In the Flat Belly Cure Podcast, Episode 5, Mark and Stephen discuss some of the reasons we store body fat around the stomach area and the differences between love handles and belly fat. We store fat around the belly because of stress. Stress releases too much cortisol, which causes us to store belly fat. There are many culprits for producing too much cortisol, from not sleeping enough to a poor diet, or stressful relationship. Find out what your stressors are and how you can remove them by listening to the podcast here!
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 00:01 – Introduction to the episode.
- 01:07 – Today, we’re going to talk more in-depth about why you store fat around your stomach.
- 01:27 – Men are obviously not storing stomach weight because of menopause, as previously discusses, although they say that men are becoming more female because of chemicals in the environment! Men are more susceptible to problems that were previously women’s, due to toxins and xenoestrogens affecting men’s testosterone.
- 02:23 – People tend to refer to the stomach area as if it were all the same, but the belly button area and hip area are different, especially in the reasons why you store fat around there.
- 02:43 – The reason you store fat around your hips (the love handle area) is the amount of processed carbohydrates you’re eating. If you’re eating too much white bread, pasta, etc., you’re more likely to store fat around your hips. Carbs affect everyone differently, but most people’s love handles are from excess processed carbs.
- 04:12 – Mark tried Jamie Oliver’s Beer Wellington recipe with pastry. Eat this if you want to sleep after a meal!
- 05:00 – We’re thinking of arranging a cooking event at The DVCC, so if you know anyone who would be interested we’ll arrange a banquet.
- 05:40 – Getting back to the belly button area, there is a very different reason why you store fat there – stress.
- 06:09 – Stress causes a high amount of cortisol, which makes you store fat. You’ll store more fat the more stressed you are.
- 06:33 – Although, you release cortisol and need it all the time, if you release too much, it will make you struggle to get out of bed and sleep at night.
- 07:18 – Cortisol should be high in the morning and give you energy to jump out of bed and then lower throughout the day. But a lot of people have an inverse cortisol relationship – they struggle to get up in the morning and struggle to go to sleep. It’s too low in the morning and too high at night. Mark and Steve’s cortisol was too low in the morning when they did the test, because they were overtraining.
- 08:28 – It’s not hard to do things to increase or decrease your cortisol if you need to.
- 08:40 – If you’re chronically stressed, try to remove the stressor. If you’re in a bad relationship, step away.
- 09:03– But before that, figure out what happens to you. Do you struggle in the morning or the evening?
- 10:11– Isolate the cause of the stress – work, relationship, too much training or long bouts of aerobic exercise. That’s why short bouts of HIIT training is more effective.
- 11:14 – Too much stress can cause your body to break down bone or muscle.
- 11:54 – Most effective way of decreasing the cortisol hormone in the evening is through magnesium. It’s the most cost-effective way. A couple of supplements to give you enough magnesium to sleep well and handle stress (stress depletes magnesium). Other cortisol releasers are:
- 12:50 – Being dehydrated. Not drinking enough water releases more cortisol as it puts your body under stress.
- 12:57 – Eating foods you’re intolerant to.
- 13:10 – Gluten.
- 13:45 – Foods that are easier to cut out for a few weeks are gluten and dairy, see how you react by going 2 weeks without them.
- 14:08 – Lack of sleep.
- 14:14 – Lack of quality sleep, constant waking.
- 14:25 – Outside stressors, like a bad boss.
- 14:35 – Not being positive, having a negative focus on life.
- 14:57 – Lack of recovery from exercise. This is hard to do, you have to train crazy amounts.
- 15:58 – Correct this by looking at your training, don’t do too much cardio, look at the food you’re eating and get quality sleep. Take herbs and supplements as well.
- 16:33 – Too much cortisol can affect libido, as well, as you produce less sex hormones.
- 16:58 – Supplements that can help apart from magnesium are holy basil, adaptogens, liquorice in the morning. Liquorice increases the half-life of cortisol, so you’ll have more energy in the mid-morning. Another one would be carnitine. This is really great for giving you energy and helps you lose body fat.
- 18:06 – We should have added too much caffeine / too many stimulants can cause stress and release more cortisol.
- 19:03 – Your action steps to take are:
- Comment below and let us know what your stressors are on the Facebook box.
- Share the podcast with someone who might be interested in the podcast. They can enter their email and we’ll send it to them when it’s ready.
If you want to learn more about The DVCC, you can go to thedvcc.com where there is plenty of information and you can download a pricing guide if you wish!
