Do you have the dreaded “spare tire”?

Here are a few tips to help whittle away that belly fat!

1. Clean up your eating habits: Eat smaller portions to reduce your caloric intake. Eliminate processed foods, such as cookies, cakes, crackers, chips and pies. These types of foods contain unhealthy Trans fats and sugars that can increase belly fat. Stay away from anything “white” – sugar, flour, bread and white rice.

Instead eat whole, real food. Focus on eating healthy “energy sources”. For example, eat whole grains like Farro or Quinoa, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds.

2. Start your day with lemon juice: Squeeze some lemon juice into a glass of warm water and drink it every morning. This will help to boost your metabolism and make you more alkaline!

3. Exercise: Do some sort of moderate activity 4-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Don’t just focus on ab exercises as you cannot spot reduce fat in one area. However, by adding abdominal exercises to your exercise regimen, it will tone the muscles underneath that fat layer, so once the fat starts to melt away you will start seeing those nice toned muscles!

4. Reduce stress in your life: Stress increases your body's production of cortisol. This is a stress hormone which gives you an appetite for sugary, fattening foods! The fat you gain gets stored in your belly so it's nearby your liver and can be converted to energy as needed. Delegate tasks and projects, take some time to meditate, or soak in the tub! A biggie is - don't be afraid to tell people "no." -- taking on many tasks because you can't say no can be overwhelming and cause unnecessary stress!

5. Drink plenty of water: Drinking water will help to boost your metabolism, aid in digestion, supports healthy skin, and remove toxins from your body.

6. Don’t be afraid to spice up your life: Use spices in your cooking like cinnamon, ginger, tumeric and black pepper. They help to improve your insulin resistance and reduce levels of sugar in your blood. Ginger has been known to aid in digestive issues, anti-inflammatory, and immunity booster.

7. R-Ala Supplement: R-ALA is a potent antioxidant and pro-insulin mimicker. It works to shuttle more glucose into muscle rather than allowing the glucose to be stored in your belly as fat.

8. Sleep: Going into deep REM sleep helps to burn fat naturally. Getting enough sleep keeps the hunger hormone ghrelin in check. A study performed by The American Journal of Public Health, found that people who got enough sleep had healthier diets. They also found that people who didn't have enough sleep had lower levels of leptin, which is a hormone that suppresses appetite. So the less amount of leptin you have the more you'll eat and you'll end up with more stomach fat.

9. Banish the midnight snack: Ideally, while you're sleeping you want your body to burn its current fat storage for fuel as opposed to whatever you just ate during your midnight snack. Try not to eat anything else at least three hours before bed.