Unwanted Weight Around Your Midsection?

Most of my clients complain about extra flab or inches around the middle.  What’s so loveable about love handles?  And we all know that the apple shaped body is more prone to heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

On a positive note, fat stored in the midsection is metabolically active so it’s easier to lose when following the right plan.  I will give you my top methods of success in all areas of life (nutrition, stress and exercise).

Eat a CLEAN DIET:  Even more important than a calorie or fat restricted diet is eating CLEAN.  If you consume lots of processed foods and sweets, you will never lose that midsection weight.  So I give you these tasks:

• Aim to eat at least 8 servings of vegetables/day
• Start reading ingredients for everything you buy.  If there is a long list of words you cannot understand, do NOT buy it.  Buy foods that have minimal ingredients.
• Whenever possible, buy organic for produce and meats.
• Minimize sugar.  Look at Nutrition Facts and do not buy anything that has more than 5 grams of sugar.
• I highly recommend my Detox Programs.  They are the perfect way to clean up the diet, lower inflammation, and slim down the belly.

Cut down on STRESS:  You have no idea how much stress impacts your metabolism and packs on pounds, especially around the midsection.  If you have a stressful life, you do not handle stress well and/or your sleep is poor, my guess is that you have high cortisol levels (adrenal stress).  High cortisol is directly linked to belly fat.  Here are my favorite tips to combat stress:

• You need at least 10 minutes of “ME” time every day.  Take a walk, smell the air, get some sunshine – anything that makes you happy.
• Deep Breathing or Meditation on a regular basis.  I download free podcasts on my phone.
• Yoga!!!!
• Get into a healthy sleep cycle.  Your deepest sleep is from 9-3, so try to get to bed earlier.

CORE Workout: Exercise is bottom of the list because nutrition and stress will have much more effect on your midsection weight.  You can do a million crunches and have rock hard abs but the flab will still cover them if you eat poorly and have too much stress.  But exercise is still an essential part of a healthy life.  Here are my favorite fitness tips:

• Planks are my favorite core workout.  Build up slowly to 60 seconds.
• Yoga always focuses on posture, core, and deep breathing so it is an overall winner for reducing midsection fat.
• Vary your workouts.  Cardiovascular exercise is great but do not do the same workout each time – intervals are more effective.  Add resistance training to your workout routine.

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