5 Steps to a Flatter Stomach
Do you dream of a flat stomach but would settle for less of a belly? Then we have good news and bad news.
The good news: you can have a flatter stomach without sit-ups or other exercise. While exercise adds a great deal to your life, you don't have to spend hours at the gym to flatten your middle.
The bad news: the excess weight you store around your belly bothers not just your low-rise jeans but your organs too. The more fat you allow to build up around your middle, the higher your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure — and the same isn't true of fat stored around the hips. Because belly fat (visceral fat) sits around your vital organs, it affects the hormones that regulate your health. So freeing yourself of belly-widening habits will both flatten your middle and do wonders for your health. Here's how.
1. Shed your stress
Even small stress raises your brain's cortisol production, and cortisol leads to extra fat storage around the belly. If you can't bear your middle thickening further, shed the stress! What can you do? Activities like yoga and deep breathing help reduce stress and anxiety by activating your parasympathetic nerves, automatically helping you relax.
2. Sleep more
If you don't let your body rest with enough good-quality sleep, you're helping raise your cortisol — which rises both with stress and with lack of sleep and can increase belly fat. When your energy is low and you feel tired, that raised cortisol also makes you feel hungrier and eat more often. What can you do? To fight belly fat, aim for at least 7–8 hours of quality sleep. If you struggle to drift off, relaxing herbal teas like chamomile and sage before bed can help.
3. Eat probiotic foods
Eating probiotic (“beneficial bacteria”) foods keeps your gut flora healthy and helps slim your middle. If you get bloated after dairy, probiotics can help ease that too. What can you do? Add the best probiotic sources — yogurt and kefir — to your menu. Make them a habit and you'll see the difference before long.
4. Avoid bloating drinks
If you don't want a beer belly, limit alcohol. The occasional social drink harms no one, but making it a habit can create those layers around your waist you dislike — research links alcohol, especially in large amounts in the evening, directly with bloating. And if you think sugar-free fizzy drinks are harmless, think again: the carbonation settles in your stomach and causes bloating. What can you do? The best way to fight bloating is to give your body the water it needs — 2 glasses before each meal can free you of bloating and water retention entirely.
5. Avoid high-salt, high-sodium foods
Salt causes digestive troubles and excess bloating. The sodium in salt makes the body hold extra water, leading to retention. What can you do? Steer clear of processed foods you eat out — burgers, pizza, biscuits and the like. Eating them often means taking in a lot of sodium and problems like water retention and bloating.
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