Don’t be fooled about how to lose belly fat fast
There are two curiously contradictory trends in American society. The first is our nearly-universal obsession with physical beauty, evidenced by adornment of the cover of nearly every magazine in circulation by a scantily clothed beautiful person. The second trend, ironically, is our own rapidly expanding waistlines, evidenced by the fact that nearly one in three of us is either overweight or clinically obese. While we adore thin bodies, we seem unable to keep our own bodies thin.
Much of the waistline woes we experience can likely be traced directly to the woefully misguided nutritional advice foisted upon us by the USDA, whose primary purpose isn’t to look after our health, but rather to create favorable conditions for the sale of agriculture products. We’ve been collectively asking about how to lose belly fat, and the dietary “experts” at the USDA have told us for years to eat more processed grains and less fat. It seemed to make great sense: eating fat makes us fat. Unfortunately, it was completely wrong.
The human body converts fatty acids in the bloodstream into triglycerides, which is the form in which they’re stored, only in the presence of a hormone called insulin. The pancreas produces insulin in response to elevated blood sugar, which is itself caused by digestion of simple carbs such as sugar, starch, bread, pasta, rice, noodles, and potatoes. Insulin causes a molecule called “lipoprotein lipase” to herd the fatty acids cruising around our bloodstream and store them as triglycerides inside our fat cells. Simultaneously, muscles and organs are instructed to stop burning fat as their fuel, and to burn the increased glucose instead. Therefore, losing belly fat, or any other kind of fat, requires reducing your blood insulin levels, which can be done rapidly by cutting down on sugary and starchy foods.
Consequently, there is a surprising answer to the question of the best exercise to lose weight: there isn’t one. As difficult as might may be to believe, there is no credible evidence linking exercise and weight loss. The “calories in minus calories out” weight loss paradigm is just plain false. You can’t eat less, or exercise more, in order to rid your body of excess body fat. Instead, you need only to modify your dietary intake to include proteins, fats, and leafy green vegetables, with fruits thrown in as a treat.