High waist-to-hip ratio may add up to greater risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes

Even today, many people rely on weighing themselves as the approach towards understanding their body composition and health. There are several limitations with looking at your weight. When you start to change your diet towards a healthier one, and include exercise, it can appear as though you are not progressing when your weight does not drop. Muscle is heavier than fat and you can even appear to be heavier when you begin strength training.

A waist-to-hip ratio is a fantastic indicator of health and fitness. But before we get to that, what does it mean if your waist is bigger than your hip?

Metabolic syndrome can refer to a combination of symptoms or conditions, including insulin resistance, prediabetes, abnormal cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even type II diabetes. If you have metabolic disorder, your chances of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia are higher.

One of the biggest signs of metabolic disorder is having a waist that is bigger than your hip. This excess fat around the abdominal area is dangerous as it is metabolically active and may contribute to higher systemic inflammation. Chronic inflammation in turn is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative conditions, and cancer.

Looking at your waist-to-hip ratio

Measuring a waist-to-hip ratio is a great way to assess overall health. It is a better indicator than measuring weight or BMI. Someone who is strength training and has strong muscles can have a higher BMI because muscle weighs more than fat. This does not indicate that they are unhealthy. However, measuring waist-to-hip ratio, and comparing it as you include lifestyle modifications and improvement can be a great way to monitor your progress.

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1.     You can use a waist/hip ratio. This helps ascertain how much fat lies round the middle. This fat is more dangerous than fat stored elsewhere in the body and is associated with a greater risk of diabetes and heart disease. Conducting a BMI measurement may miss this, as someone may be within their normal BMI, yet carry a lot of fat around the middle. For men, a waist greater than 36 is considered to be placing them at a higher risk for metabolic syndrome.

2.     Using a waist-to-hip ratio as a way of monitoring health and lifestyle interventions is simple and non-intrusive. You can monitor it using specific clothes as well, which tells you a great deal.

3.     Fat in the waist is dangerous. It also indicates high cortisol that is linked with higher levels of inflammation. Therefore, it is critical to prioritise stress reduction through mindfulness and meditation, rather than only trying to do more abdominal exercises to tone the area. When stress reduces and cortisol lowers, then inflammation comes down, and will naturally start to reduce this fat around the waist.

4.     Excess fat in the waist is also linked with imbalance in the gut microbiome. When there is a tendency for more pathogenic bacterial overgrowth from species like candida, fermentation of sugars can trigger fat around the waist. This can then lead to higher carb sensitivity, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance predisposes you towards metabolic syndrome.

Reducing starches and sugars can help with lowering insulin resistance and improving waist-to-hip ratio. High insulin and an abnormal waist-to-hip ratio are the two biggest signs of metabolic syndrome.

How to have a better waist-to-hip ratio?

1.     The first thing to do is to improve your sleep cycle. Your liver detoxifies between 10 pm and 2-4 am. To have optimal liver detoxification, you need to be in deep sleep during that time. All deep sleep stages are critical for repair, brain healing, memory formation, hormone optimisation, and detoxification. It is not how much you sleep, but how much you stay in deep sleep that matters.

Typically, Stages 1 and 2 should be around 60 percent, stages 3 and 4 around 20 percent, and REM 20 percent. That means that you have entered all stages of sleep adequately to repair and rejuvenate. One hour of sleep before midnight is equal to 3 or 4 hours of sleep after midnight. It also supports a healthy cortisol rhythm, which is linked to lower inflammation.

2.     Try to change body fat and body composition and reduce insulin resistance.

If you have a much bigger waist in comparison to your hip, that is a sure sign of insulin resistance. Lowering starches and sugars, and prioritising protein, fibre, and healthy fats can shift this pattern.

Protein in combination with strength training will improve muscle protein synthesis. Healthy fats will support better blood sugar control. Over time, this will dramatically reduce insulin resistance. When that happens, your waist will start reducing. Monitor waist to hip ratio as you add positive lifestyle interventions.

3.     Support a healthy gut microbiome by removing gut busting foods and drugs. Frequent antibiotics and antacids disrupt the composition of the gut microbiome. An unhealthy gut microbiome impacts insulin resistance and hormones. An unhealthy gut can increase beta glucuronidase, which increases estrogen reabsorption. This can make you estrogen dominant, even if you are a man. In men, having excess fat in the chest and waist are signs of high estrogen and low testosterone. Great foods that help to maintain the gut microbiome are green tea, pomegranates, and vegetables. The more vegetables you include, the more fibre you add. This helps to feed the gut microbiome.

Even if you do not check anything else, keep a watch on your waist to hip ratio. It is a fantastic tool to indicate the state of your body composition, metabolic condition, and overall health.