6 Ways to Shrink Your Belly (And 5 Don’t Include Exercise!)

6 Ways to Shrink Your Belly (And 5 Don’t Include Exercise!)
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Joseph Mercola
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If you’re looking to shrink and tone your belly, there’s a better way to do it than trying to do crunches. In fact, research has shown that doing abdominal exercises alone—even when performed five days a week for six weeks—has no effect at all on subcutaneous fat stores and abdominal circumference.

In an op-ed piece for Forbes Magazine, Jennifer Cohen suggests using strategies that burn up cortisol instead. Cortisol is a hormone in your body that depletes lean muscle and holds on to fat in the abdominal region.

One of the most important ways to help this process is to reduce stress in your life, because stress causes cortisol levels to spike. Cohen also delves into a number of other strategies that help reduce your cortisol levels, such as the following. 

  • Getting enough sleep 
  • Reducing or eliminating refined sugars from your diet 
  • Slowing down your breathing  
  • Doing short bursts of exercise (high-intensity interval training)   
  • Supplementing with vitamin C   
  • Eating fats―the good kinds such as the omega 3’s found in salmon, avocados and walnuts

The KEY Strategy for Reducing Belly Fat

Dieters who slept for 8.5 hours lost 55 percent more body fat over the course of two weeks than dieters who only got 5.5 hours of sleep a night. (AOL Screenshot)
Dieters who slept for 8.5 hours lost 55 percent more body fat over the course of two weeks than dieters who only got 5.5 hours of sleep a night. AOL Screenshot
Joseph Mercola
Joseph Mercola
Author
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of Mercola.com. An osteopathic physician, best-selling author, and recipient of multiple awards in the field of natural health, his primary vision is to change the modern health paradigm by providing people with a valuable resource to help them take control of their health.
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