Do you still have love handles or lower belly fat even though you work out and eat healthy?
If so, you’re not alone because many men and women have the same exact problem.
This problem isn’t only about superficial physicality though.
It can also be associated with health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease.
However, the good news is that losing this type of fat is possible with the right knowledge.
Kinds of Body Fat
Knowing about the various kinds of body fat is imperative.
The first type is known as subcutaneous fat, which is found right beneath the skin. Hence, it’s most visible to the naked eye.
A second type is called visceral fat, which is located near vital organs, such as the liver.
It’s also known as active fat, since research shows that it’s technically an endocrine organ that makes numerous molecules and hormones.
Additionally, it’s more of a health risk.
According to Diabetes UK, some of these risks are Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
What Causes Lower Stomach (Belly) Fat?
Identifying the reasons for lower stomach fat or love handles is important too.
A few of the most common causes are stress, hormones, bad dietary choices, genetics, gender, and age.
Some of them can be changed, while others are pretty much beyond our control, so let’s focus on the former three.
Research done by Yale University found that stressed women with average weights had a greater chance of added stomach fat.
Additionally, the research concluded that these women had greater amounts of cortisol, which is a hormone that basically supports visceral fat.
Therefore, being able to deal with stress is essential. Some of the best ways consist of meditation, exercise, and so forth.
Bad dietary choices include foods and beverages that have a lot of sugar and/or unhealthy types of fat.
When healthier choices begin to be made, subcutaneous fat will take longer to be eliminated than active fat.
This is why lower stomach fat can be so hard to lose.
Food and Drink for Fat Loss
Eggs
Eggs are rich in protein, healthy fat, vitamins, and minerals, which promote energy, metabolism, and satiety.
Meals made from eggs help increase fullness and lower the amount of food eaten during meals later in the day.
They rank very high on the Satiety Index scale, which tests how full a type of food makes you feel to reduce calorie intake later on.
Eggs help burn fat because of their high protein content, so increasing your egg consumption will help to reduce unwanted visceral fat.
They also help lower the level of ghrelin, which is the hormone responsible for hunger.
Spinach
Spinach is low in calories and has been confirmed by many health experts as being able to reduce belly fat.
It contains a compound known as thylakoid, which slows down the digestion process and lowers appetite.
Thylakoid also helps prevent the storage of belly fat and can prompt the body to burn fat to create needed energy.
In fact, Lund University in Sweden did a study that found that consuming spinach at the beginning of the day made it easier to fight off hunger later in the day.
Spinach has many vital phytonutrients, which are known to play an important role in the fight against belly fat.
Avocados
Like eggs, avocados contain a lot of healthy fat, minerals, and vitamins.
Additionally, they have a great amount of soluble fiber, which supports digestion, regular bowel movements, and reduces visceral fat by curtailing your appetite.
They curtail your appetite by slowing down the delivery of your digested food to your intestines from your stomach.
Studies have shown that raising your soluble fiber intake per by 10 grams per day can reduce visceral fat gain by 4%.
One serving of avocado (1/3 of the fruit) gives around 1.5 grams of soluble fiber.
Whole Grains
They are an excellent source of both minerals and fiber.
Their primary benefits are that they can promote fullness, lessen cholesterol, lessen blood pressure, fight cancer, support digestion, control blood sugar, and restructure fat.
Restructuring fat helps remove it from around organs and the lower stomach.
When at the grocery, make sure you purchase “100% whole grains” because anything else might contain fillers that can cause increase in weight.
The healthiest whole grains consist of quinoa, buckwheat, bulgar, whole oats, brown rice, wild rice, rye, and whole wheat.
On a side note, stay away from highly processed grains that are used in foods such as white bread.
They are unhealthy because they have similar effects as sugar, such as inflammation, imbalance of blood sugar, and weight increase.
Blueberries
They are filled with antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins.
Also, they have few calories because they are made up of about 85% water.
Research found that overweight rats that ate blueberries for roughly three months benefited by having reduced stomach fat, triglycerides, and levels of cholesterol.
These rats also experienced an improvement in levels of glucose.
Oatmeal
It’s a great source of fiber that slowly digests and it stabilizes levels of blood sugar, which prevents a “crash” so to speak.
It also contains something called beta-glucan that takes in water and expands within the stomach.
This makes the stomach feel fuller.
Additionally, oatmeal can lessen the chance of type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and raised blood pressure.
Note that the unprocessed variety of oatmeal without ingredients like added sugar is the healthiest option.
Almonds
Almonds are packed with nutrients and considered to be an energy-dense food. They are a good source of antioxidants, vitamins, fiber, and protein.
Eating a handful of almonds each day helps to reduce both LDL (bad) cholesterol and total cholesterol.
Moreover, they have been found to lessen heart disease risk because they do not contribute to weight gain and help improve cholesterol and lipid profiles.
Different studies in the Journal of Nutrition have shown that almonds can also lower the amount of belly fat (adipose tissue), and having less belly fat reduces your risk of developing coronary artery disease.
This makes them a perfect heart-healthy food.
A slimmer waistline can certainly be achieved by eating almonds.
Beans
Beans are yet another type of food that have a lot of protein and soluble fiber.
Protein and soluble fiber act to suppress your appetite and keep you feeling full over long periods of time and help stabilize your blood sugar level.
Soluble fiber eliminates inflammation in your digestive system, which helps reduce weight gain.
Because of their dark color, black beans are very high in flavonoids.
Studies have shown that flavonoids can prevent the storage of excess belly fat.
They are considered to be a low calorie food and are low in fat.
Lemon Water
Drinking lemon with water can reduce a bloated belly since it acts as a mild, natural diuretic.
Water (even with lemon) has beneficial effects on metabolism, satiety, and hydration.
Due to these benefits, some evidence suggests that drinking water can enhance weight loss.
Other studies have shown that greater water intake was associated with greater loss of body weight and fat over time.
Lemon water can cause fullness, support hydration, boost metabolism, and increase weight loss.
It’s tasty, easy to make, and can be used as a low-calorie substitute for high-calorie drinks.
Green Tea
Green tea is one of the healthiest drinks in the world.
It’s packed with antioxidants and plant compounds that provide many health benefits.
Green tea has caffeine and caffeine is a well known stimulant that has been found to help burn fat.
It also raises the amount of antioxidants in your bloodstream.
The most important of these is called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and is a compound that can boost metabolism.
The compounds in green tea also raise the level of hormones that tell fat cells to break down fat.
This lets the fat escape into the bloodstream, where it is used for energy.
Many studies have shown that green tea extract can boost fat burning, and the fat burning effect is much stronger during exercise.
Other studies show that it can boost metabolism and help people burn 4% more calories every day, however there is no evidence to show that green tea makes people eat less calories.
Green tea extract may help you lose visceral fat, a fat that is very harmful to your health.
The bottom line is that consuming green tea supports metabolism, oxidation of fat, and the expenditure of energy.
All of the foods above are not only healthy. They are also tasty and go well together.
They can easily be used in breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and even snacks. An example would be oatmeal with blueberries.
Another example would be a spinach salad with quinoa.
As you can see, the combinations are pretty much limitless!
Not to mention, green tea and lemon water are great either hot or cold, so they can be consumed in any setting.
Beyond Diet
In addition to a balanced and healthy diet, it’s important to get enough physical activity at least three to four times each week.
Specifically, lifting weights and cardiovascular activities, such as running, are two great ways to help promote lower stomach fat loss.
Staying active in general is important too. For instance, try not to stay sedentary at a desk or on the couch too often.
Using supplements can be used to further enhance lower stomach fat loss.
In other words, they should be used to supplement diet and physical activity, and always be taken as directed.
Love handles or lower stomach fat isn’t just unattractive.
It can also pose health problems.
Sometimes, losing it can seem pretty much impossible.
It’s important to keep trying to lose fat the right way because losing fat is certainly possible.
It just takes time, consistency, and having the proper information, which this post has now given you.
Can you think of any fat-burning recipes using the foods and beverages listed above?
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