The Flat Belly Diet
Many people are looking for ways to trim their belly fat, especially in the months leading up to bathing suit weather. Many diets claim you can shed the pounds and look great while still eating the foods you love. Prevention magazine’s Flat Belly Diet is one of those diets. This reduced-calorie diet aims to speed up your metabolism and ensure that you don’t take in more calories than you expend.
The claims
The Flat Belly Diet boasts a 91% success rate, according to its website, and it says you can lose up to 7 pounds and 5 ¾ inches from your belly in only 96 hours. The book’s cover brags that you can lose “up to 15 pounds in 32 days.” However, Health.com reports that the average tester lost about 7 ½ pounds within that time period.
Monounsaturated fatty acid
The Flat Belly Diet encourages its participants to eat a certain kind of fat: monounsaturated fatty acid, or MUFAs. This fatty acid can be found in avocados, peanut butter and olive oil. Whereas saturated fats clog arteries, MUFAs keep blood vessels soft, malleable and efficient. The researchers behind the Flat Belly Diet argue that MUFAs locate and eliminate belly fat. These fats will both keep you satisfied and mobilize your metabolism to erase excess fat, the diet proponents add.
The eating method
In order to achieve these results you need to do a few things consistently over the course of the diet: eat one serving of a MUFA at every meal, eat a meal approximately every four hours and eat around 400 calories per meal. During the Anti-Bloat Jumpstart period—the first four days—you consume 1200 calories each day of nutritious, non-bloating foods, such as lean meats and cold cereals. On the fifth day, you officially start the Flat Belly Diet wherein you consume 1600 calories per day of primarily Mediterranean meals, including fruits, lean protein, fish, legumes, olive oil, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Throughout the entire process you maintain a food journal, which the diet says will help you cultivate healthier eating habits.
Online membership or book?
Prevention magazine presents a few options for how you may follow this diet plan. You can sign up online for a membership to their exclusive website at the cost of $19.95 per month, or the discounted rate of $49.50 for three months. You can also simply purchase the guidebook, which is available through various booksellers and online retailers. If you choose to buy the guidebook directly from the Flat Belly Diet’s official website, you will receive three additional complementary guides for slimmer arms and thighs, cellular skin rejuvenation and healing herbs.
Health benefits of a balanced diet
Many other popular diets pose possible dangers to the body by reducing calories too quickly. A Mediterranean diet, on the other hand, can reduce the risk of heart disease, blood pressure and cholesterol, according to its proponents The diet encourages balanced eating, the healthiest method for weight loss.
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