We understand how belly fat can be. Not only does it make your clothes feel tight, it can be harmful to your health.
You will agree with me that it’s a lot better to have a flat tummy than it is to have a big tummy. I mean, what benefit is possibly there from having belly fat?
Now, we did mention having belly fat can be harmful to your health. Yes, you read that right. This is because this type of fat which is referred to as Visceral fat, is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other conditions.
While losing belly fat in this time and age can be difficult considering what we have around us, it’s still feasible.
Here, we will be discussing some tips that are helpful in losing belly fat.
1. Eat Enough Soluble Fiber
The thing with soluble fiber is that it absorbs water and forms a gel that helps slow down food as it passes through your digestive system.
The idea is, soluble fiber tend to make you feel full thus promoting weight loss. With this, it aids you in naturally eating less. It also tend to help decrease the number of calories your body absorbs from food.
For those who don’t know, soluble fiber foods include flaxseed, Brussels sprouts, shirataki noodles, avocados, legumes and blackberries.
2. Avoid Too Much Alcohol
It has been proven over time that too much intake of alcohol causes belly fat. So, knowing this, avoiding alcohol may help in not gaining extra belly fat.
Of course, while it is said that alcohol can have health benefits, it’s in small amount but seriously harmful if you take too much. Think of it as causing more harm than good if you take too much.
If you must drink alcohol, be mindful of the quantity. As a matter of fact, based on studies, it’s better to drink small quantity of alcohol daily than to drink more quantity once in a while. Hence, consider drinking a little quantity of alcohol from time to time rather than a large quantity once in a while. That of course, is if you cannot abstain from taking alcohol.
3. Eat High-Protein Diet
We recently talked on fruits being necessary to reduce body fats. Now, it’s necessary we point out that protein is an important nutrient for weight control.
Protein tend to raise your metabolic rate and helps you retain muscle mass during weight loss. Asides that, there’s also the part where high protein intake increases the release of the fullness hormone which decreases appetite and promotes fullness. In layman English, it aids getting full with not much quantity of food.
Proteins include meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans and the likes. Hence, it wouldn’t be out of place to have this as supplements in your daily meals.
4. Avoid A Lot Of Sugary Food
In an article where we talked on drinks to avoid if you want to lose weight, we mentioned processed fruit juice. This is because these processed fruit juice contain quite a lot of sugar.
Now, sugar contains fructose which has been linked to several chronic diseases. Of course, this is only the case when consumed in excess.
These diseases include heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and fatty liver disease.
Now, you may be thinking real honey should be used instead but here’s the thing, even healthier sugars like real honey can be harmful if taken in high quantity. The safer option is taking sugar sparingly.
5. Get Plenty OF Sleep
People often believe that too much sleep can lead to weight gain. Actually, the reverse is the case.
If you sleep less, you are prone to gain more weight than those who sleep more. How so? Well, a 16 year study in more than 68,000 women found that those who slept less than 5 hours per night were prone to gain weight than those who slept 7 hours.
Besides, one of the measures to avoid belly fat is to not over stress yourself. Sounds weird but true.
Sleep is not only important for avoiding belly fat, it is important for many aspects of your health. So, get enough sleep going forward. 7 hours sleep at night seems like a good figure.
