Foods That Shrink Your Waistline

In the battle against a bulging waistline, eating the right foods gives you a powerful weapon. The waistline is one of fat's prime storage sites, and becomes more so with age. The importance of reducing your waistline goes beyond vanity. Fat at the waistline carries a more serious threat than creating a "muffin top" above your favorite jeans. Fat stored in the abdomen can lead to a host of health problems, disrupting key hormones and contributing metabolic syndrome and chronic diseases. Choose foods that shrink your waistline.

Dairy Foods

Dietary calcium, but not calcium supplements, helps to reduce abdominal fat. Dietary calcium, particularly from dairy foods, increases fat breakdown, preserves metabolism and results in decreased abdominal fat. Valuable sources of non-dairy calcium include dark leafy greens such as kale, spinach and chard, almonds, and canned fish with bones, such as sardines and salmon.

Whole Grains

Consuming whole grains for all of their grain servings resulted in a significant loss of abdominal fat compared to a control group randomly assigned to eat refined grains. The 12-week study, published in the January 2008 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," involved 50 obese male and female subjects with metabolic syndrome. Substituting whole-grain breads, crackers and tortillas for the refined versions and choosing brown rice instead of white rice will help you shrink your waistline.

Healthy Fats

Eating monounsaturated fatty acids, known as MUFAs, help shrink your waistline. MUFA-rich foods -- including nuts, olive oil, avocado, olives and dark chocolate -- not only help your body keep from gaining belly fat, but reduce existing abdominal fat. By reducing animal fats and eating a small amount of a MUFA-rich food at each meal, you create a fat-burning, heart-healthy diet.

Vegetables

Your mom was right all along; vegetables are good for you. Vegetables give you vitamins, minerals, disease-fighting antioxidants and fiber. Eating a variety of green and colorful vegetables that grow above ground provides low-calorie nutrition. Filling half of your plate with vegetables at each meal helps you limit calorie-dense foods such as starches. As a bonus, eating more vegetables allows you to eat more food while cutting calories to shrink your waistline.