You Docs: Losing belly fat, lowering lousy cholesterol
August 19, 2010
You Docs
Q: I’m a university student with a 3-year-old, and when I’m stressed — which is a lot, especially during exams — I snack. Now I’ve got extra weight around my waist and my triglyceride level is high. I use the bicycle and treadmill at the gym, but is there a way to lose belly fat faster?
Keneisha
A: That university education is already paying off! High triglycerides and belly fat are two signposts that you’re on the road to metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease. You’re on the right track to focus on whittling your waist with workouts.
High-intensity cardio really targets belly fat. Add some hills to your hikes to nowhere on the treadmill. Ditto on the bike: Raise the resistance gradually, so you stay challenged. (Overweight people who ate 2,000 calories a day — not a diet that normally peels off pounds — shed waist inches by exercising like hamsters three hours a week.) Here’s how to get even more out of your cardio: For the last minute of every 10, kick up your intensity as high as you can (assuming your doc says okay) — either walk or pedal a lot faster or increase the incline or the resistance. Finally, add strength training to your routine: Just 30 minutes a week (done in 10-minute segments if you like) can start to make a difference.
Working up a daily sweat also helps relieve the stress that’s making your middle bulge. Stress releases cortisol, a hormone that encourages fat storage in your belly. Here are two ways to relieve that tension: work out with your child (our newest book, YOU: Raising Your Child, coming Oct. 3, has great moves to do with your 3-year-old); take a few meditation breaks throughout the day. Just sit quietly and breathe deeply for a few minutes.
Q: I don’t eat foods high in saturated or trans fat, yet my cholesterol is 234. I eat mostly salmon, chicken and turkey. Once a week I have eggs. I cook with olive oil and use Smart Balance on my toast. What more can I do?
Blanche
A: First, find out how your total cholesterol is composed. Dr. Mike’s total cholesterol is 180, but 105 of that is HDL cholesterol, the healthy kind. However, when LDL numbers aren’t looking good, the kitchen is the first place we look. But congrats! You’re ahead of us in dumping bad fats. (You did get rid of simple sugars and added syrups too, yes? They’re as bad if not worse than aging fats at upping your LDL.) Here are more ways you can boot the bad stuff from your bloodstream:
First, get a move on. Just 30 minutes of physical activity every day lowers bad LDL cholesterol and boosts good HDL. It also lowers your blood pressure. Walk, cycle, swim, row. Or take the stairs: People in one study who did two minutes of stair-climbing five or six times a day lowered LDL and raised HDL — both by 8 per cent — in just eight weeks.
Bread spreads like Smart Balance HeartRight contain plant sterols, which disrupt your body’s ability to absorb cholesterol from food. But so do plants. Load your menu with fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and small amounts of nuts and seeds.
Stick with what you’re doing and these steps for now, and write to us again if your LDL cholesterol doesn’t come down to a healthy level.
Featured Sponsored Listings