Getting rid of belly fat is simpler than you might have thought.

With the right plan, it’s actually easier to lose that stubborn lower-body fat or the seemingly impossible to tone back-of-the-arm flab.

Stick to a healthy diet and exercise guidelines, and you’ll be slimmer and healthier by summer.

Obviously, you want to keep your calories in a healthy range and avoid meals that are high in saturated fat.

But research has also shown that eating more of certain foods can help you burn excess visceral fat and pave the way to a smaller middle, the Huffington Post reported.

In addition to helping maintain heart health and keep inflammation levels under control, monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, may stop belly fat before it starts.

Research in the journal Diabetes Care found that people who got roughly 25 percent of their total daily calories from MUFAs gained no visceral fat over the course of the study, while those who ate less MUFAs and more carbs added fat to their midsections.

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Canola oil and high-oleic canola oils can lower abdominal fat when used in place of other selected oil blends, a new study suggest.

The researchers also found that consuming certain vegetable oils may be a simple way of reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome, which affects about one in three US adults and one in five Canadian adults.

“The monounsaturated fats in these vegetable oils appear to reduce abdominal fat, which in turn may decrease metabolic syndrome risk factors,” Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State said.

In the randomized, controlled trial, 121 participants at risk for metabolic syndrome received a daily smoothie containing 40 grams (1.42 ounces) of one of five oils as part of a weight maintenance, heart-healthy, 2000-calorie per day diet.

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A transplant of brown fat, which burns calories and regulates the metabolism, could combat obesity, a study has revealed.

Scientists have discovered that transplanting fat could hold key to weight loss.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s thought adding the right type of fat to the body could speed up calorie burning and improve conditions such as diabetes, the Daily Mail reported.

The theory is that there are two types of fat in the body. One is the much-dreaded white fat, which sits under the skin and gives us that beer belly or wobbly thighs. It’s caused by eating too much.

But we also have a smaller amount of brown fat, which generates heat. It does this by boosting the metabolism, burning large amounts of energy so the body starts to burn up the “white fat.”

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It’s not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter — it’s also genetics, researchers have claimed.

In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

The study is the first of its kind to detail metabolic responses to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in a large and diverse mouse population under defined environmental conditions, modeling closely what is likely to occur in human populations.

The researchers found that the amount of food consumed contributed only modestly to the degree of obesity.

“Our research demonstrates that body-fat responses to high-fat, high-sugar diets have a very strong genetic component, and we have identified several genetic factors potentially regulating these responses,” first author Dr. Brian Parks, a postdoctoral researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said.

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Fragrant compounds that occur naturally in raspberries and a number of other fruits are the brand new get-slim-quick fix on the market.

Raspberry ketones are normally used to give a fruity smell to cosmetics and foodstuffs and, as only one to four milligrams can be extracted from every kilo of fresh fruit, a synthetic version is often used to get the same result.

Now, these ketones are being sold online, in supplement form, as a slimming agent, the Daily Mail reported.

The key lies in the fact that the ketones appear to boost levels of a hormone called adiponectin, which regulates metabolism. Higher levels of this hormone are associated with lesser fat stores.

Source: ANI
Image: Thinkstockphotos.com

People watching their weight should pay closer attention to how much alcohol they drink since it is second only to fat in terms of calorie content, experts have warned.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, alcohol makes up nearly 10 percent of total calorie intake among drinkers, the BBC reported.

Having a large glass of wine will cost you the same 178 calories as eating two chocolate digestive biscuits and it will take you more than a half hour’s brisk walk to burn off.

According to Kate Mendoza from World Cancer Research Fund, recent reports have shown that people are unaware of calories in drinks and don’t include them when calculating their daily consumption, but unlike food, alcoholic drinks have very little or no nutritional value.

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A plastic surgery treatment that uses extreme cold to blast away love handles and spare tyres is rapidly gaining popularity in America.

The CoolSculpting treatment, which can be done during a lunch hour, is proving particularly popular with men who do not want surgery or liposuction, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The procedure is done with a machine that uses vacuum pressure and deep cooling to target fat. It freezes unwanted fat cells in the waist, hips, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, arms and back.

Patients can even read a book or watch a film while undergoing the treatment.

It is used for small areas of fat that refuse to budge with exercise, and is done without anaesthetic or medication.

Dr Grant Stevens, a plastic surgeon at Marina Plastic Surgery, which has so far done 4000 procedures in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, claimed he had his love handles done himself.

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Fighting the flab might just be down to how you eat it rather than what you eat, researchers say.

According to scientists, the secret to beating the bulging seasonal waistline is to chew each mouthful of lunch for 30 seconds before swallowing it, the Daily Mail reported.

New research has shown that this has a powerful effect on appetite later in the day, curbing the desire for chocolates, sweets and snacks that can pile on the pounds over the Christmas break.

The volunteers of the study who chewed their lunch in this way during a recent experiment carried out by psychologists at the University of Birmingham ate half as many snacks in the afternoon as those who ate normally.

Although previous studies have shown chewing for longer curbs calorie intake during a meal, the latest research shows that it can also have a significant impact on snacking habits later in the day.

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Participating in online social networks can have a detrimental effect on consumer well-being by lowering self-control among certain users, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

“Using online social networks can have a positive effect on self-esteem and well-being. However, these increased feelings of self-worth can have a detrimental effect on behaviour. Because consumers care about the image they present to close friends, social network use enhances self-esteem in users who are focused on close friends while browsing their social network,” authors Keith Wilcox (Columbia University) and Andrew T. Stephen (University of Pittsburgh) wrote.

“This momentary increase in self-esteem leads them to display less self-control after browsing a social network,” they added.

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The fright that people all over the world have been given regarding consumption of carbs is not justified at all. Carbs are present in many foods, in many forms. Yet, people fear the main cereal sources of rice and wheat, more so, rice, as the major diet villain. Ask any diet freak you know and he will surely say that he has cut out rice totally and reduced wheat and wheat products.

Since carbs are our main energy sources, where are these carb-cutters getting their energy from?

I know a young lady who visibly lives on salads only and yet, is quite obese. How can this happen? The act of cutting out rice and bread gives such people a false comfort. By avoiding rice, they do not realise that the other items they are consuming are also secretly providing them with carbs.

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