By: Emily G. W. Chau 
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Eat your way to a six-pack. Try the 12 best foods for abs.
Photo Credit: Thinkstock
Bing: Burn belly fat!
Photo Credit: Thinkstock
Photo Credit: Thinkstock
Learn the secret to eating carbs without gaining weight.
Photo Credit: Thinkstock
food swaps intro
You can beat belly fat on a full stomach—as long as you choose the right foods. Making simple substitutions, such as the greens you use in your salads and the snacks you munch come mid-afternoon, can help blast away excess chub. We asked Erin Palinski, RD, to suggest some simple swaps for a flat belly, and she provided the following nine strategies for cutting calories while keeping hunger at bay. Dropping weight has never been this satisfying.Eat your way to a six-pack. Try the 12 best foods for abs.
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Rolled Oats or Bran Cereal for Breadcrumbs
You traded Wonder Bread for wheat and nixed white rice in favor of brown, but there are plenty of other, less obvious, swaps you can make to increase your intake of whole grains. Try substituting rolled oats or crushed bran cereal for breadcrumbs in meatballs, or slip barley into your chicken noodle soup. A 2008 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who loaded their diets with whole grains were more likely to lose fat from their guts than those who noshed on the enriched kind. Whole grains are higher in fiber than refined starches, so you’ll feel fuller eating less, explains Palinski.Bing: Burn belly fat!
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Avocado for Butter
This may sound a little adventurous, but you won’t taste the difference: Switch out half of the butter in a cookie recipe for mashed avocado. This simple change will reduce fat content by 40% and cut the number of calories by nearly as much. You’ll still get the creaminess of butter and the fatty taste, but this substitution knocks out some of the saturated fat in favor of the belly-flattening monounsaturated kind. Sure your cookies might have a green tinge, but they should also be chewier and softer.Photo Credit: Thinkstock
Cauliflower for Rice
Cauliflower is the low-carb dieter’s go-to food. Its mild taste makes the veggie a perfect substitute for carb-heavy potatoes and rice. Whipping up a dish is easy: Use a food processor or hand grater to break up cauliflower florets and stalks into tiny rice-sized pieces, and then sauté them in olive oil. Cauliflower has a lower glycemic index than rice, so your body won’t experience that spike in insulin that can lead to carb cravings, says Palinski.Learn the secret to eating carbs without gaining weight.