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Saints!

Thursday
March 28th, 2024

bellyfatThe way to a person’s heart may be through his or her stomach in more ways than one. Doctors have tied heart health to the abdomen, and having extra pounds around one’s middle can be detrimental to cardiovascular well-being.

Excess visceral fat in the belly, something doctors refer to as “central adiposity,” may have potentially dangerous consequences. While the link between belly fat and heart health has long been associated with men, women may be even more vulnerable to the adverse health effects of belly fat. A study published in March 2018 in the Journal of the American Heart Association examined 500,000 people between the ages of 40 and 69. Participants had their body measurements taken, and then were kept track of for heart attack occurrence over the next seven years. During that period, the women who carried more weight around their middles (measured by waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio or waist-to-height ratio) had a 10 to 20 percent greater risk of heart attack than women who were just heavier over all.

Belly fat is particularly dangerous because it doesn’t just include the insulating, or subcutaneous, fat under the skin. It is largely visceral fat that also surrounds the organs in the abdomen. Harvard Medical School reports that visceral fat is metabolically active and has been strongly linked to a host of serious diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia. Visceral fat is like an endocrine organ that secretes hormones and a host of other chemicals linked to diseases that can affect adults. One substance is called retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), which has been tied to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. In 2015, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that normal-weight people with excessive belly fat had a higher risk of dying of heart disease or any other cause compared with people without central obesity.

The online health and wellness resource Medical News Today says doctors determine belly fat to be a problem when a woman’s waist measures 35 inches or more and a man’s 40 inches or more. MRIs also can be used as a fat analyzer and will be judged on a scale of 1 to 59. A measurement of 13 and under is desireable. 

The Mayo Clinic advises that poor diet and fitness habits can contribute to belly fat. As people age, they may have to make more drastic changes to their diets and exercise regimens to counteract changes in their metabolisms. Eliminating sugary beverages, watching portion sizes, counting calories, doing moderate aerobic activity daily, and choosing healthier foods can help tame visceral fat. Also, doctors may recommend those who are stressed to try stress-busting techniques, as stress also may be tied to excessive belly fat.

Belly fat should not be overlooked, as its presence can greatly increase a person’s risk for various diseases. 

obclinic ht jan 2019

Liberal Local News

Planning, zoning requests dominate commission agenda

city commission manriquezElsa Manriquez with Al Shank Insurance looks over some notes while talking to the Liberal City Commission Tuesday evening about the city’s comprehensive insurance renewal. After several minutes of discussion, the commission ultimately unanimously voted in favor of the renewal. L&T photo/Elly GrimmELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

Planning and zoning issues dominated the discussion for the Liberal City Commission during its most recent meeting Tuesday evening. 

Up first for the commission was a request for the approval of a new member to the Planning & Zoning Commission. 

“Per the agenda packet, there came an open slot on the Planning and Zoning Board due to Ernesto Goitia Jr. being removed due to his lack of attendance, and there ended up being four applications for that spot,” Code Enforcement Supervisor Keith Bridenstine said. “The board voted unanimously to recommend Jeremy Benton to fill that vacant seat, and staff is recommending the Liberal City Commission follow the recommendation of the Planning & Zoning Commission.”

The commission ultimately unanimously approved the recommendation, and then moved on to discussion of the final plat of the Alco Addition replat, which Bridenstine also talked about. 

“As the commission might remember, the preliminary plat came before you all last April, and this is a replat of the block located between 14th Street and 15th Street, which is by Dillons,” Bridenstine said. “The addition was platted as one lot, so in order to split the property into three lots as requested, a replat must be done due to how those rules go. It’s basically a housekeeping plat. All ownership issues have been resolved, it’s been checked out by Seward County officials, and the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously at its regular scheduled meeting on March 14 to approve the final plat of the Alco Addition. A difference between then and now is the preliminary plat had different ownership since there was a spot that was originally deeded to three different people, and when the new owner bought the block, he got deeded one-third of that chunk, and it was kind of a mess, but all of that has been cleaned up. With all of that we’re recommending the commission approve the final plat of the Alco Addition replat.”

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Other Interests

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Opinion

Key bills still have a chance to pass

RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator

 

This last, Week 11, for most committees to meet in the Legislature was kind of different from past years, in that there didn’t seem to be any big “crunch” to get everything done. 

We did work a fair number of bills — particularly in Ag and Fed and State, but used our full hour of meeting time only once — and that without even approving the bill which consumed most of it (SB 446, seeking to limit foreign property ownership) because it had simply become too cumbersome. 

The big news, I suppose, was that both houses held hearings on Medicaid expansion for the first time in four years, yet without moving it out of committee. The House provided some hope that tax relief might have another shot; however, with a two-tier instead of single rate like that adopted by the Senate, there is still a lot of “negotiating” to do to get a finished product that is “veto proof.” We’ll know more after their formal Floor consideration next week, but right now I’m optimistic we can come up with something taxpayers have been waiting on far too long.

Three totally unrelated measures that have generated a lot of constituent interest and do have a good chance of making it through are S Sub HB 2124, dealing with operational enhancement for “little guy” microbreweries; HB 2783, prohibiting government agencies from restricting the sale of motor vehicles based on energy source; and SB 527/HB 2813, making it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. 

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