Belly fat is nothing new to humans. We’ve got lots of food sources these days to create all the belly fat we want. The question is, “Why does the fat go there, and what can we do about it”?

We are cave people. It sounds strange to say that since we put a man on the moon and can talk to our friends in India for no charge while watching them on the screen, but still we are so close to cave people that our bodies behave like their's did. So what is all this “cave people” stuff got to do with your belly fat? A whole lot. Let me explain.

Cave people had limited food sources. Mostly they ate greens, fruits and roots they could digest. When they were brave and skilled, they trapped or killed animals or trapped fish for a much needed protein source. These two food sources I call hydrated fibers (crunchy water filled fruits and veggies) and protein (an animal or what came from an animal, like eggs or milk). What was lacking in this hunter/gatherer food plan was carbs (starches like grains, potatoes, rice and such). Now to tie this all together, the woody starches are what provide energy and when they are eaten in quantity, they are stored as fat. What I am saying here is that there were no fat cave men or women. They were extremely lean and in fact, often starved to death. Their bodies were craving any extra fat or carbs they could get...and when they got the extra carbs or fat, where do you think they stored it? You got it; on their bellies. That little bit of fat was stored on a net like organ in front of the stomach called the omentum. The point is, that fat would warm the center of the body on cold nights. They literally could curl up around their own belly fat and be warm and content until the next starvation period when they went weeks without meat and used that belly fat up as an energy source. So they were constantly in search of animal meat and fat to gorge on it and create a little belly fat that would always be used up.

Let's fast forward to our old friends, the Egyptians. Yes, the intelligent Egyptians live successfully in large numbers we call cities and could not feed meat to all of their pyramid building slave citizens so in their infinite wisdom they domesticated grains. From then (3000 years ago) until now, there have been fields of wheat and rice blowing in the breeze. All the carbs we want. And what was the result? Storage of fat on the belly was easy and with no starvation period to wear it off, people got fat and stayed fat. It is a recorded fact that diseases of the heart and circulatory system rose and many other illnesses followed when we started our get fat plan 3000 years ago. Now in the old west in the 1800's food was scarce until we conquered the landscape and grains were grown in quantity. And that brings us to the present.

From 10,000 years ago to date we could say that about 700 generations of humans have handed down their genetics to their children. This is not enough time to change the basic patterns of the body metabolism. What this all means is that we are much like cave people who couldn’t wait to store a little fat on the belly only now we have all the food we want. So people store more and more fat right there until obesity and illness set in.

What to do? We, in the modern age of plentiful food, must be conscious of our belly fat and willingly limit the foods that cause it: excess carbs and fat. You cannot get fat on fruits and veggies. It takes excess grains and meat and less activity to get belly fat. So, in my next entry, I'll tell you how to get rid of pesky belly fat while still enjoying some of the plentiful food that is available to us “modern cave people”.

Jumpin Jeff

Fitnesslifeline.com