Post: #51

(04-06-2014 10:31 AM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  The other thing you should try to do is reduce your stress levels. The links between stress, cortisol and belly fat that cardguy was referring to are very real. And bad stress chemistry does all sorts of damage to your digestive system, among other things. It just sucks all around.

I do think there could be something to this. When I had my bloating problem I was also very stressed.

Post: #52

(04-06-2014 10:31 AM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  The other thing you should try to do is reduce your stress levels. The links between stress, cortisol and belly fat that cardguy was referring to are very real. And bad stress chemistry does all sorts of damage to your digestive system, among other things. It just sucks all around.

I don't think it's almost ever the case that you can't do anything about being stressed. You can always reflect on how the difficulties and hassles you're experiencing are relatively minor, because it's usually true. You may not be able to remove hassles from your life, at least not anytime soon -- but you can definitely change the way you react to them, and that is very much worth doing. Stress is not really about external events -- it's about how we respond to them. Some people become extremely stressed about the least difficulty, while others can remain calm in the midst of real calamities. As much as possible, you should train yourself to be the latter type. The more you can relax and basically not give a fuck no matter what happens, the happier you will be -- and your digestive system will thank you for it.

Nailed it. High stress also fucks up your sleep and diet, which adds insult to injury.

Post: #53

(04-06-2014 11:20 AM)cardguy Wrote:  I'm skeptical about probiotics.

It seems like one of those fads over the past decade. Looking at the wikipedia page on probiotics - my sense is that the evidence is pretty inconclusive.

cardguy, not all probiotics are the same. Most of them are in fact ineffective for a simple reason: the quantities of bacteria they supply are too small. You need a critical mass to be effective, otherwise the good bacteria basically just get eaten by the dominant bad bacteria and never get a chance to establish a foothold. This is why VSL3 is so superior to other probiotics -- the quantity of bacteria in each sachet is orders of magnitude more than in other products. That is what you need.

If you look at VSL3 specifically, the evidence is extremely strong. It has been curative in many cases of ulcerative colitis, IBS, and related conditions. I personally know of a case of an older woman who had quite severe diverticulitis, and was put by her son (a friend of mine) on VSL3. After a few months when the doctors re-examined her gut and looked at the scans they thought there was an error somewhere because her condition had completely cleared and they'd never seen anything like it.

Medical professionals have indeed been very skeptical of probiotics (as they are in a knee-jerk way of all "alternative" modalities, often enough with good reason), but this is starting to change and I predict that in 5-10 years probiotics will be used by doctors as a matter of course.

Post: #54

Cool - thanks for the tip.

I will try some of that VSL3 stuff sometime.

Post: #55

WAke up in the morning and instead of eating breakfast walk on a treadmill at a 20 incline at a 2.5 speed for 40 minutes. Also drink a gallon of water a day or more. Also don't eat sugar dairy or processed grains. Also eat a lot of healthy fats.

Post: #56

that one is expensive [email protected]

Post: #57

(04-06-2014 12:26 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  WAke up in the morning and instead of eating breakfast walk on a treadmill at a 20 incline at a 2.5 speed for 40 minutes. Also drink a gallon of water a day or more. Also don't eat sugar dairy or processed grains. Also eat a lot of healthy fats.

Won't do it, mate, it's much deeper than bandaid fix.

Post: #58

(04-06-2014 12:26 PM)Moma Wrote:  that one is expensive [email protected]

Yep -- that is why I suggested you go to a doc and have him write you a prescription. Then your health insurance should pay for all or most of it (if you have decent health insurance -- do you?)

Post: #59

(04-06-2014 12:28 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 12:26 PM)Moma Wrote:  that one is expensive [email protected]

Yep -- that is why I suggested you go to a doc and have him write you a prescription. Then your health insurance should pay for all or most of it (if you have decent health insurance -- do you?)

I don't have health insurance

Post: #60

(04-06-2014 12:29 PM)Moma Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 12:28 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 12:26 PM)Moma Wrote:  that one is expensive [email protected]

Yep -- that is why I suggested you go to a doc and have him write you a prescription. Then your health insurance should pay for all or most of it (if you have decent health insurance -- do you?)

I don't have health insurance

I'm going to send you a PM.

Post: #61

Lizard of Oz,

How quickly would VSL3 work you think?

I am just working on slimming down. I want to check off all the healthy things I could do to get there.

Having healthy bacteria in my gut is not a bad idea.

Thanks.

Post: #62

(04-06-2014 12:31 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  I'm going to send you a PM.

Ok

Post: #63

(04-06-2014 12:36 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Lizard of Oz,

How quickly would VSL3 work you think?

I am just working on slimming down. I want to check off all the healthy things I could do to get there.

Having healthy bacteria in my gut is not a bad idea.

Thanks.

It depends on what your current state is -- some people have gut flora that is basically OK naturally, in which case you won't see that much of an effect though it won't hurt either. If your natural gut flora is off, you should start seeing effects within weeks at the latest; you will find that you digestion is generally much more regular and that can have all sorts of positive crossover effects on your general health, mood, sleep etc.

I think it's worth a try. It's a pretty good thing to do for your body in any case.

Post: #64

The only way to get a "gut" is to eat too much fattening food.

The only way to remove a gut is to eat less fattening food.

I suspect that Moma is eating too much after sunset.

Eat more during the day so that you can go to bed on a more empty stomach.

Eat the heavy foods earlier in the day. Night time should just be vegetable and clean meat like fish.

Cut out all the bullshit.

Post: #65

(04-06-2014 12:59 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  The only way to get a "gut" is to eat too much fattening food.

The only way to remove a gut is to eat less fattening food.

No, brother Gio, it's sadly not so simple these days. Food allergies can affect us in different ways. Human body is a little more complex than that.

I've always been an active cat but these days, I'm an active cat with a bit of a pot but I will take on certain suggestions and keep this thread bumped.

Post: #66

Gio -- yes eating too much late is a terrible idea and should be eliminated. Much better to have a bigger breakfast and go to bed on an empty stomach. I should have mentioned that.

But there are other things that can contribute to having a "gut", specifically stress and bad stress chemistry, and bad gut flora. So those are worth addressing as well.

Stress is really the key of keys, but that is something that each man needs to work out for himself. But it's always worth trying to figure out ways to be more relaxed and to not let the inevitable hassles affect you more than they absolutely need to.

Post: #67

It wasn't 'fatty' foods that gave me my gut, it was beer and pizza. They don't call it a beer belly for no reason.

Don't want to misquote you Gio- I take it by fattening foods you meant excess carbs.

I replaced the pizza and beer with natural foods (well, six months of keto first) and whiskey. Result, no belly whatsoever. If I hold the sixpack in I look like a fucking greyhound. V-taper baby!

Post: #68

Lizard,

One more question (for now lol) please.

Are prebiotics needed? I have read stuff and people discuss that prebiotics is what the probiotics need as food. Once again, just random bits of info I have read.

Thanks!

Post: #69

(04-06-2014 12:59 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  The only way to get a "gut" is to eat too much fattening food.

The only way to remove a gut is to eat less fattening food.

I suspect that Moma is eating too much after sunset.

Eat more during the day so that you can go to bed on a more empty stomach.

Eat the heavy foods earlier in the day. Night time should just be vegetable and clean meat like fish.

Cut out all the bullshit.

There are a lot of good ideas recently in this thread, and surely each of us need to find our own particular comfort level.

Surely, the big three health activities that are somewhat within our control are diet, sleep and exercise - which includes their impact on the extent to which we have a belly.

I already made a fairly lengthy post in this thread providing a large number of my ideas regarding having a belly.

Actually, I always thought that I had a belly into my late 30s... now in my early 40s and in the last few years, my belly has pretty much subsided (maybe lost a few inches off of my gut - going from a 36 to a 33), and I attribute that to largely cutting out carbs and various processed foods and even limiting the quantity of fruit. My carbs are NOT completely eliminated - maybe call it the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I attempt to follow various low carb dietary guidelines, and 20% eat whatever I am in the mood to eat. Surely the 20% is - not any kind of all out gorge.. but it's just a built in psychological leeway (permission) to deviate.. have a beer, pizza or ice cream or whatever is the extravagance de jure.

Actually, I have been pretty active regarding adding good fats and oils back into my diet.. butter and animal fat. Moma said that these kinds of foods make you tired, but it may be the carbs rather than the fats that are making you tired... Good fats should get you away from these various processed fats and the fats will satiate you and cause for fewer snacking inclinations... b/c if we eat carbs and sugars, then we crave more of them.

Changes to my diet in the last few years has NOT really changed quantity of food that I eat... so I do NOT buy any of these ideas that we need to restrict our diets as long as we are eating good natural and whole foods.

Anyhow, I was beginning to think I could live off of bacon and eggs forever and meats.. like a meat only diet.. a few veggies, here and there and to wrap by BLT in lettuce without using bread, and then I began reading about prebiotics - there is a thread on that in this forum.. at least regarding recent studies pertaining to potato starch or kinds of resistance starch - which apparently helps your body to better process probiotics... and ultimately to improve gut flora.

Personally, I am NOT too much into supplements or paying a lot for food, and we should be attempting to eat natural - yet nonetheless, there may be something to this resistance starch idea to help the body with gut flora.

Finally, I do exercise regularly, but I do think that exercise is overrated regarding whether someone has a gut..... probably having a gut is more of a product of diet and sleep... rather than exercise. I consider my personal exercise to be more of a stamina thing, in case I am attacked in an alley, I can at least put up a decent fight for a few minutes... depending on how many girls jump me... I don't wanna be too much of a push over before I finally give in.

Post: #70

(04-06-2014 01:29 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Lizard,

One more question (for now lol) please.

Are prebiotics needed? I have read stuff and people discuss that prebiotics is what the probiotics need as food. Once again, just random bits of info I have read.

Thanks!

Well, the studies that showed the effectiveness of VSL3 as well as the anecdotal examples I have observed did not involve people taking prebiotics, so clearly they are not necessary. They might help, or not -- I think the evidence is unclear so far.

Questions are never a problem, the more the merrier.

Post: #71

(04-06-2014 01:02 PM)Moma Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 12:59 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  The only way to get a "gut" is to eat too much fattening food.

The only way to remove a gut is to eat less fattening food.

No, brother Gio, it's sadly not so simple these days. Food allergies can affect us in different ways.

Food allergies?

What food allergy is causing you to have a belly???

******

Belly fat is the direct result of.. 1)too much bad food.. 2) Not enough belly exercise.. 3) sleep/stress..

That is my belief.

But, if you guys can convince me otherwise, I will update my perspective.

I'm curious.

Post: #72

(04-06-2014 01:54 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 01:02 PM)Moma Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 12:59 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  The only way to get a "gut" is to eat too much fattening food.

The only way to remove a gut is to eat less fattening food.

No, brother Gio, it's sadly not so simple these days. Food allergies can affect us in different ways.

Food allergies?

What food allergy is causing you to have a belly???

******

Belly fat is the direct result of.. 1)too much bad food.. 2) Not enough belly exercise.. 3) sleep/stress..

That is my belief.

But, if you guys can convince me otherwise, I will update my perspective.

I'm curious.

I realize the question was NOT directed to me... however, Personally, I believe that eating too many processed foods, including industrial oils, probably increase inflammation, which is like having food allergies b/c increased inflammation in various regards would cause all kinds of sensitivities in ways that would likely NOT exist, if a guy were to follow a more natural diet like our cavemen ancestors would have followed.

Certainly, few of us are gonna wanna live exactly like any kind of caveman (who wants to be drinking and bathing in a stream when we have modern conveniences), but we can attempt to find more whole food solutions, fewer processed foods in order to lessen our inflammatory reactions.

Also, one or possibly two servings of fruit a day is more than enough.. we do NOT need to be eating fruits in any kind of high dosages.. in my humble bumble opinion.. b/c if we are eating too many of these kinds of foods that convert into sugar (including brown rice converts to sugar and bananas convert to sugar, sorry to say) then the cumulative effect of these "whole grains" bullshit is likely increasing our inflammation and increasing our perceptions and even realities of experiencing allergies.

Edit: to respond to Gio's added comment about exercise... I really am NOT convinced about how necessary is belly exercise. Surely, it may be good for tone and endurance, etc, but to get rid of the fat belly exercise is likely NOT as important as it is made out to be in attempting to blame the "fatso" (intended with endearment) and NOT as important as the other two factors of diet and sleep...

Post: #73

(04-06-2014 02:04 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  I believe that eating too many processed foods, including industrial oils, probably increase inflammation,

Yes, eliminate the processed food.

That is my main point.

Fix your diet.

(04-06-2014 02:04 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  I really am NOT convinced about how necessary is belly exercise.

I agree.

Exercise is not nearly as important as diet.

Diet is #1

Post: #74

My brother and I both suck at losing fat but gain muscle easily. The best strategy by far for us has been intermittent fasting.

It's much easier to cut food out for 24 hours than to regulate every meal. Although we eat pretty much paleo for the meals as well.

I'd recommend IF to all who can't lose the belly. Makes you feel masculine as well to go through the minor hardship of a day's hunger.

Post: #75

Anyone know if water retention in the stomach is a real thing?

And if so if it can be treated?

My belly has the consistency of a water bed. Very weird. Or is that just fat?