Calories and Belly Fat

Calories and belly fat – is there a connection between the two? Yes, there is. What is the connection between calories and belly fat? Calories and belly fat are connected in a number of intricate ways. What am I talking about? Here is the deal:

We all know that eating plenty of vegetables is a healthy and necessary part of any diet, whether you are trying to lose belly fat or just stay healthy. New research now confirms that filling at least half of your dinner plate with vegetables, reduces the number of calories that you take in at dinner time while still satisfying your hunger, which can help you lose belly fat. In short, you need to reduce your daily calories to lose belly fat, but here is what the study found.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University put this theory to the test. They gave volunteers varying amounts of vegetables on their plate and reduced other foods in the meal proportionally. Three groups received dinner plates which contained either 25 percent, 38 percent or 50 percent broccoli with the balance of the plate filled with roast beef and rice pilaf.

The group with the highest amount of broccoli (using a butter-flavored substitute for flavoring) ate 16 percent fewer calories in the meal than the group with only 25 percent of the plate occupied by broccoli. That amounted to 86 fewer calories in one meal with just as much food.  Since losing belly fat means reducing calories, this trick can help you get rid of that extra belly fat faster.

Of course, this only works if you do not go back for seconds and if you do not just pile up the food on the plate. The total overall amount of food on the plate stays the same; it is just that more of it is broccoli. In addition to fewer calories, of course, you are also getting more of your daily recommended portions of vegetables this way. The study participants reported no increase in hunger between the groups.