Zero Belly Diet: Lose Up to 16 lbs. in 14 Days!

by David Zinczenko

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERZero Belly Diet is the revolutionary new plan to turn off your fat genes and help keep you lean for life! Nutrition expert David Zinczenko—the New York Times bestselling author of the Abs Diet series, Eat This, Not That! series, and Eat It to Beat It!—has spent his entire career learning about belly fat—where it comes from and what it does to us. And what he knows is There is no greater threat to you and your family—to your health, your happiness, even your financial future.Yes, you Change your destiny. Overcome your fat genes. Strip away belly fat and finally attain the lean, strong, healthy body you’ve always wanted.   With Zero Belly Diet, David Zinczenko reveals explosive new research that explains the mystery of why some of us stay thin, and why some can’t lose weight no matter how hard we try. He explains how some foods turn our fat genes on—causing seemingly irreversible weight gain—and uncovers the nine essential power foods that act directly on those switches, turning them to “off” and allowing for easy, rapid, and sustainable weight loss. And he shows how these foods help heal your digestive system, keeping those gene switches turned off and setting you up for a lifetime of leanness.   Other diets can help you lose weight, but only the Zero Belly diet attacks fat on a genetic level, placing a bull’s-eye on the fat cells that matter visceral fat, the type of fat ensconced in your belly. These fat cells act like an invading army, increasing inflammation and putting you at risk for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer. Visceral fat can also can alter your hormone levels, erode muscle tissue, increase your chances of depression, and destroy your sex drive. But you can turn the odds in your favor.   Zero Belly Diet shows you how to deactivate your fat genes, rev up your metabolism, banish bloat, and balance your digestive health, allowing you to easily build lean, strong stomach muscle and strip away unwanted belly fat without sacrificing calories or spending hours at the gym. The weight loss that is easier, faster, more lasting, and more delicious than you’d ever imagine.   You’ll be stunned and inspired by the results of an amazing 500-person test panel—men and women who lost weight quickly, and with ease, following the Zero Belly diet. In just the first 14   Bob McMicken, 51, lost 16.3 pounds Kyle Cambridge, 28, lost 15 pounds Martha Chesler, 54, lost 11 pounds Matt Brunner, 43, lost 14 pounds   Zero Belly Diet features a week-by-week menu plan, fifty tasty recipes, and a handy shopping list that leads to a minimum of cooking and plenty of feasting.   Best of all, Zero Belly Diet offers something freedom. Freedom from bloating, freedom from food deprivation, freedom from weight loss fads, freedom from stress. So say goodbye to your paunch and hello to a happier, healthier you!

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Audiobook, Food, Self Help, Diets

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 30, 2014

About the author

David Zinczenko is an American publisher, author, and businessman. Previously, he was the executive vice president and general manager of Men's Health, Women's Health, Prevention and Rodale Books, the editorial director of Men's Fitness and the nutrition and wellness editor at ABC News.

Reviews

[Brian Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book the first week of January but didn't think it was fair to rate it until I gave it a little time. About 3 months later I'm down 18ish pounds and about 4 inches off the gut. Roughly the same for my wife. It's like magic. Well, not exactly magic. We've prepared and cooked more food from scratch than I have in my entire life. There is a lot of prep, at least for what I'm used to, but it's easy to stick to and the food we're making is delicious. And even without the weight loss, I would keep eating this way just for the energy I have. It's an amazing difference.

I do have a few problems with the book itself. It seems a little disorganized and it felt like I was having to decipher at times. But that could have a little to do with my ignorance. I'm going through it again after being on it for a while to see how it reads. And I'm not crazy about the marketing. The name and the hyperbolic claims are off-putting. Then again, it got my attention and I picked it up. :-)

Bottom line, it's a solid plan and I'll be eating this way, (and tweaking as I learn more) for a long time to come.

[Claire Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the book is telling you the same thing we've been hearing from our families since we were young. Eat right and exercise. Who would've thought right?

[Michael Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. I was imagining what my belly might look like if this book really worked. I bought it and began reading. And reading. More reading. Where is the diet? Shouldn't a diet be a list of foods to eat and avoid? And for the foods to eat, how much? Finally. I located the sample meal plan. Now, I thought, I can get down to planning for the foods that I need to consume and avoid. At a glance, I knew that I would starve to death on this diet because there was not A SINGLE THING ON THE MEAL PLAN THAT I RECOGNIZED! Each item on the plan was a recipe with a page number underneath so I can decode what it all means. And guess what? I can't cook. I really like the idea of the paleo diet because I can read it. Beef. Fruit. Salad. Nuts. I can relate to that. I get up at 4:30 in the morning in order to get to work. I am NOT standing over the stove to stir up my "Thin Elvis Oatmeal."

The bottom line: This is an interesting and informing book, but not any kind of structured plan that I can follow. Good luck to you in your search for the right weight loss plan.

[Johanna Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually bought this book.....I'm still trying to decide if it was a good purchase. The book makes sense... But the list of foods is short. :( no ideas on substitutions either. Most of us can't walk into a grocery store and buy a PBA free can of beans. Do we want to lose belly fat.....yes. If someone would just write a book on how to find foods that are easy to buy...there's a book I'd like. I'm going to try Kroger and fresh market this week. I tried to buy grain fed beef today...going to have to google that. Most of these things...I just don't know how to cook, or eat, or how are they supposed to taste good? Most of these smoothies....yuck. Guess I got to keep trying until I like one. The plant protein...store only had mixed berry. Double yuck. But after only a day, I do feel less bloated.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easy evening read, and offered a lot of helpful science-based insights and easy-to-incorporate dietary choices.

I only wish more recipes had been included. That said, it's nice that the food lists included emphasized a fair amount of cooking flexibility: once you know the foods to favor, and the ones to nix, creating healthy meals with the author's straightforward guidelines seems fairly simple (or at least helps with choosing recipes from other sources that would be in line with this diet).

I was also surprised (disappointed?) that nearly a third of this volume, or over 100 pages, was dedicated to exercise routines. Personally, I find exercise routines in books to be less helpful than, say, a companion DVD or illustrative website or online video. And to devote the final 20 pages to nutritional information on foods, when one can easily access this information on demand from various websites and apps, also seemed like a poor use of publishing real estate, a way to get the volume to 300 pages.

Otherwise, I look forward to incorporating more of the recommended foods into my diet, and hope for the positive results shared by many of the test subjects throughout this book!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything he suggested made sense to me. The questions you ask yourself about each meal and snack make it easy to ensure you're following the eating plan. He writes very accessibly. I lost four lbs the first week!

[Paullette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Zinczenko's "Eat This, Not That" books, specifically for their breezy, no-nonsense tone and delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes. "Zero Belly" could definitely benefit from the concise writing style (and beautiful photos!) of the "ET,NT" books; there are far too many repetitious pages here in the vein of "This book is gonna teach you this, and this, and this, and this..." which you skim and skim, waiting for whatever it is you're supposed to learn to appear. Fully one half of this book doesn't need to exist; or, rather, that half should be replaced by recipes. Seriously, by page ten I was already convinced that Zinczenko knew what he was talking about and was eager to get to the actionable plan/ see what foods I needed to buy, not have him keep trying to convince me of how good this diet is for another hundred pages. If you want to learn more than you ever wanted to know about the different types of fat that exist in the human body, prepare for hours of delight; if you want to find some healthy, great tasting recipes that might help you lose weight, read "Eat This, Not That."

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first two-thirds of the book were "infomercial" in nature as the author framed "the why" of his approach. By that I mean to say that very little content was spread thin, recycled, restated, summarized, etc. Finally, the meat of the product, "the how" was discussed briefly at the end of the book. I would have liked less repetition of "the why" and more repetition of "the how" so I could have retained it better.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zero Belly Diet

Enjoyed the author's writing style and humor. Appreciated the suggestions of nutrition bars. Great tea representation. I will let you know in 14 days how it works for a 55 year old woman forgets to eat lunch, a 56 year old sedentary man and an active 22 year old man.

[Cinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una sarta de tonterías que no dice nada que no se sepa ya. Alardea de su genial plan de entrenamiento, pero los ejercicios que recomienda y explica son los mismos que me explican en mi gimnasio. Nada original y nada que no sepamos ya sobre las dietas. Las dietas milagro no existen, gente, así que no caigáis en las trampas de estas tonterías.

[Lita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like so many of these diet books it was full of stuff I wasn't interested in - like other people's stories. The foods were sounding good until I got to the actual recipes and found too many with mushrooms which I hate. A diet only works if you can stomach the foods you're required to eat on it. So it was just okay for me.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! A little different than some others I have read, as the author says he wants us to think of high fiber, not low carb. I am going to try it for 6 weeks.

[Peter McCambridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading this for a friend. ;)

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library, despite the horrible title, because I was looking at the accompanying cookbook at the bookstore and thought it had some really good-looking recipes--real food, not fake low-fat stuff, and lots of whole grains and vegetables.

But this is just another stupid diet book, full of condescending talk about "flab" and "blubber" and such. There are maybe two recipes that look good, and even those have awful names. I do, however, give the author credit for talking about what he might have gotten wrong in his previous fad diet (the "Abs Diet"). Serial diet-book authors often would rather just pretend they've never written any other bestselling diet books; after all, if their previous diet book had worked for you, you wouldn't need the current one, right?

I think the principles are probably sound--lean protein (often vegetable-based), high in "good" fats and low in "bad," lots of fiber. I doubt that this diet will actually hurt anyone, except in the psyche, because it really does have a lot of that same old fat-shaming diet talk we've been hearing since the 60s. It does seem to have a lot of advocates, here and on Amazon, for its apparent success as a diet. But if you're just looking for healthy recipes, I'd skip it and track down the cookbook instead.

[Suriel Chacon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought this based on a great excerpt "How to Burn Belly Fat Fast", which offered 14 tips ... yet to finding those tips within the book is not an easy task. While the author no doubt has to write for the masses, not sure how many people really want to read all the filler yap. The first three chapters pretty much say the same thing ... belly fat sucks and this diet will help. In part 2, chapter 5, I still can't find the 9 super nutrients that target belly fat ... or is it 9 zero belly food groups? The last 100 pages of the book are exercises. There's recipes and I think I finally figured out the gist of the diet. The 7 day zero belly cleanse looks promising, but that's all the way at page 261. I think a cliff note's version would be fantastic, especially for those of us who know how they got the belly fat, just want to know how to get rid of it. And the 16 lbs in 14 days ... where are the guidelines for that exactly?

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
- Includes suggestions for every facet of your fitness: meals and snacks, meal schedules, workout routines, and more.
- Cites scientific sources to add legitimacy to the diet

Cons:
- Spends a lot of time extolling the virtues of the diet (about the first 1/3 of the book)
- Does not make the sources readily available for the reader to investigate
- Includes enough recipes for a month or two (depending on your tolerance for repetition); to get more recipes and meal ideas you need to continue to invest in other "Zero Belly" books

Conclusion:
I will be trying this diet with my significant other. If it works as well as advertised (aka if it lives up to its own hype), I will bump the review up to 5 stars.

[Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly organized, repetitive, nothing new.

Eat: whole grains, lean protein (fish, beans, white meat), eat healthy fats, eat fermented foods, eat vegetables and whole fruit (esp red ones he says), don't eat late at night, limit processed foods and sugar.

Back half book is workouts, which you can easily find online. Alternating cardio and weights is not new. Give me Joyce Vedral or Tony Hornton any day.

Was reading to see if he had any steps that would add to Whole30- nope.

Have the Mindspan Diet up next. Know he advocates white rice over brown and reduced iron. Interested to know the science behind it.

Skip this one.

[Alexandria Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good addition to those already well versed in nutrition. I’ve done intermittent fasting (mostly vary from 17:7-19:5, occasionally I get in some 22:2 days) since 2019. I listen to a lot of health podcasts and have read lots of nutrition books. I like this author though and have since The Abs Diet because he doesn’t seem married to any school of thought when it comes to macros, mostly low carb/keto. Primarily, he just emphasizes real foods highlighting some specific ones for certain benefits. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for someone following SAD (standard American diet) but for someone already pretty healthy looking to tweak things up, yes this has some useful tidbits

[Mike McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing you should know - there is a pdf that is supposed to go with the audiobook that I didn't get and it is referred to a lot and has a lot of information I didn't get to see. I am sure it is available by google search. Even without the precious pdf, there is a lot of interesting information here. I ignored all the sensationalism (lose 15 pounds in 2 week! or whatever) and just listened to the facts. There are some interesting ideas in here and some interesting subjects - like the different types of fat in the body. Let's say 3.5.

[Jo-Ann Houde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author's writing style was a little to cutesy at times. Didn't glean much of anything new to me, except to emphasize the importance of losing visceral fat (the hard fat that surrounds your organs) rather than the sub-cutaneous fat we usually focus on. Eating a healthy diet balanced with protein, fiber, and healthy fats will help to lose that fat.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy read with very simple rules to follow for a more healthy diet. I'm not sure about the implication of the title- zero belly meaning a very flat belly- but it is easy to follow. I've been using this book's diet rules for about two weeks and I've lost some weight but more importantly I believe this is a much healthier way to eat than I have been eating.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually went online and bought a hardback copy after reading it. Very encouraging read and I think I can easily incorporate many of the elements into my lifestyle. can't wait to start the cleanse when my copy arrives!

[Rachel Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not crazy about the marketing, but a pretty knowledgeable piece overall. A little too fond of catastrophic language around weight gain, and all statistics are (of course) American. Useful for new-to-building-a-meal-plan folks.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a diet I think I could follow - NO dairy, NO broccoli, NO Brussels sprouts... I may use some of the recipes, and the easiest of the exercises.

I don't like the layout of the book - it looks messy.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t like this book. It was very gimmicky with very large printed type here & there and had almost a magazine look to some of it. I’m sure some readers liked that style but it wasn’t for me. The first half of the book was spent touting the plan instead of getting right to it.

[Arlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginners to nutrition and exercise science. Personally, I found it pretty redundant. I skimmed and took notes along the way. I really like all the recipes and exercise examples though!

[Kay Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very close to what I do now. It gave some really motivating reasons to keep sugar consumption and blood sugar under control! I would read more of his stuff!

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didnt like the set up of this book or thw idea of the diet itself

[Leslie Veje · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best

What a fantastic way to live a healthy life. The food is delicious and the program works. This is not a diet as much as it is a way to live day to day.

[Brenda Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read with good healthy recipes.