Visceral Fat
 Worried about heart health? As we all know, abdominal flab seems the hardest to shift. While we work out to bring down our body mass index (BMI), we need to keep an eye on visceral fat. This is the deep underlying fat in the abdomen and surrounding organs like the stomach, liver and kidneys.
More than the BMI, doctors feel that the amount of visceral fat is the greater predictor of heart disease and diabetes. Visceral fat is difficult to measure with a measuring tape or regular scale.
A new product called the body composition scale can be used. It uses full-body sensing technology to specifically calculate the amount of hidden fat. Check with your pharmacist.
Waist not want not
A bit thick around the waist from a lack of exercise? Time to get off your seat and include some walking, jogging or swimming in your daily life. Not doing any exercise can put you at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. People with large waistlines who exercise reduce their risk of health complications, the Asian Food Information Centre reports.
To find out your waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), measure the waist at its narrowest point, then measure the hips at their widest point. Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. For a woman with a 35 inch waist and 46 inch hips, the WHR would be: 35/46 = 0.76. Women with a waist-to-hip ratio greater than 0.8 and men with a waist-to-hip ratio greater than 1.0 are at increased health risk because of their fat distribution. |