Beer gut, beer belly, “the keg”… Whatever you prefer to call that mass that lies below your chest and hangs over your pants can officially no long be blamed on Americas most beloved beverage…the beer.
According to University of California Davis food science professor Charles Bamforth, the colloquial notion of the beer belly – that beer somehow uniquely makes a home in your gut is not medically true. There could be lots of reasons for a weight gain around the gut area ranging from poor diet to low testosterone (click here to see an option if you have hormonal deficiencies) to lack of exercise. It’s not all just down to what you drink.
“The beer belly is a complete myth. The main source of calories in any alcoholic beverage is alcohol,” Bamforth told Popular Science. “There’s nothing magical about the alcohol in beer, it’s just alcohol.”
Alcohol does not invade and colonize your mid-section, it’s just another ingredient in your caloric regimen, though Bamforth notes that in cases of excessive alcohol consumption (i.e. abuse) you can develop something called ascites: a buildup of fluid around your abdomen that cancause distension of a sort, though in that case it’s likely related to actual liver damage. Those who are victims of alcohol abuse and are seeking roads to recovery may want to consider the services of Clean & Sober Recovery to help them end their damaging relationship with alcohol.
Correspondingly, alcohol addiction also referred to as alcoholism, is a disease that affects huge numbers of people. Although experts have tried to pinpoint factors like genetics, sex, race, or socioeconomics that may predispose someone to alcohol addiction, it seems to have no single cause. That being said, psychological, genetic, and behavioral factors can all contribute to having the disease. You can learn more about alcoholism and discover a few of the different treatment and rehabilitation options by taking a look at some of the useful resources on the Enterhealth website.
So what’s with the reason for placing this stigma on our poor defenseless brews?
Dr. Aliyah Sohani, a Massachusetts General Hospital alcohol researcher suggests it may have to do with serving sizes: Both cans and bottles of beer average 12 ounces, while your average glass of wine contains five and your average shot glass is just 1.5 ounces. It also depends on emotional factors. There are some drinkers who use alcohol to deal with everyday happenings and emotional issues. After a while, they quickly become dependent and will have to continue drinking to feel good. Soon, they will find themselves in need of rehab services similar to The Holistic Sanctuary (https://www.theholisticsanctuary.com/luxury-alcohol-rehab/) in order to recover. However, for those who aren’t excessive drinkers, it may be a completely separate problem altogether.
“You are drinking it in more quantities than wine or liquor, so you tend to have more caloric intake,” says Sohani. “You are talking about a difference between several hundred calories a night and a couple hundred.”
Combine the caloric intake with the lack of diet and exercise, well you see the results.
So the key takeaways from all of this bit of information:
- Always drink in moderation
- Remember to exercise
Hopefully not in that order.
Salute!
Original: Matt Peckham of Time Magazine