Dr. Oz Recap 2/5/2013: Flat Belly Plan, Relora, And MUFA

Dr. Oz, February 5, 2013, opens by saying he has assembled a team to analyze his new Flat Belly Plan and give their own suggestions to ridding yourself of a bloated mid section. Liz Vaccariello, author of The Flat Belly Diet, Dr. Shawn Talbott, and Jaime Brenkus, who created the hit video series 8 Minute Abs, are on the show to talk about this four step plan. Liz starts the conversation by talking about how you need to eat more fat to lose fat. We have heard Oz and his guests talk about this before.

Here are the four steps to getting rid of you belly fat. First, to lose belly fat, you need to eat 6 ounces of Greek Yogurt before each meal. Oz says that people that do this lose almost 81% more belly fat in recent studies over those who do not.The Second step in Oz’s Flat Belly Plan is all about getting the right fats into your system. You need to eat three meals with lots of Mono Unsaturated Fatty Acids or MUFA in them. These are the healthy fats that will actually shrink your fat cells.

Liz says we need to get this good fat from plant based sources like nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, peanut butter, flaxseed oil, safflower oil, canola oil, and extra virgin olive oil. She suggests keeping all your meals under 350 calories and using 1 lean protein, 1 complex carb, 1 MUFA, and as many veggies as you want in each one.

The third step is a snack in the afternoon that he says will keep the inflammation down in your body. Dr. Talbott says this snack should be around 100 calories and you should focus on the bright colored veggies and use a lot of berries like strawberries and raspberries.

The fourth step is to drink ginger Iced Tea all day long to reduce your bloating. Jaime chimed in here and said you will never have a ripped mid section if you are bloated because it pushes your stomach muscles down below the skin. Reducing bloating will get the muscles back up to the top so they are more visible. The tea is a simple mixture of 3 bags ginger tea, 1 cup of fresh mint, and the Juice of one lemon added to 2 cups of water and 2 cups of ice. You can drink this all day long.

Dr. Talbott talks about Cortisol and how it is the main cause of belly fat build up. When we get stressed, our body produces cortisol and that causes us to want to eat more while telling the body to store more fat. He says the key is to get stress down as low as possible. Oz says that Relora, 250mg three times a day, is a great natural way to help reduce your stress levels.

He also says aromatherapy really works and you can get some great treatments for as little as $6. Finally, Tart Cherry Juice is a natural source of melatonin that will help you relax and sleep better at night. Oz says we should drink one glass every evening.

Now we know we will never get a flat belly without some kind of exercise. Jaime Brenkus says the days of doing crunches are gone. He says you get a better return on your time when you do whole body workouts that work your core. He gave us a Standing side sit up where you just raise your knee to your elbow. Second was a kick move where you put your arms out in front of you and kick out with your legs while bringing both arms into your side.

Finally, bend at your knees and raise your hands at a 90 degree angle. Twist from side to side while squatting. Jaime says to do these three exercises for 6 to 8 minutes a day and you will see results.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Oz