‘Homer Simpson’ beer bellies could be gone in days if lager louts follow new fad diet
A poll found that just under 33% of adult men in the UK have a ‘paunch’ or ‘beer belly’ - that’s around 9m of the 28m adult males in Britain, but they’ll have to make some sacrifices if they want it gone
The 9m blokes in the UK with beer bellies could have a flat tum in just five days, a new diet promises. All you have to do is avoid fatty foods like bacon, sausages, steak, and chips and instead restrict your calories to 800-a-day, rather than the recommended 2,500.
Among the dishes you are allowed, include smoothies made of celery, cucumber and avocado, scrambled tofu with spinach, cabbage ‘burgers’, sweet and sour sardines, nettle gnocchi, baked pumpkin and cauliflower and quinoa salad.
The regime - called The Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) - promises to ‘blast belly fat’, reduce cholesterol and lower blood sugar.
The diet ‘tricks’ the body into thinking it’s fasting, while still allowing you to eat, and was developed by boffin Professor Valter Longo, the director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California.
Those taking part in the diet only need stick to it for five days each month, eating what they like the other days.
Prof Longo said all the foods are ‘plant-based, low protein and low sugar’, saying they ‘tip the body into fasting mode’ - called autophagy - which uses up existing fat supplies, especially around the tum. He said that the diet ‘attacks abdominal fat without affecting lean muscle’, adding: “On average you lose 5-6lbs of weight, mostly fat.
“FMD can be excellent to control weight, especially because it does not require unwanted changes in the everyday diet, and it can be done when the person is ready to do it.”
