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(Rated 2.46/5 from 13 votes)
Loading ...Flat Belly Diet
The Flat Belly Diet is written by two editors from Prevention magazine. Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass have modeled their diet around a traditional Mediterranean diet.
The book is available for $31.95 from Prevention.
The diet claims that - not only will the scales go down - but "[…] it targets the second type of fat–visceral–which is much more dangerous and difficult to lose".
Diet Basics
The Flat Belly Diet is based on monounsaturated fats (also called MUFA: Monounsaturated Fatty Acids). Every meal should have a MUFA component (that ideally replaces the saturated fat content).
Meal plans are set at 1600 Calories per day.
Recommended Foods Containing MUFAs
- Oils
Canola oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, peanut oil, pesto sauce, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, walnut oil. - Nuts and Seeds
Almonds, almond butter, Brazil nuts, cashew butter, chunky natural peanut butter, dry-roasted cashews, dry-roasted peanuts, dry-roasted sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, roasted pumpkin seeds, smooth natural peanut butter, sunflower seeds, sunflower seed butter, tahini (sesame seed paste), walnuts. - Olives
- Dark Chocolate
The rest of the diet is very similar to a Mediterranean diet:
- Fruit (in season)
- Vegetables (in season)
- Whole grains
- Limited red meat intake
Exercise
The program recommends exercise - and provides a series of cardio workouts, and full body resistance training exercises. However the marketing of the diet claims "no exercise required".
Overall
The marketing claims surrounding the Flat Belly Diet are excessive at best, and false at worse. Example: Targets unhealthy belly fat first!, Lose up to 7 lbs and 5 3/4 inches in just 96 hours!, Zero Exercise Required! Eat the foods you love and never go hungry.
This market-speak is simply designed to sell product - without any firm evidence to back it up.
However, there is research backing up the claims made about MUFAs. In a number of studies it has been shown that replacing saturated fats in the diet with monounsaturated fats results in a small weight loss, and an improved cholesterol profile.
Provided the marketing material is not taken too seriously, this is a healthy diet, and, when followed will probably result in weight loss. The claim that it will specifically target visceral belly fat seems to have little basis in research however.
References
- Substitution of saturated with monounsaturated fat in a 4-week diet affects body weight and composition of overweight and obese men, British Journal of Nutrition, Vol 90 Issue 3 Sep 2003. Piers et al.
- Cholesterol reduction using manufactured foods high in monounsaturated fatty acids: a randomized crossover study, British Journal of Nutrition, Vol 81 Issue 6 Jun 1999. Williams et al.
i want a diet that is easy to follow that will gove me a body like a model and i feel that this diet is hard to understand and that it should be layed out easier.
you should do the cabbage soup diet i went on it for for days and lost like 9 pounds, working out everyday helps BIGTIME!it was crazy,,i did gain back some weigh but if you really wwant it then you can do it i guess,, my frined did it and she still looks good! this diet is like a headstart to your own diet,,but u have to keep going or the fat will come back!!!!
omg i need a diet that is easy and effective because im in 8th grade and i have to have lunch at school and you know tht school lunches are horrible!! can anyone please help me out?? im 13 and im 130 and i want to lose 20 pounds and be like i was last year.
i really need to shed the pounds! i need a diet that will work for me. i hate when my thighs stick together. i hate having to wear the plus size juniors. i need help!!!
I need to lose 15lbs in 5 days….can it be done?
Speaking from a woman who’s tried everything, the cabbage soup diets, as well as the liquid diets are a quick fix but the weight will come back once you introduce solids into your diet again.(The cabbage soup diet also makes you skin, as certain elements are excreted through your pores). Weight watchers worked but i never understood why they charged so much to get weighed in.
Dr B is the worst WORST diet anyone can go on.PLEASE TAKE THIS AS A WARNING DR. BERNSTEIN IS DANGEROUS. The results were quick and as promised but I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had some sort of side effect. For myself, I followed everyword of the diet, my hair started falling out and thinning, I would get black outs, popping more vitamin and potassium pills than a person should. I developed an allergy to the shot, i couldn’t exercise because they recommend you don’t because you’re living off 800 calories a day. Skin sagged and as soon as my family MD told me to stop the weight started coming back even though i was eating healthy. Skin sags etc. i’m 22!!! and had the body of a 35 year old when skin starts sagging.
I’m going to try this flat belly diet and see how it works for me.
Its just wrote out in plain English that everything they are saying and your still gonna try this one??? Why?
I need to 10lbs and would like a flat belly this will be my first time dieting what you suggest would be a good diet to try?
how did you lose the belly without workout
am 22 and its like im an old woman with seven kids, hope this flat belly program works
I really want to lose my belly fat,tell me how.