TRIM THAT TUM

How you can tell you have a bloaty belly:

• Your tummy is flat first thing in the morning but swells through the day.
• You suffer from burping, wind, cramps or gurgling.
• You bulge out in front, like a pregnancy bump.

Solutions: Eat slowly, cut down on sugar (these feed bad bacteria in the digestive tract) and refined carbohydrates like white bread or pasta, try cutting out wheat, include peppermint tea in your diet.

How you can tell if you have a posture paunch:

• Your shoulders are rounded and you suffer lower back pain.
• Your bulge seems to droop down your stomach, starting from under your breasts.
• Your tummy disappears when you pull back your shoulders and tuck in your bottom.

Solutions: Stand up straight and focus on lengthening your middle, as you pull your waist up long and straight the rest of your body comes too.

How you can tell if you have a water-filled waistline:

• It gets worse the closer you are to your period.
• Your stomach is swollen sideways; your waist also looks swollen and puffy.
• Your also suffer from puffiness in your face or limbs.

Solutions: Hormonal changes are the most common cause of a bloated stomach caused by fluid. Take Evening Primrose Oil to balance hormones and reduce fluid retention. If you find you’re puffy at other times, you need to drink more water (helps to dilute the concentration of sodium in the body and increases the amount of water flushed out of the body), cut down on salt (which promotes fluid storage) and eat more potassium heavy foods such as bananas (which causes excess fluids to be eliminated from the system). Also check for food intolerance e.g. wheat or dairy. Avoid foods containing sorbital, as this is hard to digest and can cause bloating. Increase your intake of soluble fibre from fruits such as apples and pears as this helps to absorb water in the gut, preventing bloating.

How you can tell if you have untoned abs:

• You do little or no exercise
• Your tummy bulge is mainly below your belly button.
• Your try to pull your tummy muscles in and little happens.

Solutions: Exercise or try a Pilates video.

More tips:

• Unfriendly bacteria in the gut can cause bloating. To keep your gut healthy, eat plenty of fruit and veg and “probiotic” foods such as live or bio-yoghurt, which contains healthy bacteria that will multiply in your gut.
• Some foods cause excess wind that leads to bloating. Try cutting out various gas-producing foods to see if any are causing you a problem such as garlic, onions, beans, leeks, Brussel sprouts, pulses and lentils, and fizzy drinks. Fatty meals can cause a distended stomach because fat is digested more slowly and stays in the stomach longer.
• Eat regular, small meals.
• Don’t eat on the hoof. Sit down and chew your food and eat slowly.
• Your eating pattern can affect your stomach size. Eating nothing all day and then a big meal at night causes bloating. Having a drink with your food can also cause your stomach to distend.
• Reduce your salt intake. Cut down on takeaway meals and salty snacks and don’t add salt to your meals. If you really need salt, eat potassium rich foods such as bananas, avocados, dried fruit and nuts, which work against the effects of salt in the body.
• The way to beat fluid retention is to drink more water. Eat watery foods like cucumber, celery and melon will help. You know you have water retention in your stomach, rather than extra flab, if you press a puffy part with a finger and it leaves a pale coloured indentation.
• Eat a high fibre diet to avoid constipation. Eat wholemeal bread, bran, veg, prunes, rhubarb and apricots. Cut back on refined foods like white bread, cakes, biscuits and sugar, which are calorific and slow down your digestion.
• Pre-menstrual water retention and bloating can be eased by balancing blood sugar levels through avoiding sugary foods and caffeine which cause highs and lows in blood sugar and eating little and often (around every 3 hours).
• Keep a food diary to spot any bloating triggers e.g. food intolerance. Lactose intolerance is when your digestive system can’t absorb lactose; the main sugar in milk and this causes abdominal distention. Another culprit of bloating is wheat. Drinking alcohol can also make you feel puffy and bloated if your liver can’t detoxify it properly.

The good news is that you can lose your tummy flab and become more toned. The bad news is that, in order to do this, you must reduce the amount of fat you have all over your body, not just in your stomach. You see, spot reduction or the ability to lose fat in one specific area, and is a myth. However, you can help tone specific regions through exercise.

If you want flat abs, you have to work your whole body as well as your abs muscles during strength training and cardiovascular exercise. If you want to lose weight, you should speak to a nutritionist about how to cut back your calories and fat intake and still eat healthily.

The second point of the weight loss equation that comes as a surprise to most people is that you can't actually lose fat; you can only reduce the size of your fat cells. This can be done through dieting and regular exercise, but to get the six-pack look that many celebs and models have, you'd have to follow a strict diet with very few carbohydrates, which is not what most nutritionists advocate. You need carbs, in fact, to sustain energy.

As far as working out, you don't need to work your abs more than every other day. You actually work them unconsciously all the time, while sitting, standing and walking. You also work your abs when you're doing press ups and most other upper body moves. A realistic exercise programme includes three 30-minute cardiovascular workouts a week. Check with your doctor before beginning a new routine, and if you can't start off doing 30 minutes, just go slowly and build up to this over time. You should incorporate at least two days of strength training into your week and always do ab moves at the end of your strength work. This is so you don't tire out your abs, as they support your back and help prevent injury during the rest of your routine. Here are some moves that, when practised with other exercise and a healthy diet, can help you reduce a flabby tummy:

1. The hover: Start on all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders. In a slow motion, come up off your knees onto your toes and lean forward so that all your weight is in your hands and arms. Your arms should be slightly bent. Try not to arch your back or drop your bum. The idea is to keep your body in a straight line. If this is too challenging, drop back onto your knees, but keep your weight forward and in your hands, so you still use your abs to hold yourself off the ground. Hold for up to 20 seconds.
2. Leg-ups: Sit on a stability ball (also known as a Swiss or balance ball) and extend one leg out straight in front of you, while keeping the other foot on the floor. Use your core muscles (in your lower stomach) to balance yourself on the ball. Hold the position for 10-20 seconds with each leg.
3. Rounded sit-ups: Sit on the ball with both feet on the floor. Then gently lean back until you can feel your abs contract, hold for several seconds, and then lift your torso up in one move. Do not arch your back, and if this hurts your back, stop immediately and go to the next move. Do 15 to 20 repetitions, and hold the contraction for longer each time.
4. Basic sit-ups: If you haven't been doing any kind of ab work, start with a basic sit-up. Lie on your back on the floor with your legs bent and your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands so they gently cup the back of your head. Inhale, then, as you exhale, use your abdominal muscles to lift your torso a few inches off the floor. Hold for a few seconds, and then lower back down to starting position. If you don't feel your ab muscles engage as you lift, then you are not doing the move correctly. Do up to 20 sit-ups.
5. Reverse sit-ups: If you normally do sit-ups, try alternating them with this variation. Lie on the floor with your arms down by your sides and your knees in over your chest at a 90-degree angle. Then, using your tummy muscles, gently pull your knees in towards your chest. Hold for a few seconds, and then slowly lower them back to the 90-degree angle position. Do this 10-20 times. When you feel comfortable with this move, you can try a tougher version, where, instead of pulling your knees in to your chest, you slowly lower one leg at a time until your toe touches the floor. Alternate legs and do 20 repetitions.

Once you can do all the moves above, go from one to the next, without stopping, to really challenge yourself.

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