Manuel Villacorta - Flat Belly 365: The Gut-Friendly Superfood Plan to Shed Pounds, Fight Inflammation, and Feel Great All Year Long

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available through the Library of Congress

2017 Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD

ISBN-13: 978-07573-2010-1 (Paperback)

ISBN-10: 07573-2010-4 (Paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-07573-2011-8 (ePub)

ISBN-10: 07573-2011-2 (ePub)

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

HCI, its logos, and marks are trademarks of Health Communications, Inc.

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

3201 S.W. 15th Street

Deerfield Beach, FL 334428190

Cover photo Manuel Villacorta
Cover design by Larissa Hise Henoch
Interior design and formatting by Lawna Patterson Oldfield

I wish to thank the following people,without whom I could not have completed this project. Allison Janse, my editor at HCI Books, for continuing to believe in the project. Given that this is my fourth book with her, she continues to believe in me and inspire me throughout this process. Kim Weiss, a publicist extraordinaire, who goes above and beyond. Thank you to Ian Briggs and Shyanne Solivan for your dedication, creativity, and enthusiasm in testing my recipes and helping with social media.

I would also like to thank my office team whose dedication and support allowed me to focus on the project: Uriel Serrano, who spent many hours in the kitchen creating recipes and food styling. Also supporting me with the written content of this book: Alejandro Pinot for his amazing support and creative eye and food photography, and for making sure the lighting was perfect so that pictures always looked mouthwatering. I am grateful to Destini Moody for her outstanding energy and effort with recipe nutrient analysis and assistance with meal plan development. Without all of their work, I could not have done mine. I am always grateful to my partner Jeff, the best guinea pig, and my family for their continuous support and believing in my dreams.

As a dietitian with 18 years of experienceand an author of 3 nutrition and wellness books, I have helped thousands of people reach their weight loss goals. I have done so by teaching and creating programs that use the latest findings in the field of nutrition and turning them into practical and innovative meal plans. In the last few years, I developed a program that includes my latest research in nutrition and gut health. Within this program, you will learn to incorporate several different foods, such as anti-inflammatory fats to help reduce visceral fat and superfoods for antioxidant and antiaging powers. The program also includes prebiotic and probiotic foods to keep your gut happy and healthy. This plan focuses more on the quality of food rather than counting calories.

In my private practice in San Francisco, I have been using these meal plans with my clients, and the results are outstanding. All of the clients have successfully lost weight and inches around their waists, with an average weight loss of 4 to 6 pounds within the 7-day Flat-Belly reboot week. The more they followed the plan in detail, the better the results. In addition to the weight loss, the overall health effects have been nothing short of amazing. Nearly all my clients have reported that they feel more energized, are enjoying better sleep, and feel less bloated. Here are some success stories:

Stephanie, a 50-year-old who, for the life of her, couldnt shake even a pound and kept blaming premenopause, said, I finally lost weight by sticking to the 1,300 calorie Spring Plan. Thats truly progress! 3 pounds in one week and I dont feel bloated!

Sofia, a 62-year-old, couldnt lose any weight, even by cutting out carbs. She lost 15 pounds and 3 inches around her waist by using 2 weeks of the Winter Plan and two weeks of the Spring Plan back to back. This morning I was able to put on two skirts and close the clasp on the waist!

Jeff, a 35-year-old, tried all four of the seasonal meal plans within 3 months and posted on Facebook, Woo hoo! Almost 23 pounds dropped! It was so easy and delicious. Thanks for the tools.

The simple science behind weight loss is that you do need to cut calories; however, now that we know more about nutrition and gut health, we know that it doesnt stop there. For the calories you do consume, it really does matter which foods they come from, because the food you eat can really have an effect on your health and, most importantly, your gut. Certain foods can potentially upset the balance of microbes in your gut, as well as contribute to the formation of visceral fat or abdominal fat. Visceral fat is the type of fat that surrounds your organs and is the worst fat to carry around your waistline, since it is the cause of inflammation, the source of many other chronic diseases. I will discuss chronic inflammation, the types of body fat, and their effects on the human body in .

Even if you are losing weight but are not eating the right foods, your diet alone can create inflammation, regardless of the level of visceral fat or the balance of your gut bacteria. This is where superfoods can help, because they are anti-inflammatory foods that are packed with antioxidants that help reduce inflammation.

In this book, I have developed meal plans that take away the thinking and make it easier to incorporate these foods into your life. With Flat-Belly 365, we will cover the three main components of a diet, which will provide plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that include common superfoods, and combine them with good healthy fats and lean protein. The meal plans will also help you keep a healthy gut by including probiotic and prebiotic foods in your diet.

When people embark on a new diet or begin to eat healthy, they think that it has to be boring. I always say that eating healthy doesnt have to be boring or daunting. You can actually apply these principles and have delicious, easy meals. A lot of people also think that eating healthy foods needs to come in the form of a smoothie. With this book and the resource material available to you on ) in the summer. Eating can be fun, eating can be exciting, and it can be a love relationship with your taste buds and your gut.

I am honored and excited to introduce the Flat-Belly 365 plan and educate you about how to reduce your belly fat by enjoying exquisite recipes using superfoods. My clients successes have been my passion and inspiration and continue to be so. This diet is not a gimmick or a new trend. This is a way of living that has been proven through solid research and will provide lasting results.

I look forward to sharing my wisdom and culinary skills with you in Flat-Belly 365. This plan is a delicious way to lose weight that will last a lifetime. Expect to reboot your gut, improve your total health, and have more energy than you have felt in years. Get ready to experience a lifelong journey of superfoods that will keep you strong, healthy, and rejuvenated.

The Secret to Success: Gut-Friendly Superfoods