Poor food choices can increase belly fat

Poor food choices can increase belly fat

The food choices you make can either help or hurt your efforts to attain a flat stomach. By transitioning away from belly-bloating foods and instead consuming the majority of your meals and snacks from belly-flattening foods, you can get on track to a smaller waistline and a healthier life. Consider the following eating practices that are poor choices for your midsection:

Consuming refined carbohydrates: Grains, breads, pastas, and cereals are a common component to many meals, and depending on the variety you choose, you could be sabotaging your efforts to flatten your belly. Refined carbohydrates, such as white pasta and white bread, are quickly converted into glucose in your body, spiking insulin levels and setting off the insulin response that stores abdominal fat.

Opting for unhealthy fats: People often have a misconception that eating fats translates to getting fat. Luckily, the opposite is true! You just have to choose the right fats. Certain fats — especially monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil, nuts, and seeds) and omega-3 fatty acids (found in walnuts and fish) — have actually been shown to help reduce abdominal fat.

However, less healthy choices, such as the saturated fat found in high-fat animal products, have been found to store themselves as fat deposits more than other forms of fat.

Downing too many fluid calories: Sure they may seem harmless, but fluid calories may have a serious impact on your belly. These calories come from drinks mainly made up of sugar (sodas or juices) or saturated fats (creamers in coffee and full-fat milk in specialty coffee drinks).

Not only can these drinks trigger an increased insulin response, leading to increased fat storage, but they also leave you feeling unsatisfied. They don’t keep you full in the same way calories from solid foods do.

Skipping meals: Many people have the misconception that if they skip a meal, they consume fewer calories, and therefore lose weight. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Skipping a meal causes the following to happen:

You become increasingly hungry so when you finally do get the opportunity to eat, you end up eating too fast and too much. And you probably make the wrong choices because hunger leads to food cravings for sweets and fats.

Your body becomes confused. It doesn’t know when the next meal is coming, so instead of burning fat stores for energy, it begins storing more and more fat to stock up on energy in case the next meal never comes. In times of famine, you would be appreciative of your body for doing this, but when you’re trying to lose weight, this physiological override can be quite frustrating.

As a result, the best strategy to lose weight and your belly is to eat small, frequent meals every three to four hours to help keep hunger and cravings at bay and your metabolism functioning at its peak.