What you eat and when you eat it is
really the heart of the matter when it comes to losing – and gaining – belly
fat. When we eat more calories than what we can burn in a day, our fat deposits
tend to build up and we start gaining weight, especially around the stomach.
The stomach area is usually the first to start getting bigger and the last to
go, but that doesn’t mean that you should abandon grilled cheese sandwiches and
beer and food that you love and start nibbling on raw carrots for all your
meals to get a flat tummy. When it comes to eating towards a flatter belly,
it’s all about when you eat and how often, and it’s also about understanding
what your body needs.
There is no super food that will help
you burn calories. Unfortunately, super foods are a myth. But if there’s one
thing that you can take in that’ll help you lose weight and keep your body
shapely and fit, it’s water. Have you ever found yourself hungry, so hungry
that you can’t seem to fill that void in your stomach no matter what you eat?
Chances are, your body was telling you to drink water but you mistook it for
hunger. Your body needs at least nine
glasses of water a day (for women, 13 glasses for men) but 8 out of 10 people
miss that mark. Knowing that thirst sometimes disguises itself as hunger, you
can now try having a glass of water or two to help you deal with those hunger
pangs that you get even after you’ve eaten.
The key to having a healthy diet is never
to eat too much in one sitting. Instead, you can eat appropriately sized meals
plus a few snacks in between. A long term study by the European Food
Information Council (EUFIC) showed that nibblers or people who snack in between
meals are generally thinner than people who avoid snacking and instead eat
large portions during meals. It also shifts the food consumption towards the
earlier part of the day – light but regular eaters tend to eat less during the
evening. Not only does it keep you from gorging during meals, it also keeps you
from being uncomfortably hungry. Best of all, it means that you can eat a lot
of different kinds of food, just in smaller amounts (and not the same kind of
food every day).
Breakfast is still your most important
meal and it’s the meal where you’re free to load up on carbs. A lot of people
throw off their blood sugar levels by eating, well, practically nothing for
breakfast. The first meal of the day is not the time to bring out your low fat
yogurt. Instead, you can eat bread, English biscuits, rice, you name it. But
don’t go too crazy; stop when you’re full. You’ll also want to keep yourself
from overindulging with the simple sugars. Simple sugars calls to sugar. You’ll
find that the more sugars you eat – like syrups and chocolate muffins – the
more sugars you’ll crave. You’ll be hungry and craving in next to no time.
Limit your intake of simple sugars and your cravings won’t be as undeniable. You
can also substitute these high sugar food with wheat or whole grain food.
In-between meals snacks are good and are
actually encouraged. But that doesn’t mean you should be eating a giant bag of
chips right before lunch. Your snacks should be the light and fibrous kind, the
ones that will make you feel full. A half sandwich on wheat bread will go a
long way or a few slices of apples. You can spice things up by dipping fruit in
honey or maybe munch on a handful of almonds.
Your meals should be lighter as the day
passes, ending with a light dinner of maybe salmon and a salad. You can still
have that glass of wine or that bottle of beer but don’t finish an entire wine
bottle or a six pack – that excessive amount of alcohol and sugars will just
throw your body into a loop. When you’re trying to lose belly fat, you should
always practice moderation. You can have that occasional burger; just limit
yourself to once a month or every two months. You can have that delicious
pistachio ice cream, just have one scoop at a time and maybe have it only once
every three weeks. Don’t turn down your friends when they ask you out for
pizza; dinner dates give you a free pass to break a few rules, but that doesn’t
mean you should eat five giant slices. Always stop when you’re full and don’t
eat leftover pizza for breakfast. And drink lots of water. The key to losing
your belly fat is moderation and dedication.
For the most part, your meals and snacks
should look like this:
The worst thing that you can actually do
is to choose one kind of food that you think will make you lose weight – like
bananas – and eat only bananas. A healthy diet will never comprise of just one
kind of food or just one kind of food group. A banana, for example, is one of
the healthiest food that you’ll ever find (thanks to its high potassium and
carb content), but eat only bananas 24 hours a day and seven days a week and
your body will suffer for it. You might lose weight but you’ll get sick and
you’ll be weak as a result. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, you should be
more creative when it comes to food when you’re trying to have a slimmer
stomach. In fact, now may be the best time to take up cooking.
Try preparing simple
breakfasts for yourself instead of grabbing that corner store bagel. Not really
a morning person? Then try cooking a few of your dinners.
It will give you the
chance to monitor the food that you eat more closely and it can be a lot of fun
too.
While you’re encouraged to mix things up
so that you can get a flat stomach and still enjoy your meals, there are some
food that are best avoided. They are:
1. Sodas
of any kind
When you drink sodas,
you are drinking pure sugar. Worse, you are drinking sugar in an acidic form
which is terrible for your teeth. There are zero nutrients in soda and it’s
very harmful to your health. If there’s one kind of food that will just make
you fat and nothing else, it’s soda.
Note: Diet soda is no
better. If you’re serious about losing belly fat, you’re going to have to give
up soda of all kinds. Sorry.
2. Fries
Fries are the bane of
everyone who’s trying to lose weight, especially people who are trying to lose
belly fat fast. These are pure carbohydrates that are deep-fried into crispy
sticks that are unfortunately delicious. In the future, when you have a toned
and flat stomach, it won’t kill you to eat fries occasionally (maybe once every two months) but when you’re just
starting out, fries are just a no-go.
3. Snack
cakes (and other kinds of ‘short cut’ food)
There are plenty of
kinds of food out there that are cheap, accessible, and convenient to eat. They
are the food supplements, the snack cakes, the microwave dinners, the snack
packs; you know these food types and you probably know them well. They must be
avoided at all costs if you want to lose your excess belly fat.
The reason why these
foods are so cheap is because there aren’t a lot of ingredients that go into
them. Instead, they are filled with either too much salt or too much sugar. And
let’s not forget the MSG and the preservatives. They have next to no
nutritional value and you’ll end up hungry just minutes after eating them.
Here’s some good news – you are allowed
and are even encouraged to eat dark chocolate. Not only does it make for a
great dessert and a good mood booster, it actually helps slow digestion which
helps make your stomach feel full for longer. If you suddenly get an urgent
craving for sweets, dark chocolate is the best way to go.
While monitoring your eating habits is
one of the first few and best ways to lose belly fat fast, it’s not the only
way to get you into that dress you’ve always loved but couldn’t where. In the
next chapter, we’ll go deeper into how water can help you lose weight and why
it’s so important to the body.
This is an excerpt from the book: The 9 Essential Ways of How to Lose Belly Fat Fast
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