Meals for a Flat Stomach

One must also take into consideration eating ways and timings as the eating habits affect deeply the way our body burns fats.

5-6 Smart Meals Schedule per Day

It is advisable to break up your daily meal schedule into shorter meals. For example instead of having traditional three full size meals, cut them to smaller meals but five times a day. And to end your day you may savor some light dessert.

Having breakfast within one hour after getting up from bed will help your body metabolism regain its normal rhythm that had become slow during the nights sleep.

Skipping breakfast is not a good idea as it does more harm than good because hunger begins to kick in and that slows down your metabolism even more.

The wiser decision for a slimmer waistline is to have sensible meals instead of cutting down on meals.

Sensible food intake, with sufficient fiber and protein, during short intervals throughout the day will keep away the usual snack urge that one feels otherwise. Proper water intake along with such diet will surely give you a fuller and satiated feeling and you won�t feel like munching at odd hours.

Here is a schedule for you:

1. 07:00 a.m. � breakfast 2. 10:00 a.m. � eat a light snack 3. 12:00 noon � eat lunch 4. 04:00 p.m. � eat another snack 5. 07:00 p.m. � eat a small dinner with a treat

Boost Your Metabolism

It might be surprising for many to know that eating more boosts your metabolism. So if you eat more throughout the day you will burn up more calories during the process of breaking the food.

This of course is not junk food which is high in fat and calories but precisely the food high in fiber and protein. However it is okay to treat yourself every now and then without overdoing it.

Please refer to fat burning food page for details on this particular topic.

Halt Eating 3 Hours before Bedtime

When it says No Eating after 7 pm it means that you go to bed at 9 or 10 at night. If you are in a habit of staying up till late then you can delay your schedule accordingly.

The thumb rule is not to eat within 3 hours of your bedtime, so you can calculate it according to your routine, i.e. if you usually go to bed by 1 a.m. then you should not be eating anything after 10 p.m.

And the reason for this is that your food may not digest properly and causing you gas and cramps in the stomach in the morning.

This is the cause of bloating feeling in some people and can be avoided by stopping late night snacks.

By eating late your body is forced to use its energy on digestion while the same energy is also required to restore your lost strength of the day through sleep so that you are relaxed and energized in the morning.

However if you feel like breaking the rule sometimes then you can do it by eating a fruit or nuts and nothing else late at night.

No Emotional Eating

Some people when they are stressed or depressed or lack emotional support resort to emotional eating.

This is not a good habit at all as you are eating in between meals and without hunger. You might think you are hungry but all you need is human touch.

A hormone called cortisol is produced under stress and depression which adds to the fat around stomach.

If you are one of the emotional eaters then seek advice from professionals, religious person or family and friends.

Keep in mind that stress and a flat tummy don�t live together in one body.

Reduce Your Sodium Intake

Sodium is also a cause of bloating and can make your tummy look flabby.

One must be aware that sodium is found not only in salty foods; it is in all kinds of foods and is used for preservation.

All canned foods, TV dinners and soup-to-go lunches have a high percentage of sodium. Some of them contain over half of your daily intake of sodium.

Adding little by little

We usually do not take care about what we are drinking or what dressings we are adding to our salads.

These little things do add up to play the contrary when you are trying to lose weight. Check my article on this topic.

Be Watchful of Your Eating Habits

It is time for you to control your eating habits. Make sure you are having breakfast within one hour after getting up in the morning and taking snacks in between meals. But be careful to choose healthy snack like fruits and vegetables.

You may like to have a more stylish snack by mixing a teaspoon of peanut butter to a plain apple. This will not only make it tastier but will provide you additional proteins.

Or you may add spice and flavor to plain carrot sticks with a low-fat vegetable dip.

Well you should now rectify your eating habits in order to maintain a regular healthy diet if you really want a flat tummy.