Take all your hard work in the Summer Slimmer Challenge a step further with these tips on how to promote a flat belly! You are doing the workouts, so make sure you are also eating to help prevent bloating – try these suggestions, they really work!

1. Eat slowly. Chow down too fast and you can swallow too much air along with your food, with can lead to a bloated look
   
2. Drink lots of water. It sounds contradictory, but drinking water actually helps flush extra fluid from your body.
   
3. Avoid sugar substitutes. Though it’s not exactly clear why these may inflate your belly, avoid them if you can. Not only to keep your stomach flat but also because some studies show that eating low-cal artificial sweeteners actually makes people gain weight.
   
4. Don’t chew gum. It’s believed that you take in too much air when you chew gum, and that can fill your tummy. Also, some gums contain artificial sweeteners that are believed to puff you up. 
   
5. Go easy on the salt. This may sound simple, but even if you don’t reach for the salt-shaker, lots of foods have hidden sodium in then. Make sure to read the Nutrition Label to see how much is lurking in your food. The American Heart Association recommends less than twenty-three hundred milligrams (one teaspoon) per day.
   
6. Avoid too many carbonated beverages. All the bubbles in your glass make their way inside your tummy.
   
7. Drink mint or ginger teas. These spices are both reputed to help calm a too-full belly (as well as nausea). 
   
8. Sip hot water with a few squeezes of lemon. The hot water and citrus are thought to soothe your stomach.
   
9. Eat foods that naturally flush water from the body, such as asparagus and grapefruit.

And don’t forget to do yoga! It increases circulation, which can relieve the fluid buildup that causes bloating.

xoxo,

Denise

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