Health Habits

improve your health, habit by habit

Posts Tagged ‘visceral fat’

Vinegar is a Fat-Burning, Waist Shrinking, Cholesterol Lowering Superfood

October 15th, 2009

In yesterday’s post, I introduced you to a study which showed that plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.

More specifically, the researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.

I was so excited by this low-tech, inexpensive weight loss trick that I contacted the author of the study.

And to my surprise, he emailed an even more recent study which looks at the fat-burning effects of vinegar on actual human beings….no more mice studies.

The Science

In this study, researchers investigated the effects of vinegar intake on the reduction of body-fat mass in obese Japanese students.

The 175 students were randomly assigned to three groups of similar body-weight, BMI and waist circumference.

During the 12 week study, the participants ingested 500ml daily of a beverage containing either 15 ml of apple vinegar (750 mg AcOH – acetic acid), 30 ml of vinegar (1500 mg AcOH) or 0 ml of vinegar (0 mg AcOH, placebo).

In place of vinegar, the placebo group ingested 1250 mg of lactate.

To make them more palatable, all beverages contained the equal amount of flavor and artificial sweetener.

The Results

After only 4 weeks, the vinegar-group participants saw their body-weight, BMI and body-fat percentages improve. These improvements continued in a dose dependent manner for the entire 12 weeks

Translation: more vinegar = more fat loss

In addition to BF, BMI and BF%, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, LDL cholesterol and serum TG (triglyceride) levels also fell (starting in week 8).

These results can be considered to be due to the body-fat loss because the VFA (visceral fat), SFA (subcutaneous fat) and TFA (total fat) values were significantly lower in the vinegar groups than in the placebo group.

Does the vinegar make these "diet" chips?

Conclusion

15 ml (0.5 oz or 1 tbsp) of vinegar per day is enough to significantly improve your:

Body-Weight
BMI
Body-Fat Percentage
Waist Circumference
Waist-Hip ratio
LDL Cholesterol
Serum TG
Visceral Body-Fat, and
Subcutaneous Body-Fat

And considering that these health markers are associated with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome, perhaps it might be wise to consider adding a tbsp or two of vinegar to your daily diet.

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

Mainstream Medicine Is Starting To Wake Up

November 14th, 2008

NOT a self portrait

Yesterday, media outlets around the world ( here, here and here) discussed a new scientific study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reaffirmed the notion that a large waist can almost double your risk of premature death.

This shouldn’t come as news to anyone who takes an active interest in their health.

Us health nuts have known for years that visceral fat is a killer.

Because of this, I usually just skim these articles to make sure that I am not missing any new breakthroughs.

Surprisingly, in this case, I did find something interesting.

But it wasn’t the research.

It was the response to the research.

I noticed two things:

The Main Stream Media can be pretty stupid, and
Doctors have drastically improved their understanding of how our lifestyle (physical activity, nutrition, thoughts and feelings) impacts our health

So, why do I think that the MSM is stupid?

.

To explain this, I need to tell you a little story.

Yesterday afternoon, a client of mine asked me if I had heard about this new study which claimed that having love handles doubled your risk of premature death.

Love handles?

I told him that he was be mistaken.

Belly fat or visceral fat is bad news.

But love handles?

Love handles may not look very sexy, but they aren’t a killer.

But he was pretty adamant and pointed me to this BBC headline:

Love handles’ raise death risk

Whoops, the BBC screwed up.

The study looks at waist circumference and visceral fat, not love handles.

Love handles, in colloquial or slang speech, are a layer of fat that is deposited around a person’s midsection, especially visible on the sides over the abdominal external oblique muscle. They are called “love handles” because they provide a soft place to rest one’s hand while one’s arm is around a person, or perhaps because they can serve as places to hold on while copulating.

So, before anyone else starts thinking that their love handles are out to get them:

Love Handles: Squishy / Not a Killer

Visceral Fat: Less squishy / Big Time Health Risk

.

Interesting Observation # 2

Doctors have drastically improved their understanding of how our lifestyle (physical activity, nutrition, thoughts and feelings) impacts our health.

Just check out this video.

What I want you to notice is the doctor’s closing statement.

As he discusses treatment options for patients with a large waist (caused by visceral fat), he says:

“We can ask them to consider exercising more, reducing their carbohydrate intake, taking more fruit and vegetables in their diet, and by that way, we can help them reduce the risk and live longer and happier.”

He doesn’t say:

Restrict calories, or
Eat less fat, or
Increase their fibre intake, or
Eat more whole grains, or
Any other pre-programmed, government approved nutritional nonsense.

He says:

And considering that fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates, I think it’s fair to assume that the good doctor is telling us to reduce our consumptions of GRAINS.

Tell me it’s not true.

Eat less bread, corn, pasta and rice…how will I ever survive?

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.