The #1 Belly Fat Trick Revealed
It’s the sugar, but then you knew that
Someone is getting rich by offering belly fat solutions, so I’m adding my two cents.
I’ve reduced my belly fat although I don’t have photo evidence of my actual belly size shrinking over the years. I have something better.
I carry the Knowledge of the One Weird Trick, and I’m willing to share it.
The only problem is that absolutely nobody wants to hear this solution.
Let’s quickly review current theories about why fatness is afflicting so many western people in 2022.
- Too many calories
- The rise of fast food
- Not enough exercise
- Snacking
- Sugar
- Aging
I wasn’t skinny when I was young so I was like a beam of light from a lighthouse in my search for how to slim down from a size 12 to a coveted size 4. Like many middle-aged former fat girls, I tried literally every diet because belly fat sucks.
I’m here to tell you, big broads and beer gut bros, numbers 1–4 are not the reason for your belly of Brobdingnagian proportions.
Are you aware Americans eat two to three times the amount of sugar than any other nation?
It’s Not Weird! It’s Not a Trick!
You are probably wanting to know where did I get the authority to pronounce I’ve solved the belly fat crisis.
Dr. Oz is a trained surgeon but he became a talk show host and snake oil salesman, and now he’s running for high office. He has zero credentials and that’s not slowing that quack down.
Yet, I shall list my credentials as an expert in losing belly fat.
I went from a size 12 to a size 4, and I stored fat in the belly, too, not in my butt or hips or kneecaps.
That’s it, my whole damn list of my credentials.
Speaking of thin Americans, let’s take a trip back to 1976, an era when US Presidents didn’t take top secret documents back to their mansions or dine at KFC.
Jimmy Carter was President back then, but he didn’t cause the belly fat crisis. The problem worsened when Reagan got elected four years later and he didn’t cause it either.
It’s the Carbs and Sugar!!
In the 1970s, a Senate Subcommittee decided to tackle nutrition.
It doesn’t matter which white men were on the committee — okay, Senator George McGovern was in charge — or why they came to their conclusions.
What matters is they shifted the four food groups (meat, dairy, fruit & veg, grains) into the Food Pyramid we still use today.
They recommended eating 6 to 11 servings of grains a day.
Grocery stores began stocking low-fat cookies and we started eating more grains, much more sugar, and less fatty meat.
Eggs were demonized. Fruits were celebrated.
Apes took over and enslaved the human race.
Below is an example of a graph that shows the rise in obesity, which began in the wake of the Food Pyramid. There is no controversy; weight gain started in around 1980, when the new guidelines filtered down to schools, prisons, and hospitals.
Sugar and grains are nifty if you want to produce lots of cheap calories but for weight management, the combo is fattening.
Most people in the world can’t afford daily meat, including prized fatty cuts. Even cheese, which all sane people agree is delicious, is more expensive to produce than wheat and rice, so governments have good reason to advise us to eat grains.
There’s only little problem: in the US, the unintended consequences of the grain policy turned us into whoppers.
Why We Resist Dietary Change
Sugar. Is. Addictive.
Consider what it would be like to never eat ice cream, cookies, cereal, or a double mocha Frappuccino — ever again!
The horror, the horror.
Those who quit sugar completely will lose weight — especially after cutting back on processed carbs.
Withdrawal from addictive substances, from meth to tobacco, is a hard road, and people hear the advice about sugar, then ignore it, or take half-measures and fail.
Sugar is in ketchup, “heart healthy” instant oatmeal, and beef jerky. It will stalk you in the grocery aisles, and when you quit it will haunt you in your dreams.
When I quit, I had intrusive thoughts of cream of wheat with a swirl of honey.
To sum up, we can’t lose belly fat because of our addiction. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
Why Aren’t Asians and Italians Fat?
Obesity is rising worldwide, yet Americans and Europeans seem to be bearing the brunt.
Why are Americans and Brits so susceptible to belly fat?
The short answer is:
Sugar.
Brits are famous for sweet tooth debauchery but Americans consume far more sugar than Brits, and between two and three times as much as other developed nations.
When the sleazy Big Tobacco execs realized the gig was up, they put their dollars into Big Food, so the US has the dubious honor of hawking brightly colored fake foods to kids.
They want you addicted, and they want your kids addicted, and sugar is how they do it.
Meanwhile, the Japanese eat carbs like rice and gyoza and tempura but don’t get fat like us. They train their kids from a young age to eat reasonable portions, including fish and vegetables with most meals.
The Japanese do not prey on children by advertising fake, sugary foods on TV. They also don’t consume nearly as much sugar as we do per capita.
Check out this graph, which shows how Americans consume much more sugar than other nations.
Then check out your belly fat.
Now, back to the graph.
Italians eat much less sugar than we do, closer to the levels consumed in Asian countries. Americans eat 126 grams of sugar daily per capita, over twice as much as food-loving Italy.
Conclusion: Belly fat is due to eating too much sugar, a substance Europeans and Americans have been consuming since the 1600s.
Naturally Thin People
You don’t have belly fat? You are in a small minority, sisters and brothers.
About 14% of the population can nosh pastries and swig wine and won’t gain much weight. If you are one of these lucky bastards, congrats! This doesn’t mean you won’t develop a metabolic illness like diabetes, but you’ll maintain your figure.
Or, maybe you are among the roughly 10% of American adults who are metabolically healthy.
Perhaps you are relatively young, or you might not be sensitive to carbs.
It could be you aren’t particularly interested in food. You can eat a few bites of a hot fudge sundae, then toss it.
Whatever the case, the vast majority of your fellow American adults ARE metabolically unhealthy, overweight, and addicted to sugar and processed carbs.
That’s why the ads for the mysterious trick keep showing up on your social media.
The One Weird Trick Revealed (Finally)
If you cut out sugar and sugar-like substances (honey, agave syrup) you will feel better and lose belly fat.
There is an important caveat.
After cutting out sugar, you must also avoid eating huge bowls of pasta, loaves of bread, or french fries, or you’ll be back to square one.
Or you can quit both at once because you are a badass.
The trick is to restrict carbs, especially processed varieties, and get energy from fat instead.
Studies show that people who eat diets higher in meat are fatter, but this is because they are eating meat/dairy AND grains/sugar together.
For example, a cheeseburger and french fries or a steak with a buttered baked potato will pack on pounds.
The weird trick is to get off grains and sugar completely, which includes restricting fruit.
Now, You’ve Gone Beyond the Pale
Isn’t fruit healthy? Yes, but modern fruits are much sweeter than ancient varieties, which were smaller and sourer.
I’m not saying fruit is the same as sugar but it’s easy to overeat fruits, too.
If you are vegetarian, you can choose cheese and eggs and vegetables.
Fruits make a good occasional dessert.
Alcohol is also carb-heavy. Hey, I didn’t create belly fat — I’m the messenger.
In short, you can eat a nutritious diet without having 6 to 11 servings of grains a day and there is absolutely no reason to eat sugar regularly.
Final Heretical Thoughts
Consider the possibility that when McGovern and his pals decided on the Food Pyramid, they didn’t know the Pandora’s Box they were opening up. Some committee members urged everyone to slow down and do more research, protesting that reducing meat and egg consumption might be problematic.
In addition to belly fat, we have a growing mental health crisis. Meat consumption is tied to better mental health.
Belly fat must be a big deal, otherwise, I wouldn’t constantly see ads about how to reduce it.
We are living in an age of diet experimentation. It’s been over 40 years, and the data show a clear pattern.
We have been brainwashed into believing a diet high in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is the pinnacle of health, and that a few tablespoons of sugar a day won’t hurt.
Americans would benefit from going back to 1970 when four food groups ruled the land.
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Jean Campbell recently started her first Substack newsletter to laser focus on getting her book, City of Lies: A Street Hustler’s Omaha Journey published.
