A flat tummy is the goal of many dieters and fitness enthusiasts. Performing stomach strengthening exercises can help tone your muscles, but your tummy will never appear flat if you have excessive fat or bloating. Add certain foods to a portion-controlled, whole-foods diet to help encourage a flat tummy. In addition to your dietary strategies, include consistent cardiovascular exercise to help you trim fat from your whole body, including your abdomen.
Dairy
Five daily servings of dairy helps dieters reduce overall belly fat, reports a 2009 study from Australia's Curtin University of Public Health. People following a reduced-calorie diet who included low-fat versions of cottage cheese, plain yogurt and milk five times a day lost more weight and belly fat than those eating three servings per day.
Safflower Oil
Supplementing your diet with 8 grams of safflower oil a day may help you lose belly fat, even without other significant dietary changes, reports a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition from September 2009. In a study involving 55 obese postmenopausal women, those who consumed safflower oil daily for 36 weeks experienced greater fat loss in their trunk and enhanced lean muscle mass. Use safflower oil in marinades or as a dressing for salads.
Coconut Oil
The journal Lipids in July 2009 reported on a Brazilian study's promising results on coconut oil and belly fat reduction. Researchers found that 30 ml of coconut oil resulted in a loss of belly fat in women age 20 to 40 years after just 12 weeks compared with the same amount of soybean oil or no supplementation. Use coconut oil to saute lean meats or vegetables.
Whole Grains
Whole grains, when eaten instead of refined flours, seem to reduce belly fat. A study in a 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who watched what they ate and substituted foods such as oatmeal or brown rice for white flour products lost more belly fat. People who continued to eat white flours, even as part of a lower calorie diet, did not achieve the same belly-flattening effects.
Green Tea
When combined with 180 minutes per week of moderate exercise, a compound found in green tea may help to flatten the tummy. A study in the Journal of Nutrition in February 2009 showed that a specific catechin---or antioxidant---in green tea enhances exercise-induced abdominal fat loss.
Leafy Greens
Eating more leafy greens at every meal helps fill you up with minimal calories. Vegetables such as kale, romaine lettuce, arugula and spinach offer multiple vitamins and minerals without causing the bloating and gas that other vegetables might.
Protein
A diet higher in protein than standard diets encourages fat loss in the belly, according to researchers from CSIRO Human Nutrition in Australia. These results, reported in an October 2009 issue of Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease, found that people put on a low-calorie, high-protein diet lost more belly fat after 12 weeks than people following a standard low-calorie diet. Choose lean proteins such as flank steak, skinless chicken breast and tuna to prevent overeating saturated fat, which may hamper your weight loss efforts.
Almonds
Almonds, as a snack, seem to increase feelings of satiation and do not contribute to belly fat. Purdue University researchers reported in a 2007 issue of the British Journal of Nutrition that a daily serving of about 3 oz of almonds did not cause participants to gain weight. Replace high-fat chips and snack mixes with almonds to benefit from their high nutrient content and avoid belly fat-inducing trans fats.
Cereal
Oat-based, ready-to-eat cereal can help you quickly slim up at your midsection. In just four weeks, cereal eaters displayed significant abdominal fat loss compared with those not eating cereal but still following a reduced-calorie diet, according to a study in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Mediterranean Foods
Foods that are associated with the Mediterranean diet, such as legumes, seafood, olive oil and fruit and nuts, correlate with flatter bellies. This conclusion is the result of a study of almost 500,000 men and women from 10 European countries published in the Journal of Nutrition in September 2009. According to researchers, a plant-based diet high in moderate unsaturated fatty acids is key to a flatter belly.
References
- British Journal of Nutrition: Effect of Chronic Consumption of Almonds on Body Weight in Healthy Humans
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association: Whole-Grain Ready-to-Eat Oat Cereal, as Part of a Dietary Program for Weight Loss...
- The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: The Effects of a Whole Grain Enriched Hypercaloric Diet...
- Journal of Nutrition: Green Fat Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults
- Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease: High Protein Diets Decrease Total and Abdominal Fat and Improve CVD Risk Profile
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