It's said that great abs are made in the kitchen. That's because no matter how hard you exercise, you'll never see results with a poor diet. However, more important than the foods you should be eating are the foods you shouldn't be eating. Certain foods will cause your body to store more fat than others will. By eliminating these foods from your diet and replacing them with healthier alternatives, you can lose fat -- and keep it off.
Sugar
Sugar has no nutritional value whatsoever -- that's why some people say sugar is just empty calories. Your body can do two things with sugar: use it as a quick source of energy or store it as fat. Avoiding sugar means you also should avoid items that contain plenty of sugar, including soda, artificial juices, candy and baked goods. Replace these with whole foods that contain natural sugar, like fresh fruit and real fruit juice.
White Flour
White flour, or bleached wheat flour, is not that different from sugar. It is highly processed and has little nutritional value. When you eat something that contains white flour, your insulin levels quickly spike, which triggers your body to store fat. Avoid foods containing other types of flour, as these foods often contain sugar. Always check the ingredients when you buy a loaf of bread or pasta and choose foods not made from bleached wheat flour -- and those that contain the least sugar.
High Fructose Corn Syrup
High fructose corn syrup is just another form of sugar -- except it purportedly is worse for your diet. Princeton University researchers in a 2010 study fed lab rats sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Both substances caused rats to gain weight, but high fructose corn syrup caused the rats to gain an "abnormal" amount of fat that could only be described as obesity, the study stated. High fructose corn syrup is a common ingredient in many foods, so avoid it by reading products' ingredient labels before you place food items in your shopping cart.
Deep-Fried Foods
Eating a bit of foods fried in vegetable oil is not bad for you as long as the foods are flash-fried in a pan, like with Asian stir-fry. In fact, these foods can add healthy monounsaturated fats to your diet. However, avoid deep-fried foods. When food is deep-fried, it cooks in the oil for too long and soaks up too much of the oil; this increases the food's calories dramatically. Moreover, most deep-fried foods already contain a large amount of calories and fat, pre-fried.
Fatty Meats
All meats contain a lot of fat -- even the lean ones, like chicken. Further, they contain saturated fat, which clogs your arteries and raises your cholesterol. Some meats are worse than others are, and these can be considered fatty meats. Fatty meats include beef, pork, lamb and processed deli meats like salami and sausage. Replace these foods with leaner protein sources like beans, eggs, chicken and fish.
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