Roger,

The guys you see with that beer gut almost certainly are insulin resistant.
Don't forget most doctors won't diagnose a person as diabetic until their
fasting blood sugar has deteriorated very badly.  But between a truly normal
hba1c (4.7%) and what most doctors consider the very bottom of the range for
type 2 diabetes (6.0%) there's a huge range in which post meal blood sugars
may be rising to 160 mg/dl or even higher after every meal.

That range is technically called "Impaired glucose tolerance" and it goes
along with enhanced insulin resistance.

As far as how I know that the abdominal fat is a sign of insulin resistance,
I've read it anywhere that insulin resistance is described. They always say
that an "apple shape" with a wider waist than hips is the physical
characteristic that points to IR (and enhanced risk of heart attack.)  Just
yesterday I read of another study demonstrating this in the Medscape daily
newsletter.

http://www.diabetesnet.com/irtips.php  is typical.

If you google on the terms "insulin resistance apple" you come up with
21,000 references!

--
Jenny  - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes, hba1c
5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my  email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit  http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

Yes, well that is the typical fat distribution for men when they gain
weight. The terms are right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't think of
the suffixes and google doesn't allow wildcard searches.  I'm not saying
it's good, but it is typical. Whether or not all those men are insulin
resistant I have no way of knowing. Although, given that that is the more
common way men carry excess weight, it would seem that would mean that men
are far more prone to insulin resistance than women. That seems
counterintuitive to me. But by contrast, the pear shape women tend to get
is good (well, not being fat would be better).

That's a good thing. Here's a link to an abstract that found that looking
at men and what I assume were post menopausal women that the difference in
heart disease rate had less to do with gender and more to do with fat
distribution.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&
list_uids=1546702&dopt=Abstract>

It's comparatively old but there are lots of other studies that have found
the same.

Martha