Have you seen those ads on the sidebar of your email that say “This one food melts belly fat in one week!” or “This one strange trick will eliminate body fat!”? Yeah, those are ridiculous. Recently a friend sent me an email saying, “What can I eat to get rid of belly fat? I heard that eating almonds and quinoa will get rid of it.”
The answer to getting rid of fat is more complicated. First, you can’t target fat. For example, I have love handles and I always have (I’m not complaining, I just do). There is no food I could eat that would target that section of my body and help eliminate the fat there. This is impossible. Think of your body like a snow ball. When it melts, the whole snow ball melts, not just one section. This is like your body. When you eat well and exercise, you may lose fat all over, but you won’t lose fat on some specific part of your body.
So, how do you lose body fat?
It’s going to be a little different for each person. Obviously the first step is to eat healthy foods: grass-fed meats, wild seafood, veggies, fruits and safe starches. This is something I cover in Ditch The Diet. The exact ratio of fat, protein and carbs varies for each person, though majority of calories should come from healthy fats. Let me reiterate, majority of calories should come from fat! We have been taught to fear and avoid fat, and we are fatter and more diseased than ever. Fat is essential, healthy and actually aids weight loss!
In conjunction with eating healthy foods, if you want to lose fat you must get a good amount of sleep, keep your stress levels low and get some exercise everyday, even if it’s just walking (walking is actually really beneficial). So the next time you considering a diet plan that says certain foods will melt fat, or a recipe or a health professional, run.
