There’s yet another option for those eager to lose weight and get rid of excess belly fat, one that appears exciting and comfortable, doesn’t involve slimming pills, any particular diet food nor strenuous exercise.
French Wine for a Flat Belly Book
Thomas Newman, personal trainer and weight loss expert, offers a guide entitled French Wine for a Flat Stomach with a claim that French wine can reduce visceral fat in our midsection area. Losing this ugly fat referred to as hidden fat or belly fat is more important than losing weight because it is this deep inner fat surrounding our organs, doctors say, that can lead to a string of adverse health conditions.
Drinking French wine is pleasurable and a lot of fun, but could we wine lovers have a trimmer waistline on a diet which includes wine?
The title of this four- week diet plan paints a misleading picture. We want to believe that drinking French wine will allow us to lose those extra inches and understandably we don’t want to work too hard at it. But French wine is not a miracle drink, drinking two or three glasses of wine every evening is not the answer. Wine is calorific, especially red wine, at 85 calories per glass, is slightly more so than white and rosé.
The good news, though, is that wine, especially red wine, has some powerful components such as resveratrol, piceatannol and Ellagic acid, which can help in the battle of the bulge. Nelson’s program French Wine for a Flat Stomach focuses mostly on educating readers on the slimming properties of wine and other foods, vital if participants are to make healthy food and drink choices.
Resveratrol Fights Fat
Any discussion on the health benefits of wine is bound to kick off with the powerful antioxidant resveratrol, the magic component of wine that comes from the skin and seeds of grapes. Red wine is an excellent source of resveratrol.
Studies show that resveratrol can do more; the antioxidant has a positive effect on fat elimination.
One of these studies, a cell-based research carried out in Germany showed that resveratrol was capable of slowing down fat cell division and maturation. The researchers reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition back in 2010 that Resveratrol has anti-obesity properties by exerting its effects directly on the fat cells.
A more recent study from Washington State University in 2015 suggested that a glass of red wine per day can help dieters lose weight by turning white fat into brown or beige flab, which is easy to burn off.
French Wine and Resveratrol
Malbec grown in South West France and Bordeaux has a thick skin and contains very high levels of resveratrol. Other French wines with resveratrol are Pinot Noir, Petite Syrah and St. Laurent.
What if you could block cell activity in the body and stop them from developing in the first place? Would that be the answer to reducing fat?
Piceatannol Could Help Block Cell Formation
Research on the compound at Perdue University showed that piceatannol also contained in red wine and similar in structure to resveratrol can alter the gene of fat cells by preventing them from becoming mature cells. Cells take about ten days to grow, but piceatannol was able to stunt growth in the laboratory.
The researchers said piceatannol was effective as a fat blocker in small as well as higher doses but as Head researcher, Dr. Kee-Hong Kim says, more studies are necessary on humans and animals to appreciate the claim that the red wine compound might be a fat cell zapper.
Ellagic acid Helps Burn Fat
Another lesser-known fat burning antioxidant contained in olive oil, ellagic acid, proved to be effective in slowing down the growth of new and existing fat. Findings on research carried out at Oregon State University on Muscatine grapes concluded that red wine could prevent weight gain.
Neil Shay, the food technology professor responsible for the report emphasized that ellagic acid was not a miracle worker. He said:
“We didn't find, and we didn't expect to, that these compounds would improve body weight," he said. But by boosting the burning of fat, especially in the liver, they may improve liver function in overweight people.”
The idea of drinking French wine to reduce the growth of fat cells is indeed seductive, but it is still alcohol. Agreed, there’s nothing more exhilarating than a glass of wine at the end of the day, but bear in mind that drinking alcohol is a question of balance – quality, quantity and how often. Drinking more than two glasses of wine a day will not whittle away the waistline – at least not until research proves otherwise. We must also remember that alcohol contains a lot of sugar, which we know is a major source of fat production. Increased intake of alcohol can also have a negative impact on your liver, kidneys, digestive system and can cause cancer in the mouth, esophagus and stomach.
