Read on to know how you can make your love handles disappear.

Question: “Hi. I had a question regarding love handles. I don’t eat excess sugar or carbs but I still have love handles. I normally take three meals and have milk twice a day. No extra meals. What should I do as far as my diet is concerned. I am a vegetarian and I am not addicted to food. Please advise me as I am badly worried about this issue. Thanks”

Dear love-handles,

It’s good to hear you don’t eat sugar or too much carbs. I do have a problem with you taking milk though. If you follow my articles I am not a big believer in milk. I will share a research paper after this with you. However, as long as the milk is organic, fresh and not pasteurized you could take it. There is not even one reason we need milk for survival or ‘health’. In fact, it is counter productive. You can read why milk is not good for you here.

I respect your being a vegetarian. However, you need to make sure you get enough essential amino acids (those not produced by the body) from your diet. Or we will have a problem in replenishing body tissues.

What does love handle imply:

As far as exercise in concerned you cannot spot reduce fat. Well, actually to be clear NOT through exercise. Excess fat on various sites on the body do tell us about hormones though. For example, high skin-fold readings on the triceps imply high estrogen (dominant female hormone). Or excess skin-fold readings on the upper back imply poor insulin (primary hormone that regulates blood sugar) sensitivity. Or fat accumulated on the abdominals tells us the person’s cortisol level is constantly high.

High Suprailiac (love-handle) reading, provided other sites have low fat levels, infers large insulin release with meals. You can intervene by controlling you carb intake (generally means reducing carbs intake and switching to low glycemic carbohydrates).

Assumptions:

Since you are a vegetarian I presume most of your calories are coming from carbohydrates (white flour, white rice, fruits, pasta, macaroni, etc) and legumes. Since we are living in Pakistan I will also presume you are not taking enough vegetables or if you are, the vegies are overcooked and oily which basically not only has lost most of it’s nutritional value but might also not be the bet choice of food!

Strategies:

1. I suggest you remove milk from your diet after reading at least 5 paragraphs of the research paper. Apart being full of toxins and having zero nutritional value milk has lactose (sugar in milk) and this will not only release insulin in the body but also cause havoc in the system.
2. Second, include more vegetables in your diet (green leafy vegetables). Vegetable gives you ample carbs, nutrients and fibre (very essential for digestive system health). Vegetables also have a very low glycemic index (they release insulin very slowly).
3. You should write down what options you have regarding your protein intake since you are a vegetarian and cannot have meat, poultry and mutton. Perhaps you could take fish, eggs or seafood? If that’s not possible you need to consider replenishing the essential amino acids that the body needs otherwise. Other sources that you can derive the essential amino acids from are; various plants (to make up for all the essential amino acids), combining grains (e.g, rice) and legumes as a meal (that’s how most subcontinental vegetarians get their proteins), Tofu, Soymilk, pulses, seeds (chia, sesame, poppy), nuts, mushrooms, lentils.
4. You should make sure there is variety in your diet. You can supplement it with whey protein as well since you don’t have a problem taking milk and a high quality protein can supplement your protein intake.
5. As a general rule for everyone, you could also reduce portion size. Reduce portion size if you have fat on elsewhere in the body. If it’s only the love handles I wouldn’t go too low on calories (no need to reduce portion size) but rather seek variety in the diet and stock up on fresh vegies and protein.
6. Poor insulin sensitivity (the reason for fat accumulation on love handles) has a lot to do with muscle glycogen uptake. Glycogen is sugar ready for use in the body to move, live and operate. Exercise, particularly resistance training (also known as weight training) makes you handle carbs way better than any other sort of exercise. My Diabetic clients show a huge difference in blood sugar after starting weight training with me. Some of them even cease to take their medication for good (although we also fix their diets). After engaging in weight training your muscle’s ability to take up the consumed carbs become better. To make you understand this better, you muscles will soak up carbs like a sponge when your muscles are stronger and active. And you don’t need to worry about getting bulky that won’t happen.

Say goodbye to your love handles
Do let me know if you need further informations at moez@omnifarious.net.pk
Committed to your health,
Moez Aryan

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