Zero Belly Diet Review

The Zero Belly Diet is a diet plan that promises to slim your waist and drop fat in just two weeks or less.

Find out everything you need to know about the Zero Belly Diet today in our review.

What is the Zero Belly Diet?

You can probably guess what the Zero Belly Diet does from its name: it promises to trim your belly fat.

The diet was created by a dietician named David Zinczenko, who you might recognize as the same guy who wrote Eat This, Not That! which landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list, Zinczenko is also the former editor-in-chief of Men’s Health.

It promises to give you a “revolutionary new plan” that will “turn off your fat genes” and “help keep you lean for life.”

What’s even more interesting is that the diet promises zero exercise, zero calorie restriction, and “zero worries”.

How Does The Zero Belly Diet Work?

So how exactly does this magical diet work?

Here are some of its basic rules:

— You Can Start With A 7 Day Cleanse, Which Involves Restricting Your Diet For 7 Days To Slim Down And Cleanse Your System. The Cleanse Is Totally Optional.

— You Eat Mostly Plant-based Foods During The Day, Although You Can Eat Eggs For Breakfasts

— You Eat A Lot Of Vegetables, Fruits, Lean Protein, Healthy Fats, Nuts, Seeds, And Legumes

— You Get To Eat Three Meals Per Day, Plus Smoothies And One Optional Snack Each Day

— You Eat One Cheat Meal Per Week

— You Need To Avoid Gluten, Refined Grains, Dairy, Sugar, And Processed Foods

— You Can Drink One Alcoholic Beverage Per Week And One Cup Of Coffee Per Day, If You Want

Those are the general guidelines of the Zero Belly Diet. We’ll get into more specific instructions below.

Zero Belly Diet was released in 2014 and is available as a hardcover book or as an eBook and audiobook.

Starting with a 7 Day Cleanse

The Zero Belly Diet is first and foremost a 14 day diet. That’s the main part of the diet. It’s currently priced at around $15 for the hardcover book on Amazon.com

However, the book also includes a 7 day cleanse you can use to kickstart your diet, or to clean out your body after a party-filled vacation.

Here’s some basic rules for this (optional) cleanse:

— Your daily cleanse diet consists of one Zero Belly drink for breakfast, one Zero Belly drink for lunch, one snack anytime during the day, one Zero Belly cleanse dinner, and no dessert

— Each of your meals, drinks, and snacks must contain protein, fiber, and healthy fat

— Cleanse dinners must consist of protein, vegetables, and healthy fats, and you are forbidden from using grains or fruits

— You’re not allowed to drink alcohol or eat any cheat meals

— You need to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day

— You can drink tea to speed up weight loss. You’re allowed to drink 3-4 cups of green tea, oolong tea, mint tea, white tea, red tea, or rooibos tea per day.

If those meal restrictions sound overwhelming, then relax: you’ll find specific meal suggestions in the Zero Belly Diet book.

Rules to Follow When Starting the Zero Belly Diet

Here are some of the most important rules to follow during the Zero Belly Diet. You can start these rules after your cleanse or avoid the cleanse entirely.

— Eat three square meals per day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

— You’re allowed to drink one Zero Belly Diet drink each day

— You’re allowed one afternoon or evening snack if you’re still hungry outside of meal times

— Sit down to eat and avoid distractions while you eat. Chew thoroughly.

— You’re allowed to have one zero-guilt cheat meal per week. This meal can be anything you want at any time of the week.

— Ask yourself three “Zero Belly Diet Questions” before every meal or snack, including: Where’s my protein? Where’s my fiber? And where’s my healthy fat?

Zero Belly Diet Meals to Eat

Looking for the best foods to eat in the Zero Belly Diet?

Here are some of “preferred” foods and food groups to eat.

9 Preferred Zero Belly Diet Foods

Zero Belly Diet drinks; eggs; red fruits; olive oil and other healthy fats; beans, rice, oats, and other healthy fiber; extra plant protein; leafy greens, green tea, and bright vegetables; lean meats and fish; your favorite spices and flavors.

Leafy greens and brightly colored vegetables, including arugula, asparagus, avocado, beets, beet greens, bell peppers, carrots, chard, chicory, collard greens, kale, lettuce, parsley, spinach, all types of peppers, tomatoes, turnip, and zucchini. You can also eat other vegetables that don’t fall into the above description, including onions, garlic, leeks, scallions, mushrooms, peas, and sweet potatoes.

Popular fruits to eat on the Zero Belly Diet include red fruits like red apples, tart cherries, red grapes, red grapefruit, raspberries, strawberries, and watermelon. Other fruits that aren’t always red, but still recommended on the diet, including blueberries, peaches, and plums.

Most lean protein is accepted on the Zero Belly Diet. The diet specifically recommends eating organic eggs, shellfish like oysters, scallops, and shrimp, poultry like chicken and turkey, fish like anchovies, cod, halibut, salmon, tuna, sardines, trout, and whitefish, and plant-based protein powders that contain 15 least 15g of protein in each scoop. Most protein powders are whey (dairy) based, and since you’re cutting all dairy out of your diet, you need to eat plant-based protein.

The Zero Belly Diet specifically recommends monounsaturated fats like olives and olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados, and dark chocolate with at least 72% cacao. Polyunsaturated fats from oily fish like tuna, salmon, mackerel, and sardines are also important, as are polyunsaturated fats from sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pine nuts, and flaxseed. Other healthy fats come from coconuts, coconut oil, cold water fish, grass-fed beef, walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseed oil.

If you’re eating nuts, you should eat raw, unsalted nuts like almonds, cashews, coconuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, and walnuts. Popular Zero Belly Diet seeds include chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and pumpkin seeds. You can also eat nut butters like peanut butter and almond butter – although you should make sure the butter contains mostly just the seed plus a little bit of salt.

Popular Zero Belly Diet legumes include chickpeas, peanuts, black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, and lentils. Foods like hummus are also popular.

Barley, brown rice, quinoa, oats, and rye are all acceptable grains. If you’re eating hamburgers, you should try to buy gluten-free buns.

You’re allowed to use most popular herbs and spices while following the Zero Belly Diet. Dieters like eating dark chocolate that contains 70% or higher cocoa levels, for example, which is considered a spice for the purpose of this diet.

Unlike some diets, the Zero Belly Diet doesn’t completely ban condiments. It encourages you to use condiments like raw apple cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and white wine vinegar, for example. Other options include prepared mustard, red curry paste, low sodium soy sauce, sriracha, and organic salsa.

Zero Belly Diet Drinks

It’s recommended that you drink at least 8 glasses of water per day, including a glass of water in the morning and a glass of water with every meal, drink, and snack. You can also drink green tea, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, hazelnut milk, hemp milk, rice milk, and oat milk. The only “milk” you can’t drink is dairy milk. You can also make plant-based smoothies by mixing these milks together with fruits or vegetables.

Foods to Limit During the Zero Belly Diet

You are advised to limit your consumption of certain foods while on the diet. Those foods include:

— Protein, including red meats (the Zero Belly Diet just tells you to limit your consumption of red meat, but it doesn’t say by exactly how much)

— Vegetables that “cause gas”, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower

— Omega 6 fatty acids, like the fatty acids found in mayonnaise, sunflower seeds, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, and poppy seed oil

— Sweeteners Like Honey And Brown Sugar

— Soy Milk

— Alcohol (One Drink Per Week For The Duration Of The Program)

— 1 Cup Of Coffee Per Day

Foods to Eliminate During the Zero Belly Diet

Certain foods are completely forbidden while on the Zero Belly Diet. Those foods include:

— Processed Foods

— Saturated Fat

— Sugar

— Refined Grains

— Wheat

— Dairy, including all types of dairy and milk products (even yogurt)

— Canned foods with BPA lining (choosing BPA-free containers is okay)

— Fruit juice (eat whole fruit instead)

— Any foods that could give you gas, including sorbitol, soy protein, carrageenan, fructose, and salty foods

— Vegetables low in phytonutrients, like turnips, parsnips, and other white root vegetables

Zero Belly Diet Exercises

In addition to all of the food guidelines, recipes, meal plans, and ingredient lists found above, the Zero Belly Diet book features various exercises you can do to increase weight loss and fat burning.

Many of these exercises are full body workouts, so you’re working multiple muscle groups at the same time.

Benefits of the Zero Belly Diet

The Zero Belly Diet claims to offer a wide range of powerful health benefits.

Of course, any time you’re able to safely lose weight, you’re inevitably going to become healthier and reduce your risk of various health problems.

Here are the benefits of the Zero Belly Diet, as stated by the author of the book: a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, anxiety, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, Barrett’s esophagus, bloating, cancer, dementia, depression, diabetes, gas, GERD/gastro-esophageal reflux disease, heart disease, high blood sugar, inflammation, liver disease, low sex drive, memory loss, overweight/obesity, psoriasis, stroke, and visceral fat.

Should You Start the Zero Belly Diet?

The Zero Belly Diet contains similar lessons to many other popular diets: you can enjoy powerful health benefits by reducing your intake of grains, sugars, alcohol, and processed foods. That’s not rocket science.

But if you want those lessons laid out in an easy-to-follow way along with accompanying exercise instructions, then Zero Belly Diet may be the diet workout plan you need.