If you are looking to flatten your belly and burn more belly fat, you are probably looking at a combination of nutrition and fitness. This is the cornerstone of any ‘diet’ or weight loss routine, regardless of where on your body you have the extra fat that you want to get rid of.
Some of the common recommendations for getting rid of belly fat include:
Watching your portion sizes
Eating less refined carbs, more complex carbs
Reducing your sugar intake
Avoiding sugar-laden beverages like soft drinks and sports drinks
Exercising on a regular basis
Among the different foods that can help you burn more belly fat, many of them are vegetables. A lot of these vegetables are not starchy, which means they also happen to be low-carb, and are going to help even more with your flat belly goal. Here are some of the top vegetables you can choose if you want a flatter belly through nutrition.
- Mushrooms
The first vegetable on the list also happens to be a super low-carb vegetable, so most diets will allow you to consume it. Mushrooms are excellent for you, and even considered a superfood since they have so many vitamins and minerals.
Mushrooms are low in fat and calories compared to meat and other food items you would have otherwise enjoyed. For about a half cup of sliced mushrooms, there is no fat and only 21 calories.
The great thing about mushrooms is that they are easy to add to any meal (or snack), so it is easy to eat more of them and burn that belly fat. If you want to have a healthier meal, you could replace your hamburger patty with a portabella mushroom, giving you some fat-burning nutrients, while also reducing the overall fat and calories from your burger at the same time.
White mushrooms, which are the smaller baby mushrooms, can be cooked whole or you can slice them and add to your eggs, sandwich, salads, and many other dishes. As you can see, mushrooms are not only good for you, but there are tons of way to add them to your family favorites!
- Bell Peppers
Next up on the list of flat belly vegetable is your bell peppers. Bell peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C, which is needed in order to provide your body with energy for burning fat.
For this reason, you really want to consume more yellow bell peppers, as these have the highest amount of vitamin C, and also have carnitine, which is going to help your muscles to use your fat for energy. This gives your metabolism a nice boost and helps to flatten your tummy.
Like mushrooms, it is easy to add bell peppers of different colors to your meals. You can add some color and crunch to your salads, or even get the yellow and orange mini bell peppers and eat them raw dipped in ranch or hummus. Bell peppers can be cut up into small pieces and added to any soup or chili, where you can ‘hide’ the veggies into something your family enjoys.
Here are some healthy dish ideas for using bell peppers:
Make a low-carb and healthier batch of bell pepper nachos by using the bell peppers instead of tortilla chips.
Chop up different colored bell peppers and add it to some low-fat chili.
Add ground turkey, quinoa, seasonings, and chopped veggies to the inside of a bell pepper and roast it for healthier stuffed peppers.
- Cucumbers
Cucumbers are a good vegetable for just about everyone, but especially if you are trying to lose weight and flatten your belly. Cucumbers are a wonderful source of nutrients, including vitamin K, B1, magnesium, vitamin C, and potassium.
With all of these nutrients, ½ cup sliced cucumber is only 8 calories and less than 1 gram of fat. Because of the low calories and fat, you can fill up on cucumbers, but still help to lose weight in your midsection.
If you are on a low-carb diet, you can enjoy cucumbers with cream cheese or make a creamy cucumber salad with sour cream and dill. You can also add cucumbers to any garden salad for a little crunch, or dip them in anything from ranch to hummus. Cucumbers can also add a light crunch to tuna salad and chicken if you choose to eat them that way.
- Chili Peppers
Not only are regular bell peppers great for burning that belly fat, but so are the hotter types, like chili peppers. The heat from chili peppers comes from the capsaicin that is in them, which is going to boost your metabolism and help you burn more calories. This is also what is going to help you burn more fat in your midsection if this is where you carry a lot of your excess weight.
Plus, chili peppers are a superfood and excellent for adding more flavor to dishes without using seasonings like salt that contain too much sodium.
Chili peppers do give your food a bit of a kick, so add them to your favorite dishes gradually. Start with just ¼ of a chili pepper per dish, then gradually increase it when you find out how much heat that gives it.
Experiment by adding to different types of foods like enchiladas, taco meat, and soups or chilis.
- Onions
One of the benefits that you will notice with all of these flat belly vegetables is that many of them are probably already in the dishes you cook with. If they aren’t, then now you have an even bigger reason to start introducing them into the rotation. Onions are another vegetable that you can easily add to your dishes, and are going to help with that belly fat.
However, in this case, they don’t actually burn the belly fat, but because they are so low in fat and calories, are easy to cook with and not add anything extra to your meals that you shouldn’t be eating.
Onions are used primarily to flavor dishes, again without having to use a lot of salt and various other seasonings or herbs. Onions are inexpensive and when you purchase a big onion from the store, it goes a long way. You can add flavor to your guacamole or other dips, make soup or stew with chunks of onion, or add it to your low-carb tomato sauce for added flavor.
- Broccoli
Broccoli is the ultimate healthy vegetable, being allowed in most dietary plans, and is of course low in fat and calories. Broccoli is in the green group of veggies for burning belly fat, which includes lots of nutrients like vitamins A and C. Broccoli also contains some fiber, so if you want to increase your fiber to help burn more fat, this is a great option!
For most people, broccoli is easy to digest and can help increase the speed of your metabolism. You can make a lot of your favorite dishes and just add broccoli to it, like your morning egg scramble, or when you are having a lighter version of macaroni and cheese for lunch.
It still tastes just like you and your family are used to, but you’re adding a healthy component.
- Artichokes
If one of your favorite ‘indulgent’ treats is to have artichokes dipped in butter or mayonnaise, you’re in luck! Artichokes are ideal for burning more fat in your midsection thanks to the good bacteria they have.
Artichokes are known as prebiotics, which means they are helping to feed those probiotics in your belly, allowing them to do their job and boost your metabolism while helping with your waistline.
While butter and mayonnaise are both fats and not necessarily good for you when you’re trying to lose weight or trim your waistline, they are usually allowed in a low-carb diet.
If you are doing a low calorie diet or one like Paleo, then you might want to dip the artichokes in something healthier, like hummus or guacamole. Another option of course is to use the artichoke hearts to add to salads or put on the side of your chicken and whole grain rice for dinner.
- Carrots
Next up on the list of flat belly vegetables is carrots. Luckily, carrots tend to be at the top of the list for veggies that people enjoy eating. Even kids like to eat baby carrots dipped in something yummy, or won’t pus hit aside when you steam carrots for dinner. They have a mild, yet sweeter flavor, so they tend to be favored over other veggies like broccoli or celery.
You might have heard that carrots are good for your vision, and this is definitely true! They have a lot of wonderful nutrients like vitamin C, fiber, and beta carotene, so they are also good for various other health benefits, including your brain function, improving your digestion, and yes, helping you to lose weight!
You will be glad that you added carrots to your diet when you notice that your belly fat starts diminishing and you have a much fitter body. Try adding chopped carrots to a chicken noodle soup, beef up the veggies in your homemade chili, or just add them to lunches as a light and filling snack.
- Celery
If you don’t mind the flavor of texture of celery, then definitely consider adding this to the rotation of veggies you eat on a regular basis. Celery is a water-based vegetable, so it is mostly water and has almost no calories, plus no fat and very low carbs. However, celery does have lots of important nutrients.
It is best when used as a filler or to get some crunch without actually having to pack on the calories. So if you want to increase your protein with a spoonful of peanut butter, but put it on something, celery is perfect! You won’t mind the celery when you have yummy, salty natural peanut butter on top.
You can also chop up celery to add crunch to your low-fat tuna salad, or add it to any soup or salad like many of these other vegetables. Think of celery as a completely free food, where you can use it for dipping, crunching, or just having a light snack even after you have had your day’s worth of calories or carbs.
- Leafy Greens
The tenth and final vegetable that is good for the extra fat around your midsection is leafy greens. There are so many different types of leafy greens you can choose from, and they are all good for you!
Salads were mentioned quite a bit on this list, so of course you can combine your healthy leafy greens with any of these other vegetables for a nutrient-rich lunch or dinner that is also going to help you burn more belly fat.
Leafy greens will include any type of lettuce you enjoy eating. Each type of green has a different category of nutrients, but here are some to consider adding to your diet:
Spinach
Kale
Romaine
Spinach
Mustard greens
Collard greens
If you prefer iceberg lettuce, which doesn’t have as much protein as these other greens, you can still have it! Just make a mixed green salad with iceberg and at least two other greens to mix it up a little and get some more fat burning fiber in your salad.
Now that you know what the flat belly vegetables are, you can get started on trimming your waistline. In addition to adding these healthy veggies to your diet, here are some other tips for burning fat from your midsection:
Eat more fiber
Load up on the protein
Drink plenty of water
Focus on toning the belly with Pilates and cardio