If you are on a diet to reduce belly fat and lose overall weight, you probably already have a good structure in place. You know you need to add whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables, you know you need to stay away from fried and processed foods, and you know you need to drink a lot of water. But there are little known tricks to help you improve your chances of making this diet to reduce belly fat REALLY work for you. Here are 3 good ones.
Tip #1 – The Truth About Reduced Fat Claims.
Even when you are not on a diet (but especially when you are), you find yourself selecting reduced fat products at the grocery store. Believe it or not, sometimes the full-fat version is better for you!
The reason for this is that when you take out the fat from foods, much of the flavour is lost. Food manufacturers then end up adding a significant amount of sugar to replace that flavour. Look at the nutrition labels on low-fat foods, and you may be surprised at the high carb count. That high carb count comes from the added sugar.
If a product wants to bear the “reduce fat” label, it must have 25% minimum less fat than the original product, which really is not very much. Sometimes it is healthier for you to go with the original product and skip the extra sugar that the “low fat product” will give you.
Tip #2: How to Spice Up Your Food For A Good Calorie Burn
Perhaps you have already heard that adding spice foods to your diet to reduce belly fat will help you achieve your weight loss goals faster. Even though there is no scientific proof for this, many people still swear by it.
Spicy foods overpower your taste buds, and thus can slash your cravings. It is difficult to eat as much of a spicy dish as you could of a less fiery one.
Certain spices also are believed to be able to speed up your metabolism. Chili peppers are one such spice, and it is thought that they can boost it by as much as 50% for a few hours. The faster your metabolism, the more calories you burn – and the faster you drop those extra pounds!
Tip 3: How “Diet Foods” Really Make You Fat.
When you are on a diet to reduce belly fat, you feel like you have to select diet sodas and eat diet food, right? The diet industry has worked long and hard to make sure you think so. The truth is, however, that a lot of “diet food and drinks” should be left on the shelf in favour of the regular products.
There are two main groups of diet foods: sugar-free and fat-free. Sugar free foods use chemical substitutes (such as sucralose, aspartame, and saccharine) that taste so sweet that they trigger your body to produce insulin, a chemical that regulates blood glucose levels.
The problem is that the foods didn’t have sugar in them in reality, so the insulin just sits in your body with nothing to do. As a result this higher level of insulin causes you to feel hungry and tired, and you will soon find yourself eating more than you normally would. If this continues too long or too often, you become at risk for diabetes, if you body becomes resistant to the excess insulin.
Fat-free foods are similar in that their flavour is enhanced with MSGs and extra sugar. These can raise the blood sugars to an unhealthy level. Also, you will notice that you get hungry again very quickly after eating them, because foods with no fat content get processed very quickly through your body.
So when you set up your diet to reduce belly fat and lose overall weight, remember these three tips. Doing so will help your metabolism stay nicely up to speed, keep your blood sugars in check, and generally assist you with your weight loss goals.
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