1 small onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

3/4 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup dry red wine or water

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 Vegetable Flavor Bouillon Cubes

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

2 cans (15 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed

Directions

Cook onion, pepper, celery, wine and garlic in large saucepan over medium-high heat until vegetables are tender.

Add tomatoes with juice, water, tomato paste, bouillon, cilantro, chili powder and cumin; stir well.

Stir in beans. Bring to a boil; cover. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes.

(Makes 6 Servings)

1 – 13 or 14 ounce can apricot halves, drained

1 – 12 ounce can apricot nectar

1 tablespoon honey

8 ounces plain yogurt

2 medium bananas

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Directions

Place all of the above ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Place in freezer and chill for 5 minutes and serve.

6 cups baby spinach, rinsed and patted dry

4 tomatoes, sliced

1 English hothouse cucumber, diced

8 to 10 radishes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

cup fat-free vinaigrette

Directions

In a large bowl, toss together the spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, feta and red pepper. Top with your favorite fat-free vinaigrette.

1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

1 pound seedless green grapes, halved

3 bananas, peeled and sliced

1 – 8 ounce container nonfat strawberry or lemon yogurt

Directions

In a large bowl, toss together strawberries, grapes, bananas, and strawberry yogurt. Serve immediately.

There are several reasons why you have accumulated fat in your belly. The trick to “I want to lose my belly fat” lies in controlling the intake of the products which add to your belly fat while taking the precautionary measures that allow you to lose all of your belly fat fast. You can get slim and slender.

There are several substantive suggestions I have to the dilemma “I want to lose my belly fat.”

1. Do sit ups. Sit ups and crunches are the easiest and probably the most effective way to lose belly fat fast. You will achieve the desired results in no time. All fat is just stored energy. Therefore, in order to lose belly fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume. In order to get the best results, you need to do sit ups which are the single most effective exercise. They work on almost all body types.

2. Next, cut out the fried stuff. In order to get washboard abs, you need to cut out some kinds of foods. Fried foods will put on belly fat faster than any other kind of caloric intake. Fried foods mostly contain empty calories which are poor in nutrient value. They only provide you with calories which add to your belly fat.

3. Don’t snack between meals. Snacking is one of the best (or worst) ways to stack up that belly fat. And, late night eating is the worst kind of snacking. When you consume your calories during the day, you have a chance to burn them off. But, when you eat at night, you go to sleep and that food just sits in your stomach. Additionally, when you eat at night, you tend to engage in mindless snacking. You’ll start out with a whole bag of chips and after an hour of television, half is gone. When you snack, you are not being mindful of your food which leads you to have to say “I want to lose my belly fat.”

4. Burn it off. As I mentioned earlier, belly fat is unused energy. It accumulates in the form of fat in the stomach area. If you want to get rid of belly fat, you have to burn off more calories than you take in. All kinds of aerobic exercise is good for burning belly fat. This can include walking, running, cycling, or working out on a cardio machine at the gym. But even working basic activities like taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work or parking in the furthest lot when going to the mall can help.

If you find yourself saying “I want to lose my belly fat,” follow the four suggestions in this article and you will soon find yourself with the flat stomach that you have longed for.

If you have any type of major health issue then check with your doctor before starting a new exercise routine

Invest in a good pair of shoes suited for your chosen activity

Dress appropriately in clothes that repel sweat

Always start off slowly and increase the time spent on your exercise each week

Moderate works are key when it comes to low impact exercises. At first you may only be able to manage a few minutes of any kind of exercise. By taking the time each day to do just a little more you will quickly see your fitness level increase.

Set yourself small goals each day. It could be something like walking to your mail box or to the end of the street. Then the next day try and go just a little further, until before you know it, you can easily walk around the block.

To improve your fitness you want to increase your metabolism rate and this can be done by eating smaller meals frequently throughout the day. Try to include small amounts of protein as this helps fuel your body and gives you more energy to exercise.

Just eating more healthy foods will make a huge difference in your entire lifestyle. You will notice that you don?t feel as tired and sluggish and that you have more desire to get out and do things. Small changes like this can have a really drastic effect on your body.

Another tip when starting a low impact exercise is to have patience with yourself and don?t get frustrated if you are not progressing as quickly as you hoped. This is very true if you have started exercising with a friend or your spouse. Their body may become accustomed to the new exercise more quickly than you. Don?t worry your body will adapt too.

When starting any new low impact exercise be sure to use any necessary equipment that will keep you safe and make your workout more enjoyable. If you do what you enjoy you are more likely to stay motivated and stick with it.

In order to do a stiff leg dead lift, you will need to have a bar and weights. The common misconception with many people is that this is a body building exercise and people who just want to tone tend to stay away from this. However, this exercise can be done at any weight level, including just the bar. It can help to give you the rounded and toned butt that you want.

How to do the stiff leg dead-lift

1. With the bar on the floor, stand directly in the center of the bar with your body straight and your feet about hip width apart and your knees slightly bent so that you do not harm yourself.

2. Then bend at the hips and grab the bar, making sure that you stay straight and do not bend anything more than your torso forward at the hips. When you grab the bar you will want to make sure that your arms are shoulder width apart and you are holding the bar so that your palms are facing the ground.

3. Lift the bar to about hip level

4. Lower the bar back down, almost to the ground, but do not set it back down

5. Continue lifting the bar and lowering it until you have completed all of the reps in the set and then set the bar back on the ground

Tips for getting the best results with the stiff leg dead-lift

Just as with every other exercise, it is important to breathe. The easiest way to do this with this exercise is to inhale on your way down to grab the bar and exhale while you are lifting the bar.

It is also very important that you keep your eyes focused in front of you while you are doing this. You need to keep your back straight in order to keep from injuring yourself and if you look down at the floor, you will bend your back and you will find that you will end up getting hurt

You will also want to keep your arms slightly bent while you are doing this exercise as this will also help to keep you from hurting your arms

Make sure to keep your shoulders straight and do not let them round forward as this will take away from the full effect of the exercise

While you are lowering the bar to the floor, make sure your weight is in your hells and not in the balls of your feet