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Battling The Middle-Age Midsection

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By SUSAN HEMMINGWAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

If you're a middle-aged woman, you've probably already noticed this nice little surprise: Unlike when you were younger, extra weight goes to your belly as well as your thighs. Or worse, even if you haven't gained weight, your stomach changed anyway. You now have an aggravating little pooch that refuses to budge.

You can do crunches every day and starve yourself, and still that jiggly waistline doesn't seem to change. What gives?

Some call this middle-age belly the "menopot." Changing levels of estrogen related to menopause affect how weight is distributed — and suddenly you've got a pot belly.

So go ahead and blame shifting hormones, but don't despair, says Cynthia Sass, a dietitian and nutrition director of Prevention magazine. There is hope. Sass developed a diet to specifically target belly fat and co-authored "Flat Belly Diet," a new book from Prevention.

The Flat Belly Diet involves eating fat at every meal. Yes, fat — but not just any fat. This diet is based on what nutritionists call "good fats," or monounsaturated fats. Nutritionists call them MUFAs (pronounced moo-fahs).

MUFAS are found in foods such as avocados, pumpkin seeds and olive oil, and researchers have begun to look at how they affect belly fat, Sass says. She discovered a string of studies that suggest a MUFA-rich diet could affect the distribution of weight and keep it from settling in the abdomen.

Developing the flat belly diet was Sass' first assignment at Prevention. Sixty-seven percent of Prevention readers — who are mostly middle-aged women — say their bellies are the hardest to change.

Until last May, Sass had a private practice in Tampa, where she counseled clients who wanted to lose weight and also taught classes at the University of South Florida. During the nine years she lived in Tampa, Sass wrote a book, "Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy" and articles for women's health magazines.

After moving to New York City last spring, she flew to Tampa on weekends to be with her husband until he could join her. The experience was part of how she developed the first phase of the diet, a four-day plan to reduce bloat.

She would leave New York with a flat stomach Friday and return to work Monday looking three months pregnant. It was stress from flying and having an upset digestive system, she says. She learned to relax by listening to soothing music on her iPod or getting lost in a good book, and she ate snacks like MUFA-rich pumpkin seeds.

The Flat Belly Diet emphasizes reducing stress, which can cause a surge of fight-or-flight hormones, such as cortisol, that help distribute fat on the abdomen.

There is a belly workout routine in the book, but it's optional. "We would never recommend not exercising. But trying to do both at one time (starting a diet and an exercise program) is too overwhelming," Sass says.

Exercise alone won't rein in a protruding belly, says personal trainer Jason Ham, who works at Lifestyle Family Fitness in South Tampa.

"People come in and say, 'I do 100 crunches and still can't see my abs,' Ham says. "I tell them if you want to see your abs, you've got to shed the abdominal fat."

Reporter Susan Hemmingway can be reached at (813) 259-7951 or shemmingway@tampatrib.com.

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