Flat Belly Diet

By James Sheldon on May 12th, 2010

Nothing like another diet trend.

We’re obsessed. We’re obsessed with the next thing that promises losing weight will be easy. The Flat Belly Diet! is another incarnation of eating less and more often. Smaller portions, enjoy the foods you like, drink enough water and lose up to 20 pounds in 4 weeks. No exercise required.

Well, thank God. Exercise being a tool of the devil and all.

I promise not to do this often, but having a background and sustained passion in the realm of health and fitness, I gotta sound off. Stop chewing on these trends, people. Sure, the “Flat Belly Diet!” (what’s up with the exclamation point?) was developed by the editors of Prevention Magazine, but they’re editors of a magazine. In all fairness, it is a great magazine, but you wanna lose weight and enjoy a “flat belly” that will last? It’s gonna take work. Discipline. Routine. Habit.

What we don’t enjoy in the United States are nutritious diets, and what we’ve become increasingly fond of is doing the least amount possible to achieve a “look.” Whatever happened to wanting a body that was healthy on the inside, and could perform? Obsessed, I say!

Because I’m so tired of all the hype about diet trends, I thought I’d toss some nutrition and exercise science your way. You want an incredible book about the science of nutrition? The Zone, by Dr. Barry Sears. Sure, it became trendy, but a read of the book and you’ll never look at food the same way again. You want an exercise program/programs and dietary supplements that work wonders? Check out the stuff Beach Body is doing. Yeah, the P-90X people.

Are you bored of running on the treadmill, riding the stationary bike or working the elliptical? Get outside of the box. You ever see an overweight paint-baller? How about playing a mean game of capture the flag? Dodgeball? Free-run/Parkour?

Yes. Drink lots of water. At least 8 glasses/day, and if you’re highly active, even more!