If your goal is truly to get rid of belly fat, then you have to stick to no more than 15 grams of sugar and be sure to eat 6 servings of carbs each day—this is from all food sources. Fructose, the sugar found in fruit, has specifically been linked to belly fat; since it goes directly to the liver to be processed, it gets converted to fat and leads to visceral belly fat and high cholesterol. Remember that fruit was created in tropical climates and in earlier times was available only certain times of the year—now we have access to everything, anytime, which is not how it was intended to be consumed. As for vegetables, even though they have nutrients, they’re still carbohydrates that get converted to glucose and must be counted for belly fat loss.

When you do enjoy fruit, try to eat local, seasonal fruit in its complete, natural form (with the skin on) whenever possible, and remember to avoid it in extremely high-sugar forms such as smoothies and juices.