Wonder how your bathing suit shrank over the winter? Find out why, and what to do about it.

By Dr. Thomas Polucki

Essential core exercises that focus on the abdomen and lower back, even when combined with riskier starvation diets, may not be enough to get rid of that stubborn belly fat – the extra weight that just won’t go away.

Other factors may get in the way. For example, premature aging and related effects on the hormones that regulate metabolism play a small but powerful part in the belly fat equation. More about hormones later in this article.

Meanwhile, you have time to start and complete a summer slim-down program, but be wary of potentially unsafe exercise programs promising rapid weight loss or other extreme results in just days or a few weeks.

Even if you don’t achieve that flat, sexy belly by Labor Day, it’s still never too late to start feeling better and looking younger. And it’ll be easier to stick with it right through the year-end holidays.

Core Exercises for Chiropractic Patients

As an avid proponent of core exercise programs because I have seen the positive results, I recommend core exercise to all my patients.

Some people with bulging discs in the neck and spine – and about 75 percent of the adult population has them without knowing it – need modified exercises to get the benefit of core work and minimize the risk of injury.

But core exercises, as important as they are for safely improving balance, coordination, strength and endurance, do not always trim that muffin top or flatten that spare tire.

The Skinny on Losing Belly Fat: Change Your Diet, Go Beyond the Core

Along with core exercising, changing your diet is the most powerful tool you have in losing fat.

About 70 percent of the success in weight loss results from eating better, and the 20 percent due to exercise comes from activity that uses larger muscles than the core abdominal and lower-back muscles.

These core muscle groups are too small to burn up those fat deposits.

The legs and upper back are the largest muscle groups, so exercising these larger muscles will have a greater effect on metabolism and will trim the belly fat faster than any hard-core extreme abdominal blaster routine.

Hormones and Stubborn Belly Fat

But another 10 percent of people in the 40-plus age group have to contend with hormones.

The good news is that much of what we used to believe about natural aging is actually premature and abnormal aging patterns that can be dramatically slowed down.

You can naturally get your hormone levels closer to that of a 30-year-old and have an easier time with belly fat by following a few easy steps that I’ll give you in just a moment.

RELATED: Read more Dr. Polucki Family Health Hour news articles on KHTS’s website

What Many People Don’t Know About Belly Fat

Belly fat is considered organ fat so if you have stubborn belly fat it means you also have fat in your liver and heart that could cause you serious health problems in the future.

As Americans get fatter, healthcare costs us two and a half times the average of what all other countries pay and out of 40 countries, measured for the past 50 years, we are in the bottom 10 for measureable health standards.

It is easy to put on belly fat, especially for people older than 40 who don’t work at keeping lean muscle mass and detoxifying from stress by eating and exercising properly. They are likely to gain at least one pound of unflattering fat every year.

Here are the easiest, most natural ways to keep belly fat at bay and lower your medical costs:

1. Drink water instead of soft drinks of any kind.
2. Eat simple. Food doesn’t have ingredients – it is the ingredient.
3. Get sweaty for 15-25 minutes every day.
4. Get to sleep by 10 p.m., because every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after.
5. Get your head on straight, literally, to reduce the internal stress in your body. Why?
   Every inch that your ear canal hangs in front of your shoulder doubles stress in your body.

Thriving Lifestyle Choices© to Reduce Stubborn Belly Fat

If you would like some help with the easiest way to get rid of stubborn belly fat, here is what you could expect from the “Thriving Lifestyle Choices©” program in my office.

First, we find the subtle chemical imbalances and hidden injuries that hold you back from high-energy health.

Then we repair and restore healthy metabolic function naturally, without drugs, surgery, needles, twisting and cracking, or multi-level-market schemes.

We’ll design your program based on your health challenges and goals by:

• Discovering your personal nutritional requirements, finding the best foods for you, helping you lose weight permanently;
  Clearing the detoxification pathways, flushing out the poisons that rob your youthful energy and contribute to stubborn belly fat;
• Re-establishing the disrupted chemical pathways, turning the clock back on how you think and feel;
• Supporting the repair of connective tissues, getting you moving again as pain-free as possible to enjoy all your favorite activities.

These goals can help lower your medical bills and risks, freeing up more time and money to do your favorite things with the people you love most.

If this is what you are looking for, take my free, fast and confidential online survey at http://www.drpolucki.com/consultation/ and you may qualify for a free 15-minute phone consultation.

About Santa Clarita Five Star Chiropractor Dr. Thomas Polucki

Dr. Thomas Polucki is a Board Certified Doctor of Chiropractic, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Certified Metabolic Typing Advisor and Certified Upper Cervical Chiropractor.

Dr. Polucki provides Functional Medicine services in most cities via remote labs and Internet consultations. He sees patients by appointment at 25050 Peachland Ave., Suite 105, Newhall, Calif., 91321. Visit http://www.drpolucki.com for more information or call 661-753-9340 to schedule an appointment.

Dr. Polucki also hosts the “Dr. Polucki Family Health Hour” on AM 1220 KHTS radio in Santa Clarita Mondays from 11 a.m. to noon. Click here to listen to the podcasts.

The information in this article is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease

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