Preventing Belly Fat
“By age 30, the ovaries have close to 20 years of hard work behind them, and their ability to produce a steady supply of estrogen begins to dwindle. To compensate for the shortfall, the body activates the genes that plump fat cells. The reason: Like ovaries, fat cells produce estrogen , and the larger they are, the more they release. But we can avoid this problem by eating foods rich in phytoestrogens, such as legumes, tofu, flaxseeds and cruciferous veggies. These plant extrogens bind to hormone receptor sites all over the body, tricking fat cells into thinking that the ovaries are in top form. This results in fat cells cutting down their own estrogen production by as much as 50%, plus they start emptying their stores of fat instead of stubbornly filling up with more fat. So have at least half a cup of soy-rich foods or 12 ounces of soy milk daily.” Source: First
Basically, our ovaries stop producing the same amounts of estrogen (the female hormone) as when we were teenagers so the body needs to get this estrogen from somewhere else and store it. The ‘made up’ estrogen is stored in our fat cells around our belly and abdomen for the times when our ovaries do not produce enough. This obviously makes us fat in our stomach area. When we eat products that have these hytoestrogens, a message is sent to the brain telling it that we Already Are receiving enough estrogen so then we no longer need to store in the fat cells, reducing the bulk in our stomachs.
I have not seen much actual number weight loss in myself, however, Hubby and my Mother say that my tummy looks slimmer, and yes, I have noticed that my pants fit more loosely around my waist. The reason being that I eat a lot of soy products - I drink soy milk and soy meat as opposed to any other meat produtct as well as tofu.
Buy the soy milk. It is not that different from actual cow milk and it has less sugars. Cruciferous vegetables are mostly your greens such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower. Legumes include beans, lentils, alfalfa, and peas.
