What’s the first thought that comes to anyone’s mind when one hears the three letter word “FAT” – someone with a heavy body?? Or might be being a bit technical in thinking- “the substance” which might cause obesity. Well, our thoughts about fat are not at all wrong.
Fat is a greasy substance which occurs in animal bodies mainly deposited as a layer under the skin around certain organs. When the thickness of the layer multiplies, it might not only result an ugly appearance but might become a cause of some very harmful diseases. When this fat is accumulated in the belly region and the belly starts protruding it might be quite difficult to put it back since belly fat is the most difficult to burn.
To get a perfect belly and a healthy shaped body, exercise is not enough, there’s also a requirement of a healthy and low calorie diet. The categories of foods mentioned below are the ones that are mainly responsible for belly fat:
Fried Foods: These contain high amount of saturated fats and carbohydrates and might add on a lot of calories in your diet. Not only this, the danger lies in the processing of these so alluring food items. Talking apart the ones cooked at home, these might be non-hygienic. Who checks the quality of oils, sugar, flour etc they contain. And even if the quality is good, fried foods still don’t come under the category of healthy food items. The items used for their processing do make them delicious but are not at all nutritious and they also act as preservatives (example artificial sweeteners, bleached flour etc). These preservatives are digested with a lot of difficulty and so make our digestive system weaker. Just like the artificially produced plastic does not decompose, same is the case here. Also since the energy provided by such food items is not utilized by the body, it is stored as fats. How can then such foods ever be beneficial? They not only will cause belly fat but might accumulate in the body as toxins.
White Rice: White rice or the polished rice forms a main part of our diet and most of us love to eat it. And due to the easy availability and better taste of the white rice none of us prefer the brown one. But it’s this brown rice which actually contains the nutrients. Whereas the white one which is processed and polished is ultimately devoid of most of the them, like the magnesium, manganese and the zinc. It just contains a lot of carbohydrates and so this bleached rice, although being not so harmful surely adds fat to the belly. A fact that most people don’t know is that any cereal we eat, the nutrients lie in the cover which we throw away!! What we eat thinking that we are having a nutritious meal is just adding calories in our body and filling our stomach. Instead of this white polished rice, brown rice should be added in the diet and this goes for other cereals as well. It contains fewer carbohydrates and has high nutritional value.
Refined Sugars: Sugar is consumed in various forms by us and is essential also but out of these various forms not all are healthy and the refined sugars cause belly fat. That one small cube of white sugar you mix in your drink contains about 15-20 calories! And of course we don’t take in just a cube of sugar in a day. In just one sitting, we don’t even realize when 15 calories become 1500 calories! And here I’m not just talking about that white sugar but various other things like flavored syrups, cakes, pastries etc. We also take in sugar when we eat fruits and vegetables but since it is the natural one it’s not harmful or rather won’t cause belly fat to be more appropriate. As substitutes to the refined that is white sugar we can use those calorie free sugar available in market but make sure it’s a reliable brand!
Alcohols, soda and other carbonated drinks: Talking of alcohol, it contains lots of calories! Beer, vodka, wine whatsoever in the amount of fat they cause, they rank quite high since when we take them, the body supposes it to be sugar due to which all these excess and not useful calories accumulate in the belly region causing belly fat. Alcohols are also dangerous for the kidney and excess intake might result in kidney failure and they also result in fast ageing.
Similarly considering the carbonated sugars, they contain very high amounts of artificial sweeteners and so lot of carbonated drinks means a fat belly. Also they don’t have any nutritional value! As substitutes fresh fruit juices can be taken but surely not the ones containing preservatives only fresh fruits!
Dairy Products: Yes dairy products cause belly fat! You might be wondering why? They are so rich in calcium! But considering the amount of fat that they contain they should be consumed less. And yes let me tell you one little fact, the calcium that you take in is just worthless until you don’t have enough vitamin D in your body to absorb it and most of the people when tested turn out to have a deficiency! Well not talking in depth about it, and coming on the main concern, dairy products should not be taken in excess and also to avoid the fat caused by them one can take the low fat versions.
