Stomach flattening exercises can be great. Some people take up abdominal crunches, situps and the rest and see a firm, flat belly in no time. But if you look carefully at the lifestyles of those people, ab workouts are not the only thing they are doing. If you are not seeing the results that you hoped for with belly flattening exercises, this could be why.

Eating For A Flat Stomach

Of course, very large meals will fill and stretch the stomach. It is better to eat small meals more frequently. Train your stomach to expect less at one time and it can shrink. If you need to lose weight then a healthy diet should be combined with an exercise program to tone up the muscles.

However, how much you eat is not the only question. Sometimes the stomach can become bloated due to other factors. These can include water retention (especially for women around the menstrual period) or a reaction to something you ate that is causing gas. Examples would be if you ate a lot of beans or fruit, or if you are intolerant of certain foods.

Fruit is best eaten alone or before other food. Fruit is quick to digest and if you eat it after a meal that includes meat, fats and/or grains, the fruit cannot pass through the stomach to the colon as quickly as it should. It stays backed up behind the slower digesting food and begins to ferment in the stomach, causing gas (just like the bubbles in beer).

Beans are best if well cooked. Canned beans have usually been cooked a long time in the canning process so they are often easier to digest than dried beans that you soaked and cooked yourself. It is said that adding a little seaweed such as kombu to the water when home cooking dried beans helps to reduce the gas.

Some people have food intolerances that can lead to bloating and gas. For example, yeast intolerance can have this effect. Yeast is in most breads, beer and some other foods. Candida albicans overgrowth can also be a problem. You would need to see a nutritional specialist or doctor to be tested for these problems.

Cleansing For A Flat Belly

Another thing that can cause swelling in the belly is hardening of the wall of the colon caused by an accumulation of unevacuated matter over the years. Most people are carrying several pounds of this matter, more and more as we grow older.

There are two ways to deal with this build up of waste in the colon. One is colonic irrigation which washes it out like a deep enema. You should see a specialist for this. The other is a colon cleanser or detoxifier which is a mix of herbs and other ingredients that claims to strip the waste from the colon wall. You can buy these online or in health food stores. There are many to choose from and some will be better suited to you than others. They may or may not be regulated. Consult your doctor before taking any remedies.

If you take care of these matters, you should soon find that the size of your belly will naturally reduce. This is the time to take up those stomach flattening exercises again, and you should see better results this time around.

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