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All About Fat | Index of articles about body fat and fat burning published by DietAndBody.com |
Let's start with the simplest body
composition calculation where all you need to do is measuring
your waist.
by Tanya
Zilberter, PhD
Not only fat content, but also even more so fat distribution profoundly affects risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Recently, evidence has accumulated indicating that abdominal fat deposition contributes to cardiovascular disease. A common and simple method for the assessment of body fat distribution is Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR). WHR is more strongly related to visceral (deeper inside the body) than subcutaneous (just under the skin) fat, as measured by using a precise measurement by magnetic resonance scanning technique.
The results of a clinical study reported to the 6th Internet World
Congress for Biomedical Sciences (Poster # 88) showed a clear
association between WHR and direct measurements of body fat in
different parts of the body in estimating body composition and, in
turn, in abdominal fat.
Even a simpler measurement, Waist
Circumference, can tell a lot about your health risks:
Increased risk
Waist Circumference, Men > or = 94 cm (37 ins)
Waist Circumference, Women > or = 80 cm (32 ins)
Substantial risk
Waist Circumference, Men > or =102 cm (40 ins)Waist Circumference, Women > or =88 cm (35 ins)
REFERENCES
Cefalu Metabolism, vol 44:7,954,1995 2.Organ J App Physiol 77 (1),98,1994
More from Diet & Body
What if I just reduce calories?
Q: What's all the fuss about carbohydrates? What if I just reduce calories?A: In one word, you'll be hungry Even if your will power is strong and you don't cheat, hunger signals your body to get those calories as soon as it suspects you are starving
Further, any low-calorie diet burns not only fat, but also muscle Reduced muscle mass causes your metabolism to slow down and the calorie reduction escalates, leading to malnutrition or to regaining all the lost weight � plus some
OK then, how about good old low fat diets?
Fat reduction can help if you don't have too many pounds to lose The glitch is, while any low-fat diet prevents fat depositing, it also makes fat burning nearly impossible
I'd also like to mention here that there was a trend of using low-fat diets to improve blood cholesterol and decrease the risk of cardio-vascular diseases, but recent clinical data questioned this approach
What's left is low carb diets and, I think, is your best option First -- and most important -- is that low-carb diets preserve muscle while burning the body's fat for fuel Second, low-carb diets don't make you hungry
To make it short, you get two major benefits when you cut down on carbohydrates that are difficult to get on other restriction diets:
1. You feel full on fewer calories
2. Your belly fat goes first and faster than on other types of diets
Tanya Zilberter, PhD
