Wow, it’s 2012! It’s time to up-level to a new you and get those excessive pounds off!

Did you know that excess abdominal fat is the most dangerous type of fat to have?  The fat is packed around your intestines, your liver, and your heart, which interferes with the way those organs work.  This fat secretes chemicals and hormones that inhibit proper function of those vital organs.  It is also an indicator of Type II diabetes and heart disease.

For women, if your waist is more than 35 inches at the belly button; and for men if it is more than 40 inches; then you are within the high risk category of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure , stroke…time to lose weight. Excess fat in the body causes the arteries in your heart to become clogged which raises your blood pressure to force the blood to your organs.  Having just an extra 30 excess pounds forces your heart to work twice as hard to do the same job it did when you were just 30 pounds lighter.

Excess blood pressure damages the blood vessels in your kidneys and can cause them to fail.  High blood pressure is also linked with blindness caused from burst and bleeding blood vessels in the backs of the eyes. High blood pressure can also cause weakened blood vessels to burst and bleed on the brain causing a stroke.  Blood clots can also become lodged within narrowed arteries also causing a stroke.

Diabetes causes the blood to thicken which raises the risk of blood clots forming resulting in strokes and heart attacks from your already thickened arterial walls.

Being overweight can cause a cascade effect on your health because it affects everything.  Each organ relies upon the other to work effectively to keep you well.

New Year, New You. It’s time to change the way you eat and change your life!

According to Dr. Dave Mirkin, board-certified in four specialties: Sports Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Immunology, abdominal obesity comes from high blood insulin levels. To prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high after you eat, your pancreas releases insulin, which converts blood sugar to a type of fat called triglyceride. Insulin drives triglycerides into the fat cells in your belly. So having high triglycerides and a fat belly are signs of high blood insulin levels, and high blood levels of insulin constrict arteries to cause heart attacks. Insulin also acts on the brain to make you eat more and on your liver to manufacture more fat, and on the fat cells in your belly to store that fat.

The liver removes insulin from the bloodstream, but insulin causes fat to be deposited in the liver which prevents the liver from removing insulin from the bloodstream. People with fat bellies store too much fat in their livers, which prevents the livers from removing insulin, so insulin levels rise higher and higher to cause heart attacks, more abdominal obesity and eventually diabetes. If you store fat primarily in your belly, you should restrict refined carbohydrates: foods made with flour, white rice, milled corn or added sugars.

Fat cells in your belly are different from those on your hips. The blood that flows from belly fat goes directly to your liver, whereas the blood that flows from your hips goes into your general circulation. The livers of those who store fat in their bellies are blocked from removing insulin by the extra fat and therefore do not remove insulin from the bloodstream as effectively as the livers of people who store fat primarily in their hips. People who store fat primarily in their bellies have higher blood insulin and sugar levels, which raise levels of the bad LDL cholesterol that causes heart attacks, and lower levels of the good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks.

Obesity means having too much body fat. It is different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. Both terms mean that a person’s weight is greater than what is considered healthy for his or her height. Children grow at different rates, so it isn’t always easy to know when a child is obese or overweight. Ask your doctor to measure your child’s height and weight to determine if he or she is in a healthy range.

If a weight loss program is necessary, involve the whole family in healthy habits so your child doesn’t feel singled out. You can encourage healthy eating by serving more fruits and vegetables and buying fewer sodas and high-calorie, high-fat snack foods. Physical activity can also help your child overcome obesity or being overweight. Kids need about 60 minutes each day.

Discourage Inactive Pastimes:

• Set limits on the amount of time your family spends watching TV, playing video games, and being on the computer.
• Help your child find FUN things to do besides watching TV, like acting out favorite books or stories, or doing a family art project. Your child may find that creative play is more interesting than TV.
• Encourage your child to get up and move during commercials and discourage snacking when the TV is on.

Be Supportive:

• Tell your child that he or she is loved, special, and important. Children’s feelings about themselves are often based on how they think their parents feel about them.
• Accept your child at any weight. Children are more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when their parents accept them.
• Listen to your child’s concerns about his or her weight. Overweight children probably know better than anyone else that they have a weight problem. They need support, understanding, and encouragement from parents.

Information from Weight-control Information Network (WIN)