8 Minutes In The Morning To
A Flat Belly By Jorge Cruise - Published by
Rodale Press
Abdominal Fat's Dirty Little
Secret
Before you embark on my exciting 8
Minutes in the Morning® to a Flat Belly program, let's
first take a look at why you want to create a beautiful belly. Many people want
to tone their bellies for visual reasons. Not a day goes by that one of my
clients doesn't ask me how she can look better in a swimsuit. Some tell me that
they desperately want to zip up a particular pair of jeans. Or they just want
to be able to look down and not see a bulge!
Those are all good reasons. But there are a
few crucial and even more important reasons to start my 8 Minutes in the
Morning® to a Flat Belly program.
Here's the real bad news about abdominal
fat. Belly fat is worse for your health than fat in your butt or thighs. Yes,
belly fat tends to trigger your liver to release its stored fatty acids --
raising your cholesterol levels. It also tends to alter levels of key hormones
involved in appetite, fat storage, and heart disease. In fact, when you gain
weight in your abdomen, and these hormones become altered, you tend to feel
hungrier, you eat more, and your body tends to store more fat in your abdomen.
It's a vicious cycle -- but you can break it!
Before we talk about how you will break your
belly fat cycle, let's first take a look at all of the ways it erodes your
health.
Diabetes. Research shows that women
with a waist circumference of 36 inches or more are five times more likely to
develop diabetes than those with smaller waist circumferences. When you gain
weight in your abdomen, the fat throws off your insulin cycle. This important
hormone, produced by the pancreas, is supposed to shuttle blood sugar into
muscle cells so that those cells can burn it for energy. However, in people who
have a lot of abdominal fat, insulin stops working properly. The muscle cells
fail to respond to insulin and sugar remains high in the blood. This makes the
pancreas release more and more insulin, which can eventually wear out your
pancreas and develop into diabetes. At the same time, high levels of insulin
trigger you to eat by making you feel hungry. They also encourage your liver to
convert your blood sugar into fat -- for storage! High insulin levels have also
been linked with certain cancers.
Heart disease. In Harvard's famed
Nurse's Health Study of 4,470 women, those with a waist circumference of 32
inches or more were twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as those with
smaller waists. Just as belly fat causes diabetes, it also raises blood
cholesterol levels, contributing to heart disease. As your liver converts more
and more blood sugar into fat, your cholesterol levels go up as this fat must
make its way through your blood stream and into waiting fat cells -- usually in
your belly! In particular, the unhealthy LDL cholesterol and triglyceride
levels rise, whereas the healthy HDL cholesterol takes a nosedive. Belly fat
raises your risk for high blood cholesterol by 50 percent.
Breast cancer. The more body fat you
have -- particularly in your abdomen -- the higher your estrogen levels. Body
fat produces its own estrogen, in addition to the estrogen produced by your
ovaries. Usually, this doesn't cause problems. But when you have a large amount
of body fat, you risk raising estrogen levels too high, increasing your risk
for breast cancer. Also, as I've already mentioned, belly fat tends to raise
insulin levels -- which also have been linked with breast cancer. Women with
high levels of belly fat are 45 percent more likely to have breast cancer.
Belly fat also raises your risk for endometrial cancer.
High blood pressure. Excess belly fat
raises your risk for high blood pressure by 60 percent. In fact, each pound of
extra fat can raise your systolic (top) blood pressure number by 4.5 points. It
does so because your heart must work harder to pump blood to a larger body.
It's the same as if you added many rooms onto an existing house but kept the
same furnace. The furnace would have to work overtime to heat the larger house.
In this case, your heart beats faster and more forcefully. This forces blood
with more pressure through your arteries, causing nicks and dents to the
linings of your arteries, raising your risk for heart disease.
Back pain. Fat in your belly acts
like a heavy weight that pulls your lower spine forward, overly arching your
lower back and causing pain. When you lose the fat and strengthen your abdomen,
your belly muscles can better support your spine, improving your posture and
reducing back pain.
Fatigue. Just as your heart can't
grow larger to respond to the demands of a larger body, the same goes for your
lungs. They now must work harder to supply more oxygen. Also, as your belly
grows larger, it crowds out your internal organs, particularly the diaphragm
muscle that's so important in breathing. People with a lot of belly fat tend to
cough and wheeze more. Belly fat also raises your risk for sleep apnea, a
severe form of snoring in which your windpipe repeatedly collapses throughout
the night, causing your body to starve for oxygen.
Varicose veins. Excess body weight
makes it harder for the blood in your legs to travel against the force of
gravity back up to your heart. Belly fat also weighs down the veins in your
upper thighs. Both problems cause the veins to weaken. Eventually they begin to
leak and even allow blood to pool and travel backward, causing varicose veins.
Joint pain. The heavier your body,
the more it weighs down your joints and the more impact you inflict on your
joints with every step.
In addition, belly fat has also been linked
to chronic pain, gallbladder disease, arthritis, low immunity, liver disease,
skin problems, and poor sleep. It's time to put an end to this vicious
health-eroding cycle once and for all!
The Benefits of a Firm Belly
Losing weight in your midsection will help
you prevent all of those diseases and conditions. You'll live longer and feel
better!
My special Cruise Moves (you'll learn more
about them in chapter 3) will do even more. They will help strengthen the
muscles in your abdomen, providing a number of exciting benefits.
Most important, stronger abdominal muscles
help to automatically improve your posture. Strong abdominal muscles help
support your spine, helping to keep it erect and long. They also help to hold
your pelvis in the correct position, preventing the swayback so often seen
after pregnancy and with increasing age. Once you eliminate that swayback, the
rest of the spine tends to fall into line, allowing you to bring back your
shoulders and head and stand taller and more upright.
In fact, even if you don't lose any weight,
your appearance will improve dramatically. Stronger abdominal muscles will help
you stand taller, creating a leaner appearance. You will feel as if you have
grown an inch taller and slimmed an inch in the process -- just by improving
your posture!
Better posture, in turn, helps you breathe
more deeply. Your abdominal muscles help you to inhale and exhale, allowing you
to take fuller, deeper breaths.
Your abdominal muscles were designed for
endurance. They were made to work 24 hours a day without getting fatigued. The
rest of the muscles in your body were not designed this way. When your
abdominal muscles support your spine, other muscles don't have to work overtime
to keep you upright. You will find that as you strengthen your abdominal
muscles and improve your posture, headaches and neck and shoulder pain will
subside.
Your abdominal muscles are your power
center. The stronger they are, the stronger you are. You will find that, by
strengthening your abs, you have the energy to do more. If you play sports,
your movements will be more powerful. You'll be able to sit at work for a
longer period of time without feeling fatigued. Strong abdominal muscles help
you to more easily lift, bend, twist, balance, and coordinate all of your
movements.
Indeed, your abdominal muscles help you do
just about everything!
Excerpted from 8 Minutes in the
Morning® to a Flat Belly (Rodale Inc., Paperback,
$12.95). Printed with the permission of the publisher. Available at Barnes
& Noble.
Copyright © 2004 Jorge Cruise, Inc
Lose up to 6 inches of
belly bulge in less than 4
weeks -- guaranteed!
Heart attack. Breast cancer. High blood
pressure. These are all good reasons to lose that fat around your middle. And
now, whether you're new to the Jorge Cruise® weight-control
plan or not, 8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly will help you lose
up to 6 inches of belly bulge in less than 4 weeks -- guaranteed! The Jorge
Cruise® secret is to restore your metabolism by creating new
lean muscles that burn fat and shrink the size of your belly.
Each day you'll do a simple Cruise
Move® routine that is specialized to sculpt your belly and
take just 8 minutes. You'll also get a delicious meal plan with the essential
muscle-making materials you'll need to create your new body. All with NO
counting of calories or banning of foods. Empowering visualizations will help
you conquer the emotional eating that may be sabotaging your efforts. Success
stories from Jorge Cruise® clients will help keep you
inspired. You have nothing to lose except inches of belly fat!
Author Jorge Cruise struggled
with his weight as a child and young man. Today he has over 3 million online
clients at his website, is the "weight-loss coach" columnist for
Prevention magazine with 11 million
readers, and is the New York Times best-selling author of the 8 Minutes
in the Morning book series. He has been featured in USA Today,
Woman's World, First for Women, Self, Shape,
Cosmo, and Fit, and has appeared on Oprah, CNN, Good
Morning America, Dateline NBC, and The View.
Reviews "My results have changed
my life. I have more control over my eating habits and the shape and size of my
body." --Sharon Lawson (exchanged her size-10 pants for a size 6!)
"Thanks to Jorge Cruise's program, I've lost
40 pounds and had to cinch my belt 6 inches smaller." --Judy Thompson
(shrank her waist 6 inches!)
"I feel young again and I look great!"
--Edna Frizzell (dropped four dress sizes!)
Excerpted from 8 Minutes in the
Morning® to a Flat Belly (Rodale Inc., Paperback,
$12.95). Printed with the permission of the publisher. Available at Barnes
& Noble. |