As I add pages and posts to this site, I will be giving you more specific information about how to eat to lean up your body.

If you want a lean body with your natural waistline back and abs, your eating habits (known in medicine as diet) will have a big role in your body composition.  Unfortunately, just cutting calories will not trim your figure.  It is no longer calories in = calories out.  Following these simple eating tips will show you how to lose stomach weight in women.  Basically, we are eating a real foods diet with specific foods.

Carbohydrates

Many of you have probably heard of the gluten free diet and have wondered what all the fuss is about.  The wheat grown in the US is grossly modified from the wheat that was naturally harvested even 100 years ago.  The changes agriculture have made to wheat have increased the gluten content.  Add to that the fact that our wheat in the US is GMO (genetically modified organism), and you know have a grain that a lot of people do not tolerate too well.  Furthermore, the way our grains are processed in industrial kitchens damages the nutrient profile.   The intolerance in your body can cause inflammation which is the root cause of most chronic diseases

Common symptoms of wheat/gluten intolerance:

  • stomach bloating
  • constipation or diarrhea
  • excess gas
  • indigestion
  • fatigue after eating¹

If you want to loose stomach fat quickly, another carbohydrate I warn away from is corn.  It is also highly modified by agriculture and GMO. Processed corn products are digested in your body so quickly it turns to sugar and spikes your blood sugars.  Any high blood sugar causes a release of insulin from your pancreas to shuttle all that sugar out of your blood.  That excess sugar is converted to fat and stored.²

Many people believe eating a soy based diet will help them loose weight by eating less saturated fat.  That could not be further from the truth.  You need saturated fat.  Soy has also been altered a lot by our agriculture, it is also genetically modified,  and can cause inflammation in the body.  Another consideration is soy has phytoestrogens which are plant estrogens.  Women going through menopause can really benefit from plant estrogens (not soy), but younger women, men and children do not need extra estrogen in their body. Furthermore, soy is a potent goitrogen and can lower thyroid production. ³

The healthier grains to eat are quinoa, brown rice, amaranth.  Other starches are small red potatoes, sweet potatoes/yams and winter squash.

Most fruit is good to eat, but you need to limit your fruit to 2-3 servings per day equaling 25 grams of fructose.  If you don’t know the amount of fructose in fruit.  Here is a list of safe fructose fruits and vegetables.  This chart I really like because it shows the better fruits to eat and the amount of fructose in them.  It also lists the safer sweeteners.  I do not agree with using artificial sweeteners at all.

Calories per day of carbohydrates should equal 35% of daily calories.

¹https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/modern-diseases/against-the-grain/

²http://responsibletechnology.org/allfraud/genetically-modified-corn-study-reveals-health-damage-and-cover-up/

³(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994 Sep;60(3):333-340); (Nippon Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi 1991, 767: 622-629); (Prev 2007;16:829—33)

 

Protein

One of the best ways to loose belly fat for women is to get the majority of your calories from protein.  Proteins break down into amino acids in our small intestines and are converted into amino acids.  These amino acids are the building blocks of organs, hormones, cells, muscles, neurotransmitters (brain hormones such as serotonin), hair, skin and nails.  There are, of course, better sources of protein than others.  You want to eat protein with every meal/snack.  Proteins also slow the digestion of your carbohydrates which helps keep you full longer.

Healthier Proteins

  • grass fed beef
  • grass fed lamb
  • turkey
  • eggs
  • organic chicken
  • pork loin/pork chops
  • plain whole greek yogurt
  • tree nuts
  • organic hard cheeses

Aim to eat approximately 32% calories from protein.

Healthy Fats

Fats definitely have a bad rap amongst the general public and women specifically.  I have so many women eating a low fat diet, not loosing weight, and feeling terrible besides.  If you want to know how to loose stomach fat in women, eating more healthy fats is your top priority.  And it is very easy to add these delicious fats to your daily diet.

The bulk of your fat intake should be from coconut oil.  It is full of medium chain triglycerides which break down into your body as a non-carbohydrate source of energy called ketones. How do you add more coconut oil to your diet?  I personally cook with it when I pan fry eggs, pork chops.  Coconut oil has a high flash point so it is safe to cook and bake with.  I also add 2 tablespoons to my morning coffee/green tea.

Another powerhouse fat is avocado, it is a monounsaturated fat.  I add 1/4 avocado to my daily salad.  It adds some bulk to the salad with my protein and definitely keeps me feeling full longer.  Olive oil is another great monounsaturated fat to eat.  It is best added as your salad dressing or drizzle to flavor foods. Olive oil is not safe to cook with because of a low flash point, it oxidizes which damages your blood vessels.

Lastly is butter, everyone’s favorite food they don’t eat.  Butter is best eaten with your steamed green vegetables.  Use a healthy amount, the fat helps the vitamins in the vegetables get absorbed better.  It is also good to add to your starches, the fat slows down the absorption of the starchy carbohydrates.

Your daily fat goal is 53% of calories.  It is easy to look up the grams of your favorite fats in Google and see how many there are.  Multiply that number by 8 and you have the calories of that fat.

In a future post, I will be discussing how to put foods together in meals, my specific favorite foods that I have benefited from and times of the day to eat.