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. |
