Yeast in the body: we find out why the stomach grows from beer. What is a beer belly and how to get rid of it

One of the most popular alcoholic drinks in our country is beer. Fans of drinking beer can be identified by their large, this fact is known to all. But the question is, why exactly after this drink do such signs appear? Let's deal with you why belly grows from beer what are the reasons for this effect.

A lot of people who love this drink claim that drinking beer leads to extra pounds, or rather, the belly grows from it. This is a common misconception. This drink in itself is not too high in calories. If we take, for example, grape or champagne, then they are almost twice as high as beer! This intoxicating drink increases our appetite due to the presence of hops, alcohol (irritating to the stomach lining) and carbon dioxide. It is these components that stimulate the need for food.

That is, a person has a false desire to eat something, although in fact the body does not have such a need. In addition, when it is not forbidden to drink beer, you just need to know the measure in it. Sometimes it is allowed to use it even at the time, but you should consult a nutritionist about this. So, let's begin.

Does beer have calories?

Non-alcoholic and light beer are considered the least high-calorie. 100 grams of beer contains from 40 to 50 kilocalories. There is absolutely no protein and sodium in this drink. It contains practically no salts, therefore, plus everything, it also reduces the level of salt and water in the tissues.

Based on the above information, we can conclude that it is impossible to get better from beer itself. Weight gain from the combination of beer (complex carbohydrates) with proteins. Therefore, if you drink beer without chips, crackers, nuts, etc., then the risk is minimized. In addition, those who love beer (and there are many) usually drink it in unlimited quantities and lead a sedentary lifestyle, just sitting in front of the TV or just chatting with friends. And this leads to the fact that the belly grows from beer. A sedentary lifestyle leads to a decrease in the tone of the press, and this causes relaxation of the muscles of the abdominal cavity.

You can even test this claim yourself. Try drinking beer without snacks and see if you get better or not. In addition to all this, beer contains women, and this stimulates the formation of fat.

Japanese scientists even conducted an experiment. For him, they analyzed the data of almost two thousand men aged 40 to 70 years. The average beer drinker was 85.3 cm, while those who drink other alcoholic beverages or teetotalers had a couple of millimeters more. I was struck by the fact that beer drinkers who were between 40 and 50 or over 70 years old turned out to be more slender than the rest. Thus, scientists concluded that men's bellies grow from an unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy diet.

Summing up, you can yourself conclude whether the belly grows from beer:

• the belly grows not from beer, but from the products that are eaten with it (and they are usually harmful);
• beer itself is not high in calories. It is, on the contrary, one of the most low-calorie alcoholic beverages. Non-alcoholic or light beer is considered less high-calorie.
• this alcoholic drink does not contain fat;
• in order not to stretch your stomach, you can not consume more than 3-4 glasses a day.

Remember that excessive consumption of any alcoholic beverage, no matter how useful it may have, is harmful to our body! So, think about why your belly grows from beer, how much beer you usually drink and with what foods. By following some rules, you can not give up your favorite drink.

A beer belly is typical for men because of the peculiarities of the accumulation of fat in the body: in men, fat reserves are deposited mainly in the waist area. In addition, alcohol changes the male hormonal background, which also contributes to the accumulation of fat.

Let's look at the reasons why beer increases body fat.

1. Beer is high in calories.

Beer contains from 43 to 45 kilocalories per 100 grams of drink. Considering how many beers his devoted fans can drink in an evening, frightening numbers are obtained.

One bottle of beer contains about 215 kilocalories, one liter - 430, and two liters - 860. This is about a third of the daily calorie intake for a young man who leads a sedentary or moderately active lifestyle. Add to this the usual meals throughout the day and a beer snack, which is also often quite high in calories, and you have a huge calorie surplus.

2. Alcohol is recycled first, then everything else

Ethyl alcohol contains about seven kilocalories per gram. Since alcohol is toxic to the body, the body tries to process these calories in the first place, and the carbohydrates and fats that come with alcohol are stored as fat reserves. Of course, if you do not have time to spend them.

Until the body processes these “empty” calories, the rest will be stored as fat.

3. Beer changes hormones

According to the results of the study Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, testosterone, and estradiol levels in middle-aged men and postmenopausal women: a diet-controlled intervention study In 2004, drinking beer daily for six weeks reduced testosterone levels in men by 11.7%.

Testosterone is a male sex hormone that promotes fat burning and muscle building.

One old study Sex hormones and adrenocortical steroids in men acutely intoxicated with ethanol confirms that after taking large doses of alcohol, testosterone remains low for 24 hours.

A 1998 study showed that beer contains the phytoestrogens daidzein and genistein, which also suppress testosterone production.

A decrease in testosterone directly affects the content of fat and muscle. Fat burning slows down, as does muscle building. The less muscle, the fewer calories are spent on their maintenance and, again, the slower the fat disappears.

4. Alcohol Increases Calorie Intake

Study Stimulation of appetite by alcohol 2001 showed that drinking before dinner increased overall caloric intake. After 330 milliliters of alcoholic beer, study participants consumed an average of 1,744 kilocalories, after non-alcoholic beer - 1,548 kilocalories, and without beer at all - 1,521 kilocalories. Including the calorie content of alcohol, the calorie intake of people who drank beer increased by 30% compared to those who did not drink beer.

A beer belly appears from a combination of two factors: an excess of calories and the effect of alcohol on the hormonal background.

With the reasons sorted out, we turn to the methods of struggle.

How to get rid of a beer belly

1. Reduce alcohol consumption to a minimum

First of all, you need to eliminate the cause - reduce the amount of beer and other alcohol consumed so as not to suppress production, not to prevent the body from losing weight and gaining muscle mass.

However, simply giving up alcohol will not give quick results. To lose weight faster, you need to create a calorie deficit.

2. Create a calorie deficit

A calorie deficit is when you burn more calories than you consume. Calculate your calorie intake and try to stick to this value.

You'll likely get bored quickly, so try to remember the calorie content of the foods you eat most often. So you can estimate the calorie content of the menu in your head and meet the norm. How to calculate the calorie intake and the deficit needed for weight loss, read.

Remember the simple rules:

• Sweet and fatty are a lot of calories, it’s better not to eat this at all or eat only occasionally (practice).
• Vegetables, except for potatoes, are low in calories, high in vitamins and fiber. You can eat as much as you want.
• Fruits do not contain very many calories. The sweeter the fruit, the more calories it contains. Choose unsweetened and eat as much as you like. Don't eat too much anyway.
• Lean meat (beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit) - a lot, you need to eat to grow muscles.
• Cereals are high-calorie, but they contain a lot of vitamin E, fiber and other useful substances. You can eat, but with an eye on calories.
• Bread and all flour is better to exclude. If you can't refuse, eat rye bread, not wheat bread: it has fewer calories.
• Dairy products are high in protein and calcium. Their calorie content depends on fat content, sugar content and additives. A pack of cottage cheese is good, washing down glazed cheese with cream is bad.

So that you do not have to cut your diet too much, and also to increase metabolism, fat burning and muscle growth, be sure to supplement your diet with workouts.

3. Go in for sports

The more calories you burn, the faster the fat disappears. Cardio workouts and high intensity intervals work well. Strength training will burn fewer calories, but will provide rapid muscle growth and increase metabolism for a longer time than long-term cardio.

If you choose cardio, the main part should take place in the "fat-burning" zone - 65-75% of the maximum heart rate (HR). You can calculate how to calculate the maximum heart rate and your target zone.

Here are some more materials

A large and tight belly in men usually appears after forty years. The sight is usually not very pleasant. The owner of the belly breathes heavily, sweats profusely and takes up a lot of space. For some reason, carriers of this type of stomach are considered beer lovers, although this is not entirely true.

Beer belly - what is it?

Huge bellies, mostly found in men, are really commonly called beer bellies. And in fact, lovers of drinking a large amount of foamy drink have very outstanding forms. In reality, the bellies of both men and women do not grow at all from beer, although alcohol is also related to the growth of body fat.

A beer belly is nothing more than obesity, that is, the body's accumulation of excess fat in the abdominal region. Such obesity is called abdominal, and it is very dangerous not only for health, but also for life in general.

Reasons for the appearance

The main reason for the appearance of a large belly in men and women is, of course, not beer, but an excess of calories consumed. But if beer has nothing to do with obesity, then why do nutritionists strongly recommend that you stop drinking this low-alcohol drink? There are several reasons for this.

Despite the fact that beer contains a rather small amount of calories (40-50 kcal per 100 grams of product), it is still not recommended to abuse it. It is rare for a man to drink just a can of beer in one sitting. Basically, beer is drunk in liters and under a very high-calorie snack. By doing simple mathematical calculations in your mind, you can calculate what a huge number of calories are consumed in one friendly beer party. The first giant step towards obesity has been taken.

Even natural beer contains hops. And hops, as you know, is the strongest phytoestrogen, that is, a substance close in nature to the female sex hormone - estrogen.

A man who drinks several liters of intoxicating drink a day runs the risk of soon getting female-type obesity - fat in men begins to be deposited in the abdomen and hips, the mammary glands grow and sag. The spectacle, I must say, is a little aesthetic.

Stretching the stomach with a large amount of fluid over time leads to an increase in its volume. Normally, the stomach can accommodate about 2.5 liters of food. But, drinking beer and snacking on fatty and salty foods, a person consumes much more than his stomach can take. After some time, the walls of the stomach stretch and remain so for a long time. A distended stomach does not fill up with the usual amount of food and sends signals to the brain about the lack of a feeling of satiety. Thus, a person begins to consume more and more food, the amount of calories consumed increases and, as a result, obesity develops.

Any alcohol, including beer, stimulates the appetite and improves the digestibility of fatty foods. Snacking beer is not accepted with dietary chicken breast or buckwheat, mainly chips, crackers, pizza and other gastronomic joys containing a huge amount of calories are used. By helping to quickly digest this heavy meal, beer rekindles your appetite. The resulting calories are deposited on the waist and hips. In addition, after such a hearty meal, you don’t feel like moving at all, and the lack of motor activity with a large number of calories is another step towards abdominal obesity.

Photo of a woman's beer belly

Consequences of beer obesity

Fat accumulating in the abdomen is not so harmless. It not only spoils the visual picture, but also negatively affects the state of health. Fat deposits located under the abdominal muscles and covering the entire internal space are especially dangerous. Such deposits are called visceral and consist exclusively of brown fat cells. A person cannot do without internal fat, but as a percentage, this type of layer should be no more than 10% of the total fat mass.

The appearance of a huge belly in both men and women indicates a huge accumulation of visceral fat under the abdominal muscles.

The layer of fat compresses the internal organs and disrupts their work:

• The heart works at an accelerated pace.
• The lungs, squeezed by layers of fat, cannot expand, respectively, a sufficient amount of oxygen does not enter the brain. Shortness of breath and hypoxia appear. The lack of oxygen in the brain makes a person weak, lethargic and lethargic.
• Growing in the abdomen, visceral fat begins to function as an independent organ, changing all body processes for the worse.
• Under the influence of fat cells, there is an additional production of the female sex hormone estrogen, as a result of which the man loses potency, and the woman gets an early onset of menopause.
• Visceral fat synthesizes the hormone leptin, which suppresses testosterone and blocks the possibility of self-burning fat cells.

The most dangerous complications as a result of the appearance of a "beer" belly can be considered:

• Varicose veins due to increased stress on the legs. This threatens the development of a life-threatening disease - thrombophlebitis.
• due to malfunctioning of the fat-covered heart.
• Serious metabolic disorders.
• Oncological diseases. Visceral fat contains carcinogenic substances that increase the risk of developing cancerous tumors.

As you can see, the huge "beer" bellies in men and women is not only an aesthetic ugliness, but also a big threat to health. Therefore, such a literally heavy burden should be disposed of as soon as possible.
On the video about the causes and consequences of the beer belly:

How to remove

Many believe that eliminating beer from the diet will immediately change the figure for the better. It is a myth. Getting rid of the fat accumulated over the years will not be easy. The key to proper weight loss and subsequent retention of harmony is based on two components: proper nutrition and movement.

Proper nutrition

Why are we talking about proper nutrition and not diet? A diet is, as a rule, a short-term phenomenon based on a strict restriction in the diet of a certain type of food - fats or carbohydrates.

Of course, it is possible to lose a beer belly at home as a result of diets, but returning to the previous diet, including unlimited consumption of beer and snacks, will return fat to its rightful place, that is, in the abdomen and waist.

Therefore, we will talk about constant proper nutrition. What is meant by proper nutrition?

• The less processed the food, the better. Fresh vegetables and fruits, unrefined products: wholemeal flour, bran, vegetable oils, wild rice, green buckwheat - this can and should be eaten. Sugar, white flour and products from it - to exclude.
• Alcohol - strictly avoid!
• The diet does not need expensive semi-finished products: sausages, sausages, packaged juices, cakes and pastries, chocolate and fast food. This is the most delicious group, which is the hardest to refuse. The principle of gradualness works well here, you should not stress the body, it is better to exclude harmful things weekly. Gradually, the taste buds will get used to a different type of food, and soon the delicacies previously loved will seem too sweet and tasteless.
• protein group. Protein is a must. The daily diet should include low-fat cottage cheese, fish, chicken, veal, eggs. Fatty meats and fish are best avoided.
• Drinking mode. It is necessary to drink water, it helps to cleanse the body of toxins, flushes the kidneys, maintains the flexibility of the spine and drowns out the feeling of hunger with an excessively distended stomach.

Getting used to proper nutrition is quite difficult. But it’s even harder to carry huge layers of unnecessary fat on yourself.

Sport

Why should proper nutrition be combined with exercise? Yes, because the abdominal muscles, stretched by a large amount of visceral fat, cannot physically be strong and hold the internal organs in their anatomically correct position. Therefore, physical activity must be included in your daily routine.

People with a high percentage of visceral fat in the abdomen can find it difficult to do exercises related to strengthening the abdominals. What can I say - they can bend over with great difficulty!

In this regard, starting to play sports in order to get rid of extra pounds should be gradual, observing the following principles:

• Lots of extra weight? We exclude running and we are engaged in walking. Better in the morning and on an empty stomach.
• No long workouts! The heart muscle, being under a thick layer of fat, is rather weak, you should not strain it with exhausting workouts. In addition, intense training is contraindicated for fat people, knees and ligaments may suffer. Initially, you need to train in a low-intensity mode, gradually increasing the pace.
• It is useless to pump the press hard, thinking that at the same time there is an increased burning of fat. Of course, the abdominal muscles will become stronger, but without proper nutrition and constant physical activity, the stomach will not disappear anywhere.
• Ideally, if financial opportunity allows, hire a personal trainer who, taking into account age, gender and excess weight, will build a training schedule and make up a competent diet.
• You can also train at home. For this, stacked dumbbells, an elastic band and a rug are enough. The main thing is regularity.

In addition to training, you should increase the level of general physical activity: walk more, ride a bike in the summer or ski in the winter, swim in the lake or in the pool, go on picnics where you can play badminton and beach volleyball.

The main thing to understand is that it will not be possible to quickly remove the stomach, you should constantly work on your figure. Only more load, less gastronomic delights, no alcohol - and the beer belly will be gone forever.

Surgical intervention

Sometimes the belly is so huge that it brings real suffering to its owner, both physical and moral. There is neither time nor energy for regular sports, proper nutrition helps to get rid of fat, but the process of losing weight takes a long time, and you want to have a beautiful figure here and now. In such cases, surgical treatment comes to the rescue. There are several types of surgical removal of belly fat:

Liposuction. Pumping out excess subcutaneous fat. It should be said right away that the procedure is suitable only for fairly young people with developed abdominal muscles and good elastic skin.

Dermolipectomy. Excision and partial removal of the skin along with excess subcutaneous fat.

Abdominoplasty is a surgical tightening of the muscle layer of the anterior wall of the abdomen. The condition of this operation is the wearing of a special corset that strengthens the anterior wall of the abdomen and reduces the space inside the peritoneum.

I must say that all these operations will in no way affect the accumulated visceral fat. A decrease in the volume of the abdomen and waist will occur only due to subcutaneous fat.

It is also worth mentioning the fact that a return to the old way of life with immoderate consumption of alcohol, fatty and salty foods, and little physical activity will lead to an even greater growth of the beer belly.

In order to permanently rid yourself of the heavy burden in the form of a round "beer" belly, you need to change your lifestyle and thinking, treat your body as the greatest value, and not as a wastebasket, great willpower and patience when returning to the past. harmony.
How to get rid of a beer belly:

It is believed that lovers of an intoxicating drink can be identified by their "beer bellies", it is the addiction to this alcoholic drink that leads to such consequences, so why does the belly grow from beer, and is it so?

Causes of a beer belly

Many believe that when drinking a large amount of this alcoholic drink, the stomach increases, hence the stomach, and this is true, but in part, because when drinking about 100 g of beer, carbohydrates in the amount of 50 calories are deposited in the stomach, as well as on the hips, hands contained in this alcohol. In addition, the yeast contained in the beer drink loosens and enlarges the cells of the abdominal tissue, as a result of which the stomach appears.
Today, scientists have come to a consensus that the main reason for the growth of the abdomen is the use of snacks for this drink. Since beer, like any other alcoholic drink, stimulates the appetite and increases the digestibility of food. Moreover, the use of beer disrupts the metabolism, and this leads to changes in the process of the body. Hence such problems with the figure. And the hormonal background of men contributes to the deposition of the main reserves of fat on the abdomen. Therefore, most often the owners of the "beer tummy" are men. Beer also contains female-like hormones - phytoestrogens, which in turn leads to the development of mammary glands, the pelvis becomes wider, men become effeminate both externally and internally, at the genetic level. Besides, the attraction to the opposite sex weakens, the potency is disturbed. Thus, the beer belly is formed due to:

• Stretching of internal organs;
• Loosening and increasing the cells of the abdominal tissue;
• The combination of simple carbohydrates in beer and fats in snacks for it;
• Hormonal background of men;
• The presence of the hormone phytoestrogen in the drink.

The risks of drinking beer

1. Under the “beer belly”, doctors understand that abdominal obesity in men is the deposition of fat in the abdomen, but this is not a cosmetic defect, but the fact that fat is deposited on the abdominal organs, which leads to such serious diseases as diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease , arterial hypertension;
2. Beer in large doses destroys the kidneys and liver, the process of regulating the acid-base composition and water-electrolyte balance of the body is disrupted in the kidneys. Drinking beer at times increases the load on the kidneys, so drinking this drink, many run to the toilet so often. The drink flushes out many useful micro- and macroelements from the body, such as magnesium, potassium and vitamin C. And with excessive use, diseases such as sclerosis of the renal vessels, kidney infarctions, and hemorrhages in the kidneys are possible. The main function of the liver is to cleanse the body of toxic substances, and when drinking beer, the liver is forced to fight with ethyl alcohol, which leads to the development of hepatitis;
3. By drinking this intoxicating drink, there is a huge risk of beer alcoholism. If you like to spend the evening with a bottle of this alcoholic drink, then addiction will gradually appear, and you will not be able to limit yourself to one bottle.

Thus, if you think that by limiting the use of this drink, the stomach will disappear, and at the same time the risk of acquiring dangerous diseases, then you are mistaken, in fact, it would be best to stop drinking beer altogether, not only because of cosmetic imperfection, but also due to a number of reasons that we discussed earlier.

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At first glance, the pattern is obvious: indeed, such bellies are mainly observed among lovers of a foamy drink. But in fact, the beer belly occurs as a result of the accumulation of fat in the abdominal region. This type of obesity is called abdominal, and it is considered quite dangerous to health.
Beer itself is not very high in calories - 40-50 kilocalories per 100 grams. But the problem is that it is absorbed, as a rule, in liters and, together with a rather high-calorie snack - salted fish, chips, crackers, nuts, sausage, and even pizza.
Further, the composition of beer includes hops, which are the strongest phytoestrogen. This substance is close in nature to the female sex hormone - estrogen. As a result, a man who tends to consume several liters of drink a day begins to develop apple-type obesity - the mammary glands grow and sag, fat is deposited in the hips and abdomen ... For women, pear-type obesity is more typical, in which excess weight is more evenly distributed throughout the body.
In addition, beer alcoholism stretches the stomach. In a normal state, our stomach can hold about 2.5 liters of food in one sitting, but if we constantly drink beer, eating it with fat and salt, the volume of the stomach will increase. The brain begins to receive signals about the lack of a feeling of satiety, and the person eats more and more. Plus, any alcohol is an appetite stimulant and helps fatty foods to be better absorbed. Therefore, beer contributes to the fact that we absorb a huge amount of calories. And they are not spent anywhere, because after such a plentiful meal, rarely anyone wants to move - usually we begin to feel sleepy.