3 apples a day may keep fat away, diet expert says

By Mike Dedoncker
Rockford (Ill.) Register Star

It's an interesting question raised by the Three-Apple-a-Day plan developed by Tammi Flynn, a personal trainer and registered dietitian at Gold's Gym in Wenatchee, Wash., deep in the heart of apple-growing territory.

The foundation of the plan, for which a national promotion campaign recently went into full swing, is eating an apple before each meal in conjunction, of course, with dedication to a low-fat diet and regular exercise. Although the campaign emphasizes the apples, Flynn's commitment goes far beyond that simple step.

"I would be upset if it became known just as eating three apples a day," says Flynn, who holds a master's degree in nutrition science from Texas A&M University. "The emphasis is that you are going to improve your health if you increase the amount of produce in your diet and increase your activity."

The plan arose because Flynn had been having success encouraging participants in a Gold's 12-week Get In Shape competition, which emphasizes fat loss rather than weight loss, to add more fruits and vegetables to their diets. She also developed a complete get-lean diet plan.

Then, she hit on the apple program by accident.

"About 2 1/2 years ago, I was working with a client who was fairly in shape but who couldn't or wouldn't add enough fruits and vegetables to her diet to make continued progress," Flynn says.

"I asked her what her favorite fruit was, and she said she liked apples, so I told her to have an apple before each meal. The idea was more for health improvement than for any weight improvement but she lost 1 percent body fat in a week."

Flynn tried the same advice with other clients and saw much the same results. So she recommended it for all of the gym's Get In Shape competition participants the next year.

Her boss agreed and "that year we had record fat losses and that (the apples) was the only thing we did differently than previous years."

Even though the plan has produced measurable results several times over, Flynn still is looking for more proof. She is chasing down, among other things, the abstract of a British study that she is told measured the results of eating an apple or a pear before each meal and of a diet book that claims apples contain enzymes that obese people lack.

"That would be a biggie, if we could make that kind of connection," she says.

The campaign's claims for why apples could help with fat loss are that they fill you up so you might eat less of something else that isn't as good for you, that apple fiber decreases the amount of time food stays in your digestive system, that enzymes found in apples might help your body digest food more efficiently and that the sugar in apples helps satisfy cravings for sweets, so you might eat better.

You can find all of this information at www.3appleplan.com.