A bestselling book touts the benefits of eating a modified Mediterranean diet, but some doctors and dietitians warn that research has yet to prove that eating monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, will speed up the dieting process. Research has shown that eliminating belly fat can benefit your heart, lower your cholesterol and decrease your blood pressure, but the "best diet" debate continues.
Lose your belly
Can eating a modified version of the Mediterranean diet, including olive oil, avocados and almonds, give you a flatter belly and boost your heart health? It depends on whom you ask.
In their book "Flat Belly Diet!" Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian, recommend a 1,600-calorie-a-day diet for women, with 400 calories per meal, and eating every 4 hours.
Published in 2008 by Rodale Press, which also prints Prevention magazine, the book has spent at least 12 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
A magic bullet?
Sass and Vaccariello maintain that monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, found in certain oils--nuts such as almonds, pecans, walnuts and Brazil nuts and Florida and Hass avocados--will help you get rid of a big belly, which leads to cardiovascular disease.
"The latest research shows that these dietary superstars may even target fat where it's hardest to lose---in your belly!" said the book's website. They recommend having one of these superstars at every meal.
That Bloated Feeling
To jump start the diet, the authors advise eliminating salt, which makes you retain water, and eating cooked vegetables. Raw vegetables can expand your gastrointestinal tract with extra volume, making you feel bloated.
Even chewing gum can make you feel bloated, they claim. "You probably don't realize this, but when you chew gum, you swallow air. All that air gets trapped in your GI tract and causes pressure, bloating and belly expansion."
Smaller portions of unsweetened, dried fruit and canned fruits in natural juice will also help dieters to meet nutritional needs.
Strength training is advised, because most women lose half a pound of muscle per year, starting in their 30s. Muscles burn fat and boost your metabolism.
Dangers of Belly Fat
Doctors say that the most dangerous belly fat is what you can't see: visceral fat, deep within your abdomen. In large amounts, it can cause various health problems.
"As much as half of the overall population has too much visceral fat, though many don't know it," said Dr. David L. Katz, an Associate Professor Adjunct of Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine.
You don't have to be overweight to have too much visceral fat.
Losing weight can reduce belly fat, researchers say. When Prevention magazine tested its Flat Belly Diet participants, they shed an average of 8.4 pounds and almost 2 inches from their stomachs in a few weeks. The Yale scientists also used MRI tests to show that the program targets abdominal fat, decreasing it by 33 percent.
The MRIs proved that the plan also lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation and insulin resistance, Katz said.
No Miracle Cure
Dr. Ed Zimney, however, disputes that anyone needs to buy a $31.95 book to learn how to trim belly fat.
The MUFA diet, Zimney wrote, is a version of the Mediterranean diet, which has been known to offer health benefits.
"There is no miracle cure for belly fat," Zimney said. "Complex, restricted diets requiring calorie counting and MUFAs at every meal are bound to fail. Eat a little less, exercise a little more. Lower your fat intake and replace some, or a lot, of your bad fats with MUFAs. But do it gradually, do it sensibly, do it over the long-term."
He recommends reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food." Pollan's advice? "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
"When he says food," Zimney said, "he means fresh food, not highly processed, high fat, high sugar industrialized food."
Recipes Listed
Actually, the flat belly dieters don't count calories, wrote Dr. Kathleen M. Zelman on WebMD.
"Instead, they choose from a list of 28 interchangeable mix-and-match breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snack packs. Food lists with portion sizes and calories allow flexibility in creating snack packs and can be used whenever you need it most."
The Prevention book provides 80 recipes, with a nutrient analysis of calories, protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and fiber.
Healthy Lifestyle
When losing weight, you are more likely to reduce it from your waist regardless of the plan, wrote Dr. Michael Jensen, a Mayo Clinic obesity researcher and endocrinologist. The flat belly plan promotes a lifestyle of healthy eating, weight control, stress reduction and exercise that might continue beyond its 32 days.
For people who skip meals or don't eat breakfast, the diet can help change bad habits, Jensen said.
While losing belly fat is important to your health--extra pounds there increase your risk of cardiovascular and other diseases more than extra weight in your hips and thighs--scientific research is lacking on diets that focus on belly fat, Jensen said.
"There are so many variables associated with weight loss that it is premature to associate belly fat with a specific food or diet plan," Jensen said.
"The science behind the jump-start plan associated with stress, gum chewing, bulky raw foods, drinking carbonated drinks, alcohol, coffee, tea, and acidic fruit juices is pure speculation and not based on scientific research," wrote Christine Rosenbloom, a registered dietitian. "There is not adequate scientific evidence to link lack of sleep, stress, or MUFAs to a reduction in belly fat."
Watch the Fats
Adding healthy fats, Rosenbloom said, can make dieting easier and provide vital nutrients such as fat-soluble vitamins.
Dieters, she cautioned, need to watch how much of the nuts and guacamole, which are high-calorie fats, they are eating. Eating too much could sabotage your diet, she said.
For more about the diet, visit www.flatbellydietplan.com.
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