Where Does the Fat in Your Belly come from?

The short answer to the title question is stress.  The long answer if you stay with me has to do with five factors.

Those 5 factors are:

1. the Amygdala
2. the HPA axis
3. Blood Glucose
4. Cortisol
5. Insulin

Lets look at how these factors weave together to put fat inside you abdomen and maybe around your heart and in and around your liver.

Blood Glucose is the result of the metabolism of carbohydrates and if you don’t eat carbs, glucose will be made from protein.  If you don’t eat enough calories, your body will rob your muscles, including your heart of protein to make glucose for your brain. Everything the body does is to keep the brain functional and healthy. This is why I always emphasize losing excess fat and not “weight”. Weight loss can mean muscle loss! Not what you want to lose.

When you eat carbohydrates, they are broken down into sugars, one of which is glucose.  If you eat more than you need, the glucose spikes high above normal.  Insulin is always secreted in response to glucose but when the glycemic load of the food you eat is high, glucose reaches the blood fast and insulin is then released in quantity.  The normal blood sugar two hours after eating is 140 or less. Over 140 is diabetes or at least pre-diabetes.

Insulin decreases blood glucose by delivering this important energy source to the cells.  The brain and muscles are the biggest consumers of glucose. The brain uses 60% of all glucose used in the body.  If the brain and muscles do not need more glucose, then insulin messages the liver to make triglycerides and other blood fats for storage and it is kept close to the liver inside the abdomen. When excess is stored you get a protuberant abdomen. Meaning your belly sticks out, the more fat, the further it sticks out. OK, where do stress, adrenalin and cortisol fit in?

There are 4 kinds of stress. One kind of stress is the kind the cell does to stay alive. Normal celluar function is stressful since the cell needs to be replaced from damage that is done in day to day living. Strictly speaking, being alive is stress on our cells, especially our brain cells.

The second kind of stress is danger.  You are sick hurt or being threatened by something real like a robbery, angry dog, or wild animal. This is danger stress.  Then there is the stress we perceive,  like the fear of losing our job, fear of our boss, anxiety about the economy and other real problems that may or may not really hurt us. The purpose of our stress response is to move us to action – fight or flight – and to create a memory of the threat and the associated action i.e. wisdom. These memories are stored as positive or negative. When the Amygdala receives signals, it interprets them by comparing them to memories of prior events. If all prior events are negative, and the frontal part of the brain agrees, then the intensity is interpreted as high.

The Amygdala is directly connected to the adrenal glands sitting atop the kidneys. In a stress emergency it causes them to secrete adrenalin that immediately increases heart rate and breathing. The muscles receive more blood and digestion less. The muscles tremble ready for action – this causes the person to feel “nervous”. The stickiness of platelets is increased to enable your wounds from  the “fight” to clot more quickly. Your eyes dilate making it easier to see danger coming and the escape route going. The brian can only activate one part at a time so if you are in emergency mode, you can’t think and reason well.  A signal is sent activating the HPA – hypothalamus – pituitary – adrenal axis. Signals travel from Amygdala to Hypothalamus to Pituitary to Adrenals via the blood. The Adrenals secrete a second hormone called Cortisol.

Cortisol shuts off all access to glucose except by the brain. One of its main functions is to insure a steady supply of glucose to the brain in emergencies. The inability of cell receptors to react to insulin outside the brain is called insulin resistance. It can and should be a temporary condition, but can be chronic if our stress is more a perception of danger, rather than real danger. The mind can not differentiate the signal of perceived danger from real danger. The response is automatic, letting worry cause the response is in our control.

There are 3 reasons why you have large amounts of cortisol in your blood to keep sugar flowing to your brain. First, there is a real danger you have to run from or  you need to fight.  Second, you perceive danger and over a long period of time you worry, don’t sleep well and worry some more. Third, you either do not eat enough – common with obese people and blood sugar drops or you eat way too much, blood sugar spikes and then insulin spikes, blood sugar falls and there isn’t enough left in the blood for the brain. In both situations once blood sugar is too low, a stress reaction from “starvation” occurs and cortisol appears.

If you eat, especially a sugary meal, you will store the excess energy as fat in the belly for future “starvation” emergencies. This high sugar, reaction, low sugar stimulates cortisol. So does physical stress without enough sleep. Trying to lose excess fat? Get more sleep!

There is much more to know and good things you can do to stop these unwanted stress reactions. Get Empowered! Join my Personal Empowerment Plan. Listen, learn, ask and implement.  I am there with you every step of the way. Click on the highlighted words and get information flowing your way. I look forward to helping you. I also want and value your opinion, leave a comment on this article or click on the “thumb this up”blue button at the end of the article to submit it to stumble upon.

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