There are a lot of theories regarding the beer belly and whether it’s a myth or not, but I will let you decide it this time.
I’m sure that not only once you’ve seen, especially in men, that kind of visceral fat that you can’t quite catch between your fingers. Although they might be skinny overall, they look just like pregnant women (but you wouldn’t call none of them fat). Leaving joking aside, the phenomenon is pretty similar – there is another tissue (or life, respectively) forming beneath the muscles, not beneath the skin.
To make matters clearer, the fat can be deposited under the skin, on the internal organs, and on the blood vessels’ walls. Moreover, these deposits are made if there is an excessive caloric intake, because both protein and carbs are stored as fat if they are consumed in larger quantities than needed.
Alcohol (beer included) is a type of carbs that is stored on the internal organs. Because the body doesn’t normally need alcohol to function properly, any intake causes minimum damage. If consumed daily, your system doesn’t have enough time to flush it out, and it ends up storing it. Even one glass an evening is sufficient to cause serious damage on the long term.
Therefore, calling it a beer belly is… limiting, because any type of alcohol causes it. And, as a pro tip, consuming large quantities of fruits every day has a similar effect. Most types of alcohol (especially the strong ones) are brewed from fruits. The logic is simple – they contain fructose, which is a type of sugar that is not necessarily needed. Consumed in small amounts, fruits provide energy on the short term, but eating a fruit salad, for example, is too much for your body to handle. Therefore, it will store any extra fructose as fat on your organs.
While subcutaneous fat can be easily fought with cardio activities, visceral fat doesn’t go away as easily, and is mainly controlled trough diet and lifestyle habits. Moreover, this type of fat poses more threats on your health than the subcutaneous fat. It simply suffocates the organs, leaving them no spare room to contract as needed. Visceral fat contributes massively in type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and is one of the leading causes for strokes and heart attacks.
One glass of wine every evening can turn into one inch on your belt every couple of months. Are you willing to make the trade? Your health is in your hands!