Banish That Belly Fat
If your New Year’s resolution is to banish that belly fat, get ready to succeed! We’ve got a few moves, foods and tricks that’ll flatten your stomach fast! These come from our friends at Health magazine.
- Doing crunches? Dr. Tom Seabourne is the co-author of the book Athletic Abs. Now, this may seem unbelievable, but he says that just 24 crunches every other day will tone your stomach. Any more and you’re overworking the muscles and putting too much strain on your back. Remember, crunches only work the muscles in your “six-pack.” To target the other ab muscles, do the bicycle. Lie with your hands behind your head, and alternate touching each elbow to the opposite knee. Crunches will do nothing for the layer of fat on top of your 6-pack.
- Watch the beer drinking. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina, beer drinkers have the highest waist to hip ratios. When you do enjoy a night out – don’t binge! People who drink heavily every now and then have more belly fat than those who have, say, one glass of wine each night with dinner.
- Increase your calcium intake. In a study from the University of Tennessee, dieters who got about a thousand milligrams of daily calcium saw three times the belly trimming as those consuming the same calories but less calcium. How can you get your thousand milligrams? If you have a glass of skim milk at breakfast, a slice of cheese on your sandwich at lunch, a carton of yogurt for your afternoon snack, and another glass of skim milk with dinner, you’re pretty much there.
- Choose brown rice over potatoes with your dinner. Unlike a lot of starches, it doesn’t produce gas as it’s digested. No gas means no bloating.
- Stop smoking! Nicotine keeps abs from burning fat, so smokers often have more deep-tissue belly fat.
- Get off the couch! A Duke University study found that a couch potato lifestyle resulted in a 12% increase in deep-belly fat over only eight months. Deep-belly fat is the most dangerous type that leads to heart disease.
