What foods should you eat to have a flat stomach?
Eat high-fiber vegetables, bet on fruits rich in polyols, stock up on prebiotics and probiotics, learn how to manage stress… Discover Natalie Negro, nutritionist and nutritionist's advice for a flat stomach.
When you want to lose weight, go on a diet or follow a more balanced and varied diet, you can't choose where you'll lose fat.
However, if we note that we often feel bloated, this can have several explanations, particularly at the level of the intestinal transit state. Women are more prone to chronic constipation than men, and it can make your stomach feel bloated all the time.
To overcome the problem of bloating, it is important to follow a diet rich in fiber. To maintain good intestinal transit, and thus maintain a flat stomach, you should have between 25 and 30 grams of fiber per day...however, in general, it's between 15 and 20 grams, points out Natalie Negro, a dietitian and nutritionist. , .
What foods should be eaten to get rid of belly fat?
Include more fiber in your diet
To lose belly and maintain a flat stomach, we'll bet on fiber. There are several types of fiber (soluble fiber and insoluble fiber), both of which will be important in terms of intestinal transit and satiety.
soluble fibres. They become soaked with water and become sticky when in contact with water.
They are found especially in:
oat bran
Oatmeal flakes
In fruits and vegetables rich in pectin (apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, etc.)
In citrus fruits (grapefruit, orange, etc.)
In cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, etc.)
The so-called insoluble fiber. It will not turn into a gel, but it will swell on contact with water and will give more volume in the intestines and stimulate intestinal contraction.
We will find an interesting amount in:
legumes_
In the husk of grain, such as wheat
in nuts
But also in spinach, green beans, etc.
To maintain a flat stomach, it is recommended to eat fiber in good quantities, and to consume it daily. Be careful, if you are not in the habit of consuming enough fiber, you should gradually incorporate these foods in larger amounts into your diet.
In fact, if you start eating a lot of legumes overnight, for example, you risk increasing bloating on the contrary, due to the fiber that will be fermented by bacteria in the colon. To facilitate transit, and to take advantage of the effect on satiety of these foods, we therefore gradually increase the amount of fiber in the diet.
Increase your sources of prebiotics and probiotics
Prebiotics will help maintain a nice silhouette, especially a slim waist, by reducing excess fat. Eating foods containing prebiotics helps feed the good bacteria in the colon, thus preventing inflammatory reactions in the body.
Pulses, cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, artichokes, etc.), onions, or even grains like wheat, are important sources of prebiotics, which will facilitate transit and avoid gaining too much body fat.
As for probiotics, they also have an interest in keeping the line up. They will help regulate the intestinal flora and regulate transit. To refuel, incorporate natural yogurt into his daily diet, for example.
Bet on fruits rich in polyols
Always with the aim of improving intestinal transit, foods rich in polyol (sugar alcohol) can be eaten, but in moderation! When it's season, we choose peaches, watermelons, cherries, and pears, which contain a lot of polyols (and fiber!). Be careful not to overdo it, because this fruit also provides sugar, which increases fat mass ...
What vegetables should you eat to lose belly?
To lose belly, it is advisable to eat vegetables to fill them up with both soluble and insoluble fibres. But don't overdo it with the right amount: 150 to 200 grams of vegetables per serving (includes appetizers and main course).
Eating vegetables is really a good thing, but if you overeat them, you will tend to neglect other food families, and cause an excess of fiber, which can be irritating to your stomach and intestines.
"The danger also by eating a lot of vegetables, is to keep the stomach wide open, which will increase the time before fullness," warns Natalie Negro.
The goal when you want to lose weight, is to have a variety in the diet to get all the nutrients you need, without excess.
Also, be careful with raw vegetables, which will be difficult to digest in terms of digestion. If you are prone to bloating, give more preference to cooked vegetables, it is better to steam them which will preserve the nutrients.
Note that when you cook vegetables in water, you can lose a large part of the minerals that will dissolve in them ...
Any flat stomach bread?
Bread is a food that should be limited in the process of looking to lose weight, or even eliminated if you don't really want it.
To keep a flat stomach, we'll swap white bread for rye bread, bran bread, or wholegrain bread.
While having fun, this will allow us to gradually increase our fiber intake. As a bonus, the B vitamins in the cereal casing will have an effect on blood sugar, thanks to a lower glycemic index, which will better regulate the feeling of satiety in the body.
What are the drinks to lose belly fat?
If a balanced diet is essential to maintaining a flat stomach, hydration is just as important.
In fact, it is the water that we drink throughout the day that will be able to hydrate the fibers in the body and allow it to gain volume.
Everyone has different needs, depending on the metabolism, the physical activity exercised, climatic conditions, but the minimum vital for a woman is 1.4 liters per day.
The best way to tell if you're well hydrated is to check the color of your urine (in the morning, if it's dark, that's normal, but as of mid-day it should be clear if you've hydrated properly).
Staying hydrated will have a direct effect on transit, so remember to control it!
We always prefer plain water daily. In cases of chronic constipation, magnesium-rich water, such as Hépar, can help stimulate intestinal contraction.
In winter, opt for herbal teas for the relaxing side of the heat. Fennel, for example, is ideal at the end of a meal, as it aids digestion.
Carbonated water in small amounts can aid digestion, thanks to its bicarbonate content, but in large quantities it can cause bloating and stimulate the appetite center, so drink it in moderation.
"Flat" herbal teas, made with natural laxatives that help treat constipation, are a one-time batch that can be effective.
How to reduce belly fat quickly for a woman?
Eating well and being well hydrated helps keep the streak in check, but when you want to lose your belly fast, other small reflexes can help.
Learn how to manage stress
Fighting stress, or at least learning how to manage it, can help in the search for weight loss, and more specifically the improvement of the abdomen, where the fat mass can tend to settle.
When the body is stressed, it produces adrenaline, which increases heart rate, blood pressure, and energy expenditure. In response to all this, the body produces hormones (cortisol) that stimulate appetite, and send a signal to enzymes to store as much as possible in the abdomen...
Therefore, learning how to deal with this pressure makes it possible to avoid this vicious cycle of increasing belly fat mass.
For this, we turn to breathing exercises, such as diaphragmatic breathing, or cardio cohesion exercises, which will counteract the first effect of adrenaline. We lower the heart rate for 3 to 5 minutes, using apps like Relax Plus for example, in the morning when you wake up to start a zen day, or as soon as you feel the urge!
Calm your mind before meals
This type of relaxation exercise can be done before each meal, to eat attentively, calmly, and spend the time chewing well. Take your meals in a quiet environment, without a screen, and take the time, do not swallow your plate at full speed.
This mindfulness exercise can help you if you need to feel inner calm before a meal:
Sit quietly for a few minutes. Take the time to feel what your body is giving you (saliva in the mouth, which indicates that you want to eat, the aroma of the dish that increases the pleasure of taste, your belly that gurgles...).
Do an appropriate exercise
To lose weight, it is necessary to engage in regular physical activity. Brisk walking, cycling and jogging: choose the sport you love and supplement it with muscle-strengthening exercises.
Be careful, to get a flat stomach, you have to work out the deep muscles (transverse and oblique), thanks to, for example, sheathing. Pilates exercises are also very effective in strengthening the deep muscles and postural muscles.
Yoga is also a very appropriate practice: it allows stress management and the awareness of poses.
Avoid smoking
Among the harmful effects of cigarettes that we often forget to identify, there is an increase in abdominal fat. Studies have already shown that smoking increases mass gain, due to which nicotine will have an anti-estrogenic effect, and will promote weight gain in the stomach. So beware of cigarettes if you are looking to reduce your chest size...