5 Steps to Banish Midlife Belly Fat

5 Steps to Banish Midlife Belly Fat by Lisa Mallett

Here is what I have found works to reduce midlife, female belly fat:

1. Balance your hormones.
Hormone balancing, especially thyroid hormones (and I am talking bio-identical, not synthetic, hormone replacement); thyroid is key to metabolism and fat burning - when it's "off kilter" you store all incoming calories as fat and can't burn any fat. Also, estrogen is important as it is responsible for maintaining body contours (i.e., a waistline).

2. Eliminate refined carbs.
Refined carbs are also largely responsible for belly bloat and water retention that makes you look and feel fat.

•  In particular, avoid alcohol (which just becomes sugar in your bloodstream, and your liver can't do its job of burning fat when it's busy metabolizing alcohol). If you must drink, only imbibe with food and ensure you're eating protein.
• Don't eat anything made with flour (including rice flour). Anything made with any kind of flour(s) is a refined carb. Eat proteins, and low glycemic index (low GI) veggies and fruits to keep your blood sugar steady.
• Avoid empty refined carbs by not buying any processed food, i.e., stay out of the middle aisles of the grocery store. Shop only the fresh stuff which is on the perimeters of the grocery store. As Jillian Michaels says, "If it didn't come right from the ground or have a mama, don't eat it." Processed/refined foods are empty calories and full of additives (e.g., glutamates) that are bad for you in many ways beyond just making you fat.
• If you must occasionally eat rice or pastas, try to eat just organic, whole grain brown rice, and whole wheat or brown rice pasta in small amounts (i.e., 1/2 cup), to reduce blood sugar problems.

3. Eat whole fat dairy in moderate amounts
The dairy fat satiates appetite and is needed to enable your body to utilize the calcium in the dairy. Non-fat dairy usually has lots of sugar which wreaks havoc in your bloodstream (makes you fat and gives you cravings), and ultimately non fat dairy weakens your bones as milk fat is critical to the calcium metabolizing/bone building process.

4. Count/control sugar grams even more than calories.
Jorge Cruise wrote The Belly Fat Cure and gives the guideline of eating no more than 15 grams of sugar per day, and having 6 servings of complex carbs (veggies and fruit) if you want a flat tummy. His book is excellent and has recipes, and recommendations for grocery shopping and eating out.

5. Have an regular exercise regime that you like and will actually do.
It must utilize resistance of some type (weights) and engage your large muscle groups (lower body) for maximum fat burning and jump-starting metabolic processes for weight loss.