We’ve all been there. As you pull up your pants and take a deep breathe in hoping that you can get the button done up you take a mental note that tomorrow you will start your diet again.

Although you can’t remember the last time a diet actually worked for you it doesn’t seem like there are many other alternatives to help take the weight off and lose the unhealthy belly fat.

There are now hundreds of ways to lose weight and most diets work in the short term when they are followed. The problem is the weight always seems to creep back on and land exactly where you don’t want it to…your tummy.

As a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Certified Cancer Coach and fat loss expert I teach my clients two simple methods for weight loss. Yes, as we move through their journey together things can get a bit more complicated but if you follow the 5 fundamentals below you will be able to

• Regulate your blood sugar levels
  
• Decrease cortisol (stress hormone)
  
• Improve digestion
  
• Have more energy
  
• Wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day
  
• Choose better quality foods because your food cravings are gone 
  

We’ve all heard before that balancing hormones is a sure fire way to achieve weight loss. It’s true. Hormones like cortisol, insulin, leptin and ghrelin are responsible for regulating your stress response, blood sugar levels and feelings of hunger and satiety (fullness).

When the 4 hormones are unbalanced due to high stress, food cravings, eating processed foods, belly fat, yo-yo dieting and a sedentary lifestyle weight loss proves to be a challenge. Cortisol and insulin love to help us store our left over calories as belly fat for later use.

A rough day, one too many cups of coffee and a bagel all add up to a muffin top hanging over your pants. This is something we seriously want to avoid.

When we have a couple rolls of fat hanging over our pants we tend not to feel as confident or as attractive. Also, belly fat is unhealthy and is one of the major risk factors that can lead to Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and increase your risk of certain cancers.

So how do we lose weight and beat the battle of the bulge once and for all?

Before I outline the 5 weight loss fundamentals to shrink belly fat it’s important for us to understand our daily energy needs.  This is part one of the 2-part strategy I teach my clients.

Your daily energy needs are the number of calories you need to happily live out each day. This includes adding extra calories for exercise or if you have a physically demanding job. A quick calculation is to add a 0 to your weight.

For example if you weight 150 pounds then you require approximately 1500 calories per day. So whatever weight you are right now, add a zero to it.

Part two of the equation is to evaluate the quality of the calories you eat. Meaning that you avoid high fat, high sugar processed foods and opt for whole foods instead.  I believe this is more important then the amount of calories consumed. Still it’s important to know the range of calories you need daily. After all the goal is to lose weight and that isn’t achievable by eating twice the amount your body needs.

Listen, there will always be controversy and conflict regarding the right and wrong way to eat, to lose weight and to reduce belly fat. I’ve learned from working with thousands of people that there are 5 fundamentals that help to balance hormones and promote healthy weight loss.

Fundamental # 1 Eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking up

When you skip breakfast or delay it because there is no time your blood sugar levels drop and you become starving. At that point saying ‘no thank you’ to the cookies or bagels in the workplace kitchen is too hard so make sure you fuel your body within 1 hour of waking.

Fundamental # 2 Add protein and a healthy fat to breakfast

Protein and fat help to balance your blood sugar levels, keep you feeling full and regulate your hormones.

Protein                                                           Fat

1 cup Greek yogurt (plain)                               8-10 nuts (raw)
2 eggs                                                           1-2 tablespoons hemp seeds (protein and fat)
1 scoop protein powder                                  1 tablespoon coconut oil

Fundamental # 3 Eat every 4 hours

Your meals should be large enough that they fill you up for about 3.5 to 4 hours. When you snack (eating every 2 hours) or nibble throughout the day you don’t allow your body to digest well or utilize the food as energy.

Fundamental # 4 Include a protein source at every meal

Protein is the building block for your immune system and lean muscle mass. Without protein at your meal you are more likely to overeat carbohydrates.

A protein size for females is about 4 ounces and a portion size for males is about 6 ounces.

Fundamental # 5 Choose high fiber carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are not something to be afraid of when you choose the right ones. Stay away from the white processed carbs. Instead opt for carbs that digest slowly because they have at least 5 grams of fiber or more per serving.

Make 5 grams of fiber or more per serving a rule when choosing your carbs.

One last tip: please be patient with your body while losing weight. Losing weight and shrinking belly fat does not happen overnight regardless of what any quick fix diet scheme says. Follow the 5 weight loss fundamentals and you will see your muffin top disappear while you lose weight, reduce your risk of disease and feel healthy and happy.


In good health,
Cheryl Wahl, RHN, CPCC

Fibre-rich foods generally have a low glycemic index (GI), although not all foods with a low GI necessarily have high fibre content.

Eating meals with the right amount of low glycemic index carbohydrate, i.e. the right glycemic load, lowers inflammatory markers and helps you fell fuller longer.

According to Harvard researchers, healthy, middle-aged women who ate the meals with the lowest glycemic load had the lowest levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation in the body.

In overweight women who had greater levels of C-reactive protein to begin with, eating higher amounts of low glycemic index foods had an even greater impact on their inflammatory markers.

Glycemic Index and Inflammation

Insulin resistance means glucose is not effectively cleared from the blood after eating. This extra glucose in the bloodstream causes inflammation.

High-GI diet appears to increase insulin resistance after a meal. British researchers compared the effects of a high-fat diet, a low-GI diet, a high-GI diet and a high sucrose (table sugar) diet on insulin resistance in middle-aged men with heart disease risk factors. Despite containing the same number of calories, the high-GI diet caused greater fluctuations in blood sugar and insulin levels.

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Harvard researchers found that eating more high-GI foods significantly increases the amount of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) in healthy middle-aged women – regardless of whether they have other risk factors for heart disease.

Inflammation in Heart Disease

In the same Harvard study, researchers explain that high-GI carbs may boost heart disease risk by exacerbating of pro-inflammatory processes like insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means glucose from food is not effective cleared but lingers in the blood stream triggering inflammation. Eating lots of rapidly digested and absorbed high-GI carbohydrates increases the risk of heart disease, particularly in overweight women who are already prone to insulin resistance.

According to research in the May 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, long-term intake of grains with different glycemic indexes may affect the extent of inflammation in people with the heart disease risk factors. For example, researchers from Finland found that the glycemic response to the rye bread and pasta are lower than that of oat and wheat bread and potato - with the harmful effects of high blood sugar sticking around in the body for more than two hours. The people involved in this study had metabolic syndrome, which means they were already at higher risk of developing heart disease and other inflammatory conditions. 

Researchers from Tufts New England Medical Center found greater declines in CRP concentration after consumption of a low glycemic load diets in overweight people. In this study, published in the journal Obesity, 34 overweight people were given calorie-restricted diet that had either a high glycemic load or a low glycemic load. Weight loss aside, the people who ate the low glycemic load diet saw a drop in levels of inflammation in their body.

Numerous studies have shown that overweight adults on low-GI diets have lower levels of CRP and lower blood levels of bad LDL cholesterol than their overweight peers who eat high-GI diets - even if they didn’t lose weight on the low-GI diet.

Inflammation in Type 2 Diabetes

Another study from Harvard showed that diets high in low-GI whole grains and portion-controlled carbohydrates may have a protective effect against systemic inflammation in diabetic patients. Portion control of carbohydrates – even low-GI carbs – means you’re eating the controlling your glycemic load.

In this 2007 report, long-term, epidemiological studies were reviewed to reach the conclusion that low-GI diets reduce oxidative stress and guard against system-wide inflammation that may mark the beginnings of type 2 diabetes.

Glycemic Response and Colonic Health

The strength of your gut, as determined by your rate of colonic fermentation, plays a role in the rise and fall of blood sugar levels after eating high-GI foods. In comparing a high-GI meal to a low-GI meal, Swedish researchers found that rates of colonic fermentation (a sign of a healthy gut) dropped as blood sugar levels peaked.

In this study, 15 healthy people ate evening meals with varying amounts of non-digestible fibre (the kind found in wheat bran). At breakfast, those who ate more non-digestible, low-GI carbs reported increased feelings of fullness and showed higher rates of colon fermentation. 

What are low-GI foods?

Veggies:
Asparagus, avocado, beet greens, bell peppers, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, fennel, green beans, kale, crimini mushrooms, mustard greens, olives and olive oil, romaine, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, yams.

Fruits:
Apples, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, grapes, grapefruit, kiwi, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, raspberries, strawberries.


Grains, breads, nuts and seeds:
Oat bran, rolled oats, pumpernickel, sourdough, brown rice, buckwheat, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts.


Beans and legumes:
Lentils, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, chick peas (garbanzo), black eyed peas, yellow split peas.

Try some new, low-GI foods today and let me know what you think?  Oh, and remember to drink lots of water between meals if you're new at introducing these foods.

As always, connect with me if you have any questions about nutrition, health, wellness, exercise, etc.

In good health,
Cheryl