People want to know how to get rid of belly fat and fat around their midsection. This is probably the number one objective of anyone looking to lose weight. The question is, can you target midsection fat and what is the best way to do this?
As part of the answer to this question, I want to first present a segment of an interview that we did with Dr. Fuhrman a few years ago.
Jackie Wicks: Here's another question that I thought was interesting, is it true that your diet can specifically target the midsection fat? That's something that a lot of people complain about. I'm really trying to get, and you had mentioned before, sort of the ideal weight is when you can, I think you even just said, pinch a third of an inch for a man and a half for a woman. Is it specifically targeting the midsection fat, or is it really just targeting the whole body fat?
Dr. Joel Fuhrman Well, let me just say that anyone who makes that claim, that their diet can target midsection fat and burn belly fat, or something like that, take that book and just throw it in the garbage because now that completely takes away a person's scientific veracity and honesty.
Because, where you burn fat is genetically determined, and you're going to lose weight from everywhere. But, where weight comes off first, and whether you'll take it off your waist or take it off your breasts, is not determined by the type of diet you're following.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman: So, you have to exercise. You have to eat right. You have to lose weight. And, eventually it will come off from everywhere, but where it comes off can't be a function of the type of diet you're eating. And, no supplement and no diet can tell fat to come off one part of the body and not another part.
I mean, that's why, I don't know if it's OK to mention names of various diets, that I'm objecting to here, but one very popular and very highly promoted diet by Rodale Press is one of the most ridiculous, hurtful and nonsensical diets in the world.
It's almost like the more popular the diet becomes, or we could say, the more ridiculous the claims, and the more unhealthy and hurtful the diet is for a wrong person's health, that determines a diet's popularity because the people just don't know anything about nutrition and they just believe anything they hear. That's nonsense.
And, they want to hear things that promote their addictions. They want to hear that what they want to be, you know, they want to continue the bad habits they're doing. The diet that's most promoting what they think they want to keep doing is going to be the most successful.
Jackie Wicks: Right. What's already within their comfort zone.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman: What's in their comfort zone. I mean, these diets where they put people on these like ketogenic diets in an induction phase, for example, which causes electrolyte shifts that could promote sudden cardiac death and cause an irregular heartbeat. And then, the people go back to a diet that's not as strict, out of ketosis again, and gain back some weight.
Well, that puts more juvenile plaque on their blood vessels, increasing the risk of both arrhythmia and a heart attack. And then they go to a weight loss again. So, one of the most dangerous diets in the world is diets that put you on an induction phase of ketosis. Off the ketosis you gain weight back again, and back, if they gain weight back onto a ketosis or induction phase again.
Those things, those are dangerous diets that are promoting death. And, we've seen a 500 percent increase in sudden cardiac death in women in the last 15 years with the popularity of these diets like Atkins that produce, that allow these episodes of ketosis.
So, and the combination of yo-yoing your weight and allowing ketosis to occur is just really unconscionable that people don't know the danger. And, people, actually, have died from this and have been reported in the medical literature, the deaths that are occurring because people are following these diets.
(end of interview segment.)
Beyond The Yo-Yo Diet Cycle, And Beyond The Marketing Hype
Like a lot of what Dr. Fuhrman says, it is blunt and designed to provoke debate and serious questions. From our perspective, the most valuable service that he provides is getting people to challenge their assumptions.
Things like the Abs Diet are incredibly well marketed. We know the people at Rodale, and they are a good and honorable company. We would observe though that there is an issue with expectation setting in the diet industry as a whole.
If you think about the process of marketing or selling anything, you have to get someone to believe 100% in what you are selling. You have to convince people that you have the answer and if you hand over money, you'll get the answer.
With the Abs Diet, there is excellent advice in there. The issue is one of expectations. If you follow this diet, you will lose belly fat. As Dr. Fuhrman is pointing out, the science is just not there to support this assertion.
We do know that a slow and steady approach to losing weight will help you lose weight everywhere. But we are also learning just how important it is to do this in a steady manner.
In order to do this in a steady manner, you need to do things differently. You need to start introducing new recipes to your family. We have developed two recently that are very easy to make, relatively cheap and that family members, especially men, like.
The first is something that we call the 5 Minute Insane Man Hunger Cure. It is a tasty and easy to make chili/stew that features a lot of very healthy food in a "hidden" way.
The second recipe is a "Bacon and Black Bean Shortcut Soup" that is another great way to get your family to eat healthy.
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