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Exercise can help you shed both visceral fat accumulation and a larger waist
fat and subcutaneous fat you can see and circumference. It’s in everything from
pinch. Exercising for at least 30 minutes ketchup and salad dressing to bread, pasta,
every day (for example by brisk walking, and yogurt.
cycling, aerobic exercise and strength Try swapping sugary drinks with water
training) can go a long way toward or sparkling water. Read labels carefully.
reducing fat. Pay special attention to ingredients listed
It’s also important to keep and to build at the end of a list — these are things
your muscles. Workout with weights, do manufacturers add for flavor or texture, so
resistance training like push-ups and sit- they’re often full of added sugars.
ups, or practice yoga. Reduce alcohol
Diet Drinking too much alcohol may harm
Concentrating on portion size, and your overall health in a number of ways,
emphasizing on complex carbohydrates including contributing to excessive
(fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and accumulation of belly fat.
lean protein over simple carbohydrates Avoid Trans fat
such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, Certain foods seem to encourage belly fat.
and sugary drinks can reduce visceral fat. One of them is trans fats, which are found
High fibre diet in meats and dairy as well as in deep-fried
Fibre is the part of plant foods that your or processed foods.
body can’t digest easily, so it helps you feel Try intermittent fasting
full longer and keeps your digestive system A new and popular fad, Intermittent fasting
healthy. People who follow high fibre diets is a weight loss strategy that involves
tend to have less belly fat than those who going through periods of eating and going
don’t. Indulging in a high fibre diet may without food. It may help reduce your
help you lose excess belly fat levels of visceral fat.
Fibre-rich foods include fruits like Get plenty of sleep
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, Not getting enough sleep may increase
vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (like cortisol, increasing your risk of additional
beans and lentils). visceral fat. Insomnia also increases the
Include calcium appetite hormone ghrelin, so you crave
More calcium and vitamin D in your body sugary foods and eat more. As you gain
may be linked to less visceral fat. So load up weight from eating sugary foods, your body
on leafy greens like collards and spinach. stores some of it as visceral fat.
Tofu and sardines are also good picks, as Make sure you get at least 7 hours of
are dairy foods like yogurt, cheese, and quality sleep each night.
milk. Reduce stress
More protein Stress activates a hormone in your body
Dietary patterns that are higher in protein called cortisol. More cortisol activates your
may help promote belly fat loss. body’s “fight-or-flight” response, which
Avoid added sugar triggers the storage of more visceral fat.
Drinking too many sugary drinks like Try yoga or meditation to lower your stress
soda has been linked to increased visceral level.
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #48 | JUNE 2023 25
