10 foods and drinks to avoid to achieve a flat stomach

The key to achieving a flat stomach and toned abs is to combine effective abdominal exercises with a healthy, nutritious diet. Hours spent in the gym will be completely useless if you do not pay attention to what you eat. Some foods activate bloating or contribute to the accumulation of belly fat, making it difficult to lose those extra pounds. Below is an overview of 10 foods and drinks to avoid as they are counterproductive to any attempt to flatten the belly.

1. Spirits

Having an occasional beer with friends is fine. However, if you overdo it, you will end up with a “beer belly.” Because alcohol contains many empty calories and is highly addictive, a single evening of drinking can result in thousands of liquid calories. Instead of being burned by your body, these calories will be stored as fat and accumulate on your belly. Alcohol also increases your appetite and makes you crave junk food, which often leads you to consume even more calories and sabotage your flat belly goals.

2. Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners may not contain calories, but that does not make them a good choice when it comes to achieving a flat belly. These artificial sweeteners are loaded with chemicals that increase appetite and induce overeating. They also cause bloating because they contain chemical compounds such as sucralose, cyclamate and aspartame, which are not easily broken down in the body.

3. Candy

Candies are high in calories and have little nutritional value. These excess calories cause the accumulation of fat around the belly. The high sugar content also causes blood glucose levels to suddenly drop and rise. This reduces energy levels and has a negative impact on performance during belly flattening workouts, also increasing appetite and making you more prone to overeating.

4. Dried Fruits.

Many people believe that because dried fruit is healthy and natural, it is a great choice for flattening the belly. However, unlike fresh fruit, which is mainly composed of water and low in calories, dried fruit contains large amounts of sugar and is very high in calories. It has a similar effect on your body than candy, and eating too much of it can sabotage your efforts to get a flat belly.

5. Fast Food

Besides having little nutritional value and containing dangerous trans fats, a single fast food meal usually contains 1,000 calories or more. Not only does this large amount of calories contribute to the accumulation of fat around the belly, but it also makes you slow during workouts to flatten your belly.

6. Fruit Juice.

As with dried fruit, many people assume that fruit juice has similar benefits to fresh fruit. Although fruit juice provides the body with vitamins and minerals, it contains no fiber and is high in sugar. Therefore, it does not suppress appetite in the same way as fresh fruit and leads you to consume excess calories that are often stored as body fat.

7. Processed Foods

To improve flavor and increase shelf life, processed foods are rich in chemicals, sugar and salt. The chemicals and salt in processed foods increase appetite and also cause bloating, while sugar adds extra calories that increase fat levels in the body.

8. Refined Grains

Refined cereals are stripped of vitamins, minerals and, most importantly, most of their fiber during processing. This reduced amount of fiber makes you more prone to hunger when consuming refined grains and also slows down your metabolism.

9. Foods Rich in Sodium

Sodium causes your body to retain water and can cause bloating around the belly. It is added to many different foods, so be sure to always check the amount of sodium in foods before consuming them and keep your total sodium consumption below 1,500 mg per day.

10. Carbonated Beverages

Carbonated drinks are something that many people surprisingly continue to drink in an attempt to flatten their bellies. However, both regular and diet sodas are harmful when trying to burn abdominal fat. Regular carbonated drinks are full of sugar and cause you to consume more calories than you need. These liquid calories are then converted into body fat and prevent you from getting slim and toned abs. Diet sodas contain zero calories but are full of chemicals that increase appetite and cause abdominal bloating.