- With Mayo Clinic nutritionist
Jennifer K. Nelson, R.D., L.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Jennifer K. Nelson, R.D., L.D.
Jennifer K. Nelson, R.D., L.D.
Jennifer Nelson is your link to a better diet. As specialty editor for food and nutrition, she plays a vital role in bringing you healthy recipes and meal planning.
"Nutrition is one way people have direct control over the quality of their lives," she says. "I hope to translate the science of nutrition into ways that people can select and prepare great-tasting foods that help maintain health and treat disease."
Nelson, a St. Paul, Minn., native, is a registered dietitian and has been with Mayo Clinic since 1978. She is director of clinical dietetics and an associate professor of nutrition at College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
She leads clinical nutrition efforts for a staff of more than 70 clinical dietitians and nine dietetic technicians and oversees staffing, strategic and financial planning, and quality improvement. Nelson was co-editor of the James Beard Foundation Award-winning "The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook" and the New York Times best-seller "The Mayo Clinic Diet."
She's been a contributing author to and reviewer of many other Mayo Clinic books and publications, including "The Mayo Clinic Family Health Book," "The Mayo Clinic/Williams Sonoma Cookbook" and the "Mayo Clinic Health Letter." She contributes to the strategic direction of nutrition, healthy eating and healthy recipes content, including creating recipes and menus, preparing and reviewing nutrition content, contributing to the Nutrition-wise blog, and answering nutrition questions.
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Question
Flat Belly Diet: Can it help you lose weight?
What's the Flat Belly Diet, and can it help you lose weight?
Answer
from Jennifer K. Nelson, R.D., L.D.
The Flat Belly Diet is a weight-loss diet from the editors of Prevention magazine. They say that the Flat Belly Diet will help you shed belly fat and lose up to 15 pounds in just 32 days. The creators also say that you don't have to exercise to achieve these goals but that exercise can boost your results.
The Flat Belly Diet has two phases, a four-day "anti-bloat" phase with specific foods and drinks, and a four-week eating plan during which you eat 1,600 calories a day. The Flat Belly Diet emphasizes eating foods that are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). According to the diet's creators, eating food with MUFAs specifically helps you lose belly fat, without exercise. Such foods include olive oil, nuts, seeds, soybeans and avocados. MUFAs are an essential part of every meal on the Flat Belly Diet. The diet also encourages you to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
The Flat Belly Diet hasn't been shown in large clinical trials to work for weight loss better than any well-balanced, calorie-restricted diet does. You might lose weight on the Flat Belly Diet because it limits total calories and encourages a generally healthy way of eating.
Although a quick fix to your weight problem may sound appealing, the reality is that successful, long-term weight loss requires a lifelong commitment to healthy eating and exercise. Put your energies into eating a balanced, healthy diet instead of focusing on a single component such as MUFAs.
Next questionHCG diet: Is it safe and effective?
- Vaccariello L, et al. Flat Belly Diet. New York, N.Y.: Rodale; 2008.
- Jensen MD (expert review). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 30, 2011.
- Nelson JK (expert review). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 31, 2011.
- Romaguera D, et al. Food composition of the diet in relation to changes in waist circumference adjusted for body mass index. PLoS ONE. 2011;6:e23384.
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