Many health complications can arise due to abdominal or belly fat.

Getting rid of abdominal fat is important to your health and not solely because of bragging rights among your friends or so you can post pictures of how fit you look on Instagram.

According to Harvard Medical Journal, abdominal or visceral fat is linked to many health problems.

Abdominal fat is different from subcutaneous fat. The one you can see, and grab isn’t the fat we are referring to here, that is subcutaneous fat.

This abdominal or visceral fat is inside your abdominal cavity and lies within your organs, it is around your stomach and intestines.

Additionally, a big stomach may or may not be an indication of abdominal fat, the best way to know is by the measurement of your waistline.

Heredity, hormones, diet, and lifestyle choices like excess alcohol consumption are causes of abdominal fat.Alcohol can cause excess abdominal fat 

Why excess abdominal fat is harmful?

Heart disease and complications

Abdominal is located close to the portal vein that carries blood from the intestines to the liver.

This fat releases fatty acids into the liver which influences lipid production and thus causes high cholesterol or lower good cholesterol or high bad cholesterol in the body. This leads to other heart conditions and complications.

Insulin resistance and diabetes

Abdominal fat also causes insulin resistance which means that the muscles in your body do not respond properly to normal insulin levels.

Researchers discovered that visceral fat discharges a retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) which causes resistance to insulin.

Also, because the pancreatic hormone is not carrying glucose in the blood, there is a high chance of developing diabetes.

How to get rid of abdominal fat?

There are two things that can help a person get rid of the fat in their stomach; diet and exercise.

Diet

If you want to lose that abdominal fat then you should eat complex carbohydrates like brown rice, barley, and vegetable and stay away from simple sugars like milk, sugar and bread.

You should also reduce the quantity of the food you eat.

Exercise

Exercise helps to lose abdominal fat 

Physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day is a good way to lose belly fat. There are different physical activities that help with weight loss.

Some of them are running, hiking, biking, lifting weights and spot exercising (planks, sit-ups). A combination of all these would help you lose abdominal fat and be healthier.

Ultimately, taking care of your health requires a lot of patience and sacrifice but it helps to prevents future complications.