FLAT BELLY DIET - INDIAN VERSION

I AM LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR MY WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM. I AM WORKING ON A BOOK FOR LOSING BELLY FAT AND WOULD LIKE 15-20 PEOPLE THAT WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT. YOUR WEIGHT LOSS EXPERIENCE WILL BE A PART OF THIS BOOK. SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME AT yogi4fitness@gmail.com. Now on to the article:

I am sure a lot of readers must have heard about the flat belly diet which promises to help you lose 15 lbs in a month. So what is the flat belly diet? And what can we Indians do to incorporate it in our eating plan so we can realize similar benefits. Well there is nothing secret about the flat belly diet. It’s based on sound eating principles and plain old common sense about what to eat at what times of the day. Here I am attempting to guide the readers on an Indian style flat belly diet that will make you shed belly fat. While I don’t claim that you’ll lose 15 lbs in a month, I can promise you that after the initial 3-4 days of insulin withdrawal symptoms that you will go through especially if you are used to eating high carb meals, your energy levels will sky rocket and depending on your starting weight you could realize up to 4-6 lbs of fat loss in a month.

In this plan I have divided the total meals into a 300 calorie average size portion with more calories consumed in the morning and less and less as the day goes on. A total of around 1600 calories will be consumed in 5 meals. Here is a sample meal plan (pick one of the options provided).

Breakfast:

•  One cup of oatmeal in whole milk topped with

o   Handful walnuts or almonds

o   Handful of blueberries or strawberries for sweetness.

• One toast spread with butter and a two egg omelet with a glass of tomato juice or coffee/tea (lightly sweetened).
• One whole wheat cauliflower or spinach (or any other vegetable except potato) paratha, pan fried in a small amount of butter with a glass of tomato juice or coffee/tea (lightly sweetened) and a handful of almonds or a whey protein drink.
• One cup of Upma with mixed vegetables and peanuts and two boiled eggs.
• Few Dhoklas (besan and semolina cakes) with 2 boiled eggs and coffee/tea (lightly sweetened).

Mid-morning snack:

• A handful of walnuts or almonds or an ounce of (60% or more) dark chocolate and a cup of coffee/tea (lightly sweetened).
• A pear or an apple or any other fruit (except mango, pineapple or cantaloupe) and a 8oz glass of whey protein drink.

Lunch:

• One whole wheat vegetable paratha light fried in butter with a bowl of daal and a serving of fruit.
• Two whole wheat rotis with cooked vegetables or beans (garbanzo, kidney, pinto or black-eyed) cooked in regular olive oil (never cook in virgin or extra virgin olive oil). 
• One cup brown rice with daal and a vegetable cooked in olive oil.

Mid-afternoon snack:

•  Same as the mid-morning snack.

Dinner:

•  A bowl of daal or chickpea soup with salad tossed in virgin olive oil.

•  A bowl of chaat made with:

o   Germinated green mung daal or black gram or a bowl of cooked chick peas lightly fried in olive oil with salt and pepper to taste.

o   Thin sev (made from gram flour not potatoes) sprinkled on top.

o   Finely chopped onions and green pepper.

o   Pudina or tamarind chutney (sweetened with splenda)

•  Plain salad with olive oil vinaigrette and topped with grated almonds or walnuts and boiled egg slices.

As you can see I have incorporated plenty of Mono-unsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) in the form of nuts and olive oil. MUFA’s have been shown to aid in belly fat loss and are an easy source of energy for the body to convert. All other ingredients I have chosen based on their GI values. Try to stick with items in green in the table below (click to see) and stay away from the red zone especially after 6 PM because you are most likely to store the carbs from those items as fat.

Eat breakfast within an hour or so of waking up as it’s the most important meal of the day to rev up your metabolism. Skipping breakfast will slow down your metabolism and make your body store fat.  Space out all the meals by 2 hrs or so and never go beyond 3 hrs without eating something healthy. Finish your dinner at least 3 hrs before bed time and if you find yourself hungry at bed time, have a handful of almonds or roasted peanuts. And finally drink plenty of water and keep yourself hydrated.

Please realize that this is only a sample meal plan and it’s possible to create countless combinations of healthy recipes from the table provided above. Although I have nothing against eating meat I have stayed away from any meats in this sample plan just because a lot of Indians are vegetarians. You can always substitute a bowl of daal or roti with a fillet of salmon or chicken breast. Meat has no carbs and so eaten by itself meat cannot promote weight gain. This is why Atkins works for people that want to lose weight fast. Although I have nothing against Atkins, I don’t think it’s a balanced way to eat. We need to have healthy portions of carbs from high quality (low GI) sources like fruits and vegetables to get all our antioxidants and vitamins. By the same token we need about 30-35% of our calorie intake from healthy fats (MUFA) so instead of avoiding carbs or fat it’s best to balance them as I have proposed in this plan. Protein is essential because it helps us preserve muscle mass which in turn keeps our metabolism high. It also helps our body regenerate from the daily wear and tear. Also protein and healthy fat in diet hinder the assimilation of glucose in the blood and slow the glucose to fat conversion mechanism.  Exercise is optional in this plan but will help you shed fat faster if you do choose to exercise.

On a final note, I would love to have volunteers for this diet plan and will work with you and guide you in planning alternative substitutes based on your taste. Please contact me at yogi4fitness@gmail.com if you want to volunteer. If not I would still love to hear comments based on your experience with this diet plan.