Health special: Flat tummy forever

By James Duigan

Last updated at 2:26 AM on 15th May 2011

If you want evidence of the plan's effectiveness, look no further than the woman on these pages, Christiane. There was a time when she didn't like her tummy. Then she met me. I told her about my regime, she became a convert - and now she's my wife!

I'm talking about good fat, the sort found in nuts, avocados, oily fish and oils. I’m not talking about bad fat – also known as transfats, which often go under the names hydrogenated oil, hydrogenated vegetable fat and partially hydrogenated vegetable fat. Good fats should be eaten every day. They encourage your body to burn fat around your middle, giving you a nice, flat tummy, and help to absorb vitamins and minerals more efficiently. So whenever you have a salad, always add some good fat to it, whether you drizzle it with olive oil or sprinkle over some chopped nuts or seeds.

2 Take a bath

Lots of my model clients take an Epsom salts bath just before a bikini photo shoot. Just add one or two mugs of Epsom salts (available at most pharmacies) to a hot
bath – not too hot, as you want to be able to sit in it comfortably. Epsom salts are an ancient remedy for drawing out toxins. Taking one or two of these baths a week will speed up your weight loss.

3 Spring-clean your insides

The ideal ratio of bacteria in a healthy human gut is 85 per cent friendly to 15 per cent
harmful. However, studies show that too many people in the West have this ratio the other way around. If your stomach doesn’t feel fantastic or if it looks or feels noticeably
different (swollen, sore, bloated, etc) after eating certain foods, then it may be time you cleaned up your gut in order to get your stomach really flat. To do this you must first eliminate all the foods, chemicals and products that cause the bad bacteria to breed.

• Drink filtered water rather than the chlorinated water that comes out of your tap.
• Eat organic meat. If money is an issue, eat meat less often and buy better quality for the times when you do. Non-organic meat comes from animals that are fed antibiotics, which you then end up consuming.
• Cut out alcohol, which kills friendly probiotics (it’s also packed with sugar, which makes you fat).
• If you have to take antibiotics, remember that they kill all bacteria – friendly and unfriendly – so always take probiotics afterwards to replenish your good bacteria.
• Many everyday, over-the-counter drugs can lead to a paunch, so keep all unnecessary medications to an absolute minimum.
• For a list of foods and supplements that will repopulate your gut with friendly bacteria, see part one online at you.co.uk.

4 Don’t overcook it

If you overcook food, you’ll kill off or reduce the number of nutrients it contains. Try to make sure about 50 per cent of the food on your plate is raw. If you can manage it, eat all your vegetables raw. If not, steam, blanch or roast them to retain as many of their nutrients as possible.

5 Beware of gluten

Foods that contain gluten can weaken your abdominal wall and make it slack, resulting in a protruding stomach. Lots of people are gluten intolerant, which can inflame the bowel and make it look bigger, especially just below the belly button. Foods containing gluten include: bread and pasta (unless otherwise stated)

• most breakfast cereals
  
• muffins l pastries l baked goods l pizza bases
• pie crusts l biscuits l cakes l croissants l bagels
• alcohol made from grains, eg, beer, whisky,
• bourbon and liqueurs l cheese spread l ketchup
• processed meats l margarine l oats l salad dressings l sausages l seasoning mixes l semolina l soups, apart from home-made l soy sauce and most Chinese sauces l sweets that contain stabilisers made from gluten.
  

6 Sleep it off

We’ve come a long way since going to bed when the sun sets and waking up when it
rises, but this is how our bodies were – and still are – designed to function. Most of
us follow a completely different sleep timetable to that of our ancestors, but if
you return to this old-fashioned way of sleeping you’ll lose weight, especially around your tummy and waist. A hormone called leptin is responsible for telling your brain when your stomach is full, and it also helps to control appetite and metabolism. Not sleeping properly disrupts this hormone, which is why you find yourself eating more when you’re sleep deprived. However, there are ways of tweaking sleep to resemble our ancestors’ schedule, but which are still practical for modern life. Here are five tips
for tummy-toning sleep:

• In the hour or two before bed, turn off your laptop, TV and mobile phone, and keep your lights low. You need to make your environment dull and calm, in keeping with your natural body clock.
  
• If your bedroom is too hot or too cold, you won’t sleep; the ideal is 16-18C.
  
• If possible, have 15-minute power naps during the day. Even if you can’t fall asleep, have 15 minutes with no electronic gadgets, books or magazines. Just lie down with your eyes closed and breathe deeply.
  
• Use blackout blinds in your bedroom to cut out any sunlight, street lights or lights from passing traffic. Failing that, buy an eye mask and pop it on before you go to sleep.
• Establish a bedtime routine. Do something relaxing every night before bed, whether it’s having a bath, listening to music (studies show that classical music calms the brain), or reading a chapter of a book – then go to sleep at the same time each night, give or take 30 minutes.
  

7 Eat flat-tummy foods

It’s hard to escape stress in modern life, which doesn’t help us win the battle of the bulge. Studies show that the stress hormone cortisol causes our bodies to dump fatty deposits all over our tummies and waists. Being stressed all the time is like sticking on an extra inch of fat. But the following foods can help to reduce stress which, in turn, will keep your tummy flat…

• Blueberries are top of my list because they’re a low-GI (glycaemic index) food, which keeps your blood-sugar (and energy) levels steady. Eat a handful of blueberries every day if you can.
• Green vegetables, such as broccoli, kale and asparagus, the darker the colour the better.
• Red, yellow and orange vegetables, including tomatoes, carrots and peppers.
• Turkey contains an amino acid called L-tryptophan, which triggers the release of serotonin (a relaxing feel-good brain chemical).
• At least 2-3 litres of still, room-temperature water sipped regularly throughout the day.
• Natural, organic yoghurt provides a good hit of minerals, including calcium which is important for your nerves. Yoghurt also neutralises the acidity caused by stress.
• Oily fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel contains lots of omega fatty acids, which control levels of cortisol and adrenalin (another stress hormone) in the body.
• Almonds, pistachios and walnuts are full of vitamins B and E, which boost your immune system (whereas stress weakens it). Have a small handful of nuts every day.
• Avocados help to lower blood pressure because of all the monounsaturated fat and potassium they contain.
• Cantaloupe melon is an excellent source of vitamin C, which is great for beating stress.
• Beef is full of iron, zinc and B vitamins, all of which have been shown to chill you out. But limit yourself to one or two portions a week, organic if possible.

8 Don’t be a screenager

Limit the amount of time you spend watching TV or browsing on your computer in the evening. It will suck the life out of you, disrupt your sleep and overstimulate your brain. Only watch one or two TV shows that you like, or go online to do something specific – never both at the same time, and not for longer than an hour or two a night.

9 Steer clear of vampires

Stay away from ‘energy vampires’. You know the ones I’m talking about – ‘friends’, colleagues or family members who drain you of energy with their negative attitude. Spend time with people who make you laugh or do things that you find fun.

10 Have a massage

Do this every week if you can, as it releases calming, feel-good hormones into the body. If you can’t afford it, get your partner or a friend to give you a foot or shoulder rub.

11 Take time out

Have some down time every day. Whether you’re alone, or with your favourite person,
spend at least 30 minutes of every day doing something relaxing.

12 Always have breakfast

Eat within one hour of waking up, otherwise your body will become stressed, with the consequences that entails. If you don’t have time for a proper breakfast, just grab a piece of fruit and a few nuts.

James Duigan is the founder of Bodyism, a unique nutritional and personal training system (bodyism.com). His clients include Elle Macpherson, Hugh Grant and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley