BEST 14 NEW WAYS TO LOSE YOUR BELLY IN 14 DAYS

best 14 NEW WAYS TO LOSE YOUR BELLY IN 14 DAYS

“I only weigh 10 pounds more than I did in college,” my friend Gary bragged to me the other night over drinks. “And that’s just beer weight,” he laughed, patting his round belly.

I didn’t want to spoil the good mood, so I didn’t tell Gary the truth: Having even a small beer belly like his makes you twice as likely to die of any cause as actually being obese—not to mention, sabotaging any chance of rapid weight loss. That was the recent finding of a study involving more than 15,000 adults, which also discovered that people with round guts were more likely to have heart disease, and more likely to have lost valuable muscle tissue, than those who had fat in other places.

Why is a big gut so deadly? When you carry weight around your belly, you have a high percentage of what’s known as visceral fat, meaning it’s right up there inside your abdomen, cuddling next to your liver and other internal organs. Unlike the unsightly but mostly innocuous fat found in other parts of the body, visceral fat is a living, toxin-spewing organism, one that climbs up into your lap and stays there, causing diabetes, heart disease, liver failure and all sorts of other problems.

That’s why fighting belly fat is so important. If you’re feeling stretched at the waist, there’s nothing more important you can do for your health than to start losing your belly today. Here are 14 ways to flatten your belly in 14 days, ripped straight from my new Zero Belly Cookbook.

14

DON’T BE AFRAID 
OF STARCH

Say the word “starch” to most diet gurus and their heads will start to spin. But 24-year-old firefighter Morgan Minor relied on the convenience and belly-filling power of sweet potatoes and black beans to drop 7 pounds in just one week. They’re super effective because they both pack plenty resistant starch, one of the big buzz terms in nutrition right now.

Resistant starch from root vegetables and legumes helps to feed your “good” belly bacteria. According to a 2015 study in the Journal of Functional Foods, when you eat resistant starch, your gut biome gets stronger—healthy bacteria literally get a workout digesting the healthy starch, becoming more dominant and leading the way to a healthier gut.

13

BLAST BELLY FAT 
WITH GREEN TEA

In a Swedish study that looked at green tea’s effects on hunger, researchers divided up participants into two groups. One group drank water while the other group drank green tea. Not only did the tea sippers report less of a desire to eat their favorite foods, but they found those foods to be less satisfying, and hence ate less when they did indulge. We've seen the results for ourselves when developing our brand new THE 17-DAY GREEN TEA DIET. Test panelists lost up to 10 pounds in one week!

12

AND A GLASS 
OF RED WINE

It could help you burn belly fat better, according to a 2015 study in Nutritional Biochemistry. Over a 10-week trial, mice that got the human equivalent of about 1 ½ cups of red grapes a day accumulated less abdominal fat, and had lower blood sugar, than those that didn’t. Red wine is the best possible source of a micronutrient called resveratrol, which works on the genes responsible for belly fat.

11

EAT FRUIT FOR BREAKFAST

Slim people eat breakfast every day, according to a recent study from Cornell University. When researchers surveyed 147 slender people who said they’d never had to struggle with their weight, they found that a whopping 96 percent of them ate breakfast nearly every day. (Among the general population, about 28 percent of men and 18 percent of women ages 18 to 34 skip breakfast every day, according to a study by The NPD Group.) Fifty-one percent of the slim people surveyed said that on a typical day, their breakfast included a serving of fruit. Part of the reason why fruit is so powerful is that it’s packed with insoluble fiber, which helps feed the healthy bacteria in your gut, triggering the production of a fatty acid that reduces fat-causing inflammation throughout your body. And in a Canadian study, researchers discovered that those whose diets were supplemented with insoluble fiber had higher levels of ghrelin—a hormone that controls hunger. Speaking of fruit, don't miss the fat-blasting 21 Amazing Things Bananas Do To Your Body!

10

LEAVE NOTES FOR YOURSELF

Subtle, even subliminal, messages may be more effective at helping us stick to a healthy eating regimen than even ongoing, conscious focus, found a 2015 study in the Journal of Marketing Research. The study found that people who receive reinforcing notes urging them to eat healthy were more likely to make smarter choices than those who tried to keep their goals top of mind at all times. Simple reminders—keeping a bowl of nuts on your kitchen counter, for example, or putting reminders into your phone—will keep you on the winning side, so you can lose your love handles while your mind is busy tackling other things.

9

SWAP YOUR PROTEIN SHAKES

The new trend in dietary supplements is vegan protein powders, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The more plant protein you eat, the less likely you are to get belly fat and the diseases that come with it, according to a recent study in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation. A second study in Nutrition Journal found that plant protein could play a key role in preventing obesity. My Zero Belly shakes are made with vegan protein for just this reason. “I loved the Zero Belly drinks,” says Isabel Folek, who dropped 13 pounds in six weeks. And Bryan Wilson, who lost 19 pounds and 6 inches off his waist, counts the drinks as a key to his success: “I’m a sweets craver and can’t get enough ice cream, ever. These were a far better alternative.” For the complete recipes, check outZero Belly Cookbook!

8

UPGRADE YOUR EGGS

Eggs are “ZERO BELLY” Powerfood for a reason: They’re the single best dietary source of a fat-fighting nutrient called choline, which has been shown to help turn off the genes related to fat storage. And they’re packed with muscle-building, fat-fighting protein. But you can improve their belly-flattening powers even more by choosing omega-3 eggs. Omega-3-enriched eggs are laid by hens that are fed flaxseeds, chia seeds, and fish oil, giving you more inflammation-fighting fatty acids that work directly on belly fat.

7GET TO WORK EARLY AND LEAVE ON TIME

When deadlines pile up, add work hours to the beginning of your day, not the end. When you work later you also eat later and go to sleep later, both of which lead to unwanted pounds. A study in the journal Nutrition Research found that those whose last meal was closest to bedtime took in more calories overall throughout the day than those who gave their bodies time to recover before heading off to bed.

6

HIT THE ROAD, 
NOT THE SUGAR

One of the causes of a beer belly is a loss of muscle mass, and one of the reasons you may be losing muscle mass is that you’re eating too much sugar. In animal studies, the more sugar an animal ate, the faster its muscles eroded with age. To bring your round belly back into line, cut sugar calories where you can while focusing on calorie-burning cardio workouts. Cardio workouts, because they burn 67 percent more calories than weight workouts of the same duration, are more effective at burning off belly fat, according to a study at Duke University. Speaking of sugar, artificial sweeteners are making you fat. Find out how with this essential list of 38 Top Diet Sodas—Ranked!

5

TRADE IN 
YOUR PEANUT BUTTER

Almonds may be the single best dietary source of vitamin E, and E might as well stand for “extra-slim.” But as much as 92 percent of the American population doesn’t get enough. Worse, people struggling with obesity actually have a harder time absorbing E than lean people do, according to a 2015 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A spoonful of almond butter gives you three times as much vitamin E as the same amount of peanut butter.

4

AND A SIDE OF BEANS

In a study in the journal Lipids, researchers compared men who ate a “healthy American diet” to those who ate the same diet, but supplemented with fiber from legumes. (That’s anything that grows in a pod, like peanuts, beans, lentils, or those giant cockroaches from Alien.) They found that the high-fiber, high-legume diet improved serum lipid profiles in men compared to a healthy diet with less fiber. The reason: fiber binds to bile acids in the intestines. Bile is like the dishwasher gel of the body: it breaks up the oil you’ve eaten. When fiber hijacks these acids and strips them out of your digestive system, it’s like you’ve turned on the dishwasher’s rinse cycle. All the bile goes down the drain, removing toxins from your bloodstream and forcing your body to start burning off belly fat. Beans are just one of the 50 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds—Fast!

3

THROW OUT 
YOUR VEGETABLE OIL

In a review in the journal Nutrition, researchers reported that linoleic acid, which comes from soybean and corn oil, has been shown to promote fat storage. Swap vegetable oil for canola, olive or coconut oils.

2

EAT RASPBERRIES 
AND CREAM FOR DESSERT

The darker the fruit, the more powerful its nutritional punch, but even among dark red fruits, raspberries stand alone as the single best source of insoluble fiber. A cup of the little ruby jewels has 8 grams of fiber, compared to less than 3 grams in the same amount of strawberries. Studies show that a fiber-rich meal stimulates the release of a hormone called CCK. Sounds like a new fragrance from Calvin Klein, but it’s actually short for cholecystokinin, and it works within our bodies to help us feel satiated by slowing the flow of food through our bodies. It also regulates sleep, so if you feel satisfied and sleepy after a meal, you have CCK to thank. Sprinkle on some chia seeds for extra fat burn.

1

THEN GET TO SLEEP

When you’re short of sleep, ghrelin, the “I’m hungry” hormone, shoots up; leptin, the “I’m full” hormone, decreases. In a recent study, researchers analyzed more than 500 participants’ weekday sleep diaries and found that losing a mere 30 minutes of shut-eye each day increased their risk of obesity by 17 percent. Go to bed early, and don't miss these 30 Things to Do 30 Minutes Before Bed to Lose Weight!