How To Eat For A Flat Stomach: A Brief Guide To Metabolic Typing

Wouldn’t you love to be able to do your grocery shopping - or go out to dinner - without the constant confusion of what to choose?

I don’t mean deciding between the choc fudge brownie or the berry cheesecake; although those sort of decisions can be tough! No – I’m talking about knowing how to choose the right foods for your body…

…which means:

• Foods that will enhance your energy and turn you into a fat-burning machine.
• Foods to give you the flat stomach you’ve always dreamed of.

When it comes to eating some people are lucky enough to hit on a diet that works wonders but most drift from one trend to the next, wondering with increasing frustration why - despite paying careful attention to what they eat - their energy continues to decrease and their weight continues to balloon.

If you’re an avid reader of our blog, you’ll have heard us mention Metabolic Typing. In fact – you may begin to notice that you’re hearing about Metabolic Typing more and more – everywhere from your local gym to the Sunday papers.

What is Metabolic Typing all about?

Metabolic Typing removes the guesswork…
With Metabolic Typing the hit-or-miss approach is gone for good as you learn that what makes one person look and feel amazing may have no effect on you, and may in fact make you look and feel worse.

Helps you become a fat-burning machine…
Metabolic Typing teaches you about your body’s unique macronutrient (Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates) needs, allowing you to achieve exceptional health and more efficiently convert food to energy rather than store it as fat.

And resolves frustrating symptoms…

• Food or sugar cravings
• Water Retention
• Inflammation or allergies
• Headaches
• Stomach aches
• Lethargy
• Mental fog
• Insomnia
• Anxiety

These are all symptoms of a dysfunctional system, not how we are designed to feel nor should they be accepted as ‘normal’. Eat right for your Metabolic Type and you often won’t have to deal with them.

How do you do it?

It’s not hard to figure out. It’s all about tuning in to your body. The thing is, you can read every book, research every fad, or listen to every ‘expert’ but at the end of the day your body knows best. It’s all about listening.

Follow these steps to start understanding your unique Metabolic Type and achieve a flat stomach and six pack abs:

1. Lay the foundations

In this case, it means eat protein, fats, and carbohydrates (carbs). Whatever type you are, you need all three of these at each ‘main meal’.

• Proteins are basically anything with eyes (no, not potatoes!). Non-animal sources of protein include legumes, nuts, dairy and eggs.
• Carbs include fruit and vegetables, as well as grains and legumes.
• Fats (the good ones) are found in oils such as olive oil or coconut oil, as well as foods like nuts, olives, and dairy.

How much of each do you need? Keep reading … but before we get to that, keep in mind that…

2. Mother Nature knows best

If it wasn’t around 100 years ago, don’t eat it! I know that’s pretty hard when you’re surrounded by all the packaged, over-processed, quick-to-eat stuff available today and doesn’t allow much room for treats, but it’s a great rule to apply 80% of the time.

If it’s packaged, processed, has lots of words you can’t pronounce on the label or just doesn’t look like real food – steer clear of it! Your waistline and stomach will thank you.

3. Listen and record

Here’s where it gets a little more specific to you. To understand your unique Metabolic Type, you need to pay attention to what’s going on in your body.

What are your physical, emotional, and mental responses to the foods you eat? Here are some good questions to ask yourself:

• Are you energised from your food?
• Do you feel satisfied but not heavy
• Do you have cravings?
• Does the meal sustain you for at least 3 hours?
• Has it improved or diminished your mental focus?
• Has your mood changed for the better or worse?
• Did you sleep well afterwards?
• Has it affected your digestion?
• Do you feel like eating this way is helping you loosen your belt?

You might like to start keeping a diary; simply record what you ate, when you ate it and how you felt an hour or so afterwards. As soon as you begin to do this, you’ll start to notice some patterns and become more attuned to what makes you feel good versus what doesn’t.

4. Wipe the slate clean

After tuning in to your body for a week or two, you’ll start to notice some interesting things. For example, you might become aware that when you eat a big cooked breakfast, you feel good and keep going for hours. Or maybe not. We’re all different!

What I’m saying is – you might notice ‘positive’ outcomes to foods that you thought were unhealthy. It’s quite common that people need to eat more fat and more protein but are scared to do so based upon previous beliefs, perceived wisdom from popular diets and nutrition advice.

So at this point, I’d like you to wipe the slate clean. Forget everything you know and imagine that you were doing a research project – on you. Your job is to pay attention only to the subject and it’s responses. Outside information is not relevant here!

5. Review

This is a really simple step, but crucially important. All you need to do here is start to review the records you’ve made - it’s best to do this once a week.

Look for patterns - there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. Here are some of the patterns you might look for:

• Frequent small meals giving the best response
• Less frequent larger meals giving the best outcome
• A greater proportion of proteins and fats making you feel your best
• A diet higher in carbs helping you feel and look great
• An emphasis on lighter foods being best for you
• An emphasis on heavier foods being best
• Feeling and sleeping great when you eat right before bed
• Feeling and sleeping best when you don’t eat before bed
• Different combinations being preferable (ie. eggs and toast doesn’t really cut it for you, but when you add some beef or pork you feel great)
• Needing different meal sizes or combinations at different times of day

6. Fine-Tune

Use your responses and your review notes to fine-tune your individualised Flat Abs eating plan.

Try any of the following to help you fine-tune and find the best plan for you…

• Eat different combinations of foods
• Change your current eating schedule
• Accept that something you’ve always viewed as ‘healthy’ may not be the best food for you (or the other way around!)

The more you fine-tune your eating plan by playing around with the quantities and varieties of proteins, fats and carbs, the more you will come to understand your body – what drives it (literally) and what you need on a meal-to-meal basis to llook and feel incredible.This is a basic overview and guide of how you can make Metabolic Typing work for you; it is enough to get you started but the proof, as they say, really is in the pudding. If you don’t give this a go, you’ll never know.

Remember…your body already knows all the answers – all you need to do is listen.

The next post will be responses to Frequently Asked Questions on Metabolic Typing and Individualised Nutrition.

Please post your questions below in the comments section: