Q: Help! I've developed a beer belly. How can I get rid of it?

Beijing Weekend: I'd like to tell you there's an easy solution to this problem, but there isn't. It takes discipline, time, and hard work but it can be done.

If your weight is starting to creep up and you can't see your feet for your tummy it is time to take action. A higher "waist-hip" ratio can make you tired and breathless, as well as more vulnerable to heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, osteoarthritis, back pain and depression.

You have probably been told by your doctor to take the time-consuming, disciplined and perseverance-testing approach - eat less, drink less and get moving. But the good news is that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can help you reduce your paunch within a month if you are a compliant patient and, above all, if you do not think the acupuncture needles scary.

However, before you decide to take either approach, it would be best to understand how you got to this stage. If you really don't know, listen to what the doctors say.

Dr Luo Bin, a professor from Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine University who specializes in the combined therapy of TCM and western medicine

"My understanding is that both TCM and western medicine have the same theory about why beer bellies develop, though they explain it in quite different ways. Both say overeating is the real culprit.

Drinking too much beer can be one of the reasons for a paunch but not the only cause of the beer belly, or abdominal fatness as we call it in medicine.

The process of developing a beer belly goes like this: As the years go by, a man's metabolism slows and he needs fewer calories. However, his calorie intake often stays the same as it's always been or even increases whilst his levels of activity generally decrease.

The result is the "beer belly." It's the place where fat likes to settle first and the last place it wants to leave.

However, the dividing line between adequate and excessive calories varies according to the individual.

This is related to one's basal metabolism rate (BMR), a mathematical equation for the number of calories your body needs each day.
Those with a higher BMR have a lesser chance of getting the distinctive bulge than those with a lower one, if they have the same calorie intake.

So it is important to check your BMR to adjust your diet. This can help reduce the size of a beer belly or the chance of getting one.

Dr Liu Xiaohong, a specialist in digestive problems from Peking Union Hospital

People do have reason to call abdominal fatness the "beer belly."

Beer can be a culprit.

First, beer, dubbed "liquid bread," is rich in starch, which can easily turn into fat in the body.

Second, as people usually drink beer in large quantities, it expands one's stomach gradually. As days go by, beer drinkers need to eat more before they feel full. In other words, they eat more than their bodies really need.

Both lead to fatness in the abdomen.

My suggestion is to watch your overall beer intake, keeping it within a sensible range. If you have drunk beyond this range, reduce your intake of other foods like rice, noodles, etc.

Dr Xu Wenbing, Chief Physician from the Hope Institute of Chinese Medicine, Beijing

Our bodies work like assembly lines. Food is firstly digested by the spleen and stomach (TCM's digestive system) into nutrients. Some of what we eat will be further processed by other inner organs like the kidney and then distributed to every part of the body and used. The rest will be reserved as fat.

The beer belly, or abdominal fatness, is a result of the overworking of the digestive system caused by consistent overindulgence in food.

As the digestive system is overworked and takes too much of the body's energy, the assembly line is slowed down and blocked. The body allows less energy for other organs like the kidney to complete the further processing. And the metabolism also slows down. As a result, fat left in the abdomen builds up.

The situation is called "tanshi" in TCM, which means "abundance of undissolved fat." The beer belly is part of this syndrome. Tanshi, if left untreated, can lead to heart disease, strokes, diabetes and impotence.

A change in your diet will help to alleviate the situation. But personally I don't think exercise, which may help to build up your constitution, will really reduce the beer belly.

According to TCM theory, our bodies are controlled by two systems: one is the will, the other is the non-will system. When you want to raise your hand and you raise it, the will controls. When your finger is burned and you instinctively pull it back, the non-will system acts quicker.

Unfortunately tanshi is controlled by the latter. You can hardly change it by exercising your muscles.
Only the digestive system can do the job.

But you are not completely helpless in this situation. The bulging abdomen tends to be forgotten when your digestive system gets busy.

So first, you can go on a diet so that the digestive system can get around to taking care of it.

Second, you can divert your digestive system to the abdomen through acupuncture.

Third, you can take some herbal medicine which will help to accelerate the dissolution of fat.

And finally, keep on a healthy diet, or the paunch will bounce back. 

(Beijing Weekend   November 3, 2003)