How to Eat to Lose the Fat Around your Belly

In the first post of this series about losing the fat around your belly, I briefly touched on the eating part. Specifically, I said that a diet based on non-starchy vegetables, that is also light on starchy vegetables and grains, is key for losing belly fat.

In this post, I want to go into a little more depth about why this is the case. Before I do, though, keep this in mind. There are a lot of different diets out there, and a lot of them “work.” A lot of them are good for achieving a healthy weight and, more importantly, a healthy diet. With that said, I would argue that many of them adhere to these principles of high intake of non-starchy vegetables and lower intake of starchy vegetables and grains. Hopefully I will help you to understand how that is the case.

Also, it should go without saying that eating “real” food is implied here. Eating a diet that minimizes processed, man-made foods and that maximizes fruits, vegetables, meats and other food groups in as natural a state as possible, is the most important thing we can do for our health. It’s the first step, hands down.

Now, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled programming. 🙂

Why is a Diet High in Non-Starchy Vegetables Good for Losing Belly Fat?

First of all, non-starchy vegetables include leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, collards, kale, bok choy), broccoli, onions, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, eggplant, and more.

So the main reason that a diet based on non-starchy vegetables is good for reducing belly fat is because of energy content. Specifically, low Calories and low carbohydrates.

Non-starchy vegetables are naturally low in Calories and carbohydrates, while being high in fiber, which means that you can eat plenty of them without overloading on Calories or carbs. The high fiber means that you can still get full off of them, too.

Case in point, according to Live Science, a cup of spinach (30 grams) contains only 5 Calories and only 1 gram of carbohydrates. A cup is supposedly a serving size, but suppose you’re like me and you really like greens. If you chose to eat 2 cups of spinach at dinner, that’s still only 10 Calories and 2 grams of carbohydrates. You see? This is why non-starchy vegetables are what you want to emphasize in your diet!

Why is a Diet Lower in Starchy Vegetables and Grains Good for Losing Belly Fat?

On the contrast, starchy vegetables and grains are higher in Calories and carbohydrates. Let’s consider a serving size of a starchy vegetable and a grain to compare to the spinach.

Potatoes are a classic example that everybody pretty much likes, right. Serving size for potatoes is 1 medium one (148 grams), and in that serving size, you have 110 Calories and 26 grams of carbohydrates. Contrast that with the 5 Calories and 1 gram of carbohydrates from the spinach.

Let’s check out brown rice, a common grain. Serving size is one cup (195 grams), and it comes out to 216 Calories and 45 grams of carbohydrates. Again, contrast that with spinach.

Now, before you decide that you might as well eliminate starchy vegetables and grains, hold up a second. It’s not necessarily a good idea to eliminate whole food groups. Why, because there are nutrients in those foods, too! Potatoes, for example, are very high in potassium and Vitamin C, both nutrients important for good health. Brown rice contains many trace amounts of nutrients, as well as high amounts of fiber. So while you might need to significantly reduce them, you can still get some health benefit from them, because after all, good health is the most important thing that you’re after.

To note, some don’t tolerate grains well (gluten-containing grains, for example), in which case, you might actually consider eliminating them.

But What Does This Mean for Belly Fat, Though?

The reason that adjusting your diet in these ways will be beneficial for helping you reduce belly fat is precisely because they will help you reduce fat all around your body in general. Remember, when you lose fat, it comes off all around your body. You can’t spot reduce, and to be honest, you wouldn’t want that anyway. Your body knows what it’s doing.

Belly fat will be among the last to leave, so it will be important for you to be diligent with your diet, and in particular, if you start to hit plateaus in weight loss and your belly fat is seeming a little stubborn, it might be a good idea to revisit your intake of starchy vegetables and grains, lowering those a bit more to accommodate for your activity levels.

So there you have it. A diet high in non-starchy vegetables and lower in starchy vegetables and grains is the main thing you need to consider to lower your belly fat. You really will see results if you are diligent in making these diet adjustments, regardless of whatever diet you choose. I haven’t mentioned anything with meat consumption, fruit, or other food groups here, so perhaps I will address those in future posts. This is a good starting point, though. I also address them in my fat loss workbook, which you might want to check out.

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