Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss (23 page)

The confusion is compounded because when we eat the same heavy or unhealthful foods that are causing the problem to begin with, we feel better while the detoxification process is halted or delayed. This makes becoming overweight inevitable, because if we stop digesting food, even for a short time, our bodies will begin to experience symptoms of detoxification or withdrawal from our unhealthful diet. To counter this, we eat heavy meals that require a long period of digestion, or we eat too often and keep our digestive tract busy and overfed almost all the time to lessen the discomfort from our stressful diet style.

Our body cycles between periods of digestion-assimilation (anabolic phase) and utilization of the stored calories (catabolic phase), which begins when the digestive process ends. During the anabolic phase, the absorbed glucose is stored in the liver and muscle tissues as glycogen, to be broken down and utilized at a later time when we are not eating and digesting. During the catabolic phase, we “live off” the nutrients stored in the anabolic phase. The breakdown of stored glycogen is called glycolysis, and it is during this process that our body swings into heightened detoxification activity.

When we are breaking down our body fats and glycogen stores, the body is exposed to more released cellular toxins, and elimination and detoxification are increased accordingly. This elimination of toxins can cause discomfort, especially when our tissues have an excessive toxic burden. These uncomfortable symptoms are not caused by “lower blood sugar,” though the symptoms occur in parallel with low blood sugar. When our diet is low in phytochemicals and other micronutrients, we build up more intracellular waste products. It is well accepted in the scientific literature that toxins such as free radicals, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and lipid A2E build up in human tissues with diets low in antioxidants and other micronutrients and that these substances contribute to disease.
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It has been noted that overweight individuals developed more oxidative stress (as a result of free-radical damage) when fed a low-micronutrient-containing meal compared to normal-weight individuals. Increased peroxidases and aldehydes, derived from damaged lipids and proteins, were measurable in the urine.
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This indicates that people prone to obesity experience more withdrawal symptoms, directing them to overconsume calories. It is a vicious cycle that both promotes the problem and prevents its
resolution. Subjects fed healthier diets did not build up these inflammatory markers.
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When we consume excess animal proteins (which create excess nitrogenous wastes) and don’t eat sufficient phytochemical-rich vegetation, we exacerbate the buildup of metabolic waste products in our body.
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THE BLOOD SUGAR CURVE

As the hours go by and we have not eaten, glycogen stores are utilized for energy (glycolysis). Glycolysis occurs after digestion ceases and is a perfectly comfortable state not accompanied by symptoms in a healthy individual eating a healthy diet. As we continue to burn off the glycogen stores, true hunger eventually kicks in, signaling the need for calories before gluconeogenesis begins. Gluconeogenesis is the breakdown of muscle tissue that occurs to supply the body with glucose when there is no glycogen left. The body cannot make the glucose it needs to fuel the brain from stored fats, but it can make glucose from amino acids derived from muscle tissue. True hunger is protective of our muscle mass and gives us a clear signal to eat before gluconeogenesis begins.

What I have observed and quantified with thousands of individuals is that the drive to overconsume calories is blunted by high micronutrient consumption. The symptoms that were thought to be hypoglycemia or even hunger, which occur as soon as glycolysis
begins, simply disappear after eating very healthfully for a few months. After that two-to four-month window, when micronutrients in the body’s tissues have accumulated, the symptoms of fatigue, headaches, irritability, and stomach cramps go away, and people get back in touch with true hunger, felt primarily in the throat. True hunger makes eating more pleasurable, and this sensation better directs us to a more appropriate amount of calories for our body’s biological needs.

In our present toxic food environment, many have lost the ability to connect with the body signals that tell us how much food we actually need. Nature has given our bodies the beautifully orchestrated ability to signal precisely how much to eat to maintain an ideal weight for long-term health. I have documented this process, demonstrating that this otherwise poorly studied phenomenon is real. It has resulted in thousands of people losing dramatically large amounts of weight. Hundreds have lost more than a hundred pounds, some more than three hundred pounds, without surgical interventions and with lasting success. Healthful eating is more effective than portion control for long-term weight control. It modifies and diminishes the sensations of toxic hunger, enabling overweight individuals to be more comfortable eating fewer calories.

True hunger signals when our bodies need calories to maintain our lean body mass. If you ate food only when experiencing true hunger, you could not become overweight to begin with. If you have a significant layer of fat around your waist, it means you have regularly consumed food in response to toxic hunger or have eaten recreationally. The body does not store large amounts of fat when fed a wholesome natural diet and given only the amount of food demanded by true hunger.

True hunger is felt in the throat, neck, and mouth, not in the stomach or head. It is not uncomfortable to feel real hunger; it makes food taste better when you eat, and it makes eating so much more pleasurable. There is nothing fluttering or bouncing around, it is not painful, and you know when you feel it that it is a normal reaction that signals a need for food. It tells you that the
body is physiologically ready to digest food and the digestive glands have regained their capacity to secrete enzymes appropriately. The result is that you feel better and do not overeat.

True hunger requires no special food to satisfy it. It is relieved by eating almost anything. You can’t crave some particular food and call it hunger; a craving by definition is an addictive drive, not something felt by a person who is not an addict. Remember, almost all Americans are addicted to their toxic habits. A disease-causing diet is addicting. A health-supporting diet is not. You do not have to carry around a calculator and a scale to figure out how much to eat. A healthy body will give you the correct signals. To achieve an ideal weight and consume the exact amount of calories to maintain a lean body mass that will prolong your life, you must get back in touch with true hunger. Eat when hungry and don’t eat when not hungry.

More frequent eating has been shown to lead to more calories consumed by the end of the week.
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In addition, in scientific studies reduced meal frequency increased the life span of both rodents and monkeys, even when the calories consumed each week were the same in the group fed more frequently and the group fed less frequently.
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The body needs time between meals to finish digesting, because when digestion has ended, the body can more effectively detoxify and promote cellular repair. To maximize health, it is not favorable to be constantly eating and digesting food.

Wait until you feel hungry to eat. Try to eat less at dinner so you are hungry for three meals per day. Get your body into a regular schedule, eating three meals per day, without overeating at any one meal. If you do not feel hungry for the next meal, delay eating or skip the meal entirely. Next time, eat much less until you get better skilled at eating the appropriate amount so that you feel hungry in time to eat again at the next mealtime. It is permissible to eat two meals a day instead of three if you are hungry for only two meals. For most people who exercise regularly, three meals with no snacking is the norm. We actually require less food than most people realize. Once we get rid of the perverted toxic hunger, our central nervous system can accurately measure and give us the right signals for maintaining our ideal weight on the right amount of calories. You will eventually develop the skill of knowing the right amount of food to eat at each meal, because it relieves your hunger, you feel satisfied (but not full), and you are hungry again in time for the next meal.

Try to stop a sugar addict from eating sweets or take the colas, pizza, and burgers away from a fast-food addict, and wow, do they feel ill. This is called withdrawal. When we stop doing something harmful to ourselves, we feel sick as the body attempts to repair the damage caused by longtime exposure to noxious substances, reduces tolerance, mobilizes cellular wastes, and deals
with empty receptor sites. If you quit smoking, even when there is not a molecule of nicotine left in your body, you may still feel ill as your body is actively engaged in the repair of damage caused by the offensive substance. All of a sudden the long-term smoker finds he is feeling worse from having stopped smoking, not better. The nicotine may be gone, but he starts coughing more and bringing up mucus. As a degree of health returns, the body becomes less and less tolerant of the abnormal noxious irritants that have built up over time. Because of the restored ability to repair damaged cells, inflammation may increase temporarily as the tissues become more reactive to the waste products that were retained there. Inflammation serves a corrective function here as the body’s immune system reacts protectively to remove noxious substances and restore cellular function.

Toxic food works the same way. After moving on to a truly healthful diet, the body’s enhanced self-repair mechanisms bring about symptoms, sometimes even brief low-grade fevers, emotional instability, fatigue, and headaches. Don’t be alarmed if during the first week or two of healthy eating, you feel worse and the desire to use food to curtail discomfort is heightened. This usually passes within the first four days.

The American press, diet books, and even most of the scientific research community are thoroughly confused about nutrition and dieting. Almost every article on the topic discusses some magic food, supplement, metabolism booster, or ratio of fat, carbohydrate, and protein that can solve all your weight problems. Research articles continue to test diets low in fat, high in fat, low in carbohydrates, and high in carbohydrates, and the media continue to report the successes and failures of these diets. It goes on and on in circles, but trying to micromanage carbohydrate, fat, or protein intake will not increase your health and longevity. Even worse, that sort of dieting encourages temporary fluctuations in
caloric intake, leading to unsustained changes in body weight, often called yo-yo dieting. These diets hardly work and are bad for your health because it is not healthy to lose and gain weight over and over. They demonstrate that any diet that does not address micronutrient quality is not very effective.

What you are learning here is different, as it is not some perfect ratio of fat, carbohydrate, or protein that will lead you to your ideal weight and superior health. Sure, we need to eat less fat, less protein, and fewer carbohydrates, the only three sources of calories in food. Obviously, we need some calories, but we want to make sure that the fat, protein, and carbohydrates that we choose to eat are whole foods and as nutrient-dense as possible. The healthiest way to eat, and the way to make you naturally and automatically desire fewer calories, is to understand the concept of nutrient density, to eat healthfully to remove your food addictions, and to allow the body to reprogram your tastes. Eating pleasure is enhanced because you eat when hunger is present. You will find that your taste preferences adapt to what is eaten regularly, and improved nutrition enhances the taste apparatus.