Typing the phrase “diet books” into the Amazon.com search field yields 3,292 titles — a paltry figure compared with Google’s 9.8 billion hits.
Sometimes it’s a gimmick that attracts a dieter; often it’s infallible promises to help them lose weight easily, or better yet, effortlessly.
One of the newest diet trends comes coated in neon orange — a new trend dieters might just swallow. “The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life,” by David Zinczenko, has hit the market — and the wallets — of those on the eternal quest for rock-hard stomachs.
Defined abs aren’t “reserved for athletes, for models, for body-builders, for trainers, for rappers, for the half-dressed ‘talent’ on infomercials, for genetic freaks, for the liposuctioned and for people who would classify celery as a dessert,” Zinczenko said in the book.
Instead, he says they are an attainable goal for the average American.
The fundamental principle of this book is to build a stronger abdomen to aid in weight loss by shaving off health-hazardous belly fat.
Unlike diet books that focus on restricting food, the Abs diet focuses more on building muscle.
Zinczenko says his diet will build the muscle needed to speed up fat burning; for every pound of muscle gained, dieters need 50 extra calories per day just to maintain the added muscle.
The chapters of this book include “A six-pack in 6 weeks,” “Shocker: How low-carb diets make you fat” and “You have abs, yes you.” The sections focus on three components of fitness: nutrition, exercise and
motivational principles.
Abs cheat sheet
The nutrition component prescribes eating six evenly spaced meals and two snacks per day. It focuses on using 12 power foods in the meal plans, which each include protein, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, fiber or calcium. The diet recommends limiting refined carbs, saturated fats, trans fat and high-fructose corn syrup and suggests restricting alcohol consumption to two to three drinks per week.
The diet also allows cheating for one meal each week, scoring brownie points with any dieter who has
restricted favorite foods in past weight-loss efforts. Zinczenko writes that the best way to control cravings is to satisfy them every so often.
The exercise component begins in week three of
the six-week plan and includes a
20-minute full-body workout three days a week. It also
includes regular strength training, brisk walking or other aerobic exercises and, of course, some detailed abdominal work — 50 core exercises
in five regions of the abdomen.
The plan includes descriptions and pictures of the exercises that can be completed in the gym or at home.
Zinczenko claims it is a perfect diet for people who think they have a better chance of scaling Mt. Everest in a Speedo than of getting great abs because the diet is adaptable to any lifestyle. The book includes detailed success stories that urge Americans to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
As a person who has dealt with the challenges of weight loss on a personal level, Zinczenko says diets like Atkins, the Zone or the South Beach diet fail because they are about losing, and Americans don’t like to lose. He says his diet is capable of widespread success because it isn’t about losing, but about gaining a healthy lifestyle and body.
Even though diet trends can be unhealthy, dieters can take with them positive messages from the programs. The Abs diet promotes healthy fats, protein and calcium consumption, all of which are staples of a balanced diet. It also provides a template for creating a feasible strength-training routine to help build strong bones. For the 130 million overweight or obese Americans and the many individuals trying to get in better shape this year, the Abs diet is a 2005 diet trend worth a try.

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