A flat belly is a source of pride and confidence. It’s like having a beautiful face.

In my wellness practice I have found that regardless of her current weight a client will have more hope and optimism about her ability to lose weight and get back in shape if she still has a flat belly.

On a sunny May Day with the promise of summer approaching, are clothes getting lighter, more close fitting and revealing. If you take a casual poll of the next ten women; and ask ‘if you could change one thing about your body what would that be?, about 70% of the answers would be ‘’get a flatter tummy’’

Your nutrition, the things you do and don’t eat has been shown to play the single largest role in your achieving your losing weight and getting a flat belly

Learning your personal nutritional profile will let you know what your body need to get to a healthy weight. Then following the guidelines below will go a long way to shrinking your pouch and streamline your waist line without the need for massive will power or agonizing routines in the gym

Eating For a Flat Belly – 3 Secrets
1. Eat Your Breakfast

Breakfast sets your sugar-insulin metabolic pattern for the day.Carbohydrate-based breakfast such as sugary refined cereals, white bread, toast muffins, doughnuts etc. cause an immediate surge in blood sugar, which triggers your body to release large amounts of insulin from the pancreas.

This insulin removes most of the sugar from your blood, turning any excess into fat. The decreased level of blood sugar results in further cravings for carbohydrates, which triggers more hunger, more eating, more insulin release, more storage of excess carbohydrate as fats.

Your body needs proteins, complex carbohydrates, fiber, fats, vitamins, minerals, fats, oils and water.

To set up your day with nutrients that will help you lose weight and belly fat make sure that your breakfast include:

Whole fruits – either fresh or frozen. These will provide fiber, vitamins, water and some carbohydrate.

Vegetable – tomato, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, callaloo or spinach. These give vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients, more fiber and water.

Good protein source(s)– sardines, mackerel, animal white meat (chicken, turkey) eggs, beans and peas. Aim for a minimum of 20 grams of protein. This is about the size of a deck of cards

For busy professionals on the go, a good breakfast substitute is a Herbalife protein shake. Fully constituted this has 114 essential nutrients including more protein than a 65g chicken thigh; more iron than115g of beans more calcium than 200 g of yogurt, more fiber than 50 g of broccoli more vitamin A than a mango, more Vitamin C than a banana and less than 200 calories.

2. Eat Every Two and a Half to Three hours

Studies after studies have shown that eating multiple smaller meals throughout the day actually keeps your metabolism revved up and result in fat burning. The key is to consume the same amount of food divided into smaller portions. It is the number of times you eat not the total quantity of food that should change.

 At reshapingyourshape.com we develop a customized meal plan for you after we complete your wellness evaluation. Very often I see client attempt to ‘do their own thing’ regarding their nutrition. On their follow up visit with me, invariably they had lost muscle mass, increased their percent body fat and their biological age.

Many women put off changing how they eat, because they feel that the time to prepare their mealsdifferently or the initial investment is too onerous. Inch by inch it’s a clinch. In your first month of eating to get a flat belly focus on making one change per week. Begin with matching your protein content to your lean muscle mass requirement, then incorporate calorie shifting, then gradually begin to replace current items in your pantry with healthier alternatives. Approach this with anticipation and make the process fun. Make it ceremonial or symbolic. You are limited only by your imagination.

As far as is possible make your food at home and package it to take with you. When you eat in a restaurant, you can neither control the size of your serving nor the ingredients used. You might end up overeating or consuming unhealthy ingredients such as flavor enhancers or excess salt and hidden sugars.

Caution- Belly Fat Enhancers

Do not drink your calories – check the calorie content of fruit juices. 250 ml of pure fruit juice can range anywhere from 140 – 200 calories depending on the fruit. Stop drinking sodas. These are chemically flavored water and sugar solutions.

Do not exceed portion size – one serving of grains or vegetable is about the size of your palm or a smalllightbulb,1 1/2 ounces cheese equal the size of three dominoesone serving of protein is about a deck of cards1 teaspoon equals the tip of your thumb to the first joint, a cup of cooked carbohydrate eg pasta or rice is about the size of a tennis ball. A good idea is to weigh the recommended portion on a kitchen scale once to fix the dimensions in your mind. Once this is done you do not need to be weighing at every meal or snack.

Eliminate salad toppings and creamy dressings– Salads consist of a variety of vegetables and/or fruits. They are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. What makes your salads less healthy is the creamy dressing or the croutons you cover them with. You can make a healthier salad dressing by mixing some virgin olive oil, vinegar, and sprinkles of lemon juice. It’s tasty, healthy and brings out the flavors of the vegetables

Avoid canned foods -When shopping at a grocery store, skip the canned food section. Instead, stock your shopping cart with fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits.

3. Take an Omega 3 Supplement

Studies show that fish oil will definitely help you get a flat belly. Various studies done on rats andon humans show that fish oil seems to inhibit abdominal fat. In one of these studies,participants who took 6 grams of fish oil daily and exercised for 3 months reducedabdominal fat by 5 percent. Participants who only exercised but did not take fish oilor only took fish oil but did not exercise lost no abdominal fat.

Fish oil may help you shed fat by increasing the number of fat-burning enzymes in

your body. In addition Omega-3 fatty acids is  good for cardiovascular system it increases good (HDL) cholesterol. Some of its other benefits includeImproved skin conditions and prevention dryness antioxidant protection and the promotion of mental balance and a sense of well being.

With these three secrets you will be on your way to seeing results in as little as fourteen (14) days. You’ll gain new-found confidence, will look beautiful, fit the latest and most figure flattering clothes and have much better health. What a fantastic outcome to look forward to!
Let me help you get started.