The 8 Best Foods for Your Waistline

A flat stomach is not just about looking great in your favourite body-hugging outfit. Having a smaller waistline cuts your risks of heart disease, diabetes type 2, and other health problems. If you’d like to whittle your waist, add these eight products to your daily nutrition and define your middle.

8. Garlic: When it comes to weight loss, garlic appears to be a miracle food. It contains the compound allicin, which has anti-bacterial effects and helps reduce unhealthy fats and cholesterol. It’s a tasty herb that can be used with nearly every food: add chopped garlic to spaghetti, lasagna or any other pastas dish, mix garlic into dips, salad dressings and salsas or even into your cookies and brownies.

7. Asparagus: Asparagus is a winner when it comes to folic acid - a vitamin that helps prevent neural-tube birth defects. Two major antioxidants - beta-carotene and vitamin C - are also abundant in asparagus. By neutralising damaging particles in our bodies like smog and cigarette smoke, antioxidants are major contenders in the fight against heart disease, cancer, and cataracts.

Asparagus is a food low in calories and high in volume. By eating larger portions of foods less packed with calories, you squelch those hunger pangs, take in fewer calories, and feel better about your meal, which contributes to how satisfied you feel overall.

Asparagus can be served hot or cold: add asparagus to your favorite salad or to freshly cooked pasta with olive oil. Chopped asparagus makes a flavourful and colourful addition to omelets.

6. Тomato: This vegetable is one of the favourites in weight-loss diets, because it is tasty, extremely versatile (can be eaten in many ways) and exceptionally effective. Its anti-oxidant properties further enhance its health benefits by keeping the body fighting fit and young looking. It is also a great success in these types of diets because it completely fat free and has a minuscule amount of calories attached to its name.

Tomatoes are delicious cooked or raw in salads, sauces, salsas, toppings, jellies, soups, stuffed and sun-dried. Frozen and canned tomatoes are great in soups, sauces or many other dishes.

5. Grapes: Grapes has many medicinal properties. Normal nutritional balance and is clearing the organism from bacteria. Grapes contain polyphenols, which regulate fat metabolism and helps keep you young. Add grapes to your muesli, mix it with yoghurt or make a fruit salad.

4. Eggplant: Eggplant is considered one of the top five antioxidant foods. Our environment is filled with free radicals that get into our bodies and accelerate the aging process. Some free radicals also increase the risk of some types of diseases.

Eggplant is normally used by those who want to reduce fat in the body as it increases fat burning by the body. In addition, eggplant also eliminates the water accumulated in the body by reducing the excess weight from fluid retention. It is recommended for indigestion and constipation due to its fibrous properties, laxative and nutritious. It also has plenty of vitamins (A, B1, B2, B5 and C), proteins and minerals, also reducing blood pressure. Eating eggplant on a regular basis can help in weight loss and gives good health.

3. Avocado: Exotic and very useful avocado fruit improves memory and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. It contains almost no carbohydrates and sugar; it has no grams of cholesterol and harmful fats. Avocados are rich in vitamins (A, B, C and E), they contain riboflavin, niacin, fiber, copper, potassium and magnesium.

Avocados make you feel full - half an avocado contains 3.4 grams of fibre, including soluble and insoluble, both of which your body needs to keep the digestive system running smoothly. Plus, soluble fibre slows the breakdown of carbohydrates in your body, helping you feel full for longer.

2. Blueberries: Blueberries are full of powerful antioxidants. They fight against disease, give you energy, and their sweet taste makes a great snack. Already regarded as a 'superfood' because of their high vitamin and antioxidant content, the berries may also have the power to trim excess fat from our bodies.

A new University of Michigan Cardiovascular Centre study suggests that blueberries may help reduce belly fat and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

The magic bullet is the high level of phytochemicals in blueberries. Dark purple fruits are high in the phytochemical anthocyanin.

As a healthy part of your diet, try a blueberry and banana smoothie. Other healthy snack options include a toaster waffle topped with fresh blueberries and yogurt, or a blueberry, yogurt and granola parfait. Or enjoy a handful of the little blue fruits alone.

1. Broccoli: Broccoli is considered as a wonder food even among the nutrient dense field of vegetables. It is rich in vitamin A, potassium, folic acid, and plenty of fibre. Having this kind of diet is a sure way to optimise your health in both short and long term. This vegetable is very effective in terms of weight loss for three reasons. First, it will give you the feeling of being full since broccoli is very rich in fibre. When you are full, you will stop eating hence there is a greater chance that you will lose weight.

Second reason is that broccoli is packed with all the needed nutrients. One of the theories of hunger has to do with the fact that most processed food lacks nutrients and the hunger we feel is really just the body seeking out nutrients. To be able to get what you need, you have to eat more and more. Broccoli, as mentioned earlier, is rich in nutrients so the body is satisfied and you eat less.

And lastly, broccoli is low in calorie. It now completes the weight loss trifecta by being very low in calorie like the other vegetables out there.

Broccoli is a versatile vegetable that you can work into your diet in many ways. You can eat broccoli raw in salads or with hummus or guacamole. Roll broccoli-slaw (like coleslaw) with sliced turkey in a tortilla for a filling sandwich substitute. Served raw, broccoli is a great finger food. Add chopped frozen broccoli to your favourite pasta sauce and serve over whole grain noodles. Make an egg-white broccoli frittata for a healthy, satisfying breakfast or dinner, or serve a meat-free bean chilli over steamed broccoli. When serving broccoli, skip the cheese sauce. Keep it simple; add a squeeze of lemon and a dusting of cracked pepper or a drizzle of olive oil.