Eating my way to a flat belly

First of all, if I can eat those cupcakes and work towards a flat belly, I'm sold.  Second, this book is so cute with it's bright happy yellow and super fun hot pink I just couldn't wait to get going!   Thank you, Mom!

I know what you are wondering - how the heck is this even possible to eat your way towards a flat belly?  The secret is MUFAs!  (Monounsaturated fats)  The nutritionists at Prevention magazine took habits from people in the Mediterranean (who according to this book and their research, have some of the healthiest stats on the planet) and combined those with loads and loads of research to discover that MUFAs actually target lisceral fat!  That is the dangerous fat that lurks in the core of your body and surronds your organs.  By carefully constructing balanced meals, the Flat Belly Diet has you eating 4 times a day, consuming 1600 calories, and the magic trick is eating 1 MUFA in each 400 cal meal.

There are tons of testimonials inside, and I know of one first hand - my mom.  She suffers from thyroid disease which means she has been struggling with poor metabolism since she was treated - she used to have hyper which means her metabolism was through the roof but, it's a disease and her body was producing too much of the hormone.  They zapped her thyroid and now she has to rely on medication to have any hint of a metabolism.  It's extremely tough and frustrating and I've seen her struggle with it for years.  Two weeks ago, she started this plan and since has lost 13 pounds!  AND she says she is losing it in her belly, the hardest place for her to lose weight!  I'm so happy for her! 

So I say, if she is successful, I can be too!

First step:  4-day Jumpstart

Here is a link to a cheat sheet I created:  Flat Belly Diet - 4-day Jumpstart Plan

Check it out and meet me back here....

... not to bad, huh! And, this is the hard part!  In all honesty, this is pretty close what I eat anyways.  There are a few changes but otherwise, nothing too drastic so far!

So last night I did my shopping for two (Simon is along for the ride) and prepped most of the food for the plan:

Here are my 16 portions of fruit - 1 for breakfast with cereal or oatmeal and 1 for the smoothie.  This was a pain!  3 packages of strawberries, 3 packages of blackberries, and 1 package of blueberries.  AND I think I shorted a few of the baggies so I probably could have gotten 1 more package of blueberries.  Rinsed all and cut up the strawberries and then put 2 handfuls (1c) in a little plastic baggie.  (Thank goodness for my Pampered Chef spinner!)

The veggie tray with plan approved veg for steaming (green beans, carrots, squash) - I think we'll have to replenish this before too soon - does this look like 16 cups to you?  Hardly but we'll see... Sunflower is right across the street so that is a quick and easy fix!

Yummy yummy chicken!  Roasted with Caribbean Jerk marinde.  We only get 3oz chicken per meal.  Wondering if Simon will survive on that little meat!  The alternate is a 4oz fish fillet - I buy the Gortons Tilapia that are delish and they're super easy to pull out of the freezer to bake right when you want your meal.

This is the "Sassy Water" that you drink at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I renamed it "Jumpstart H2O" to make it a little more guy friendly ;)  Water, lemon & cucumber thinly sliced, grated ginger, and fresh mint leaves.  Let me tell you this is sooooo yummy!  They said a lot of people still drink this after the plan is over but I immediately doubted I would cause it is a lot of work every day but I may have to make it here or there.  Yum yum!

And here are the star players:  the MUFAs! Sunflower seeds at breakfast, Flaxseed Oil in the smoothie, and Olive Oil with the veggies at dinner.

Looking forward to getting through the first part and trying out all of their delicious looking recipes.  First order of business Saturday - bake lemon cupcakes!