In the second of a series of articles on men's health, Nutritionist, Belinda Rennie helps you make a dent on the pot belly after the Christmas splurge.

From offices and boardrooms to beach clubs, restaurants and shopping malls, the pot belly is becoming a growing sight in Dubai. The New Year is a great time to reassess your waistline and then your lifestyle. Do you have a desk bound job, travel a lot, skip meals or eat your biggest meal at night, have any alcohol free days or fit exercise into your routine? The fast pace of life in Dubai plus long working hours equals stress and ironically the easiest antidote is socializing and relaxing around food and drink, spurring the growth of the pot belly. But now it is time to change.

A health hazard

Fat on the belly (apple-shape) is more dangerous to your health than fat on the hips and thighs (pear-shape). Unlike female fat, which is more resistant to removal because it is used as an energy store for child-bearing, male fat cells are active, injecting fat into the bloodstream readily. This extra fat lying around in the bloodstream is the major reason for the increase in risk of heart disease, diabetes, gallstones and high cholesterol levels.

A pot belly is simply a huge mass of swollen fat cells. As one men's health expert said, “if you cut off all the white fatty bits on a huge pile of T-bone steaks and put them in a plastic bag tied around your middle you would have a similar lump of fat”. Not an appealing thought. For every extra kilogram of fat, the body needs an amazing 29 kilometres of extra blood vessels to supply it. This puts a huge strain on the heart to pump blood contributing to an increase in blood pressure. No-one wants to carry extra baggage around with them. Apart from being a health hazard, tiring and causing back and knee problems, it's unattractive.

How is your figure?

For a man with a pot belly, measuring waist is more important than measuring weight . Relying only on the scales to measure progress can be misleading as muscle weighs twice as much as fat. The best measure of abdominal fat is the waist to hip ratio (WHR). Using a standard tape measure, measure around the waist at the belly button to get your waist figure (in cm). Measure around the widest point of the hips to get your hip figure (in cm). Divide your waist figure by your hip figure to get your waist-to-hip ratio. A WHR of over 0.90 in men and over 0.80 in women indicates an increased risk of disease. The good news is that fat in the abdomen comes off faster than other parts of the body so a fat -bellied man can become a flat-bellied man fairly easily.

Waist Loss

Making a dent on the pot belly starts with being aware of your habits and changing the health damaging ones. Habits are actions you do automatically like eating quickly. Men often consume large amounts of food very rapidly with no time for the body to register the quantity of food intake. Overeating by 4-5 times more than what your body actually needs is one habit that can be changed with a little thought control. Allow at least 20 minutes for eating a smaller portion than you would normally eat. This gives the feeding control centres in the brain time to respond to changes in blood sugar levels that signals you are full.

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Picking up snacks, takeaways or going to the supermarket on your way home from work means you are more likely to buy a high sugar, high fat alternative. Plan ahead and have some wholegrain crackers or fruit at work that you can munch on before you leave the office so you are not starving when you step in the door.

The other culprit is what you eat when you drink. Eating high fat snacks such as crisps or peanuts when you have an alcoholic beverage is going to encourage waist growth as well as drinking beer, soft drinks or fruit juice with meals. Alcohol slows down your ability to regulate blood sugar levels and metabolise fat. Choose a glass or two of wine and water with meals and include days when you don't drink at all.

Eat differently

Spacing meals evenly throughout the day rather than one huge meal at night is the best way to boost your metabolic rate as ten percent of calorie burning occurs as a result of eating. Don't leave home without breakfast whether it is in your stomach or in your briefcase, to be eaten sometime during mid-morning like fruit or wholegrain muesli bar. Having lunch that contains protein like fish, lean turkey or lentils/beans teamed with salad helps to keep you alert in the afternoon. Otherwise, skipping lunch means that you crave food, usually fatty sugary food by 3.00pm.

In the evening take a look at your plate and see if it follows the one-third rule. One third of your plate can have vegetables and salads, one third should have rice, pasta, potato or pulses and the other one third can have protein - fish, organic chicken or occasionally red meat. Each one-third portion needs be the size of your fist. Aim for foods low in fat and refined carbohydrates with plenty of vegetables, preferably some of them raw. In between meals drink plenty of water, with a slice of lemon or some fizzy mineral water for a change. Coffee suppresses your appetite and also plays havoc with insulin levels if you are overweight so limit it to a cup per day.

Moving more

It is not surprising that obesity in a country is associated with the number of cars and televisions, amplified by the Dubai lifestyle where most household jobs are done for you. Combine this with the internet and emails and people no longer get up and walk across the office to talk to each other. It is just not possible to loose fat weight and reduce your waist unless you exercise. The good news is you don't have to bust a gut to lose a gut. Moving more means taking a walk instead of a coffee break or taking the stairs instead of the lift. Then just get into the habit of spending one percent of the hours in your week - that's about 90 minutes - moving your body. Take a walk for 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Exercise has the added benefit that for up to two hours after you exercise your metabolic rate is elevated by an extra twenty per cent.Next time you jump on the scales don't be discouraged if you have only lost a half to on kilogram in a month after all your efforts. This represents at least two tubs of margarine which is a lot of fat and if you notice your waist measurement and WHR improving youa re well on the way to a happy healthier new year.

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