Abs Diet for Women

Last week I read through David Zinczenko's The New Abs Diet for Women and today I will be posting a fair amount about it. It was a longer read so there's a lot to cover. He starts the book out by introducing himself. He is the editor in chief at Men's Health and editorial director for Women's Health (Pg xiv) He starts the book off with a bang that immediately had me interested to read more. "One pound of muscle requires your body to burn up to 50 extra calories a day just to maintain that muscle. Now think about what happens if you add just a few pounds of toned muscle over the course of a diet program. It'll take your body up to several hundred extra calories a day just to feed that muscle - essentially, you'll burn off an extra pound of fat every few weeks without doing a thing. " (xvii).

The premise of his diet is to eat 6 smaller meals a day, focus on 12 Abs Diet power foods, emphasize protein, fiber, calcium and healthy fats, and limit refined carbs. The power foods groups are: ABS DIET POWER; Almonds & other nuts, Beans & legumes, Spinach & other green veggies, Dairy (fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt church), Instant oatmeal (unsweetened, unflavored), Eggs, Turkey & other lean meats, Peanut butter, Olive oil, Whole grain breads & cereals, Extra protein whey powder, Raspberries & other berries. Also, drink mostly water and limit alcohol to 2-3 per week, cheat once per week, and exercise for 20 minutes 3 days a week. (Pg 1-2).  He also encourages you eat more fish and flaxseed. (49).

For the 6 small meals: "alternate your larger meals with smaller snacks. Eat two of your snacks roughly 2 hours before lunch and dinner, and one snack roughly 2 hours after dinner. I.E: 8am breakfast, 11am snack, 1pm lunch, 4pm snack, 6pm dinner, 8pm snack." (85). This is interesting but personally I find it hard to work for me. I get up at 3am, so lunch for me is at 9am. Then dinner is at 2pm. My schedule is really hard to work with as most days I don't feel like eating anything until after work at 12 or 1pm. I have made grand efforts to change this and now I eat every morning before work and try to have a snack at 8 or 11am. "Waiting more than 3 hours after waking up to eat breakfast increases your risk of obesity by 43% Not eating breakfast increases your risk of obesity by 450%" (92).  I am more swayed by Jillian Michael's take on this idea: "Eating small, frequent meals boosts your metabolism: This myth is based on the theory that if you keep adding small amounts of food to your fire, you'll keep it going strong and burn more calories overall. The exact opposite is true. If you keep adding food to the fire, you'll never dig into your fat stores. You're constantly releasing insulin, which puts your body in a constant 'absorptive phase.' In this phase, insulin not only simulates the enzymes that help store sugar and build up fat; it also inhibits other enzymes that tend to release sugar from storage and break down fat. Being in a constant absorptive phase never allows your body the chance to experience the peaks and valleys of insulin and many other hormones that help balance our use of energy (Remember, fat is stored energy) The goal is to eat every four hours so you successfully move from the absorptive phase to the 'post absorptive phase' when your body goes into your energy store for sustenance. In addition, from  a behavioral perspective, grazing can cause you to lose track of how much you've eaten and accidentally overeat. And psychologically, it can leave you feeling unsatisfied because you never sit down and have a full meal." (Slim for Life, 26). I know that was a long quote, but I feel she explains it best.

He spends a large portion of the book explaining why belly fat is so serious and dangerous. He gives us a shopping list to get us started on eating the right foods. His mantra seems to be "More food + More muscle = Less Flab" (27). He includes a handful of testimonials and a handful of explanations for different health problems (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer cells). He talks about each food and explains why they're power foods and why/how they work for the Abs Diet. If you're curious about any of the power foods, just ask in the comments and I can post what he said about it. :) He offers diet additions for vegetarians, calorie counters,lactose intolerant, IBS, people on antidepressants, and those likely to give in to temptation, and those who think little things count. He also gives us a sample of "Your perfect vitamin." (165).

Perhaps the funniest part is when he talks about hormones (he kind of had to since this book is written for women!). He talks about how hormones and PMS can be tamed. (300). "women who ate or drank 1200 mg of calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D daily had significantly lower risk of developing PMS" It sounds like a bunch of broo-ha-ha to me but I'd give it a try I suppose. I feel like once a month those hormones are coming no matter what and everybody best watch out until my hormones check themselves but leave it to a man to figure out how to fix it. Haha, no I'm sure it works. Perhaps this can be a project for a later date. :) [Sexy Saturday: Fighting PMS"] lol. He talks about hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism (306) which I found interesting because I think my dad had a hypo so it could genetically effect me.

He even has a section for moms. "The Mother of all statistics: The average woman puts on 30 lbs while pregnant Where it all goes: 7.5 to the baby, 1.5 to the placenta, 2 to amniotic fluid, 2 to uterus, 2 to breasts, 4 to bodily fluids, 7 to maternal stores of fat, protein and other nutrients, bust and feet tend to increase 1 full size, and 11 lbs are typically lost immediately, excluding the babies weight." (311). He has a special workout for new moms too! It includes a traditional crunch, a pelvic tilt, an inner thigh lift, a pushup, a supermom (lay on stomach with legs straight and arms extended in front of you. Without moving legs, lift torso off the floor as high as comfortably can, like supermom flying off), a fire hydrant, a bench dip, squats, and forward stretches.

He has a section for stress. The workout includes mostly yoga poses: a lying down leg raise, spinal stretch, tree, forward hero, plow, downward dog, warrior 1, cobbler's pose, lunge, triangle pose, reclined twist,  classic relaxation, backbend, forward bend, chair, plank, cobra. Also, pilates moves: swimming, toe dip, swan lie, leg circles, crisscross, leg kicks, back extension with rotations,  and shoulder bridge.

At the end of the book he offers a fairly large guide of nutritional information for common foods.

"Your body uses more calories to digest protein (about 25 calories burned for every 100 calories consumed) than it does to digest fats and carbs (10-15 calories burned for every 100 calories consumed." (31). 

 I really like how he talks about different health risks that go along with belly fat. It reminded me that losing the belly fat isn't just about looking good and it has serious implications if I don't correct it now. I'm in my mid-twenties and it's really like "If not now, when?" As it always seems true with this blog.. I don't want to look back at yesterday or a week ago or five years ago and wish that I started working towards a flat stomach then, I want to do it now and look back and think "Thank God I started that and stuck to it!" YOLO!