4 Crucial Eating Tips & Exercises to Get Rid of Stomach Fat

Excess abdominal fat places you at an increased risk for major health issues, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Even if you're at a normal weight overall, carrying that excess fat around your weight elevates the risk, so taking measures to lose belly fat can give your health -- and your self-esteem -- a big boost. Although genetics determine where your body stores fat, and there's no way to spot reduce, there are still some things you can do to get rid of belly fat and prevent it from returning.

You must create a caloric deficit to lose fat. Each pound is equal to 3,500 calories, which means you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume to lose 1 pound of fat. If you place yourself in a daily deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories, you can lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. Calculate your basal metabolic rate and then factor in your activities and exercises to determine how many calories you need to consume each day to break even. From there, reduce your intake to create your desired deficit. Remember, your body will lose fat from the places it wants in the order it wants to. If your stomach was the first place you put on extra fat, it will probably be the last place you lose it from. Don't let this be disheartening, though. Just understand you may have to work a little harder for a little longer to shed the fat around your waist.

While genetics largely determine where your body stores fat, you can minimize the likelihood of gaining belly fat by avoiding foods known to trigger storage around your midsection. A 2010 study in "Nutrition Research" found that consumption of foods that are high on the glycemic index, such as those containing white sugars and flours, can cause the storage of abdominal fat. Researchers at the University of Buffalo found that alcohol consumption can also lead to belly fat accumulation. Their findings, published in the 2003 issue of the "Journal of Nutrition," revealed that wine drinkers had the least belly fat, while liquor drinkers had the most. The degree of participants' belly fat correlated with the amount of alcohol they regularly consumed.

Regular exercise will help your body burn and keep off excess belly fat. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise each week. It doesn't matter how you break it down to squeeze cardio into your schedule, as long as you do it. If you're only able to exercise in 15-minute blocks, that's fine -- just do 10 blocks throughout the week. Resistance training will increase lean muscle mass and fire up your metabolism. This makes it easier for your body to burn fat and harder to gain it. ACSM suggests that adults train with weights two to three days each week, using a variety of equipment.

The stress hormone, cortisol, has been strongly linked to abdominal fat. In a 2008 study in "Endocrinology and Metabolism," researchers found a strong correlation between the cortisol levels of overweight girls and excessive abdominal fat. Similarly, a 2011 study published in "Obesity" examined how stress affected cortisol levels and visceral fat in Hispanic girls. Participants who had high levels of school-related stress also had high levels of cortisol and abdominal fat. Proper diet, exercise and meditation are all effective ways to reduce cortisol.

5 Reasons Women Avoid Birth Control And Whether They're Valid

Some women are saying, ‘IDFWU’ to the pill, but what’s their reasoning? And more important… is it valid?

I still remember watching an episode of 16 & Pregnant where the tiny blond chick with a promising future in gymnastics gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby. She couldn’t have been more than 5 feet tall, 100 pounds on a day full of nothing but ingesting fatty carbs, and when her mom asks her why she didn’t want to go on the pill, she blames the prospect of weight gain.

“I didn’t want to get fat,” she says shyly. Then together, mother and daughter look in the full-length mirror at her 8-month-along pregnant belly and laugh uncontrollably.

But the tiny blond chick isn’t alone. In fact, she is representative of the vast majority of sexually active women. One of the most common reasons women don’t go on birth control pills is that, like her, they “don’t want to get fat.” This widespread and intense fear of putting on a few pounds can actually dictate women’s choices about their reproductive health.

In the event that a young woman decides she doesn’t want to take birth control pills and subsequently avoids all other protection — whether voluntarily or by accident — this decision could very possibly result in an unintended pregnancy. In that case, her initial aversion to contraceptives as a control choice is rendered invalid; in short, she’s going to gain weight anyway: She’s pregnant.

Putting on a bit of weight is hardly the sole reason some women opt not to take birth control. Women cite many different reasons for avoiding contraceptives. Below, HelloFlo debunks common reasons why some women choose to avoid birth control pills.

Reason No. 1: “I don’t want to get fat”

Weight gain was, once upon a time, a genuine concern for women on the pill. But this specific side effect is characteristic of earlier versions of oral contraceptives. Nowadays, weight gain is no longer a legitimate side effect for pills that contain progesterone and estrogen, though rumor still seems to perpetuate this idea.

Reason No. 2: “It might make me depressed”

Birth control screws with your hormones — that’s what it’s meant to do, as it uses estrogen and progesterone (or a combination of the two) to suppress ovulation. They thicken the cervical mucus, which makes it nearly impossible for sperm to pass into the cervix, therefore blocking pregnancy. But a potential repercussion of voluntarily altering your hormone levels is a fluctuation in your natural hormonal balance, which could result in depression. For women taking birth control, the risk of developing depression increases by 10 percent.

Reason No. 3: “Birth control causes cancer”

It’s true taking oral contraceptive pills raises a person’s risk for developing certain kinds of cancer, like breast cancer. By the same token, it’s also true that taking oral contraceptive pills lowers a person’s risk for developing other kinds of cancer, like ovarian and uterine.

Reason No. 4: “I don’t want to put chemicals in my body”

We’ve all heard at least one female friend say it: “My body needs a break.” Being exposed to any sort of chemicals or hormones runs its risk, but the validity of “giving your body a break” is often disputed by specialists. Birth control works on the daily; it doesn’t build up in your body over time. As soon as a person ceases taking birth control, hormones leave the system and a person is susceptible to pregnancy.

Reason No. 5: “I’m not at risk for getting pregnant”

Two of the top three reasons women don’t use contraceptives include “a misjudged risk for pregnancy” and “infrequent intercourse.” In fact, 36 percent of women who experience unplanned pregnancies cite their reason for not using birth control as “thinking they couldn’t get pregnant,” an excuse that proper, informative sex education could clear up. As far as “infrequent intercourse” as a justification, sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Coconut Water for Weight Loss

Compared to other types of drinks, coconut water is low in calories, but it's not calorie-free. If you're looking for a natural drink to add to your weight-loss diet, coconut water makes a good choice, as long as you stick with the waters without any added juice or sugar. Always consult your doctor before going on any weight-loss diet.

Coconut water is the liquid you find when you open up a fresh coconut. In essence, coconut water is the actual juice of the coconut, not to be confused with coconut milk, which is a mixture of coconut water and coconut milk and is much higher in both calories and fat.

Coconut water without any other added ingredients is a low-calorie drink. One cup contains 45 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs and 1 gram of protein. If you're lucky enough to get fresh coconut water, you'll also get some fiber, which is helpful when trying to control hunger on a weight-loss diet. One cup of fresh coconut water contains 2.6 grams of fiber.

The drink is also a rich source of a number of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium and manganese. However, the amounts vary greatly between the fresh juice and ready-to-drink coconut water, with fresh juice a better source of the minerals and ready-to-drink water a better source of vitamin C.

If drinking coconut water helps you create or maintain a negative calorie balance, then it may help you on your weight-loss diet. For example, if you drink 1 cup of coconut water instead of 1 cup of orange juice daily, you save almost 90 calories. If 1 pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, swapping your OJ for coconut water can help you lose 1 pound in about six weeks.

When drinking coconut water as part of a weight-loss plan, count and track the calories in the drink to stay on target. Coconut water is also a source of sodium, and the amount may vary from brand to brand. Sodium not only causes you to retain water, but getting too much in your diet may increase your risk of hypertension. Read food labels and go for the brands with less sodium.

5 'Unhealthy' Habits That Are Actually Good For You

When it comes to diets, we are very quick to focus on what we should not be doing or what we are doing wrong — don’t eat that, cut back, eat less, this is better — not only is it confusing, but it is overwhelmingly negative.

Food and eating, along with keeping healthy, should generally be enjoyable and positive parts of your life. And the good news is, some of the lifestyle habits that you may have thought were bad for you may actually be much better for you than you thought.

Taking a break from your diet

One of the most common pieces of feedback from clients at a diet appointment is that they have “been bad." No, they have not murdered anyone — they have eaten a few things they should not have according to their diet plan.

The good news is that when it comes to diets, things do not have to be perfect. Rather, they need to be consistent. This means that an occasional treat, or higher-calorie meal, is not an issue. In fact, research that has examined the effects of strict calorie restriction over time has actually shown that there is a benefit in eating more calories occasionally as then the body does not think it is starving and as such continues to burn calories. So enjoy something you feel like every so often — a piece of cake or a couple of glasses of wine — as there is no harm done.

Eating carbs

Chronic dieters are often particularly strict with their carbohydrate intake, and for those wanting to lose weight initially, cutting back on the processed carbs can be a good dietary move. At the other extreme, chronically low intakes of carbohydrate can leave you feeling tired, irritable, constipated and actually burning less fat, as the body slows down metabolic rate to account for this fuel shortage. As many of us lead inactive lives, indeed we are likely to need fewer carbs than was once recommended, but eating fewer and fewer carbs is not the answer. So if you constantly count carbs, and yet never see much change in your clothes, it may be time to throw in an extra slice of bread, piece of fruit or potato a few times each day.

Enjoying a drink

It is not enjoying a single glass of wine regularly that is related to both weight gain and an increase risk of some diseases. Rather, it is drinking in large volumes regularly that causes an issue with both our physical weight and our internal health. In fact, some types of alcohol, including antioxidant-rich red wine is linked to better cholesterol levels and a higher intake of antioxidants. So there is no need to go cold turkey when it comes to your vino — just keep the glasses and the pour small.

Taking a break from the gym

When we get into a good training habit, the structure and routine, along with the endorphin rush on a daily basis can become addictive. Such a strong exercise habit can also lead to feelings of guilt when you do really want to take a break. When it comes to performance and muscle recovery, the truth is that rest is actually the key to optimal performance. In real life terms this means that on the days you really do not feel like going to the gym, you are probably better to sleep a little more and have a day off. The body is very good at telling you when you need a break, you just have to listen to it.

Indulging in comfort food

Let’s be honest, who has not wanted a greasy burger and fries; or a massive serve of ice-cream occasionally? Rich tasting comfort foods can play different roles in our lives whether it is reminding us of eating at a particular time, or more commonly craving some serious calories after periods of strict eating and dieting. Whatever the reason for your craving, sometimes it is better to just eat what you are really wanting rather than to deny, deny, deny the craving, eat plenty more instead as you try to avoid it before you end up eating what you were originally craving anyway. Again one off indulgences are not the issue, rather binge eating in which you order the entire fast food menu is a problem. So next time you are hungry, a powerful questions is ‘what do I really feel like’ and if it is a burger or cake occasionally, so be it.

Microwave Mushrooms 'to Keep Their Goodness', Scientists Say

The healthiest way to cook mushrooms is to microwave or grill them to preserve their goodness, researchers say.

These cooking methods significantly increase levels of antioxidants which protect cells against diseases, but boiling or frying reduces them.

A study, from Spain, looked at the properties of four different types of mushrooms before and after cooking.

Adding a little oil when grilling can even improve the nutritional value of the mushrooms.

What's in a mushroom?

Plenty, it turns out. They contain protein, including essential amino acids, fibre and lots of vitamins - such as B, C , D and E.

They are also low in calories and fat.

In this study, published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, researchers analysed how cooking methods altered white button, shiitake, oyster and king oyster mushrooms.

What's the problem with frying mushrooms?

Frying resulted in protein and carbohydrates being lost from the mushrooms, as well as antioxidant compounds.

Antioxidants are vitamins and chemicals that play a key role in protecting the body against free radicals, which are linked to heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

What happens is that they disappear into the oil in the frying pan, reducing the goodness of the mushrooms.

So losing them isn't great news.

But, on the other hand, fried mushrooms do taste great with onions and garlic.

And boiling?

Boiling mushrooms also led to high levels of proteins and antioxidants being lost from the fungi.

The researchers put this down to the good stuff leaking out of the mushrooms into the water in the pan.

As a result, their nutritional value was reduced.

However, boiling did improve the glucans content of the mushrooms. They are found in fungi and may reduce the risk of heart disease.

What's so good about microwaving?

The best way to retain vitamins and nutrients when cooking vegetables is to use short cooking times.

It's also best to use as little liquid as possible.

This means using a microwave is a good method of cooking because fewer of the good things are lost - unlike boiling where they end up in the cooking water.

In this study, the researcher Irene Roncero-Ramos, from the Mushroom Technological Research Center of La Rioja, said: "When mushrooms were cooked by microwave or grill, the content of polyphenol and antioxidant activity increased significantly and there are no significant issues in nutritional value of the cooked mushrooms."

Why is grilling with oil a good move?

Even though cooking in oil can cause nutrients to be lost, mushrooms grilled in a small amount of oil increased their antioxidant properties.

And when olive oil was used, fatty acids increased without any rise in calorie content, the researchers said.

So should we all be eating more antioxidants?

Research from the past 10 years or so shows that eating antioxidant-rich foods can benefit our general health.

They are vitamins, minerals and other chemicals that help protect our cells - and are found in lots of different types of food, such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, pulses and fish.

But they aren't the answer to everything.

A healthy, balanced diet containing a wide variety of foods in the right proportions is recommended.

According to NHS Choices, fruit and vegetables are a vital source of vitamins and minerals and should make up just over a third of the food we eat each day.

That's because fruit and vegetables can help lower the risk of health issues such as high blood pressure, obesity and some cancers.