Losing those inches off your waist line can be pretty difficult. You have probably heard about different foods you can eat to reduce that belly fat like salmon, avocados, and nuts. Those are all great for you, but check out these new foods to try.
1. Coconut Oil. Lets be honest, coconut oil is good for everything. It keeps your hair soft, and shiny, and your skin nice and moisturized but it does other wonders for your body. Coconut oil when eaten daily, can help reduce your waist line! It contains lauric acid, which your body burns quickly to produce energy. You can eat a tablespoon a day and use it to replace vegetable oil in cooking.
2. Red or Purple Produce. By snacking on things like grapes, tomatoes, and eggplant, over time you will gain less belly fat then those who snack on green, yellow or orange fruits and veggies. This doesn't mean you should stop eating those, it just means limit your snacking on them.
3. Vinegar. By including one ounce of vinegar into your daily routine, you can help reduce your belly fat. Vinegar contains acetic acid which helps stimulate the enzymes that burn fat. Try adding apple cider vinegar to your water or a salad to get the burning process going.
4. Whole Grains. People who eat whole grains like brown rice have less belly fat then those who eat the white grain. Making the switch to having 3 servings of whole grain a day helps with appetite control and the fiber in them helps to discourage fat storage in your belly.
5. Beans. Beans contain tons of fiber, especially lentils, black and lima beans. Eating 10 grams of fiber a day can significantly help reduce your rate of gaining belly fat. So you can eat 1 cup of only those types of beans a day and get over 10 grams of fiber.
6. Chia Seeds. Chia seeds are the wonder seed. They have protein and fiber, as well as a fatty acid that you might not know about called ALA. What is does is it helps keep fat away from your organs in your abdominal area. They expand in liquid, so you can use them in anything. Eat 1 tablespoon of them a day.
7. Cinnamon. The active ingredient in cinnamon is cinnamaldehyde. What that does is it helps to burn fatty tissue. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into your diet everyday. It will help reduce your belly fat in one month.
8. Turmeric. Known as an Indian spice that has a lot of bold flavor. It helps pull out the sugar in your body, and burn it for energy instead of becoming fat. Use 1 teaspoon into one of your flavorful dishes. You won't really notice the taste but you will notice the difference in your energy levels.
9. Dark Chocolate. Dark chocolate is the best type of chocolate for you. If it is 70% or higher of cacao dark chocolate, it will help reduce stress hormones. Stress hormones can cause people to gain weight. Eat a one ounce serving a day to help reduce stress and hit that sweet tooth craving.
Snacking isn't always bad for you, especially if it includes one of these things. Try them out for a month and see if you notice a difference around your mid-section or in your energy levels.
~aphrodite
Everyone has seen that one person who obviously has self tanner on and it looks a little funny. You can usually tell because not all areas of the body are evenly coated, some might not even be covered at all. Or the worst, it turned out kind of orange. If you are looking for that summer glow and are more of a DIY person, then here are some steps to show you how to apply self tanner and have it looking great.
1. First start by exfoliating your entire body. This will remove any dead skin, so you have an even slate to start with. If you have any dry areas such as knees or elbows, apply a moisturizer after exfoliation. You want you skin to be moisturized so the tanner takes properly. Drier skin has a harder time fully taking the color.
2. If you are using a gradual tanner, stick to once or twice a week. Using it too often will make it turn weird colors and its meant to darken over time not immediately.
3. Don't shave after you used self tanner. Shaving removes hair but it also tends to remove the top layer of skin. Doing this will leave you patchy. Shave a few hours before apply the tanner and then wait 48 hours or so till you shave again. This gives the product plenty of time to fully soak in.
4. Using too much. If you are applying a full tanner, you can do it every 10-14 days. Anything more than that is too often and will leave you either too dark or turn you orange.
5. When getting coverage on your hands and feet, apply it to the hands and smooth it to the fingers and same for the feet. This will give a more even coverage.
6. To get the most natural looking results, use gloves.
7. To keep your hands from washing off, avoid washing your hands for at least 1 hour after applying tanner. The longer you can wait, the better.
8. Always do a patch test first. This will allow you to see what color it turns to so you can decide if the color is right for you.
9. Make sure you rub moisturizer into your hairline. If you don't, one of two things will happen. You will either have a dark circle around your hairline or a light circle where nothing it. Just use a little lotion to keep this from happening.
10. Never skip an area. This will make it obvious that your tan is fake. Make sure you cover your ears, upper lip, hands, feet and neck. Use a mirror to double check your coverage.
11. Avoid using the same products on your face and your body. They make different formula's because the body ones tend to be heavier and will clog your pores and the face ones are lighter to help prevent that.
12. Don't sweat your tan off. Nothing looks worse then watching your tan slowly sweat and run down your body. To keep your tan strong, apply baby powder to your armpits, chest and any other areas your sweat a lot in. This will help you avoid a streaky, blotchy, mess of a color.
13. Always moisturize daily. Keeping your skin moist is the key to making your tan look fresh and to keep it lasting longer.
Its summer time so try out this tips next time you apply your self tanner! I am sure you will notice a big difference in how it goes on and looks.
~aphrodite
