5 Tips For A Flatter Tummy
5 tips for a flatter tummy is a guide to beat the bloat - the dreaded bloat that we all love to hate. There are ways and means of avoiding a swollen tummy and they all involve very little effort. Current lifestyles force us to eat on the hoof, rush through meals, all the while paying little or no attention to our dietary intake or physical needs. Most of us are guilty of causing our bellies to bloat and it’s surprising just how easily we can avoid it.
5 Tips For A Flatter Tummy
Here are the top 5 tips for a flatter tummy. None are difficult and all are common sense answers to a self-inflicted dilemma. How many times have you still been eating breakfast whilst setting out to work, or eating lunch whilst on the go? I know I’ve done it a hundred times … or more. Many of us run busy homes; work full time, all the while juggling family commitments.
Paying just a little more attention to what we’re eating and how we’re eating will go a long way towards calming down excess gases and help reduce the bloated look/feeling. Even better you’ll find that your clothes fit a little better and more important of all, you’ll feel healthier.
Flatter Tummy Tip #1
Bloated Belly
Carbs are a great food source. However, try to steer clear of anything carb-related, late at night. No munching on stacks of hot buttered toast or raiding the fridge for left over pasta. Carbohydrates are starchy and starch aides water retention. And what does water retention cause? You got it … a bloated tummy.
Flatter Tummy Tip #2
Do you use artificial sweeteners? If so, it’s entirely possible that you struggle to process one of the key ingredients found in most artificial sweeteners – sorbitol. It metabolizes slowly in the digestive system and can cause excess gas (read:wind!) and upset tummies.
It’s sometimes found in laxatives – surprise surprise – and that helps explain why it can cause diarrhoea in some individuals. Interestingly, you don’t need to be using artificial sweeteners to fall victim to it as it’s found in a multitude of diet drinks and other foods/drinks that are sugar-free. It’s also known to exacerbate Irritable Bowel Syndrome so if you’re a sufferer, think twice before you use anything that may contain it.
Flatter Tummy Tip #3
Do you like carbonated drinks? Your tummy doesn’t, simple fact. One sure fire way to bloat up that belly is to sup/sip or quaff fizzy sodas. More so if you gulp it down in an effort to quench your thirst. Gulping anything means taking in air. Air and carbonated liquids together are a fabulously easy way to cause belly bloat. Therefore an equally fabulous way to calm down your swollen belly is to … you got it … bin the soda.
Switch to water or water based drinks. And don’t forget, anything that doesn’t come from the tap – check it doesn’t contain sorbitol. See #2
Flatter Tummy Tip #4
Go easy on the salt. Salt attracts water. They go together like birds of a feather. Honest. Sodium (salt) is found in processed foods, seasonings and used as a food preservative. Meaning that you’d be surprised how much salt you may ingest on a day to day basis. Oddly, salt regulates the amount of water found within our bodies – and as a mineral, it’s something that we can’t live without.
However, too much salt in your system just encourages water retention. Next time you feel like adding a little more flavour to your food, think again.
Flatter Tummy Tip #5
Limit spicy foods. Certain flavourings and seasonings encourage stomach acids. In turn, stomach acids, when excessive, cause belly bloat. Vinegar, chilli, spicy sauces, garlic – anything along the lines of ‘spicy’ will stimulate acid production, and we all know what happens when acid indigestion kicks in. Plus there’s always the risk of creating heartburn. Another digestive nasty.
Step away from the chilli con carne and go easy on the hot n’ spicy chicken wings.
Of course there’s another benefit to be gained when we avoid eating too much of the above foods. Excess wind in the belly not only causes bloating but … trapped gas. And without stating the obvious – you all know what happens when we get a little too much gas trapped in our digestive systems.
You … burp a lot!
