Welcome to Your Health Moment!
September 21, 2023

The Dangers of Belly Fat and How To Control It with Dr. Royce McGowman

In this episode, Dr. Fitness invited Dr. Royce McGowan on the show to talk about belly fat. If belly fat is a problem for you, stop what you are doing and listen in to hear why a protruding belly predisposes you to a long lis...

In this episode, Dr. Fitness invited Dr. Royce McGowan on the show to talk about belly fat. If belly fat is a problem for you, stop what you are doing and listen in to hear why a protruding belly predisposes you to a long list of serious health problems. And stay tuned to hear workout do’s and don'ts to reduce your waistline and why these docs feel prescription drugs may serve as a good jumpstart but are not the long term answer for sustained weight loss.

Dr. Royce McGowan, DC, opened his practice with his wife Dr. Shelita McGowan in Jacksonville, Florida, where they serve as experts in easing physical pain and stress through chiropractic treatments. Dr. McGowan takes a “whole person approach” to wellness that involves understanding the causes of the aches and pains and making the necessary adjustments for improved health, including lifestyle adjustments, dietary changes, and body manipulations.

TIMESTAMPS
• [1:01] Dr. Fitness and Dr. Royce McGowan discuss why belly fat is a great indicator of serious health problems on the horizon.
• [1:37] Dr. McGowan emphasizes the importance of having strong abs and solidifying core strength to reduce back pain.
• [4:00] Dr. Fitness shares one of the best ways to reduce belly fat is to do resistance training that is more isometric, like planks or side planks.
• [9:23] The docs debate the pros and cons to using prescription medications for weight loss.

For more information on the Your Health Moment podcast, visit: https://www.yourhealthmoment.com/

Connect with Us!
Max Sturdivant, Podcast Host & Health & Wellness Coach -
Website: https://www.iamdrfitness.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iam.drfitness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrfitness/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamdrfitness1971

Dr. Royce McGowan -
Website: https://www.mcgowansrc.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McGowanSpinalRehabCenter/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mcgowanmedical?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ==

Transcript

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:04  
Hello, and welcome to Your Health Moment podcast. I'm your host Max Sturdivant better known as Dr. Fitness. On this podcast, I want to give you the tools to start, continue and never give up on your journey towards health. Now, whether you struggle with your weight, eating the right food, hydration, exercise, or even time management, you're in the right place, and I'm here for you. Now, let's dive right into this episode. 

Welcome back. Today we have a really exciting show with a really great guest. My guest today is Dr. Royce McGowan. Thank you for being here, Doc. And our show topic is about belly fat. There we go. So if belly fat is a problem for you, or a problem for someone, you know, you definitely want to listen to this. And even join us with the no belly fat for September challenge by simply texting your name and your email to 904-236-5850. Text your name and your email to 904-236-5858. Now, belly fat, if you weren't aware, is a really great indicator that you have some serious health problems on the horizon. If you have not already begin to face them. That's right. Yep. So Carol, chiropractic wise. Does belly fat have an impact on the back?

Dr. Royce McGowan  1:37  
Okay, you got to have strong abs man, solidify your core strong your core, less issues you're gonna have with your back period and easy it's gonna be to fix your back when you got a strong core. A weak core. Yeah, it's tough. It was still we're gonna get you taken care of. But it's so easy for you, you slip right back into the issue, because your core is not strong. So that is one of the main things that get people out of pain, you got to drop weight, you got to get your core strong. You won't have any more issues after that, then you could just we can just see on a maintenance basis. Oh, see, that's really nice. So medications, no shots, none of that stuff, man. Oh,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  2:13  
like, you know, we're always working with people to, you know, improve their core strength, right? My thought about it, I have so many thoughts about it. And one of them has to do with the machines that you see at the gym. Okay, I see a lot of people in the gym using exercise equipment, and loading up the weight to do core exercises. Okay, they put weight on it, and they do a core strengthening machine. Okay. 90% of the people I see using it should not be on that machine.

Dr. Royce McGowan  2:51  
They're doing it wrong, or they just shouldn't be doing it that x the actual exercise itself.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  2:56  
Well, they shouldn't be doing the exercise themselves. Okay, I tell people don't put resistance like that. We did roll real

Dr. Royce McGowan  3:05  
heavy. They put a lot of weight on it. Yeah,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  3:07  
on your core, right? When you already have signs of you know, your there's too much. There's too much belly fat already there. Right? Right. And the more that you put those that kind of weight on your muscles, it tends to push the abdominal muscles out an hour or so it just makes you look even bigger. So if the goal is to reduce your waist, loading up weight, and doing a lot of resistance with weight type of core exercise is not going to be helpful. Oh, so I get you bigger, reduce your waist, your base waistline bigger. Okay, that makes sense. It makes sense, though. So people always want to work it though because they have a big waste. So they want to do things to reduce it. And unfortunately, putting weight on your abs doesn't reduce it, it's going to increase it.

Dr. Royce McGowan  4:00  
So what's the best way to reduce it?

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:03  
So do resistance training. That is a more isometric.

Dr. Royce McGowan  4:08  
Okay. And what do you mean by as I mentioned, like, or not moving? Oh, not moving.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:12  
Okay. Okay. So planks, but if you do move, you could do side planks where you have a little bit of movement, okay, but you're stabilizing.

Dr. Royce McGowan  4:22  
What about those things that are in football? What about those things like in football when you lay down and you hold your feet up to six inch killers? Oh, yeah. Okay, symmetric exercise. Another

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:32  
really great one for lower abs and it does hit your abs. Well, yeah. So that that type of exercise is really what we recommend that you should be out within the waist that will find a waist and it's all about ways to thin the waist.

Dr. Royce McGowan  4:47  
Okay, okay. Okay. So I saw a guy this morning he had the you know, that chain you put around like the leather belt you put around your waist, and he was big. He laid the like he I think he had like a 45 pound One is on his thigh. Okay, he had his legs like this and he was lifting up with the 45 pound weight when the

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:06  
legs on the legs. That's the line. That's where, you

Dr. Royce McGowan  5:09  
know, he makes he goes this way he's gonna get

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:12  
his waist to be bigger. Okay, so usually he wants to really define it and probably not a lot of belly fat. No, he would. Yeah. But if but if you got belly fat, don't do those weighted exercise. But if you don't have belly fat Oh, yeah. Cuz then you'll get a more defined and find out Okay, gotcha. But I thought I wanted to click Yeah, then undefined AB underneath belly fat is a real problem because it just looks really rough.

Dr. Royce McGowan  5:39  
Sandy makes you more susceptible to like hernias and stuff like that, don't you? When those guys get those big stomachs and they get out there then when they finally try to lose weight? That muscles have been their muscles have been so separated so long because their stomach has that big stomach is the muscles, the ABS that are connected in there been stretched to? So my right Am I I'm just asking. I'm really asking you that.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:03  
Yep, we're coming to visceral fat. Absolutely. Because that fat is underneath that muscle.

Dr. Royce McGowan  6:08  
I see a lot of patients that I've got a problem with you. And I have a lot of patients that I find hernias they don't even have her into the stomach. So we'll be I'll see them when they're laying on a bed and they stand up or they sit up in our pocket. You know, the hernia, basically, I could see the hernia when he said, and then I'll let him know Hey, man, it's a hernia, you need to go get that checked out. Which, you know, especially, I mean, I'm talking I've had patient with a big amount of their intestines comes out of their AB see it. So. And I don't know, it's solely coming from them having a very distended abdomen for a long

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:41  
period of time. It's kind of funny, it's, I guess it's like a woman when you're carrying a baby is exactly the same does tend to split the muscles.

Dr. Royce McGowan  6:49  
Yep, period, I've had women come in here, and they say I forgot what the surgeries called. But they, they can sew those abs back together. And they you know, after they had those women had the baby muscles have just gone shot.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  7:02  
So that's amazing, it's actually really good to know that, um, that, you know, when you have that kind of abdominal fat, that it can play a role in creating a lot of other problems. So a hernia is one of them. But other challenges that you can have, besides a hernia is going to be diabetes, high blood pressure, you know, the hernia is like a physical one, right. But there's a lot of other challenges that come from having excess abdominal fat, your articularly the visceral fat,

Dr. Royce McGowan  7:39  
yeah, that visceral fat is gonna cause a bunch of it's gonna make you predispose a whole bunch of different diseases that you don't really nasty disease, you know, like you just said to diabetes, and high blood pressure, that stuff kills people, man, so,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  7:52  
so definitely see it as a warning sign. So when you see your waist start to get big, it's nothing to sneeze about, or not pretend or pretend it's not happening. It's really happening. And there are some serious health challenges that you could be experiencing as a result, and it's not if you're going to experience some challenges. It's simply when so if you're not experiencing them yet, you will, if you don't get a handle on what's happening with bigger belly fat,

Dr. Royce McGowan  8:18  
and some we got to touch on real quick that that a lot of people around the United States period are doing is taking a lot of these. What does that what does that draw call that everybody's taken out? Lose weight, but it's given everybody exempt that ozempic? Oh, yeah, yeah, ozempic and all that. Listen, man, if you guys do that stuff, I'm not. I'm not condoning it. But if you do, do it short period of time, just to just to get you jump started. And make sure you're eating and doing healthy stuff during that time when you do things like that. Because those type of, you know, ways to lose weight, make you gain weight after you get through. And if you don't change your habits and your lifestyle, you're just gonna lose weight while you're taking the pill. And then when you stop taking the pill, because, God forbid you get side effects, which every pill has 900 You're gonna have if you have something with it, you're doing you're doing good with your weight. Oh, I lost 20 pounds, but you got this rash that looks like you like you're dying on your back and your neck and you got to stop taking it. You know, now you wait, this wound, and you gotta really

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  9:23  
it's kind of crazy, because that is one of those drugs like, I mean, I have to admit, at this point, I'm still a fan people

Dr. Royce McGowan  9:34  
because they lose so much weight. I've seen people they look great.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  9:37  
And the thing I'm seeing that I'm having trouble with is a lot of people that are using it are not naturally obese. So they have a little bit a little bit of fat that they could lose by just changing certain habits. You know what I mean? And they're taking ozempic So it's like you're using a sledgehammer to kill a roach.

Dr. Royce McGowan  9:59  
Right? A little bit of willpower a little bit of perseverance, or 15 or 20 pounds. Yeah. Or you can just dip on the road. Now you guys

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  10:09  
get your little slipper and crack them real good. Or you could get a sledge hammer from the garage or take a special trip to Home Depot and get it. Because that's like going to get the prescription. Let's really put it in perspective. So when you go to all that to get the medicine, it'd be good if you really need it, and we're talking OB, so your body fat percent should be well over 30%. Right. Okay, so if you're over 30% I could understand it. But if you're under 30%, I would caution you to really consider doing something different.

Dr. Royce McGowan  10:52  
Right? Right. You got to I got I can respect that. But you got to be careful with this though because there are starting to have some things are circling right circle if circulating around about some of the side effects and stuff that it's causing on people as well. A deal. Yeah. They've come up with another side when I've I don't know the name of it, but it it's not ozempic. But they've changed a couple of things. And they're just using it just for weight loss. So you know, a lot of those drugs are found like that, you might just like just like Viagra Viagra was basically a blood pressure medication. And then they found out that it was, you know, arousing people sexually and then they turned it into this all sexual thing now, now it's all about

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  11:32  
that label is money, money, money. Hey, Doc, I really want to thank you for joining me today on this episode of Your Health Moment. Remember, if there's anything you want to know about Dr. McGowan, it's all in the show notes. His how to contact him. And I'm telling you, he's one of the coolest and the best chiropractor I know. So definitely reach out, ask him some questions and come in for a visit. Get yourself adjusted or check out the decompression machine that's at the clinic. So a lot of great things happen and McGowan Medical Centers. Thanks. Have a great day. And hey, keep it locked because the next show coming up is really cool. I got a great guest. See you next time. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Health moment podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can visit our website, yourhealthmoment.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources that we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me on social media too. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes that you've been listening to and don't be shy about requesting any other show topics that you might like to explore.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Royce McGowanProfile Photo

Royce McGowan

Chiropractor

Dr. Royce McGowan, DC, opened his practice with his wife Dr. Shelita McGowan in Jacksonville, Florida, where they serve as experts in easing physical pain and stress through chiropractic treatments.

Dr. McGowan was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and raised in Jacksonville, where he attended high school and became a football star. He earned an athletic scholarship to Tennessee State University and was headed for a pro career when he hurt his knee in his junior year, which ended his dream of becoming a professional athlete.

His second dream was to become a doctor and help people, so he learned a “whole person approach” to wellness that involves understanding the causes of the aches and pains and making the necessary adjustments for improved health, including lifestyle adjustments, dietary changes, and body manipulations.

Dr. McGowan met his wife Shelita at Life University in Atlanta where they both earned their degrees in chiropractic. The couple moved to Jacksonville where Dr. Royce McGowan worked at First Coast Medical Center before they launched their own practice.

When he’s not at the office telling patients, “I’ve got your back,” Dr. McGowan spends time with his wife and children, taking them fishing and going to the movies.