Myth 2: Your body shape is harmless – Apple-shaped body has a higher risk of heart disease.

Misconception

Even if you don't have a medical degree, you'll know that high cholesterol, lying on the couch watching TV, and smoking...

Smoking is harmful to your health. But in recent years, some other surprising phenomena have emerged.

This condition can also harm your health. One of them is "waistline".

I had a neighbor in San Francisco named Ellen McCall. She was 41 years old and a mother.

She has three children. She has been trying to lose weight for years, especially around her severely overweight waist, but...

This wasn't her only health problem. Ellen has a family history of high cholesterol, and she believes she's still young.

There's no need to worry about it. In 1997, Allen felt extremely tired for several weeks in a row, and frequently experienced heartburn.

Stomach pain. This stay-at-home mom attributed her symptoms to stress. She told me, "Raising this..."

Taking care of three little boys is exhausting. I'm sure my physical condition is related to working day and night.

At 3 a.m. one summer morning, Allen woke up from his sleep, feeling as if his trachea was opening up from his chest.

She was dug out. She thought it was because she had eaten too much greasy food and had heartburn. Allen arrived...

She went to the bathroom to find medication for heartburn. She never imagined that she might have a heart condition.

A few minutes later, Ellen's husband found her lying on the bathroom floor. In a panic, he dialed...

He called 911. Despite the paramedics' best efforts, Allen passed away due to a heart attack.

The world. Only after her death did we connect her cause of death with her history of heart disease, and see...

Health dangers we were never aware of before.

A growing number of women are dying from heart disease. In the United States, one-third of women suffer from heart disease.

Vascular disease is a serious health concern, and more than 460,000 women die from heart disease each year. Hundreds of thousands more women also suffer from cardiovascular disease.

The risk of heart disease. However, many doctors still focus primarily on men, and rarely...

Pay attention to the risk of women developing this disease.

We are all familiar with the scene of a heart attack. It's often depicted on television and in movies.

The scene depicts people clutching their chests and collapsing heavily to the floor. However, in real life...

For women, chest pain may not be the most prominent symptom of a heart attack. In other words, it may even be...

This is not a symptom of a heart attack at all. The initial symptoms of a heart attack may be only mild chest discomfort.

Hours, days, or even weeks before the actual onset, there may be only mild discomfort. Other symptoms include chest pain.

Dullness, radiating pain in the limbs, shoulders, neck, or back, gastrointestinal discomfort, extreme fatigue, and sweating.

Dizziness, fainting. Any of these symptoms could be a sign of an impending heart attack. (I don't know this...)

Many women experience these symptoms as warning signs of an impending heart attack.

However, your "warning flag" does exist regarding your body shape. This includes being overweight or obese overall.

Compared to women, men with a "waistline" (regardless of body size) have a higher risk of heart disease.

The chances are higher. Based on Allen's medical history, she may have what doctors call "metabolic syndrome."

This includes a large waist circumference, blood pressure higher than normal, unhealthy cholesterol levels, high triglycerides, and high blood sugar.

A group of symptoms including sugar. The more of these health risk factors you have, the higher your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other serious illnesses.

The greater the likelihood of wind. In fact, the National Institutes of Health says that compared to those without these syndromes...

Compared to adults, people with metabolic syndrome are twice as likely to develop heart disease and have a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes.

The rate is four times higher. Furthermore, women are more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than men.

While the reasons are still unclear, it may be related to emotions. Women are more likely to experience depression and suffer more.

The heavy pressures of life-these are all major factors leading to metabolic syndrome.

So, is body shape important? Absolutely, it might even determine your life.

Body shape reflects your health status

Does your "spare tire" make it difficult to even tie your shoelaces? Do you need to tighten your belt?

One or two or three holes? Is there something wrong with your jeans? Why does it feel so tight around the hips?

Once you find yourself asking these questions while unzipping your pants, you should join a weight loss club.

It's outrageous. The number of people with "barrel waists" in our country is increasing. The average waist circumference in Americans has never been this large.

A federal health survey revealed that over the past 40 years, the average waist circumference for men has increased from 35 inches to [missing information].

The average waist circumference of women has increased from 30 inches to 37 inches, reaching 39 inches. This is significant for our health.

This is not a good sign. Medical researchers point out that the longer your waistline, the less healthy your lifestyle.

Changes in body shape are believed to indicate an increased risk of serious illnesses. This was previously considered superstition, but now...

This has already been confirmed. For example, excess fat around the waist can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and...

The risk of stroke can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, respiratory diseases, functional loss, and some cancers.

This leads to an increase in the mortality rate.

Facts

To be precise, I gained 0.8 pounds. Some also say we gained weight between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

Over the course of 6 weeks, with ample food, weight gain ranged from 5 to 10 pounds. While it's impossible for us to gain that much...

We gain weight, but forget to lose the extra fat in the spring. This excess fat accumulates year after year.

It accumulates until one day we can no longer fit into our loose jeans, at which point we begin to pay attention to our weight.

Notice it. Method: Monitor your weight during winter. If you gain weight, you should...

Start exercising immediately, or lose the extra weight through dieting. Losing 1 pound now is much faster than before.

Losing 20 pounds later was much easier.

Analysis of common misconceptions

We doctors bear responsibility for this misconception. The medical community once believed it was due to weight or high finger density.

It's the body parts where fat grows that cause people to develop serious illnesses and even die. But...

Recent research on fat cells indicates that not all fat cells are the same; they grow in different parts of the body.

Different areas also have different "weights". Abdominal fat is dangerous, while fat in the thighs and buttocks is relatively safe.

Be kinder.

For many years, doctors and scientists have divided overweight people into two groups based on their body shape:

Apple-shaped and pear-shaped. People with apple-shaped bodies tend to have more fat deposited above the waist, while people with pear-shaped bodies...

Fat tends to accumulate in the hips and thighs. Men are often apple-shaped, while women are pear-shaped.

This is mainly due to the differences in their hormones.

What body type do you have? If you're unsure, the following simple method can help you.

Make a judgment. The first thing you should do in the morning is measure your waist circumference (and belly fat) in inches.

Calculate the waist circumference (at the navel level) and hip circumference (the widest part of the hips and thighs), then divide the waist circumference by the hip circumference. If the result...

A score less than 0.8 indicates your body shape is pear-shaped; a score greater than 0.8 indicates your body shape is...

It is apple-shaped.

Facts

Researchers at Columbia University’s Obesity Research Center in New York continued for 4

Zhou Rang, an obese patient

After limiting their daily calorie intake to 600 calories, obese patients experienced a 27% decrease in appetite.

They said they felt more comfortable when eating lower-calorie diets. Researchers believe these...

The finding may also apply to regular dieters, as it does indeed "reduce appetite." I have a

One piece of advice: I do not recommend limiting your daily food intake to a low level of 600 calories, because...

Such a low-calorie diet can have the opposite effect, meaning that excessive dietary restriction may lead to binge eating later on.

Overeating. Therefore, it is best to gradually reduce your daily food intake by 250-500 calories.

Apple-shaped body shape: burden on the abdomen

Middle-age weight gain typically results in an apple-shaped body. At that time, the abdomen expands like a small bucket, while the hips narrow.

An apple-shaped body shape-also known as a "beer belly"-is caused by high testosterone levels leading to fat accumulation in the abdomen.

The result. Apple-shaped bodies are generally found in men. This is why they are more prone to having a "beer" figure.

"Belly belly".

These abdominal fat cells are abnormally active and can be broken down and released into the bloodstream at any time. In prehistoric times, this rapid breakdown...

The fat extracted from meat is very useful; it provides the necessary energy for a man's body during hunting. But when...

In today's world, the only "hunting" activity some men can do is find a bottle of beer in the refrigerator.

Therefore, his abdominal fat is more easily absorbed into the bloodstream, leading to elevated cholesterol levels and blood...

Blocked blood vessels, high blood pressure, and other diseases.

When fat accumulates in the abdomen and waist, it not only deposits under the skin but also in the upper body (heart).

It accumulates around the internal organs (liver, kidneys, and intestines). Some experts believe that this fat can even accumulate in these organs.

It grows inside some organs, thus affecting blood circulation and interfering with the normal function of the organs.

Most of the fat around the waist is visceral fat, which is deep fat hidden around the internal organs and secretes hormones.

Other substances. Some of these chemicals are harmful to the body and can cause inflammation. Visceral fat contributes to the body's...

The reaction can lead to mutations in arteries, organs, and cells, which can trigger heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

Symptoms. The more abdominal fat, the earlier these diseases may develop. Therefore, visceral fat is toxic.

Fat.

The research also showed that visceral fat has a greater impact on insulin levels than fat in other parts of the body.

This means that people with an apple-shaped body are more likely to develop diabetes.

Women with an apple-shaped body are more prone to breast cancer. Although the causal relationship is not yet fully understood...

It's unclear, but one theory suggests that adipose tissue stores estrogen-a hormone linked to breast cancer.

Hormones. This may mean that the more estrogen you store in your abdomen and upper body, the higher your risk of developing this condition.

The larger the fat deposits, the better. Furthermore, some experts believe that excess insulin produced by abdominal fat in women can lead to...

Elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) have long been a contributing factor to breast tumors.

Are you at risk of developing these diseases? Studies show that if a woman's waist circumference increases to 31.5 inches...

If her waistline is 35 inches, her health risks increase; if it reaches or exceeds 35 inches, her health risks become acute.

The risk increases dramatically. For men, a waist circumference of 37 inches increases the health risks; if the waist circumference...

If it reaches or exceeds 40 inches, that's a big problem.

To closely monitor your health risks, a simple method is to regularly measure your waist circumference and record this number.

Compare your waist circumference to your height. If your waist circumference is less than half your height, you don't need to worry.

Worry.