Joy Kong, MD, explains how abdominal fat disrupts hormones. Belly fat increases estrogen production, which in women promotes more fat storage and emotional numbness, while in men it suppresses testosterone and heightens emotions. Kong ties trauma to belly fat accumulation as a protective mechanism.
The biggest endocrine disruptor you can have is this padding of protection. If you look at a woman who's been traumatized, she'll put on a lot of weight to protect herself from feeling her emotions. She doesn't have to feel anything if you put on extra weight in the belly. So it turns off feeling for women and it turns on feeling for men. Belly fat makes estrogen one, because your body is making more estrogen, so estrogen stores fat well. For men, belly fat produces estrogen, and that estrogen produced by your belly fat inhibits your testosterone.
