What Foods Should I Avoid to Reduce Body Fat?

Excess body fat is usually the result of taking in more calories than your body needs. Eating the wrong kinds of foods, or too much food too often, will contribute to the problem. Understanding what foods you should avoid can help you reduce body fat.

Sugar and Sweeteners

• Sugar and other types of sweeteners, such as corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup, are concentrated forms of energy that cause blood sugar to spike and insulin levels to rise. The body responds quickly to use these forms of energy; anything it cannot use, it stores as fat. Sugars easily convert to fat, making it simple for the body to store calories from sugar as extra body fat.

  Avoiding foods that are high in sugar or contain added sugar---or foods that list sucrose, corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup on the label---is a primary strategy to reduce body fat. Because alcohol is a concentrated sugar, reducing or eliminating alcohol from your diet may also help you shed body fat.

Fats

• Fats, both saturated and unsaturated, are high in calories, and consuming the wrong kinds of fats or too much total fat will contribute to excess body fat. Saturated fats, such as those found in dairy products, meats and some vegetable oils, should not take up more than 10 percent of your total caloric intake each day. Although your body needs some fat to digest foods and absorb vitamins and minerals, too much fat intake leads to stored fat.

  Unsaturated fats, such as those found naturally in vegetable or nut oils, avocados, nuts and seeds, are good for your body but still are full of calories. Remember, if you take in more calories than your body needs in a given day, the excess gets stored as body fat. Keep fat intake below 25 to 30 percent of total calories.

  Completely avoid trans fats, hydrogenated fats and partially hydrogenated fats, which are hardened fats created from chemically changed vegetable oils. Not only do they contribute to body fat, they negatively affect heart health. You can find these fats in margarine, fried foods, processed foods, and commercial baked goods like doughnuts, crackers and cookies.

Starches and Processed Carbs

• Because certain kinds of starches and carbohydrates, like processed cereals and enriched grains, affect your blood sugar levels much the way sugar does, it is easy for your body to convert excess calories from carbohydrates to stored body fat. Avoid refined carbohydrates, such as white flour, white rice and white potatoes. Refined grains remove the fiber from the grain, and fiber is what helps your body control the spike in blood sugar and insulin levels when you consume sugar or starch. Whole grains, brown rice and sweet potatoes are better options.