Toning the abdominal muscles can be a complex task, since it typically requires that you burn fat to increase the appearance or visibility of your abdominal muscles, while also building muscle to increase the size, strength and firmness of the abdominal muscles. The best diet for toning the stomach will vary from person to person and depend on preexisting levels of fat and muscle in the body.
Burning Fat
Maintaining a diet that promotes fat-burning will help the body strip away adipose tissue -- or layers of stored fat -- on top of the abdominal muscles. Accomplishing this, as Columbia University notes, requires that you create a deficit between the amount of energy you expend -- through movement and internal processes -- and the amount of energy you consume as calories. To shed 1 lb. of fat, you need to consume 3,500 fewer calories than your body requires. However, you can lower that amount, and consume more calories, by increasing your body's energy-requirements through exercise. One of the keys to a successful fat-burning diet is avoiding empty calories or foods that offer little to no nutritional value. These include processed sugars like table sugar, candies and sodas.
Building Muscle
If the area above your abdominal muscles is already absent of adipose tissue, but your stomach does not have the amount of tone you are striving for, building muscle may be the solution. You can accomplish this by combining resistance exercises, like crunches, with a diet that creates a surplus of calories. These extra calories provide the body with energy for building muscle. According to the bodybuilding resource Building Muscle Now, to strengthen the abdominal muscles, without increasing your current bodyweight, you should maintain a daily caloric intake that is equivalent to 15 times your weight. To build muscle mass, which will result in weight-gain, consume 15 times your weight plus an extra 250 to 500 calories. While proteins -- such as those found in fish, meat and beans -- are important for a muscle-building diet, do not ignore carbohydrates, which are the body's most efficient fuels.
Misconceptions
Performing crunches and other abdominal exercises alone will not help you burn fat around your stomach. This is because the vast majority of abdominal exercises are anaerobic, meaning they burn carbohydrates without the use of oxygen. This is different from aerobic exercises, like jogging, which burn both carbohydrates and fat using oxygen. While crunches can help increase abdominal muscle mass and strength, the tone of the muscle may still remain lost behind adipose tissue if you do not maintain a calorie-deficient diet and perform aerobic exercise.
Meal Options
Whether you are using aerobic exercise to shed stomach fat or anaerobic exercise to enhance stomach muscles, there are some general meal options that can help support your active lifestyle. For breakfast, Colorado State University Extension recommends drinking orange juice and low-fat milk and eating oatmeal, bananas and whole-wheat toast. For lunch, apple juice and low-fat milk are healthy drink options, while a ham sandwich with Swiss cheese, tomato and lettuce makes a healthy main course. For dinner, Colorado State recommends whole-wheat pasta with tomato sauce and mushrooms.
Expert Insight
According to Columbia University, obtaining a perfectly-toned stomach may not be possible for everyone. The shapes of internal organs, like the liver, intestines, kidneys and stomach, can give the abdomen a naturally rounded appearance, which diet may not have an impact on. In addition, some people genetically inherit bodies that tend to store fat around the stomach region.
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