What is the Flat Belly Diet?
The Flat Belly Diet, developed by editors at Prevention magazine, is a two part program that requires eating a monounsaturated fatty acid (nicknamed "MUFA") at every meal promising you'll lose belly fat without doing a single crunch. The month-long diet calls for four meals a day. The first-phase is a four-day anti-bloat diet that allows 1,200 daily calories. The second-phase is a four-week program that instructs an adult woman to eat four 400-calorie meals a day.
How does the Flat Belly Diet work?
Eating MUFAs - oils like canola, sesame and, olives, some nuts and seeds, avocados and dark chocolates - at each meal will fill you up and lessen belly fat while aiding overall good health. Binging brought on by hunger is avoided by requiring you eat a 400-calorie meal every four hours. The book has sample meals. An exercise program is recommended and described as something that will quicken your results but is not required.
What does research say?
The research sited in the book is a 2007 Spanish study that looked at the effects of three different diets including the body fat distribution. A 2004 study compared diets high in monounsaturated fat with low-fat diets and found no difference in weight loss.