In or Philadelphia Medical Weight Loss Center people come to us for all different reasons. Most people who come to us need help with losing weight while others may want to lose weight but they also want to improve their overall health and wellness. One of the main complaints that we usually hear from almost everyone is that their stomach is always bloated and / or they just cannot get rid of their belly fat. There are many different reasons why a person may be bloated or not able to get rid of their belly fat and today I am going to discuss a few of them.
Reason Number 1:
One of the most common reasons for having difficult to lose belly fat is that there is too much insulin in the body.When your insulin level is high your body is in fat storage mode. Most of the calories that you are eating during this time or going to be stored as body fat. You start developing abdominal fat also known as visceral fat. This can also lead to your liver getting fatty and can eventually cause fat to develop around other organs and into our stomachs and causing distended belly. This can also cause a sagging stomach as well. And of course let’s not forget the love handles and back fat. Eating too much high-sugar fruits, starchy carbohydrates, candies and beverages containing sugar can all increase your insulin level and cause you to gain fat.
Reason Number 2:
High cortisol levels can also increase your belly fat. cortisol is produced by your adrenal glands and is considered to be a stress hormone. When you are physically and mentally over stressed your body produces more cortisol and cortisol in turn increase insulin production. And we know that high levels of insulin increases stomach fat. Cortisol turns protein into glucose which causes a spike in insulin production. Because cortisol increases your blood sugar and your insulin you eventually develop a insulin resistance and your body cannot properly control blood sugar; now you can possibly develop Diabetes. So your body is now producing high levels of insulin but it’s not effective in lower blood sugar levels.
Reason Number 3:
Another reason for stomach bloating is that you are consuming too many sugar alcohols such as erythritol. Sugar alcohol can cause stomach bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation. Personally, I cannot consume large amounts of erythritol. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I was trying to restrict my sugars and starchy carbohydrates. For my birthday, my wonderful wife made me a sugar-free, low carb cheesecake and she used erythritol. When I took my first bite it was absolutely delicious and suffice to say it was my birthday so I indulged a bit too much and I paid the price later.
My stomach was a mess, nothing but pain and gas. I learned this lesson the hard way. If you are maintaining a restricted carbohydrate diet, you have to be careful of overconsumption sugar alcohols. There are other sugar substitutes that you can use. I now use monk fruit and monk fruit extract. If you do use sugar alcohols please use small quantities.
Reason Number 4:
Finally you may just be overeating or eating too many times during the day. When you eat it takes about 4 – 5 hours for the food that you are eating to be processed and go through your stomach. It takes about 5-6 hours for the food to go through your small intestine and then it can take anywhere from 10 hours to 30 hours to go through your large intestine depending on what you ate.
So when you are eating something every hour you could be overloading your system. You have to give your body time to digest all of the food that you were eating. And when you are eating take your time you don’t want to shovel everything and anything into your body as fast as you can. Be mindful of the foods you are eating and the quantity of food that you are eating.
If you would like more information on our Philadelphia medical weight loss program just call us at 215-821-7336 and we will be glad to answer any of your questions. You can also call and schedule a free weight loss consultation.