This society is paying the price for leading a more or less sedentary life. This is a life where people do little or physical activity. This, coupled with high fat diets have spawned a nation of overweight people not to mention that there are about 350,000 deaths each year in the United States due to obesity. In a way, we cannot blame the people themselves because society has really changed since the 1st century. In those days, people used to be extremely active because the men had to hunt and build houses and fight wars while the women had to tend the home and the till the land. Today, people work in offices and drive there. Then their idea of work is sitting behind a desk all day. This is a very low level of activity all while feeding your body with snacks and other foods that are rich in trans fats, protein and carbohydrates. This is a sure recipe for obesity and that is what almost 40% of the US population is grappling with.
There are other reasons why people end up being obese and with body fat. One reason is genetic. There are people whose bodies cannot process food efficiently and either digests it slowly and stores a lot of simply fail to generate the needed metabolic combustion rates to burn most of the fats that come into the body. All the same, these people, together with this that lead a life devoid of strenuous activity end up with the same problem.
Exercise is a great way to combat belly fat. One great exercise is to do a 30 second run on the spot before you begin anything else. Then rapid sit-ups can follow and these are very effective in eliminating belly fat if done consistently for a number of weeks.