Foods to Shrink Your Belly and Holiday Stress
By GalTime .com. Posted on .
By Erin Palinski, for GalTime.com
Lose the stress and the extra weight before the holidays hit
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As the holidays approach, no doubt your stress level starts to rise. And when under stress, your body increases the production of stress hormones -- pesky chemicals that can actually increase belly fat. That means that not only can the holiday food pack on the pounds, but the hustle and bustle of the season can expand your waistline as well!
And not only can stress cause the scale to increase, it can also be quite damaging to health.
It’s estimated that as many as 90% of doctor’s visits are for symptoms that are at least partially stress-related. Chronic stress can lead to complications such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even depression. But the good news that just by making small adjustments to your diet, you can actually cut stress levels and burn up stubborn belly fat! In my newly released book, Belly Fat Diet for Dummies, I point out the best foods and nutrients for cutting stress levels and slimming the waistline.
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Here are five of the most effective ways to cut stress and belly fat through your diet:
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SWAP THE MORNING CUP OF JOE FOR A CUP OF GREEN TEA
Think you need several giant cups of joe to be sharp and soothe the stress? Not so. Weaning yourself from large amounts of coffee will help reduce stress levels and improve your mental performance.
Replacing coffee with decaffeinated green tea is a great way to cut stress and load up on antioxidants (which can also fight off disease-causing free-radicals, a stressor to the body). Cutting back on caffeine can also help with both sleeping problems and jitters during the day.
In addition, the main polyphenol in green tea, EGCG, has been shown to have thermogenic properties and helps to increase fat oxidation in several studies. In fact, one study found that when overweight individuals consumed the same amount of calories and performed the same amount of exercise, those dri-king green tea lost more weight, especially weight from the abdomen! Green tea is loaded with powerful antioxidants, which help decrease inflammation (another belly fat contributor) and fight off disease and infections!
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INCREASE YOUR INTAKE OF VITAMIN C
