We’ve looked at flat abs workout plans already with little attention to diet. But no amount of effort in the gym is going to pay off if we refuse to alter our eating habits. The energy we put in our bodies is just as important, if not more so, than the energy we exert.
In keeping with the 80-20 rule, the most meaningful shift in our diets will come from controlling our intake of high glycemic carbohydrates and avoiding trans and hydrogenated fats. These carbs are easily recognizable because they taste great and are white. They include pastas, white breads, cookies, white rice, and potatoes, etc. We love eating these foods because the simple sugars that comprise them give us an immediate insulin surge and energy boost, which hours later results in an energy crash. Insulin tells our bodies to retain body fat.
The good carbs are known to all and come in the form of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. These carbs take our bodies longer to break down and release energy at a slower pace, allowing our bodies to draw from fat stores for energy rather than flooding our bodies with the high concentration of energy and simple sugars from breads and pastas. You can change your diet to consist of mainly fruits, veggies, and lean meats, eat as much and as often as you want, and still find your body shedding weight and nearing your flat abs goals.
The quality of food we put in our bodies is so much more meaningful than the quantity. You can feel like you’re starving yourself, but if you’re eating the wrong kinds of food when you do it, your body will store it as fat. On the other hand, when eating a healthy diet of natural foods you can eat more and more often and still burn fat. The main reason being that fruits and vegetables, while rich in vitamins and minerals, are not calorie dense. It’s very hard to meet your caloric needs from a diet of only vegetables, and when you don’t consume adequate calories to meet your metabolic needs, your body will take the energy deficit from the only place it can…your body fat.
Flat abs is the inevitable outcome of returning to a natural food diet. Our bodies have evolved over millennia on food from the land, not processed foods with added sugars and flavors. Returning to a natural diet puts our hormones in balance and allows our bodies to function as they’re meant to…efficiently.
Protein is the last macronutrient we have yet to discuss, but its rarely an issue for those living in western and developed countries. Meats are commonplace and easy to come by, and as long as you try to consume some two to three meals a day you’ll be fine. Notice here I’m not discussing macronutrient quantity per meal. I’m doing that intentionally because I honestly believe it’s insignificant. When eating natural foods our bodies don’t need the caloric precision they need when we eat garbage because our hormonal response to healthy eating is a properly functioning and efficient body. It isn’t as sensitive to calorie fluctuations and in fact benefits from them.
This brings me to my last dietary recommendation, calorie shifting. This is where I give you a break. I know for most that a diet of natural foods sounds bland. But it doesn’t need to be. You can have a pretty diverse selection of great tasting and healthy foods if you dive in and make the lifestyle change. But nevertheless it may not serve to replace the psychological comfort of junk food. So here’s the catch, when you make the dietary changes above and are realizing gains in your flat abs battle, you can introduce a tactic known as calorie shifting.
A common problem with dieting is that in the beginning our bodies make up the caloric deficiency with body fat. But after some time our metabolism will acclimate to our new level of calorie consumption and downregulate. This means our metabolism will become lower to account for lower calories consumed. This is not good, as it means you’ll stop burning fat for energy. Most people come to the conclusion that they need to reduce there diet further and head down that path of starvation and long term metabolic destruction. What can we do about this? We can eat!! One day a week you can binge on absolutely anything.
Feel free to go out of your way to eat everything you love, ice cream, chips, chocolate, fudge, snickers. And don’t eat just some, eat till you feel sick. This has two great benefits. The first is it keeps our metabolism high by forcing it to deal with a massive surge of calories. This will allow you to burn fat consistently for months on end because when you hit your diet again the following six days your reduction in calories will be registered as a caloric deficit do to your consistently high metabolism. This deficit will continue to be met by burning belly fat for energy.
The second benefit is psychological. It’s hard to diet for the long term. Our minds crave those foods that make us feel guilty. Allowing ourselves that one day a week to binge is great for our mental health in that we don’t feel like we’re being deprived or sacrificing simple pleasures. It also makes us feel a little sick to our stomachs, and that will make it hard to think about or even look at comfort foods for days following the binge, removing all temptation of a little taste of chocolate. Who knew that binging would become your secret dietary weapon in the battle for flat abs.