Find out how to lose belly fat quickly and safely

May 27, 2011. Bill Szydlowski

By some accounts, more than 100 million Americans are either overweight or obese, with the percentage of obesity highest among kids. The trend toward excess body fat is growing at an alarming rate, with many children approaching morbid obesity even before their teen years begin.

This unfortunate situation has a fortunately simple explanation, and an equally simple solution.

It’s all about the specific foods we eat, not how much food we eat. For years, we’ve been told by ostensibly reputable sources that gaining weight results from eating too much food. Most of us have come to believe the popular myth that the body responds to a natural “energy balance” that results in adding body fat if we consume more energy than we “burn” through our daily activities. This isn’t the case, which will be welcome news if you’ve ever tried to starve yourself by cutting calories under the misguided belief that consuming fewer calories would be the quickest way to lose weight. Fortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way.

If you’re interested in learning how to lose belly fat, you’ll be happy to learn that it’s very simple. You lose belly fat the same way you lose fat in all other areas of your body: by reducing the average insulin levels in your bloodstream. Fat only gets stored in fat cells in the presence of insulin, which is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to an increase in your blood sugar levels. Blood sugar rises fastest when you eat sugar, starch, and other easily-processed carbohydrates.

In order to keep your blood sugar at healthy levels throughout your day, you need to significantly cut your sugar and high fructose corn syrup consumption, as well as reduce your consumption of potatoes, breads, pastas, rice, brownies, cake, cereals, and similar foods. While this will probably be hard to do at first, particularly if you’re used to a plate full of sugar and starches, you’ll be amazed at how rapidly the weight goes away.

Updated May 27, 2011. Published May 26, 2011. Bill Szydlowski