Six Ways to Banish Belly Fat

Poor unpopular, unloved belly fat! Everyone, it seems, is desperate to get rid of it.

Well, okay, perhaps not everyone.



It's not just a vanity issue either--health experts have been nagging us about belly fat for years, telling us that it's the worst kind of fat to have. Abdominal visceral fat has been linked to health problems like diabetes, breast cancer, gallbladder issues, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic problems.

So since no one welcomes belly fat, it could probably use a friend. But I do not want to be that friend. I do not like belly fat hanging around. Yet it does anyway--I clearly haven't done enough to discourage it! Perhaps a letter?

Dear Belly Fat,
I'm sorry, but I think it's time for you to go. I know you're very attached to me--quite clingy in fact! But I just don't love you the way you seem to love me. Truthfully? I'm just not that into you, even though you are quite clearly into me.

Scram, ok?

Sincerely,
Crabby

What, it's not gone yet?

Damn. Apparently belly fat can't read!

So if anyone else is looking for a better solution to getting rid of belly fat than writing it letters, there are several tricks that are apparently actually backed up by scientific research.

How To Tell Belly Fat to Take a Hike, According to the Smarty-Pants Scientists:

1. Eat blueberries.

2. Drink green tea.

3. Eat foods high in monounsaturated fats like avocados and olive oil.

4. Reduce stress-related cortisol levels by practicing some deep breathing, meditation, or other relaxation training.

5. Do some Interval Training. (Or, if H.I.I.T. seems too oppressive, try some easier S.H.I.I.T and see if that works).

6. Don't smoke.


While I think it's great that scientists are out there doing research on ways to get rid of our belly fat, I'm still left with two important questions!

Crabby Wants To Know:

1. Why does Crabby still have a respectable amount of belly fat despite doing all of the above things to discourage it?

2. And why there is no research grant money available for the elimination of Ass Fat? Though it may not be as much of a health risk, surely Ass Fat is almost as unpopular and many people would like to get rid it. Yet it's always belly fat, belly fat, belly fat.


So Does Anyone Have Any Thoughts on Belly Fat? Any additional tips on getting rid of it?

Hazelnuts, Flat Bellies, and My New BFF's

[By Crabby]

Back in the olden days of Cranky Fitness, when bloggers wore togas and carved out blog posts on stone tablets, I wrote something about the health benefits of pistachios.

First known BlogHer conference; circa 23 A.D.

(photo credit: Betsymartian)

And now, all of a sudden, I'm feeling motivated to write another post about nuts! Specifically, how nutritious and tasty hazelnuts are.

Is it because of a recent study that said that hazelnuts contain massive amounts of proanthocyanidin, a powerful antioxidant--in even greater quantities than many other "superfoods?"

Well, er, it might be... if I could find a link to the damn study.

Is it because hazelnuts actually are really good for you, containing lots of fiber, vitamin E, vitamin B, iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and potassium?

Uh, sure, yeah, that's it!

But could it also be because hazelnuts contain lots of monounsaturated fatty acids, making them a high MUFA food that will make it easier to stay on your Flat Belly Diet?

(Note: for those of you who have blogs: MUFA's and Flat Belly Diet are very search-friendly terms. Just in case you might want to work them gratuitously into a post someday.)

Speaking of Gratuitous Flat Bellies...

In any event, my current enthusiasm for hazelnuts has absolutely nothing to do with this Hazelnut Gift Tray that arrived recently courtesy of the friendly folks at the Hazelnut Council!



Because bloggers are very ethical folks who would never extol the virtues of a food, even one that is HEALTHY and DELICIOUS, just because they might have received, oh, say, hypothetically...



...their very favorite candy bar in the entire world for FREE.

(And does anyone else find they are subliminally influenced by the term "Ritter Sport" into thinking that somehow this particular candy is the sort athletes would pick because it's so nutritious even though that's STUPID??!!)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that I also got a cookie sheet, mixing spoon, spices, nuts, yummy English Toffee (which must have had hazelnuts in it? I sort of missed that part in the frenzy) and assorted recipes.

Oh, and...

A whole new passel of Best Friends!!! Aren't you all jealous?



According to the accompanying hazelnut literature, which takes the form of a journal/scrapbook, I am invited to Cecelia's house on Saturday at 8pm... and boy howdy, am I excited!

(The Lobster is going to be SO jealous because she doesn't have a blog and so is not invited and Cecelia is pretty darn cute! You can click on the picture if you want to verify. She's in the lower right hand corner.)

However, I kinda think my new BFF, Galena, said something about Cecelia having a little Frangelico problem...

So it's a good thing they also gave me a handy Hazelnut Journal to record every exciting moment of my new, hazelnut-filled life!




(Confidential to Hershey's and Dunkin' Donuts PR people: No free samples, huh? This coulda been ALL ABOUT YOU! Maybe next time, eh?)

Actually, as it happens I really DO like nuts, including (thank goodness) hazelnuts. I eat a lot more of them than I did back in the "you must count every gram of fat" days. Anyone else? Or have thoughts on sleazy bloggers scarfing up free food and then attempting to blog about it?

The Flat-Belly Diet

[By Crabby]

Flat bellies. So, ya want one?

According to the folks at Prevention Magazine, it's pretty easy to own one of your very own. They've even got a picture of four ecstatic women cheering about their incredible results. (They all look far too happy, in my opinion, considering they're clad in work clothes, complete with stern-looking high-heeled pumps. Being a jeans and T-shirt person myself, this photographic evidence seems suspicious).

But lets say that even if they're only fake-happy, their results are real. From what I can tell without shelling out any money, here's what you need to do to lose the fat belly:

1. Don't get too stressed (stress=cortisol=belly-fat);

2. Eat lots of monounsaturated fats. (The magazine uses the acronym "MUFA," which doesn't sound very slimming, does it? They need to work on that.)

Where do you find MUFA's? Well, this part is good:

• Nuts and Seeds;
• Safflower, Olive, Flax, and Canola Oils;
• Avocados;
• Dark Chocolate.

3. Oh, and um, to lose weight, limit your calories to 1600 a day.

For an informative magazine, Prevention makes some annoyingly optimistic claims about this diet: "No Exercise Required," "Never Go Hungry" and "Slim Your Mid-section Almost Automatically" are just some of them. But Prevention often does that--they seem to have a sleazy product-promotion division dedicated to subverting the magazine's credibility (which is otherwise perfectly good) by over-hyping various get-slim-quick approaches. If you subscribe to the magazine, they stick these weird pamphlets in there sometimes and you wonder what the heck they're thinking.

But, that doesn't mean the diet is totally lame either.

Given that (a) less stress is good and (b) monounsaturated fats are satisfying and healthy, this may not be a bad idea. There seems to be some actual research behind it (which I should chase down and take a look at some point rather than just guessing about it).

So sure, more chocolate and avocados and olive oil, please!

As it happens, I've been pretty much accidentally on this diet for the past few years, (except for yucky 1600 calorie part). I've been reading forever about how healthy monounsaturated fats are, so I eat a lot of them. Coincidentally (or not)--I have less belly fat than I used to.

But this is one of about 800 nutritional and fitness recommendations I've incorporated into my diet and lifestyle over the last couple decades, so who knows if it's the MUFA's or the intervals or the whole grains or the broccoli or the bench presses that are helping with the belly fat.

Another caveat: even healthy fats have lots of calories--and I still need to have room left for things like protein and vegetables and whole grains and cupcakes. Yet I don't want to run ten miles every morning to fit it all in.

In general, I hate "simple solution" diets. They almost always turn out to be only partly right. Nutrition and weight loss are rarely simple.

But heck, if you're not getting many MUFA's now and have some bellyfat you'd like to evict, it could be worth a try.

Note: If it works, please send in your ecstatic picture (high-heels optional) and we'll we'll re-market the whole thing as the Cranky Fitness No-Belly diet. We'll throw in some high-MUFA cupcakes and cookies and brownies (which we'll sell for $5 each), and we'll all make a fortune!

So what do you all think about Flat-Belly or other "It's Simple!" diets? Worth a try?