From fat to flat: Popular diet might help reduce dangerous flab

That expanding waistline or "spare tire" around your middle isn't just unflattering — it's a major health risk.

The inch or more you can pinch under your skin, though, isn't the real problem. Excess belly fat lying deeper in your abdomen is the fat that research shows can raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, breast and colon cancer, diabetes and even dementia.

Surprisingly, some thin and normal-weight people can harbor this hidden fat.

"If you have excess fat around the middle, you should take action to lose it — increase activity and decrease calories," says Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.

Katz conducted some of the research behind the popular "Flat Belly Diet" developed by a Prevention magazine registered dietitian to target this vexing problem among men and women, particularly those women past menopause.

A study by Yale researchers showed that nine overweight women on the diet for 28 days reduced belly fat by 33 percent, as measured by an MRI.

While they lost an average 8.4 pounds and 2 inches from the waist, Katz was most impressed by improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, fasting insulin levels, inflammation markers and blood vessel function.

"It was really a powerful argument to the health benefits of this diet," he said.

The Flat Belly Diet (www.flatbellydiet.com) proved to be just what Diana Rolfson, 58, Indianapolis, needed.

She easily adapted to the four, 400-calorie meals every four hours and loved eating foods rich in monounsaturated fatty acids — nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, avocados, olives — at each meal. Diet proponents say these foods are key to storing less fat in the belly.

This Mediterranean-style diet also focuses on vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains and moderate amounts of fish and poultry.

Rolfson has dropped 41 pounds and lost a total of nearly 24 inches from various areas of her body, including 4 and one-half inches from her waist, since last March. She surpassed her goal and now weighs 137 pounds at 5 feet 10 inches tall.

"To me, it just became my lifestyle and it worked for me," she said. "I seldom go off of it now. I never want to go back."