RM: So, I can’t imagine what we’re talking about in this blog – what’s with that title?!

JH: You know – “Tis the season to be jolly…” So, I wanted us to talk about abdominal fat.

RM: Ok, important topic – but what’s the relation to those other things?

JH: I’ll tell you that when we finish talking about belly fat. In our book, we discuss how body weight and body fat are dangerous for our health, especially as we get older and are more at risk for certain diseases anyway (because of advancing age), like heart disease.

RM: Right. And we discuss how medical people don’t talk about “pounds” of weight, but use the term “body mass index” or BMI to talk about body weight. BMI takes into consideration one’s weight and height. A normal BMI is less than 25. But being overweight is not the only problem, is it?

JH: No. The distribution of the body fat is just as important. Having much of the body fat concentrated in the abdominal area is more of a risk for heart disease and diabetes than having that body fat concentrated in the area of the hips and thighs.

RM: So, being an “apple” in shape (fat mostly in the middle, or the belly, area) is more dangerous than being a “pear” shape?

JH: Absolutely. We can tell for sure which of these body shapes a person has by measuring the waist and then the hips, and figuring out what the waist measurement divided by the hip measurement, or the “waist to hip ratio”, is.

RM: So, we’ve known for awhile that being apple-shaped is dangerous to our health; is there more recent information?

JH: Yes. An important study was published in the November 13, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine in which 359,000 men and women (ages 25-70) in nine different European countries were followed for a little over nine and a half years; the researchers were able to assess the association of each person’s BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio with their risk for death, while controlling for other factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity, that might increase that person’s risk of dying.

RM: That sounds like a very thorough study. What did they find?

JH: Several things. The first one was expected: that those with the lowest risk of death had a BMI around or just below 25. The risk of death increased as the BMI increased. For those people with the same BMI, the risk of death increased as their waist circumference and their waist-to-hip ratios increased. The people with the largest waists had double the risk of death as those whose waists were normal.

RM: That’s impressive. And this was the same for men and women?

JH: Yes.

RM: And wasn’t being underweight dangerous as well?

JH:Absolutely. But since there’s a lot to talk about with that issue alone, we’ll save that for another blog. Back to the study and the risks of being overweight, more impressive was that even people who were not considered to be much overweight, but had increased abdominal fat, were at an increased risk for death.

RM: So, we’re not even safe if we’re at a good weight but have a paunch – how unfair. Two questions: isn’t the reason that increased fat in the belly area is dangerous is that it’s thought to be a special type of fat different than elsewhere in the body? And, can’t we just go get liposuction of the belly so we’ll live longer?

JH: Yes to the first question. No to the second one – go look at chapter 11 in the book again to remember why!

RM: Ok, so we know again that too much fat in the belly is bad for us. What should we do?

JH: Women should know their waist-to-hip ratios, as well as their weight and BMI. And all of this should be considered when coming up with a comprehensive plan for staying healthy. For instance, if a woman has too much belly fat, she may be advised to lose more weight through increased aerobic exercise in order to specifically get rid of the belly fat.

RM: Right. Those crunches and sit-ups just won’t do that. Actually, we should talk more about the different types of exercise and what each type specifically does for our bodies when the New Year rolls around… in 2 weeks! Now, you promised to tell what this whole topic has to do with the holidays and Santa.

JH: Easy. This time of year, there are always office and neighborhood and kids’ parties to go to, and all forms of peppermint and other candies and sweets to eat, and wonderful sequined and sparkly clothes that we pull out of the closet to wear… which often don’t fit, especially in the belly area, which makes us buy Spanx or a real girdle…

RM: I get it. You’re saying that we shouldn’t wait until the Holidays, and those glittery but too-tight clothes, to figure out that our belly is too big; and we shouldn’t make it worse by sampling all the delicious sweets sitting out this time of year! It’s best to work on it all year by keeping the body weight normal, and trying to go without the Spanx once in awhile to see how bad that paunch really is. And what about Santa?

JH: Remember the poem “Twas the night before Christmas”? What did it say about Santa?

RM: I’m supposed to recite a poem in this blog?!!! Are you nuts?

JH: Ok then, I will. About Santa, it said: “He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.”

RM: So the moral of the story is that Santa needs Spanx!

JH: Not quite! But on the risk of getting silly…or more silly… let’s just wish our readers…

BOTH: Happy and Safe and Healthy Holidays!