The Fat Smash Diet: What It Is
If Hollywood glamour is your thing, the Fat Smash Diet could be exactly what you’re looking for. Ian K. Smith, MD, used this diet on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, where Hollywood celebrities followed the plan and competed to lose weight.
The Fat Smash Diet is not meant to be a quick fix, but instead a lifestyle approach focused on eating healthful, filling foods, and getting lots of exercise. Smith offers an easy-to-follow, low-calorie diet plan, including long lists of foods to enjoy (and those to avoid), plus more than 50 recipes and tips to help dieters change unhealthy behaviors. Smith claims this will be the last diet you’ll ever need, regardless of whether you want to lose 10 pounds or 200 pounds.
Smith’s promise is that you will change your relationship with food and see results in nine days. “On average, most people lose 6-8 pounds in the first phase, then it slows down to a few pounds a week in the other phases as you increase calories,” he says.
If you’re fond of junk food and need help learning to eat right and boost your exercise, the Fat Smash Diet may be the diet plan you’re looking for.
The Fat Smash Diet: What You Can Eat
The Fat Smash Diet is a 90-day program divided into four phases. Smith is adamant about not counting calories in this plan. The only calories you’ll see are associated with the more than 50 recipes.
Phase 1 of the plan is a nine-day “detox” period designed to cleanse the impurities from your system and rid you of all your bad habits, so you can begin to prepare your “temple.” Calories are significantly reduced and water is used to flush the body. You are told to eat four to five meals, whether you’re hungry or not. Skipping meals is not allowed at any phase.
In the first phase of the Fat Smash Diet, food choices should be eaten raw, grilled or steamed. Fats are limited to a maximum of 3 tablespoons, with 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil per day. Allowed foods include unlimited fruits and vegetables (except white potatoes or avocado), chickpeas, lentils, tofu, and beans. It also permits limited amounts of brown rice; low-fat, skim, or soy milk; oatmeal; low-fat yogurt; egg whites; and herbal tea. This is the total menu for nine days.
Phase 2: Foundation is a three-week period introducing additional foods, maintaining the schedule of four to five small meals throughout the day, and enjoying them simply prepared as defined in phase one. Foods allowed in limited quantities in this phase include avocado, lean meats, seafood, whole egg, cheese, a variety of whole-grain cereals, granulated sugar, butter, fat-free mayo, coffee (10 ounces a day), fruit juice, diet soda, lemonade, and club soda.
Phase 3: Construction is a four-week period embodying the principles of the first two phases, with the ability to add more foods into the plan. Portions are a little larger but still limited. Pasta and bread are introduced for the first time, along with one dessert per day, chosen from a short list of acceptable sweets.
Phase 4: The Temple is the final stage and one that the author promises will last a lifetime. In the phase wine, beer, pizza, and potatoes are now included, accompanying the guiding principles of exercise, portion control, not skipping meals, and eating four to five times daily.
The Fat Smash Diet: How It Works
The Fat Smash Diet is designed to change your relationship with food and get you hooked on regular physical activity for the rest of your life. At the end of the 90-day period, you should be making better food choices, eating fewer calories, exercising regularly, and losing weight.
During the detox phase, cravings are suppose to be smashed, and the nourishing power of fruits and vegetables reintroduced to your diet.
Because there is no calorie counting in the Fat Smash Diet, Smith shows you how to seek a balance in your food choices and change your relationship with food so you won’t overeat. “Diets require a change in behaviors and you must learn how to deal with cravings,” he says. “Have a small cookie but if you want more, try frozen grapes, because fruit is healthier and will help you satisfy your craving and control calories.”
Throughout the four phases, Smith intersperses diet tips to teach dieters principles of eating healthy. Each phase comes with a laundry list of allowed and forbidden foods. Indulgences such as beer, wine, sweets, and coffee are kept to a minimum.
The Fat Smash Diet: What the Experts Say
“A simple, easy-to-read book loaded with tidbits and nuggets of useful information, recipes, and workout ideas,” says Tara Gidus, former spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
Although the Fat Smash Diet is a sound diet book in the advanced phases, Gidus dislikes the use of the first phase description. “Detox is a strong word, suggesting a serious addiction, and the word turns me off and may affect dieters the same way.” She thinks the first phase is too strict and may be difficult for dieters to get through.
Additionally, Gidus believes starting a new diet is challenging enough without creating a list of “forbidden” foods. The plan would be easier to follow if restricted items such as coffee, wine, sweets, and favorite foods were added in earlier phases, says Gidus. For example, 10 ounces of coffee per day could be the Achilles heel for many dieters. “This could be a tremendous challenge for lots of people, and there is no reason to limit zero calorie beverages if you drink them in moderation,” she says.
Gidus does believe that phases two through four “are nutritionally sound, encouraging lots of healthy foods, and plenty of exercise, which is a winning formula for weight loss.”
Unlike many plans, the Fat Smash Diet emphasizes fat-burning aerobic exercise. Smith, however, recommends waiting to incorporate strength training until the last phase. Studies show that resistance or strength training — even with light weights — is beneficial for balance, bones, and muscle strength. “Strength training should be part of the program from the beginning,” says Gidus, “and I worry that waiting to incorporate this important physical activity until the last phase sends out the wrong message.”
The Fat Smash Diet: Food for Thought
The Fat Smash Diet’s initial focus on detox may sound gimmicky but, for some people, wiping the slate clean may be a good way to approach a new diet plan and start over with a healthier lifestyle. If you can make it through the plan’s 90 days to the last phase, you are no longer on a diet but living a permanent lifestyle. The changes to the way you eat and exercise should keep you trim forever.
According to Smith, the Fat Smash Diet is suitable for many types of people because it is widely adapted to any lifestyle. Gidus thinks the plan is best suited for anyone who does little to no exercise and is a junk-food junkie.
“Anyone who is already following a healthy diet and getting regular exercise may not get results from this diet,” Gidus says.
source: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-fat-smash-diet