10 Quick Flat Tummy Tips

1. Sugar goes straight to your tummy so if you can beat your cravings you’ll soon see results. If you drink regular tea with sugar try swapping to herbal teas and make sure you eat little and often throughout the day so that your blood sugar levels don’t drop off and spark a craving for a sugar fix.
2. Drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day is helpful for bloating and water retention, but don’t flood your system with gallons of ice cold water as this will constrict your digestion. Don’t drink water while you are eating but sip room temperature water and herbal teas throughout the day.
3. Don’t rush your food. Eating slowly and in a relaxed frame of mind means that you will digest the food more effectively and prevent bloating or wind.
4. You don’t need to go to the gym to start toning your tummy. You can create your own daily 10 minute programme of simple abs exercises, including crunches, reverse crunches, the plank and stomach vacuum.
5. Fast walking is excellent exercise and while you might not think it can help your tummy you are burning off excess calories and at the same time if you remember to walk tall (imagine a balloon attached to the top of your head and rising gently) and focus on your core and posture you will soon notice a change.
6. Pelvic floor exercises work on your inner core – beneath your tummy. Do these every day and again your posture will improve and you’ll see a difference.
7. A great herbal tea for a flat tummy is green tea. The jury is still out on whether drinking a few cups a day will actually target stomach fat but the evidence for the health properties of green tea is strong. It has diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties and is high in antioxidants. It’s definitely a super tea in my book.
8. There are lots of herbs and spices that are good for digestion. Cardamom can help with flatulence, cinnamon for a dodgy tummy (technical term) and may help a little with IBS. Others include cumin, fennel and ginger. Lemon balm is good both for digestion and stress – what a great combination. And you probably know peppermint tea as a digestive tonic, but interestingly it’s good to drink before you eat rather than after.
9. Swap sandwiches for soups. Too much bread is a sure way to bloating for many of us, plus soups are known to be packed full of nutrients and are more satisfying for the amount of calories they provide. Often it is certain type of bread that goes straight to our tummy – take a note of how you feel a couple of hours after eating bread. Try whole grain soda breads and freshly baked varieties rather than bread that sits on the supermarket shelf and contains various preservatives.
10. Aloe vera juice is very soothing and helps improve the efficiency of your digestive system. The friendly bacteria found in natural yoghurt also help your stomach to work efficiently and smoothly, which in turn means that you will feel less sluggish and bloated. You’ll literally feel lighter and have a flatter tummy.
     

Flat Tummy Club Golden Rules

1. Believe in yourself and embrace change

2. Be adventurous and find healthy foods you love

3. Plan ahead

4. Prioritise your health

5. See yourself looking gorgeous and feeling fantastic

6. Make your own rules