Welcome to the era of muffin tops. Now officially listed in Webster’s Dictionary, it’s one of pop culture’s favorite phrases used to describe excess mid-section body fat.
Growing waist lines signal a sign of the times, but why is it happening and what can we do about it?
Well, lets see, I’m pretty sure Charlie’s Angels or Wonder Woman didn’t have muffin tops, and, come to think of it, I don’t recall a whole lot of people in the 1970’s sporting muffin tops. Look up just about any TV show from the 70’s and you will see that over the past forty plus years body shapes and sizes have drastically changed in the U.S. The size 10 of the 70’s is the size six of today. We now need bell tops instead of bell bottoms.
So what gives, besides our waistlines? Was it the roller skating? Disco dancing? Maybe it was getting physical with aerobics in the 80’s? While it’s true that our level of physical activity has greatly decreased with the invention of computerized living, sedentary lifestyles are not the only culprit.
I’ve got four words for you… high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and here’s three more… partially hydrogenated oils. Both of are good intentions gone bad by our food industry. These two inventions have now been proven to have largely contributed to larger nation, as in pants’ size, we are today today. Trying to do things cheaper and more conveniently has back fired, and many of us are sporting muffin tops because of it.
In addition to the high consumption of fake and processed sugars and fats, and sedentary lifestyles, there are a couple of other major contributors to our expanding waistlines — stress and simple carbohydrates. In response to stress, our bodies create a hormone called Cortisol which signals the body to store fat in the mid-section area. This happens as a protective measure when we experience stress. So our high-stressed, high-paced lifestyles of today have a physiological effect on our waistlines in comparison to simpler lifestyles of the past decades.
Constant high stress can also affect our blood sugar regulation, thus also adding to mid-section fat. Eating a diet high in simple carbs only makes matters worse, because these foods tend to spike blood sugar.
Gone are the days of 21 inch waist, I am afraid. Looks like the era of muffin tops won’t be going away any time soon. We can, however, still live healthy lifestyles and follow some simple steps that help keep midsection fat to a minimum, including balancing healthy fats, protein and complex carbs each time we eat, reducing intake of processed sugars and fats, consuming low glycemic foods, keeping stress to a minimum, and exercising moderately and appropriately for our age and level of stress.
The key to muffin top management is short bursts of high intensity exercise. Over-exercising can be a stressor and actually cause you to store mid-section fat. And about the wine… I almost forgot. Wine, cheese, bread. Need I say more? You get the picture.
It just takes a little education and dedication, and before you know it you will be sporting those bell bottoms (not tops) as one lean, mean, healthy living machine!
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