Does eating starch make your lower body fat? Nutritionists Debunk Myths

Whether it is soft and chewy white rice, sweet baked sweet potatoes, or delicious potato salad with lots of ingredients, they are all popular staple food options. However, in the 5914 calls for doctors, one netizen asked: "Will eating too much starch cause obesity in the lower body?" Is eating starch really the culprit for bloated elephant legs and hippopotamus buttocks? Let the nutritionist answer for you.

Does eating starchy foods often really make your lower body fat? Nutritionist Su Yanchen said that whether eating starch will cause fat in the lower body can be discussed from two levels. The first level is whether eating starch can easily make you fat, and the second level is whether eating starch will cause obesity in the lower body.

Does eating starch make you fat? Calorie intake > expenditure is the main reason

Many people who are trying to lose weight believe that starch is the root of all evil, and some even take the radical approach of not eating starch at all. In fact, it’s not the stigmatized starch that makes you fat. In fact, whether you are eating starch or the other five major food categories, high-oil, high-calorie sweets or bread, as long as the total calorie intake is greater than the consumption of daily activities and exercise, the human body will store the excess energy in the form of "fat". Therefore, whether you will gain weight or not should be focused on the total calories consumed throughout the day, rather than simply calculating how much starch you eat.

In addition, starch is the energy source for the nervous system and various organs. Even the brain relies on glucose to function smoothly. If you don't eat starch to lose weight, you may feel mentally and physically exhausted, and it may also cause you to become emotionally unstable, constipated, gain weight again, and have loose muscles, which can be said to be a series of disasters.

Resistant starch has low calories. Whole grains and sweet potatoes are good sources.

So how should people who are afraid of getting fat and want to lose weight eat starch? Nutritionist Su Yanchen pointed out that there are actually some tips on eating starch. People who are losing weight can choose "resistant starch" which has an average calorie content of only 2.8 calories per gram, which is 4 calories lower than ordinary starch. In addition to being lower in calories, resistant starch is usually high in dietary fiber, which has an added benefit for weight loss.

Whole grains, buckwheat, quinoa, corn, red beans, mung beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, lotus roots, leftover rice, cold rice, sushi, etc. are all good sources of resistant starch. If you choose block-shaped root starch, you should pay attention to maintaining the integrity of the ingredients. For example, red beans are more difficult to digest than red bean paste, and eating lotus roots is better for controlling weight than lotus root powder.

However, no matter what kind of starch it is, you need to be careful not to consume too much. The best way to control weight is for women to control the total amount of each meal to eight-tenths of a bowl and for men to one bowl.

There are 5 reasons for lower body obesity.

So will eating starch make your lower body fat? Nutritionist Su Yanchen said that this is also a wrong concept. As mentioned above, as long as calorie intake is greater than consumption, fat will be stored in the body, which has nothing to do with whether or not you eat starch. Generally speaking, the causes of lower body obesity may be gender, lack of exercise, poor sitting posture, postpartum women, genetics and other five factors.

Reason 1: Gender

Due to genetic factors, women tend to store fat in their thighs, buttocks and other parts of the body, which is the so-called "pear-shaped obesity" (subcutaneous fat type). Men tend to store fat in the abdomen and upper body, which is called "apple-shaped obesity" (visceral fat type).

Since the fat in the lower body is subcutaneous fat, it releases energy only when the body urgently needs it, so it is more difficult to lose weight than other parts of the body. Excessive visceral fat is greatly related to the incidence of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. Men with big bellies should pay special attention to this.

Reason 2: Sitting for a long time and lack of exercise

Since women's pelvis is generally wider than men's, female office workers who sit for long periods of time will more easily have their buttocks "get bigger as they sit" than men. In addition, if you sit for long periods of time without regular exercise, the muscles in your lower body will not be used for a long time, resulting in a decrease in muscle mass, which can also easily cause your lower body to become fat and deformed.

Reason 3: Poor sitting posture

Poor sitting posture may cause the pelvis in the lower body to be crooked, which in turn affects the shape of the lower body. In addition, crossing your legs will cause the pelvis to tilt backwards, which is also a cause of lower body obesity.

Reason 4: Postpartum women

During pregnancy, women's bodies will store more energy for postpartum breastfeeding and store fat in the buttocks, thighs and other parts of the body where fat is easily accumulated. Since women who breastfeed after childbirth need to consume more energy, they will lose weight faster. If women do not breastfeed after childbirth, the fat on the body will not be consumed properly and will continue to stay in the hips and thighs, forming an obese figure.

Reason 5／Family inherited body type

If a person has a wider frame due to family inheritance, the lower body can usually accommodate more fat, so the lower body will appear obese.

[Nutritionist's Tips]:

Many people who want to lose weight think that they can slim down their lower body through specific exercises. This is actually a wrong concept. When losing weight, you cannot just lose fat in a certain part first. Exercises for a specific part actually train the muscles in that part. In addition to diet control, weight loss must also be combined with aerobic exercise to burn calories, anaerobic muscle strength training, and increase body muscle mass. When calorie consumption is greater than intake, the amount of body fat will decrease, and the lower body will naturally lose weight as well!