MUFAS Pizza that combats your belly fat

Everywhere you turn you see articles on the “flat belly diet.” If you are constantly watching your weight you must be curious about this new weight-loss concept.

It is based on eating mini-meals of specific food groups that will encourage your metabolism to burn calories aggressively and then go after fat tissue.

Since many of us “house” our extra weight above our belt buckles, the target for this revved up calorie burning concept is our belly, thus the name.

Prevention Magazine refers to these specific foods as “MUFAS” – monounsaturated fatty acids know as “good fat.”

The MUFA food categories are oils, nuts and seeds, avocado, olives AND … chocolate! Sounds good!

What’s the catch? This 28-day plan, 1,600-calorie Mediterranean-style diet should not be initiated until said dieter “goes on a 1,200- to 1,400-calorie, four-day anti-bloat, jump-start period.”

This mandatory period involves drinking two liters of “sassy water” daily.

Sassy water is water blended with spices, herbs, citrus and cucumber. So don’t start adding chocolate to your oatmeal yet!

In any case, perusing MUFA recipes to create today’s pizza recipe. If you delight in deep-dish, stuffed-crust pizza, you may as well skip this column.

The pizza recipe cuts the fat by using store-bought, whole wheat, thin pizza crust (available in a plastic bag at your supermarket).

Salsa, shrimp, reduced fat cheese, fresh veggies and MUFA ingredient – avocado – complete the recipe.

Low-sodium taco seasoning is a spice of choice.

MUFA PIZZA

1 thin, whole-wheat pizza crust (12-inch)

½ cup salsa

1 large tomato, sliced paper thin

2 thin slices sweet onion, halved and separated

½ pound medium raw shrimp, peeled with tails removed

½ package low sodium taco seasoning mix

1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

1 medium avocado, peeled and diced

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place pizza crust on large sheet of heavy-duty foil. Using a silicon brush or pastry brush, spread salsa on crust making a thin coating.

Arrange tomato slices over salsa. Sprinkle with onion slices. Toss raw peeled shrimp in taco seasoning then distribute over pizza; sprinkle cheese over shrimp. Bake 20 minutes or until shrimp are firm and opaque.

Remove from oven, top with diced avocado and let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving. Makes 8 servings.