5 tips for banishing hidden belly fat

1 Mind your middle. Keep track of your waist-to-hip ratio as well as your body mass index (BMI). Make a note on your calendar to measure your waist and hips every other month or so. If measurements reveal that your waist is wider than your hips, take it as an urgent signal to try to lose some of your belly weight. Women, watch out if your waist expands beyond 35 inches. And men, your upper limit should be 40 inches. If your waist size falls into the danger zone and your BMI is 25 or more, you're at risk of heart disease.

2 Chew the good fat. If 20% to 35% of your daily calories should come from fat, make most of it the good kind of fat - either mono- or polyunsaturated fats. Tasty foods with healthy fats include salmon, avocados, olives, and walnuts. Cook with vegetable oils, like canola, olive, or sunflower oil. Avoid foods high in saturated fats and carbohydrates.

3 Move it to lose it. Routine, moderate exercise helps to fend off the fat, and more strenuous activity burns off existing fat. And phew, there are some good news about visceral fat: it's the first fat to go once you start shedding pounds! Keep the bigger picture in mind when you're working out since spot weight loss is tough. Just doing a bunch of crunches won't get to the underlying layers of visceral fat. Go for fat-burning cardiovascular exercise as well as moves that firm up and strengthen the abdominal area. You should check-in with your doctor before starting any vigorous exercise program.

4 Lighten up. Now, don't let this tension-belly fat connection stress you out, and find ways to unwind. Research has shown that body stress levels may be related to belly fat. And looking at the stress levels of people today, you'd think we were all being chased by wild animals. Exercise can help you to de-stress and avoid belly fat buildup (see tip no. 3). Yoga also works the body and the breathing and meditative components can help to calm the mind.

5 Get tested. If you're worried about your risks, check with your doctor. Doctors track visceral fat by the tape measure or with an MRI or CAT scan (a series of X-ray images of the body that are compiled by a computer to produce a 3-dimensional image). A blood test can also be given to measure the presence of a protein called retinol binding protein 4 (RBP 4) in the blood, which is an indicator of potential health problems like heart disease and diabetes.

Amy Toffelmire