The Belly Fat Cure Plan?

My Luvie brought home a First mag for me that had an article on The Belly Fat Cure plan by Jorge Cruise.  Has anyone tried this in conjunction with the tools here on CC?

I like the idea of keeping my sugar intake in check, but I'm a little concerned that most fruits are so high in sugar.  I know it's "natural" sugar...but sugar is sugar and the idea of this plan is to keep insulin levels in check.

Basically you are allowed 15g of sugar and 6 carb servings daily.  Anything under .5g of sugar counts as zero.  So, if a food has 5g of sugar, that counts as 5, meaning you have 10g left for that day.

Anything under 5g of carbs counts as zero.  5-20g of carbs = 1 serving; 21-40g = 2 servings; 41-60g = 3 servings.

Just looking for any comments or suggestions...thanks.

Original Post by tamji:

My Luvie brought home a First mag for me that had an article on The Belly Fat Cure plan by Jorge Cruise.  Has anyone tried this in conjunction with the tools here on CC?

I like the idea of keeping my sugar intake in check, but I'm a little concerned that most fruits are so high in sugar.  I know it's "natural" sugar...but sugar is sugar and the idea of this plan is to keep insulin levels in check.

Basically you are allowed 15g of sugar and 6 carb servings daily.  Anything under .5g of sugar counts as zero.  So, if a food has 5g of sugar, that counts as 5, meaning you have 10g left for that day.

Anything under 5g of carbs counts as zero.  5-20g of carbs = 1 serving; 21-40g = 2 servings; 41-60g = 3 servings.

Just looking for any comments or suggestions...thanks.

I would not shy away from whole fruit. It sounds like the idea is to make sure you stick to only natural sugars. Anything refined like corn syrup, white flour, etc. will blow your sugar budget. My fear is that it is a little restrictive and the kinds of sugars you should be getting are fruits. A balanced diet includes carbs, protein AND fat. Small amounts of fat, yet, but what are you eating, if you're not eating sugar is my question? It might just be another "high protein, low-carb" diet. Not something you can stick with long term. If it's just for a couple of weeks though and you slowly add back fruits and starchy vegetables, I say go for it. Might detox your body from the sugar and start anew.

When I decided to lose weight, I thought about this type of restrictive plan as well, but decided to see a weight loss doctor. Since I have to count calories and fat grams already, I don't think I could analyze every fruit as well. BUT, if you had to, CC is the way to do it, since it calculates it in your analysis.

Good luck!

"sugar is sugar" is wrong.  There are different kinds of sugar - glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, etc. and your body reacts differently to each of them.  Also, sugar in fruit is more slowly absorbed because it is packaged up with fibre.

Personally, I'm not a fan of low carb plans unless the individual has a medical reason for doing so.  "Carb" is far too general a category of food, and there is an enormous difference between a diet that is high in vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains (good but certainly not low carb) and a diet that is high in processed cereals, microwave meals, chips, crackers and cookies (bad).

Thanks susiecue! I'm deffo NOT a fan of low carb plans either.  It's more to try to control my spikes and cravings.  I am eating all kinds of carbs - whole wheat bread & pasta, oatmeal, rice, potatoes...I'm just trying to merge the CC tools with this Belly Fat plan.

I think I will follow the Belly Fat plan for this week, more of a detox I guess, and then once I'm in the swing of things again, with logging food, and planning meals & snacks -- AND THEN STICKING TO MY PLAN -- then I'll add back the fruits.  I love to cook, and I love all different foods - especially fruits.  I just wondered if anyone else out there had tried this particular plan.

thanks again!

Oh man there is no way I could have that little sugar in my diet every day hehehe

....apparently I shoulda tried this for a couple days THEN posted my question....I have discovered this plan is NOT for me.  I miss my fruit too much, and I can't get enough fibre.

So, I've just plotted, planned and printed off my menu for tomorrow, just using plain ol' CC and shooting for:

• "A" grade
• under 2000mg sodium
• under 300mg cholesterol
• between 20-30g fibre (or more)

I am friggin pumped about tomorrow (and the day after and after and after LOL)

LOL. That's why I've always failed at low-carb. I can handle no refined sugar, but you take away fruit too and I fail big time!

For the fiber, I highly suggest Benefiber. No taste and can mix it in liquid of soft food. I tend to mix it in yogurt and soup. I even got it in mashed potatoes. :) It isn't a laxative like many fiber supplements. Just a natural vegetable fiber to fill in when you aren't getting enough. There's only 3 grams per serving too, so you don't have to worry about overdoing the fiber.

I would suggest keeping your fat grams under 35 in addition to your excellent goals listed above. First thing out of my doctor's mouth was 1200 calories and less than 35 grams of fat!

When it comes to impacting insulin, fruit is a totally different animal. Fructose does not require insulin to pass from the blood stream through the cell, wall so as long as that hormonal feedback system is working correctly (you don't have diabetes), fruit will not cause insulin spikes. Enjoy your fruit! Jennifer Reid, R.D., L.D.

You should never ever worry about your sugar intake from fruit. Unless you are a fruit monster and eat 20+ servings of it a day. Then MAYBE it could be an issue.

wow I forgot all about this post all those years ago.....and here I am back again, 2yrs later, I started up again on Jan 3/12, and wow I've made WAY more progress this 3rd (and final) time around.  Obviously, I finally came to the conclusion that there is no "quick fix".  Thanks again for the input though!

Hi Tamji,

I found and started the Belly Fat Cure a year and half ago. I read
the book and try to follow according to the book but quickly adapted my own
plan based on this method of 15g sugar and 6 severing of Carb day.

When I started looking at everything I was eating I was amazed
just how much sugar I was in taking a daily (64 -120g). I always thought
myself to be sugar concise eating ever little sweets and deserts.

I follow this simple plan no more than 15 gram of sugar and no
more than 120 carbs a daily (120 carbs = 6 servings). Using the Belly Fat Cure
book as a tools to determine the foods to eat and then checking nutrition label
for the product I eat (I did not deprive myself of anything I liked
to eat) I just adjusted the amount to maintain the simple plan or found an
alterative the fit in the plan. I lose 20+ pound in a little over a month, but
the real benefit was I was no longer hungry all the time and had no craving and
was full of energy. and looking at my log was easily able to intake less than
15g of sugar a day average around 7 -10g using the sugar alternative in the
book.

I fell off my simple plan and have gain back all the weight I lose
and then some so I am planning on returning to my Simple Plan (no more than 15
gram of sugar and no more than 120 carbs a daily) to lose this weight.

I wish you luck in your weight lose journey.