Combat Your Belly Fat with the Right Clean Eating Habits
You might be asking yourself what flat stomach foods have to do with clean eating. The answer is: a lot! I know from my survey that many of you want to lose a few inches around your tummy.
Developing sustainable clean eating habits, is one of the most effective weapons to help you combat your belly fat. If getting a flat stomach is your goal, then your success rate will increase in this regard with each additional clean eating change you manage to incorporate into your life. More about this in a minute.
Is a workout for flat stomach an illusion?
Especially at the beginning of each year or right before summer time, people chase after the newest exercises for a flat stomach.
They invest in expensive, useless training tools and practice hundreds of crunches.
Unfortunately, nothing really seems to help melt the fat around their tummies. The reason behind this is just the simple fact that it is impossible to lose fat in a specific area of your body.
If you really want to lose a few inches around your tummy, then it is important to get rid of your body fat altogether. Only then do you have the chance to get rid of your excess stomach fat.
The cruel truth is: you cannot influence where your body is storing fat, nor you can influence in which areas it is burned from while on a weight loss diet. This is something you should absolutely know and consider before you try to lose fat around your abdomen.
How flat stomach foods can help you
The right nutrition is by far the largest success factor when you want to lose a few inches around your mid-section. The more you know about clean eating and the more you can put it into practice, the easier it is for you to tackle your tummy challenge.
If you don’t take this part serious, you can train as much as you want, but you will never burn your excessive belly fat. Flat stomach foods don’t mean that you should starve from now on or consume only salad. Such a starvation diet is not beneficial for fat burning. Rather, you should supply your body with sufficient nutrients of the highest quality. A moderate calorie deficit of 500 kcal is usually sufficient.
That’s exactly what clean eating is all about, and you know it! Your body needs the right amount of calories to burn stomach fat and supply energy at the same time to remain productive and healthy.
How to get a flat stomach
This is how your nutrition should look if you want to get tight stomach abs. I’ve put together 8 rules for a flat stomach below:
1) Drink sufficient water - Water is life! Your body and also your muscles contain a lot of water. That’s why it is extremely important to drink a sufficient amount of water consistently. I recommend at least two liters per day.
2) Drink Green tea - Catechines (a disease-fighting flavonoid and antioxidant) in green tea boosts your metabolism and increases the fat burning process in your liver. To maximize green tea’s benefits for a flat tummy, it is best to drink –four to fix cups of green tea per day in combination with 180 minutes of exercising per week according to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition. In addition, drinking it between your meals can help appease feelings of hunger.
3) Eat sufficient protein – Proteins are the most important building blocks for muscles. I recommend eating daily between 1.5 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That way your body is optimally supplied with this important flat stomach food. Chicken, eggs or low fat yoghurt are great animal sources of protein with small amounts of saturated fat. For plant based proteins, consider lentils and quinoa as flat stomach foods:
4) Give up on sugar - When talking about fitness rules, I omit using any bans; rather, I encourage healthier eating habits. With sugar, it is different. Sugar is addictive and it makes you fat. Period! Eating sugar increases your blood sugar level resulting in a release of insulin. To explain it in simple words… the fat hormone insulin transports nutrients to your body’s cells and promotes the storage of fat.
According to a survey I conducted, sweets and a possible sugar addiction are likely one of your BIGGEST struggles when it comes to eating clean and healthy. So if you fall into this group and struggle with your belly fat, then you know what to do!
5) Fruits in moderation - Apart from all the health benefits, fruit also contains sugar. And to your body, it is rather indifferent where the sugar is coming from. To get your tummy fat under control, limit your fruit consumption to two portions per day.
6) Eat sufficient vegetables daily – Vegetables are excellent flat stomach foods. They are the perfect fruit alternative containing valuable vitamins and fibers and almost no carbohydrates. The big exception is potatoes; you should eat potatoes only in moderation.
7) Whole grains in moderation – Whole grain products (e.g., oats or whole grain bread) are a healthy alternative to white flour products.
They still contain a high amount of their original nutrients and fibers that are important for an active metabolism. Take into account that they also contain many carbohydrates. Yes, they are long-chained and they will be processed more slowly in your body, but still whole grain products can cause an increase of your insulin levels in your blood. So don’t eat these in excess.
8) Sufficient healthy fats - Low fat nutrition is counter-productive if you want to lose inches around your tummy. Believe me, olive oil, nuts and seeds are all foods for a flat stomach if eaten in moderation. Your body needs fat to be productive and healthy. Unsaturated fatty acids are involved in diverse body processes like the production of hormones for example.
With three tablespoons of good fat per day, you will remain slim and healthy:
- Two tablespoons plant-based healthy cooking oil (e.g. olive oil)
- One tablespoon nuts or seeds
Did you know that all above presented habits to get a flat stomach are an integral part of my 52 Chef Habits Course, where I dig much deeper into each habit change. Click here to learn more!
3 step habit change for a flatter stomach
Step 1: Print out the rules above. Don’t risk forgetting - that’s why I’ve created a “flat stomach foods” chart for you that you can print out as a PDF for free. Click here to download the flat stomach foods PDF chart!
Step 2: Place these rules in a visible spot on your mirror, fridge or desk. If you stick to them, consequently they will help you lose a few inches around your tummy. Combined with a slight calorie deficit and daily weigh-ins, you will soon enjoy a leaner mid-section.
Step 3: After sticking to those rules for several weeks, buy yourself as a reward a new accessory like a stylish belt, motivating you to stick to these rules.
The role of flat stomach workouts
Flat stomach workouts are helpful for strengthening your stomach muscles. Apart from aesthetic reasons, stomach muscles have an important supporting function for your body too. Together with the back muscles, they make sure that we can stand up straight and bend over, etc.
An appropriate flat stomach training regimen can do both – it will provide these necessary supporting muscles, resulting in a firm belly.
Perfect flat stomach workouts doesn’t mean hundreds of crunches each day. Or even worse - buying a useless stomach trainer from your TV shopping channel. In fact, an effective stomach muscle training program includes strength training for your entire body.
That means that, besides a few intense exercises for a flat stomach, you should also include strength training for your other muscle groups. Your stomach muscles are trained indirectly through a multitude of other exercises.
For this reason, in 2014 I started strength training in a fitness studio twice a week together with my husband. We are lucky as the fitness studio is just a 10 minute walk from our home. That way we are able to combine going there with a relaxing evening walk.
But what can you do if you can’t go to the fitness studio for whatever reason? Flat stomach workouts go beyond the scope of this change, but still I want to give you some tips.
I’ve researched and handpicked some AB benches/Back machines with raving reviews on Amazon. Still I would always prefer the Jumpsport Fitness Trampoline over a bench (see below). Why? Trampoline jumping has a built in two-in-one advantage, it trains endurance and muscles at the same time.
What are you doing for a flat tummy?
Share with us your best tips for a flat stomach in the comments section below!
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