Flat tummy fast, best rest, mindful drinking

Pouty, wobbly, solid or apple – no two tummies are exactly alike. Time to find your type – and a slim-your-middle motivator!

Whether it’s a diet tweak or a few stress-less exercises, it’s easy to whittle that middle once you know how! Read on for your tummy type and the perfect belly beater for you…

Bloated tum

You know it... that overinflated, tight-as-a-drum feeling that gets you when you least expect it – seriously no fun at all.

WHY BLOATED?

“This is such a problem, particularly for women,” says nutritionist Marilyn Glenville, author of Natural Solutions To IBS (Macmillan, $27.99).

“You feel fine when you wake up, but as the day goes on you feel more and more uncomfortable, with clothes feeling tighter and tighter.”

Bloating can be down to stress, antibiotics, food sensitivity or even irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). But the FODMAP diet could help ease your tummy angst. Not about losing weight, it only aims to ease pain, gas and unhappy bowels.

WHAT IS A FODMAP?

Ready for it? It’s an acronym that stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharaides and polyols. Basically carbohydrates and sugars in foods that don’t break down well in the gut. Undigested, they become food for bacteria, trap water and create gas! If you have a turbulent tummy, check if foods high in FODMAPS are the cause.

HOW DO I DO IT?

It’s about replacing high FODMAP foods with lower ones. Some foods are the usual suspects, others are a surprise.

WHICH FOODS?

Out go the usual windy suspects such as cabbage, onion and cauliflower, as well as wheat and milk, but surprising foods include honey, apples, pples, pears, cherries, artificial al sweeteners and avocado, to name just a few. Green beans, ans, bok choy, carrots, spinach, bananas, rockmelon, potatoes, tatoes, butter, hard cheese, maple syrup and rice are OK. K.

Apple tum

When you’re unsure where your muffin top ends and your ur bust begins begins, s, apple is your shape – but it t doesn’t have to be your post-menopause destiny!

WHY APPLE?

We love to blame our hormones, and this time we can!

“As the oestrogen levels fall, hormone balance is displaced, which leads to more fat being deposited around our tummies,” mies,” says p pharmacist and homeopath Margo Marrone.

“Also, as we age, we have less muscle and more fat, which adds to the problem. But all is not lost.”

WHAT’S THE PLAN?

“Controlling stress and eating well makes a huge difference.” So tune into that smart combo...

FIND WAYS TO DE-STRESS

Put the brakes on stress – it fu fuels your loss of shape, trig triggering hormones that spark glucose product production and belly fat. fat

WHAT HELPS?

Supplements can help. “Magnesium “MMA relaxes the body and mind, helping you cope with stress and insomnia,” says Margo. Try taking a magnesium and calcium complex regularly – the two work together.

Solid tum

Well, we’ve been through all the excuses, which only leaves us with the waist-less tum that actually may be the easiest thing to shift.

WHY SOLID?

This really is a no-brainer – when that once hourglass shape has become a rather solid cylinder, it’s because we’ve eaten too much!

WHAT’S THE PLAN?

Sorry, it’s a diet! But which one, when we suspect that, like the rest of us, you’ve tried so many? Currently, everyone’s trying the 5:2 fasting diet of five days normal healthy eating and two where calories peak at 500-600. (In exciting news, this figure has been revised to 800 by 5:2 founder Dr Michael Mosley, who says it’s almost as effective and more achievable.)

DOES IT WORK?

Yes! “On a psychological level, it makes calorie cutting easier,” says nutritionist and author Angela Dowden.

“For many people, two really strict days a week are more doable than denying