Go Vegetarian For the Flat Belly Diet

Have you heard of the Flat Belly Diet? 

I thought, “Flat belly? Not at 42.” I dismissed the idea, accepted that I am what I am.  Then, tonight I was surfing around, looking for new recipes and I see that Prevention magazine has a whole Flat Belly Diet section. Prevention magazine?  My grandma reads Prevention magazine and she’s way older than I am.

The Flat Belly Diet is not about vanity, it’s not about abs of steel, it’s about getting rid of that layer of fat around your middle that settles in at middle age. The fat is more than unsightly – it is dangerous. The diet fights two types of fat – subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.  Subcutaneous fat is all over the body. The visceral fat lies deeper and it wraps itself around your heart and your organs. People who carry this fat, they can develop something called Metabolic Syndrome, or Syndrome X. Visceral fat is deadly. It increases your risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, high cholesterol, breast cancer, and dementia.

You can read more about here, but here’s the good part – the 5 foods that are recommended with the Flat Belly Diet, they are all vegetarian foods!!  These foods, known as MUFAs are monounsaturated fatty acids. They work to lower your cholesterol and actually slow the aging process. You eat one serving of one of the list items at a meal.

The 5 foods are….

*Oils – flaxseed oil, canola oil, olive oil, sesame oil, etc

*Nuts and seeds – almonds, sunflower seeds, natural peanut butter, tahini, etc

*Avocado – avocado!!!! (my favorite food)

*Olives - black olives, green olives, tapenade, etc

*Chocolate – dark or semi-sweet (my second favorite food)

For serving ideas and serving sizes, look here. These are all foods that are already in a vegetarian diet, in my regular diet. This is absolutely do-able. Meals are supposed to be around 400 calories, eaten every 4 to 5 hours, and keeping the daily total at around 1600 calories.  

I can think of some meal ideas right now………

*A serving of avocado on whole wheat toast for breakfast

*Spinach salad and a vinaigrette made with olive oil, sprinkled with sesame seeds

*A dish of noodles topped with a mixture of peanut butter, sesame oil, tamari, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds

*Brown rice cooked with slivered almonds

*Extra-thin crust pizza with little or no cheese and olives

*A square of dark chocolate for a snack……okay, not a recipe, but still, yum!

In addition, the diet recommends controlling stress, using a food diary, and developing a support system. If you are doing this diet, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear how you are doing.