinding-en","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What Does Excess Visceral Fat Do to Your Organs?<\/h2>\n
What is Visceral Fat?<\/h2>\n
Health Risks Associated with Excess Belly Fat<\/h2>\n
![\"circlemagazine-circledna-excess-belly-fat\"](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1530026186672-2cd00ffc50fe?ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8MXx8aHVtYW4lMjBvcmdhbnN8ZW58MHx8MHx8&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&w=1000&q=80\")
\n
Visceral Fat is Metabolically Active<\/h2>\n
What Causes Excess Belly Fat?<\/h2>\n
![\"circlemagazine-circledna-excess-belly-fat\"](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1530524428108-f983ca74ad0f?ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8N3x8dW5oZWFsdGh5JTIwZm9vZHxlbnwwfHwwfHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&w=1000&q=80\")
What to Do about Excess Visceral Fat<\/h2>\n
What If Your Visceral Fat Is so Stubborn, Diet and Exercise Is Not Working?<\/h2>\n
![\"circlemagazine-circledna-excess-belly-fat\"](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1596560548464-f010549b84d7?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1000&q=80\")
Food Sensitivities and Belly Fat<\/h2>\n
Is Visceral Fat Genetic? Did I Get My Excess Belly Fat from My Parents?<\/h2>\n
![\"circlemagazine-circledna-excess-belly-fat\"](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1581952976147-5a2d15560349?ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8MjV8fHBhcmVudHN8ZW58MHx8MHx8&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&w=1000&q=80\")