Beer Belly

Over 90 million Americans enjoy drinking beer! Drinking moderately has been proven by many doctors, as well as the New England Journal of Medicine, to be a healthy component of longevity. Some sources claim that moderate consumption of alcohol, including beer, has been proven to reduce the effects of high cholesterol, heart disease and some forms of cancer.

Anything done in excess is naturally unhealthy. "Moderation" is defined by most doctors as 1-2 beers a day. And NO, you can’t save up through the week and catch up on the weekend drinking 10-12 beers in an evening. That is NOT moderation. There is even a US Beer Drinking Team that links beer enthusiasts and promotes moderation, responsibility, and healthy living.

Even a can of light beer has an average of 100 calories. Drinking one beer is equivalent to eating a chocolate chip cookie. Drinking four is equal to eating a Big Mac Hamburger. In order to lose weight, you have to burn off these extra calories as well as the other calories that you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even the lightest of beers has the empty calories of alcohol, which is the cause of poor health if done in excess and without a regular exercise routine. Unfortunately, too many Americans live under one of the worst stereotypes placed on a human being - the BEER BELLY.

This protrusion of the belly is known as “Done Roll Disease”, or “My Stomach done roll over my belt” and is caused by excess calories in your diet AND lack of activity to burn the extra calories. It’s difficult to comprehend chemically, but the easy explanation is that when someone eats or drinks too many calories without adequate protein to balance, it can create a protein deficiency that stores the excess calories as fat. Now, in a person who follows a balanced died, fat is distributed equally within different parts of the body. But, when the body takes in an excess amount of empty calories without enough protein, it’s like playing scrabble without the whole alphabet. You cannot create a word without the whole alphabet. The existing letters are eventually dumped back in the box where they came from. The calories get dumped as fat in the stomach box where they came from.

If you can add exercise into your schedule for 20-30 minutes a day, your daily consumption of alcohol (1-2 beers) will not have any additional impact on your gut. But, to lose an existing beer belly, you REALLY have to watch your food and beverage intake, drink 2-4 quarts of water a day, AND fit fitness into your world. THERE IS NO OTHER HEALTHY ANSWER!