Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss (34 page)

Before coming to my office, most of my patients failed to achieve the results they sought. They experienced either a worsening of their heart condition or weight gain no matter what program they chose, even those who followed a vegetarian diet. In my care, these same patients are able to achieve impressive results for the first time, because they “do it” 100 percent. For some, “trying” is definitely not good enough; it doesn’t work. The 10 percent of optional calories of low-nutrient foods is just that, optional; you might find that you feel better and don’t need to include even that much. If you want to lose weight more rapidly; if you have a particularly slow metabolic rate, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease; or if you are a health and longevity enthusiast, kiss even these 150 (low-nutrient) calories good-bye and make the Six-Week Plan your Life Plan. Considering what a struggle it is to make a 90 percent change, it is not much harder to do it all the way.

I will now turn to the most commonly asked questions I hear in my office.

Since the goal is to eat at least 90 percent of your diet from nutrient-dense plant foods, if you fall off the plan in one area, make up for it in another. If you accomplish the goal stated above—eating all the recommended amounts of green vegetables, beans, and fruits—you will have consumed fewer than 1,000 calories of nutrient-dense food, with more than 40 grams of fiber. By consuming so many crucial nutrients and fiber, your body’s drive to overeat is blunted.

Do you see the difference between these recommendations
and those of more traditional authorities who recommend eating less food to lose weight? With my program you are encouraged to eat more food. Only by eating more of the right food can you successfully be healthy and well nourished and feel satisfied. On this plan you consume more than ten times the phytochemicals and ten times the fiber that most Americans consume. Keep in mind that it is the undiscovered nutrients in whole natural foods that offer the greatest protection against cancer.

Yes. Excess calories don’t just make you overweight—they shorten your life. This diet style enables people to feel satiated with 1,000 to 2,000 calories per day, whereas before it took 1,600 to 3,000. The simple trick is to receive lots of nutrient bang for each caloric buck.

Of course, those who are considerably active or involved with exercise or sports need more calories, but that’s okay—they will have a bigger appetite and need more food to satisfy their hunger. They will get more protein and other nutrients needed for exercise by consuming more food, not a different diet.

Some people can lose weight merely by switching their calories to a healthier plant-based cuisine while maintaining approximately the same caloric consumption. Chinese consume more calories than do Americans, yet are about 25 percent thinner than Americans. This is because the modern American diet receives about 37 percent of its calories from fat, with lots of sugar and refined carbohydrates. The combination of high fat and high sugar is a metabolic disaster that causes weight gain, independent of the number of calories.

Other people are not able to lose weight as easily. They need the entire package: the metabolic benefit of the natural plant foods, along with the satiety that results from both the greater bulk of my “unlimited” foods and the consequent nutrient fulfillment. These patients need even fewer calories. The good news is that they can be satisfied with fewer calories permanently. The
Eat to Live plan has both these benefits, making it a powerful weight-normalization plan as well as the healthiest possible diet.

The menus, recipes, and strategies for eating explained in this book also make it possible to achieve the current dietary guidelines of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for those desiring to lose weight. According to these guidelines, women should choose a diet with fewer than 1,200 calories a day and men one with fewer than 1,600.
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A computer analysis of many different diets has shown that the Eat to Live plan is the only way to meet the National Institutes of Health guidelines for calories while at the same time supplying adequate nutrients and fiber content. Even the dietary menus for 1,200-calorie and 1,600-calorie diets published in the National Institutes of Health’s guide for physicians do not meet the RDAs, because the traditional American food choices are too low in nutrients. The NIH diets are too low in important nutrients such as chromium, vitamin K, folate, and magnesium, whereas the Eat to Live plans and suggested menus more than meet all RDAs within the NIH’s caloric limits.

Don’t worry about it. Try to follow my rules for a longevity diet and just watch the weight fall off. If you were never able to lose weight in the past, be happy with about one to two pounds per week. If you are not losing weight as fast as you’d like, write down what you eat and how much, to see if you are really consuming a whole pound of raw vegetables a day and an entire pound of steamed green vegetables a day. If you are an overweight female following my guidelines and losing about one to two pounds per week, you are probably consuming about 1,100 to 1,400 calories a day. You can count calories if you want, but it is not necessary; you will feel sated and content on fewer calories than you were eating before.

My observations over the years have convinced me that
eating healthfully makes you drop unwanted pounds efficiently, independent of caloric intake. It’s as if the body wants to get rid of unhealthy tissue quickly. I have seen this happen time and time again. Eating the exact same diet, many patients drop weight quickly and easily and then automatically stop losing when they reach an ideal weight. Time and time again, I have seen individuals who were not overweight nonetheless lose weight after the switch. In a few months, however, they gravitated back to their former weight as their health improved. It is as if the body wanted to exchange unhealthy tissue for healthy tissue.

Nobody should be made to eat healthfully. Encourage your family to learn about what you are doing and to read this book so that they can help support you. The key is for them to learn what you are doing out of love and respect for you, not because you are trying to force this way of eating down their throats. That will be their decision later. The best way to help other people is by setting an example. Lose the weight, get in great health, and wait for your friends and family to ask how you did it. Very few people object to the presence of healthy foods as long as you do not take away their comfort foods. You can always make healthful meals for yourself and some extra food for the rest of the family. Over time it will get easier. Keep in mind that some people require more time to make changes.

My patient Debra Caruso faced this dilemma. Her teenage son and daughter told her they were definitely not going to eat this way. Debra knew they could all afford to lose weight. There was so much junk food in the house that it was even tempting her. Yet Debra lost more than fifty pounds that first year. Luckily, she had a loving and supportive husband who tried his best to help in any way he could. The first thing he did was buy an extra refrigerator that they kept in the garage. Debra and her husband had a family meeting to enforce the rule that any unhealthy food would be kept in one cupboard and in the refrigerator in
the garage. If the teenagers wanted something other than the food prepared by their mom, they could make it themselves and clean up after themselves. She agreed to cook their favorite main dishes, whatever they wanted, twice a week. Some off-limits foods such as ice cream, cheese, and other rich desserts would not be allowed in the house. They had to be consumed in another location. Debra and her husband also took the teenagers to the health-food store to purchase healthier snacks. It was important to give the children some say in what they ate. Finally, the entire family came to two of my lectures. After that, Debra’s children chose a healthy diet for themselves as well.

It may not work out the same way for you. But the main point to bring home is compromise and patience.

The nutrient formula (H = N/C) allows you to approximate the relative disease-fighting power of your diet. If you are like most Americans, whose diets are only 5 to 6 percent nutrient-dense foods, any step you take in the right direction will lessen the risks to your health.

If you improve your diet now, and begin consuming even 60 percent of your calories from nutrient-dense plant foods (that’s ten times as much vegetation as the average American consumes now), it is reasonable to expect a 60 percent decrease in your risk of cancer or heart attack.

Falling off the plan for one meal should give you more incentive to continue the rest of the week without a setback. Jump right back so that you eat healthy for the rest of the week so as to make the one meal off the diet almost meaningless. In other words, follow the 90 percent rule. The 90 percent rule allows you some leeway for imperfection and special occasions or to have a treat once in a while. You can still retain the benefits and your healthy slim body if you follow that less-than-perfect “special occasion meal” with twenty healthy meals.

You have now received a considerable education in human nutrition by reading this book. In my experience, knowledge about this subject provides the most effective and powerful impetus for change. Superior health and optimal weight are no longer a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. Try not to focus too much on the weight; focus on what you are doing. The weight will drop naturally as a result of eating intelligently, exercising, and adopting a healthy lifestyle. Neither you nor I am totally in control of the amount of weight that you lose or the speed at which you lose it. Your body will set the pace and gravitate toward the ideal weight for you when you eat healthfully. Don’t worry if a few days go by without your losing weight; your body will lose at the rate it chooses is best. Weigh yourself as much or as little as you like, but most people find once weekly is sufficient to keep track of their results.

Most people lose weight and then stop losing when they have reached their ideal weight. You are not the judge of your ideal weight; your body is. As almost everyone is overweight, many people think they are too thin when they have reached their best weight. I have many patients who, after following my plan to reverse diabetes or heart disease, report, “Everyone tells me I look too thin now.” I then measure their periumbilical fat and check their percentage of body fat, and usually show them that they are still not thin enough.

Be realistic and flexible; give your taste buds time to adjust to the new food choices. Changing your behavior is the key to success. Moderation, however, does not mean it’s okay to poison ourselves, abuse our body, and then feel guilty. Moderation means recovering quickly when you have slipped up. Some of us need to
plan cheats, once a week or twice a month. Keep to those planned times. A cheat every once in a while is okay if it is moderate and as long as you go right back to the program immediately and then don’t do it again for at least one week.

Many health authorities and diet advisers recommend only small changes; they are afraid that if the change is too radical, dieters will give the whole thing up and gain nothing. I strongly disagree. My work over the past twenty years has shown that those who have jumped in with full effort the first six weeks have been the individuals most likely to stick with the plan and achieve results, month after month. Those who try to get into it gradually are the ones most likely to revert back to their former way of eating. Under the gradual approach, they “yo-yo” back and forth between their old bad behaviors and good ones. Change is hard. Why not do more and glean the results you have always been after quickly and permanently?

Most overweight individuals are addicted to food. This means almost all Americans are food addicts.
Addicted
means that you feel ill or uncomfortable should you not continue your usual habits. Unlike tobacco and drug addiction, however, food addiction is socially acceptable.

Most people thrust into an environment with an unlimited supply of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor food will become compulsive overeaters. That is, the craving for food and the preoccupation with eating, and the resultant loss of control over food intake, are the natural consequences of nutrient paucity. The resulting stress on our system can be toxic.

Obviously, there are complicated emotional and psychological factors that make it more difficult for some to achieve success at overcoming food addiction. Additionally, some physical changes may initially discourage you. Stopping caffeine, reducing sodium, and dropping saturated fat from your diet while
increasing fiber and nutrients may result in increased gas, headaches, fatigue, and other withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms are temporary and rarely last longer than one week. Eventually the high volume of food and high nutrient content will help prevent long-term food cravings.

The large quantity of food permitted and encouraged on this program makes you less stressed about overeating. Food cravings and addictive symptoms end for almost everyone because this diet satisfies a person’s desire to eat more food.