Beating your middle-aged middle is all about tricking your body into reversing some of the harmful processes that lead to it.
Spread is caused by a combination of factors, including poor diet, changing hormones and certain medications.
The problem with poor diet is that it can lead to 'fatty liver' - a condition that affects one-third of people in Western populations.
While the exact cause is not clear, excessive consumption of sugar and omega-6 fats ( polyunsaturated fatty acids found in vegetable oils) in modern diets is thought to be to blame.
'Fatty liver' affects the organ's ability to perform one of its primary jobs, detoxification - the breaking down of harmful toxic substances such as drugs, environmental pollutants and hormones.
Meanwhile, the body is also coming under pressure from too much sugar in the diet; and this, combined with stress, causes high blood sugar levels. The body produces more insulin to mop it all up, but a fatty liver can't break it down as it should and it ends up as more fat in the middle of the body.
Hormones add to this. The female hormone oestrogen instructs the body to store fat on the hips and thighs; but as levels decline with age, the target for storage shifts to the abdomen.
Likewise, men experience a drop in testosterone levels. And if they have high insulin levels or a fatty liver, this can lead to more fat on their breasts and bellies.
The problem is not just one of aesthetics, either. The fat that gathers in and around the vital organs in the abdomen is called 'visceral fat', and it behaves very differently to ordinary 'subcutaneous fat', which settles all over the body under the skin.
In fact, when there's enough of it, visceral fat can behave like an active organ that responds to brain chemicals and hormones and sends out its own chemical messages.
One of the things it triggers is inflammation in the blood vessels - damaging them and making it more likely for your blood to form clots, which is bad news for the coronary arteries. Some scientists believe that this, not cholesterol in the blood, triggers cardio-vascular disease.
The two Dr Eades argue that middle-age spread doesn't respond readily to the old adage of 'eat less and exercise more'. But with the right nutritional tools, it can be quickly reduced.
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