THE BELLY FAT CURE
January 2010
A new book I mentioned a few months ago is now on the shelves. It's called The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. His philosophy is reduce belly fat by keeping your insulin levels low. Insulin is a hormone that manages your blood sugar and controls the accumulation of fat. Fat gets released when you insulin levels are low. Fat stays put when your insulin levels are high. By lowering your sugar intake to 15 grams per day and having 6 carbohydrate servings per day (20 grams or less per serving), you will significantly lower your insulin levels, lose 4-9lbs of per week and shed that unwanted belly fat. It works. I've done it, clients have done it and we feel great!
Excess sugar in our diets is among the most important factors conspiring against our health. Excess belly fat and too much sugar means increased risk of weight gain, obesity, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. Having an appropriate waist measurement is an indicator of health. For women the goal is 35" or less, for men 40" or less. Measure your waist around your belly button. If you want to get more accurate based on your height, take your height in inches and divide it by two - this will be your ideal waist circumference.
In the 1800's we averaged 11 grams of sugar per day. Now the average American eats 189 grams of sugar per day (that's 47 teaspoons!). Even if you think you're healthy and don't eat that many sweets, start checking your nutrition labels and see how much do consume. If you start your day with milk in your coffee, sweetened yogurt and a banana, you've already consumed 40 grams of sugar. Most wheat breads have 2-5 grams of sugar per slice. Fruit averages 12-18g of sugar per serving. Low sugar fruits include blackberries (7g per 1 cup serving) and raspberries (5g of sugar per 1 cup serving). Almonds have 1g sugar per 1/4 cup serving, cashews 2g per 1/4 cup serving. If you drink apple or orange juice, one 8 oz. glass often has 25-35g of sugar. V8 juice is 8g per serving. To get to 15 grams of sugar per day, you must pay attention! Check out the video on Cruise's website for examples of common foods we think are healthy that are loaded with sugar and easy carb swap suggestions to reduce your overall carb and sugar intake. You can also do a quick lookup of nutrition labels here: nutritiondata.com
What I like about Cruise's "formula" is:
- You know your sugar - 15g or less per day
- You know your carbs - 5-20g is one serving; 21-40g is 2 servings; 41-60g is 3 servings. Anything under 5g is not counted. You must be exact. If a slice of bread says 21g carbohydrates per serving, then it counts as 2 carb servings with this plan.
- You track it - There's a planner provided in the book (or make your own) and you cross off one sugar box per gram consumed and one carbohydrate box per serving consumed. Once you've checked off your boxes, you've reached your daily limit.
- 100+ recipes - His book includes breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes and how to carb swap popular restaurant meals into healthy meals you can easily make at home. You'll also find sugar and carb serving info for 800+ items in his book.
- Awareness - You must read your nutrition labels to know what is in your food. You also get more conscious of what's an appropriate serving size.
- Personal accountability - By 'ticking' off sugar and carb grams you've consumed each day, you create structure with an eating plan and accountability by tracking it.
- Carbs are not off limits - Sprouted breads, whole wheat breads, rye breads, gluten free breads, pancakes, french toast are allowed in generous portions with low insulin impact! (choosing the correct brands is key)
- Permission - There's permission to eat the foods you enjoy. If you've tracked your intake and are only at 10 grams of sugar after dinner - you can still have 1/2 a dark chocolate bar (>82% cocoa). It only has 5g of sugar. No guilt, just enjoy.
Is this the be-all-end-all eating plan? No, there are many that are good. The key is to experiment and see what works for you. Let me know how it goes. You'll be amazed how fast it works. I know you can do it!
See how others have made Wellness Coaching work for them. Try a complimentary 30-minute coaching call and take a "test drive." 847-971-3643 / andrea@hgcoaching.com
