Hello everybody! Meet Mr & Mrs Brown.

Mr and Mrs Brown have been married for over 10 years now, and they both love each other dearly. Mrs Brown however, has a worrying challenge in her heart. Her husband has got a beer belly. She has tried different ways to get rid of this one disturbing factor in her marriage, but every effort has proven futile.

She now wants her husband to constantly stop beer consumption, and that is a bit of a problem for him, because he strongly believes his beer belly isn't as a result of his frequent beer consumption. So Mr Brown has this disturbing question, that disturbs not only him, but his friend and a lot other folks round the world ** does drinking beer really cause beer belly? **

Introduction

You must have seen those men along the road, or somewhere else. I mean those ones that looks like they are pregnant, it might even be a family member, or someone very close to you. Often times, people try to imagine what's really trapped inside that big belly. Some think its food, others think its beer or even the liver. This post is aimed at satisfying most of your curiosity, regarding ** beer belly **

According to healthline Beer is an alcoholic drink made from grain, such as barley, wheat or rye, that has been fermented with yeast

It is been called all kinds of names including pot belly, spare tyre, beer gut, abdominal obesity, bread box, etc. If you or anyone around you has developed this disorder, it is very necessary you know that having an abnormally huge belly is beyond just beer consumption. On the other hand, excessively consuming beer will do you no good either

So lets discuss Beer & Alcohol, is beer belly a myth?

Drinking beer alone does not cause beer belly. Beer belly is simply fat which accumulates inside the abdominal cavity, too much of beer consumption can cause this. Part of what causes this, are those foods you eat while consuming that beer. This kind of fat has numerous negative impacts. For example, it releases cholesterol, puts much pressure on your internal organs, releasing cholesterol into your blood stream which can be very detrimental to your health. This could lead to clogged arteries, down to heart attack

Normally, you will discover that you can pinch the fat around your belly region. But with beer belly(visceral fat), you can't pinch your belly region like a normal person would. When you can't pinch that, know that what ever is inside your belly, surrounds your organs, and that is not good at all. You have to watch what you eat while having that beer, and make other healthy choices like avoiding friend wings, whole wheat pizza with veggies on them rather than the popular inorganic flour. Don't forget, it is what you eat while holding that beer, that is the major issue. And avoid excessive beer intake.

A review by BBC related that the consumption of beer alone does not cause the popular "pot belly" that lots of people associates it with

In the words of food science professor Charles Bamforth of the university of California Davis.

“The beer belly is a complete myth. The main source of calories in any alcoholic beverage is alcohol, there’s nothing magical about the alcohol in beer, it’s just alcohol.”

Find statement here

The report later confirmed that alcohol is just another spice in your caloric regimen, and has no special effect on your belly region. This doesn't mean you can consume every alcohol you come across with, because excessively consuming alcohol could lead to a condition known as "Ascites". Ascites occurs when fluids build up in your abdominal region, which can cause other possible damages.

Ascites

Pot belly or beer gut is usually in men, but can also be seen in females. When you see that guy in the beach, know that its not necessarily fat, it possibly could be ascites.

Ascites is simply a fluid filled sac around the gut, a space between the organs and the skin. Ascites is not fat or beer, Ascites comes from a Latin word which means fluid. When a person has a faulty liver, sometimes it tends to lick out water to the person's belly sack. There are times when people with this issue goes to the doctor who eventually drains it out. But it often comes back after some weeks or months, because the symptom was fixed, while the real cause of the problem just lies there.

The human liver has over half a thousand different functions, one of these functions is the secretion of a vital body hormone known as Insulin-like growth factor IGF. IGF regulates your blood sugar when you don't eat. We already know that insulin regulates our blood sugar when we eat. When you dont eat, IGF goes into your body and breaks down your body fat so you can use them.

It is not advised to snack all day long, if you already have pot belly. You can have a proper balanced diet, so the liver can see something good to work with, in order to stimulate the necessary IGF required to dissolve stored body fats (especially liver fat) for use. One solution to this problem, is to get a handful of kale and broccoli, with a glass of water, and take one of this combination a day, after blending them all for about 3mins. The above mixture is very high in potassium, when you increase potassium in the body, you decrease sodium where the water is contained. Do well to also avoid heavily cooked and friend proteins

5 Types of belly fat caused by other factors besides excess weight

It is important to know that a big belly isn't necessarily caused by excess body weight. There are other causes of this issue. Below are the different types of belly fat which are caused by other factors besides excess weight. I also included their causes and possible solutions

1. Love handles.

In this case, a person develops folds on the sides of his tommy. This is often caused by sweet tooth, sedentary lifestyles, excess sugar, excess alcohol consumption, and carbs consumption like cakes, white bread, cookies, etc. Starchy carbs are also known to cause love handles belly. To get rid of this, you must reduce your alcohol consumption rate. It is advised you totally stop drinking for about 2 weeks, then you can moderate your alcohol intake. Secondly, you must rethink the choices of food you eat regularly, avoid excess of processed foods or special dietary products. You can add some eggs, lean meat and vegetables avocado, high-fat fish to your meals. Thirdly, you must observe those aerobic exercises, as no one will do them for you

2. Stress belly

Stress belly is when the belly fat is concentrated around the belly button, and it isn't lose like some other cases, rather it is thick. It happens when you regularly skip meals, chronic stress is another cause, excess coffee consumption, unhealthy foods.

If this is your case or someone around you, know that this condition can be reversed. Leptin is a hormone which is associated with proper metabolism, hormonal and appetite regulation. This is why you need to go to bed early, because you sleep very little and poorly when you are stressed up, which ends up disrupting production of leptin. It is advised to sleep at least 7-8 hours everyday. Secondly, you have to include the mineral magnesium in your diet. You can find magnesium in nuts, green vegetables, wheat bran, etc

3. Low belly

This is when a person is slim, but his lower belly protrudes a little bit. It is mainly caused by recent motherhood, monotonous exercises, spinal curvature, when you dont change diets

How you can reverse this? Maintain a healthy diet and consume lots of fibre. Some diets that can help out include, whole-grain bread, green leave vegetables, and other fibre sources. Secondly, try not to do too much of incorrect squats. Doing incorrect squats sometimes puts excess pressure on your lower back

4. Mummy's belly

In most cases, the belly looks like you are pregnant again after giving birth.The uterus has a way of lowering itself after child birth. It takes at least weeks for your body to return to its normal state. It best to have a cool rest of about two to three months after you give birth.

To get rid of mummy belly, you have to consume healthy fats. vegetable oils, nuts, olives are examples of healthy fats. Include fish in your diets also. These healthy fats helps in fighting body fatigue. Secondly, practice kegel exercises, also try sucking in your belly. When you suck in your belly, it helps to tone your muscles. Don't do squats and crunches after birth, they can be quite dangerous

5. Inflated belly

In this case an individual's tommy is normal in the morning but grows big during the day, This is regardless of excess body weight. Its main causes are food allergies, intestinal flora imbalance

To reverse this issue, try to avoid any type of food that doesn't go well with your body. Cut out gluten like bread, confectionery, excess beer consumption. Also try to consume less processed diary products like cheese and milk. Make sure you eat fresh vegetables often. If you have inflated belly, try not to skip breakfast, and avoid eating at night. Also try other Breathing exercises

So where did we get confused about the idea of beer belly causing belly fat?

Alcohol is alcohol anywhere. Your body can't really tell if it is beer or wine you just had, except from the taste. The difference is however seen in their different sizes. Alcohol researcher Dr. Aliyah Sohani of Massachusetts General Hospital suggests that this misundestanding might stem from serving sizes.

The average size of beer bottles and cans is around 12 to 16 ounces, an average glass of wine is about 5 to 6 ounces, shot glass is around 1 to 2 ounces. From this, you will agree with me that the average consumption of beer to wine is designed to be different from the beginning. It is this difference in quality that that caused this issue. Looking at the sizes, you tend to take in more calories from beer. So if we switch places between the sizes of the beer bottle and that of wine glass, the popular myth would then change to "wine belly".

Other poor lifestyle practices can cause this problem also. Beers are seldom served alone, they are often served with other foods like hamburgers, sausages, pizza. Some of these diets can even cause belly fat when served alone. You are more exposed to developing this issue if you are 35 and over, or if you are male. The reason is because, after 35 years of age your rate of metabolism tends to start slowing down, so you can't afford to eat all the stuffs you have been eating prior to that time. This is the exact reason why most older folks tend to put on excess weight, you must restructure your dietary plan

The reason why this is seldom seen in women, is the very fact that women store fat in other parts of their body like their ass, hips, thighs. For most beer bellies, the cause is visceral fat. Visceral fat is is not like the normal subcutaneous fat, it is fat that is parked deep in the body, around your organs.

The reason why it is hard, is because it pushes against your abdominal muscles. It is considered risky because it could lead to other health complications like insulin resistance, diabetes, heart diseases, high blood pressure. Subcutaneous fat isn't a very big deal, because everyone needs a little of it to regulate body temperature. It is also aids your nerves, blood vessels, skeleton (and others).

Here is why sumo wrestlers are often healthier than other individuals with beer belly caused by visceral fat

Sumo wrestling is a typical example of our discussion. Sumo wrestlers eat lots of food and looks really fat, but are healthier than other individuals that looks just like them. There is hardly any case of diabetes, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, heart disease. This is simply because their bodies contains lots of subcutaneous fat, and not visceral fat.

Its been discovered that studying an individual's gene expression, could predict if a person's gene is likely to store subcutaneous fat or visceral fat. This is why you shouldn't judge the overall health of a person by their weight. Looking at this, we can also say a contributor to beer belly is Genetics

Does Genetics and sex play a role in this?

Have you ever wandered why some people eat all the jargons and gain little or no weight at all? While you gain all the weight by merely looking at those unhealthy foods

Well, you are not alone in this. I did think about that in time past, until I embarked on a little research, which pointed me to "Genetics". This study shows how different people responded differently to the same food)

Dr. Judith Korner, who is a director at the Weight Control Center at Columbia University Medical Center puts it this way

"If you have two people who are given the same exact diet, they won't necessarily weigh the same, there is a genetic basis for how much they can consume. If you try and alter that set point, your body definitely fights against it. There have been studies where you take people of any size, thin or obese, and if you underfeed them, there are changes in the body that try to get them back to their original weight. It also works the other way too -- the body will try to burn up that extra food to get them back to the set point."

After all is said and done, there is a very simple formula to weight gain, and that is "Consume more calories than you can burn". It is best you understand your bodies metabolism, rather than trying to compare yourself to other people whose metabolic rate you know nothing about

Most people have the perception that the amount of calories a person burns a day is overly dependent on the amount of time he spends on the gym. Exercise plays a huge role, but metabolism has its own very important role to play.

Fundamental body functions like breathing, circulation, determines about 3/4 of the calories we burn every day, and this metabolic rate is hugely dependent on genetics. find more information here Other factors which determines our metabolic rate includes age, gender, body composition and our daily physical activities.

It is quite simple for sex. Women mostly store body fat in different areas of the body, different from that of men. Women store fats in body regions like the thighs, ass, arms, hips, breast, etc. Why we men get attracted to fat stored in these regions around the female body, is what I still don't understand. Even science is yet to uncover the reason why. I'll leave that to a symposium discussion for another day

Some ways you can reduce your belly fat

• Reduce excessive alcohol consumption

Alcohol contribute immensely to belly fat in some persons. In this case, you necessarily don't have to completely stop alcohol consumption, you gradually reduce the amount you take.

This research shows that excessive consumption of alcohol puts one at the risk of belly fat

• Intermittent fasting

According to Wikipedia

Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for various diets that cycle between a period of fasting and non-fasting during a defined period. Intermittent fasting can also be used with calorie restriction for weight loss.

Intermittent fasting has certain health benefits, one of which is weight loss. There are different ways to practice intermittent fasting, one good way is the 16/18 practice

16/8

This is one of the best and most commonly practiced method. In this method the individual skips his breakfast everyday, and he feeds within an 8-hour Window. Here is a typical example - the person could eat within 12noon - 8pm, and fast for the remaining sixteen hours.

Here is a research confirmation

Further advise

The time you consume your meals are also important in controlling excess belly fat. Eating chocolate cakes just before you sleep, will do your belly no good. Try not eating 3 hours before sleep, and watch your body flow in line with nature's plans. Have this in mind, that whenever you eat just before bedtime, you are actually sleeping in a bed full of nails

Something that will help you speed up the rate of your body fat loss is "perception". The thing about perception is, no one can change your perception about you, except you do it yourself. It's really not about comparing yourself with someone else, its all about you telling yourself "I look awesome today, and I will look even better tomorrow" don't forget to back up your words with action, as words alone will get you nowhere. I say this because whatever you conceive in your mind, is what ends up showing in your body

When you eat all the sodas, cupcakes, ice creams, and the likes, it is important to ask to ask yourself where these ingredients come from. Are they organic or synthetic. Let me give you a few lines of how junk foods cause harm or cause that belly fat. Your processed foods are often made some percentage of glucose and fructose. Once these fructose hit the liver, the liver immediately gets confused on what to do with it, so it ends up as fat in your body and often times accumulates in the belly region.

The best way to avoid this, is to go for natural sugars, instead of artificial ones that cause problems in your body. There are other foods that aid in body fat removal, such as avocado, blue berries, strawberries, etc. These are very high enzyme rich foods. Most of our everyday junk foods are devoid of enzymes, and we know what these kinds of food do In the body, they hardly digest.

Refined Table salt is another major culprit in the issue of belly fat. They dont just increase our body blood pressure, they also contribute to the retention of water in our body. So now you know, go for organic salts. Water also has its role in this. The human body is 70% water, water doesn't just play the role of hydration, it contributes to our internal detoxification. When you dont drink water, you become really hungry. Sometimes, people think they are hungry for food when what they are actually lacking is water.

protein reduces your body cravings by about 60%, and helps speed up body metabolism rate. So do well to get the necessary vegetables and protein rich diets if you really want to lose that body fat. Protein also decreases your appetite.

A research was conducted by Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton ON, Canada, which concluded that Protein intake was inversely related to waist circumference. This simply means that the higher your protein intake, the lower your tommy fat

Here is a link of the research findings and conclusion

Author information - Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. [email protected].

Fat isn't bad when it comes to maintaining a cool body health. An example of a good fat is coconut fat, which contains the necessary mono saturated fat which our body needs in order to remove excess fat from the belly

In your body, excess sugar gets converted to fat. So it is only wise you reduce your amount of sugar intake. How do you do this? simply reduce the amount of processed foods and drinks you take, because they contain lots of sugar

Skinny fat

Some call it avocado body. Skinny fat is one of those oxymoron that often amazes me, i mean considering the fact that it is often directed towards people that are overweight. There is really no term to describe skinny fat, but they are generally people that weigh little, but have a proportionally enormous amount of body fat especially in the abdominal region. What this means is that a person's weight might be around a healthy range, but that belly is just like that of a fat person

Skinny fat isn't that bad, neither is it necessarily healthy or something to be shy about. There are other people that have tried divers ways to become normal again, by exercising or dieting, but yet, that skinny fat wont leave them alone. One thing about weight loss, is that while you lose weight, you lose fat and lean mass at the same time. Understanding this, will tell you that weight loss alone, will only end up keeping your body mass the same.

Here is a simple calculation

If a person weighs 160Ibs body weight, with 40Ibs of fat. and later decided to cut down his weight to 140Ibs body weight, with 35Ibs of fat. At the end of the day, the percentage of his body fat will still remain at 25%. This is correct especially for beginners, considering that the weight loss at the beginning happens to be water, instead of fat.

Cardio exercises are indoor or outdoor exercises that are carried out in order to lose weight, body fat, or improve one's health. Cardio is very good for people, especially for the heart. The problem is, most people drop the weight, without changing the the body mass to weight proportion. What I am trying to say is that cardio and weight loss diets aren't enough.

So if cardio and weight loss diets aren't the real deal, what then is? We now know that the solution to skinny fat problems isn't weight loss, but body fat proportion. What you have to do, is counteract the body fat. One brilliant way to do this is the addition of muscle to your body. This doesn't just add to your muscle mass, but adds the necessary definition to the frame of your body. you must embrace those strains in the gym, either by weight lifting or body weight exercises. This is the best option because you get to build muscle and lose fat at the same time

For more information

This Czech beer research discovered that concluded that It is unlikely that beer intake is associated with a largely increased WHR or BMI.

These reviews found no relationship between drinking moderately and beer belly

This research concluded that heavy consumption of alcohol is tied to weight gain and obesity, regardless of the kind of alcohol consumed

Conclusion

Beer is an alcoholic drink made from grain, such as barley, wheat or rye, that has been fermented with yeast. There are times when a person has a faulty liver mostly caused by excessive beer consumption. It sometimes tend to lick out water to the person's belly sack, this kind of situation leads to an issue called ** Ascitis ** Genetics also plays a role in accumulation of fat around the belly region. I also gave a simple formula to weight gain, which is "Consume more calories than you can burn". You can reduce your belly fat by reducing you alcohol intake if you already are consuming excess of it, intermittent fasting, etc.

Reference

• What is ascites

• Abdominal obesity, Wikipedia

• WebMD, the truth about beer and your belly

• Skinny fat

• BBC

If you write or are considering writing on any of these spheres, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), you might want to check out @steemSTEM community. Consider joining our discord channel. To get more information about the @steemStem community, click here You can also include the tag #stemng on your post, if you are from Nigeria. Click here for more information about @stemng.