Beach Body Meal Plan

When you’re trying to get a perfect beach body, the most important step to take with your diet is cutting calories. Only by reducing your calorie intake below what you burn will your body be forced to draw upon its fat stores and give you a more toned appearance. Apart from the amount of calories you take in, the types of food you eat can also help you tone up.

Slow Digestion

The ideal food is slowly digested, low in calories and high in nutrients. Eating foods that are low in calories will help you lose weight and the nutrients will keep you healthy. Foods that are digested slowly will help reduce body fat storage.

When a food moves through the digestive system quickly, it gives you a large amount of energy in a short amount of time. If you do not burn off that energy with exercise right away, your body will store it as fat which is the exact opposite of what your goal is.

Quick Digestion

Sugar, found in high amounts, can contribute to quick digestion. Sugar is already a basic substance so it does not need to be digested for a long time before it gets absorbed.

Avoid foods that are high in sugars such as cakes, cookies, doughnuts, sodas and candy. Fruit are also high in sugar but because they contain a lot of fiber, they are digested slower than most junk food. Using fruit as snacks between meals can help prevent cravings for junk food thereby decreasing your intake of sugary foods.

Fiber

Fiber slows digestion down dramatically. If you eat meals that are high in fiber, your body will get the energy from the food slowly and you won’t have to burn it off right away. A slower energy release means your body is less likely to store energy as fat since there won’t be a lot of free energy floating around.

Foods high in fiber include fruit, vegetables, whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice and oats. Avoid anything that is made from white flour as most of the fiber has been stripped out give them a better flavor and texture.

Liquid Calories

You should also avoid taking in too many liquid foods: fruit juices, shakes and sodas. When you eat whole food, your stomach does a lot of the mechanical digestion: your stomach acts as a blender. If you drink too many liquid calories, digestion time will decrease and you will have the same problem as eating too much sugar: too much energy leading to fat storage and weight gain. Quick digestion also leaves you hungry in a short amount of time which will force you to eat even more throughout the day.

The Bottom Line

Eating foods that are slowly digested will help your body use energy more efficiently. It will store less energy as fat and you won’t get hungry as quick. This will help keep your body fat percentage low and total calorie intake down, which will help you attain a perfect summer body.