The Dash Diet Weight Loss Solution: 2 Weeks to Drop Pounds, Boost Metabolism, and Get Healthy (A DASH Diet Book) (2 page)

improved metabolism, lower body fat, enhanced strength and cardiovascular fitness, and improved health.

The new DASH plan, specifically designed to speed weight loss, also proved effective

for the families of military and for military retirees who had diabetes or prediabetes.

Lowering blood glucose levels, reducing blood pressure, improving cholesterol and

triglycerides, while reaching a healthier weight, became easy for these patients. The lower-carb DASH diet kept hunger under control with filling, low-calorie fruits and

veggies, while providing long-lasting satiety with lean protein-rich foods and heart-

healthy fats. With an abundance of great food, the lower-carb DASH diet did not feel like a diet at all.

Never before presented to the general public, The DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution is

the perfect antidote to America’s obesity epidemic. Still rich in the key DASH foods—

fruits; vegetables; low-fat and nonfat dairy; lean meats, fish, and poultry; nuts, beans, and seeds; moderate amounts of whole grains; and heart-healthy fats—this DASH program

improves the health benefits and provides quicker, more dramatic, sustainable weight loss than the original DASH eating plan, presented in my first book,
The DASH Diet Action
Plan
.

Before going into the full-blown version of this new DASH diet, many people will

benefit from going through a “reset” phase, to wipe out their cravings and jump-start their weight loss. So in
Chapter 3,
we have a surefire way to wake up your fat-burning metabolism and develop a cleaner way of eating that eliminates cravings.

How do you reconcile low-carb and the DASH diet? First, you don’t need all the

refined starchy foods that most of us overconsume. They are certainly not part of making the DASH diet a healthy plan.

And getting more of the protein-rich foods is important as we get older. Back in the

late 1980s and early 1990s, the RDAs for protein were set very low. The target level was that which was needed to prevent muscle wasting during starvation. But it was not high enough to prevent muscle loss on aging. And nutrition professionals, at that time, were taught to make weight loss plans in which calories from all the food groups were lowered proportionally. Today we know that when you help people reduce their calories, you

want to keep the protein level high enough to preserve muscle mass. It is primarily the carb calories that you want to reduce.

Certainly, whole grains are healthful. The fiber, lignans, vitamins, and minerals are beneficial. But we do have to be careful not to consume more than we can burn off. And often grains come in foods packed with sugars. From Barbara Rolls’s research studies

that resulted in the Volumetrics program, we know that foods that contain water are more filling than drier foods. Most of the grain foods, such as breads, pastries, cookies, dry cereals, and even popcorn, are relatively low in moisture. Since they are not filling, we are more likely to overeat these types of foods. A diet that “forgets” these refined grain foods actually makes it easier to curb calories without having to think about it too much.

Another reason why starchy foods tend to provoke hunger is that they break down

rather quickly to sugar. More accurately, they break down to glucose. Glucose is the

blood sugar that we monitor in diabetics. When there is a surge of glucose into the blood, it triggers the body to pump out insulin to regulate blood sugar. When we are younger and relatively fit, we respond well to the insulin, blood sugar does not go too high, and the glucose moves into our muscle tissue to provide energy for physical activity.

However, as we get older, and if we are less fit, the muscles do not respond as well to insulin. The bad news is that our mid-body fat does respond well to insulin, so the sugar gets stored in our belly fat and is then converted into more fat. And it is possible for the insulin to overshoot its target, causing our blood sugar to drop, triggering even more hunger. These up-and-down spikes of blood sugar can lead to more cravings and feeling out of control with your hunger. Meals that are just based on starches and/or sugars will leave us feeling hungry again relatively quickly.

On the other hand, fruits and vegetables also contain carbohydrates. They are rich in fiber, contain naturally occurring sugars, and pack in lots of water, so that they are relatively low in calories for their size. Fruits and vegetables are bulky and filling, which makes these foods wonderful choices for filling your plate. And of course, they are rich in all kinds of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other healthful plant nutrients. Some vegetables contain more starch and are more caloric than others, so we probably want to watch the portion sizes more carefully with these foods, such as potatoes, winter squash, and peas. But with all the rest, an abundance makes it much easier to stay on track.

Protein-rich foods are also more satisfying than foods made from refined grains.

Protein takes longer to digest, and it doesn’t cause the blood sugar spike of the starchy foods. You are much more likely to feel full longer if you add some protein-rich foods to your meals and snacks. With
The DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution
, you will learn to mix it up. For example, if you have a snack with fruit and some light cheese or a handful of nuts, you will feel full longer. Include a hard-boiled egg at breakfast. If you are having some pasta, be sure to add a meat sauce or beans to make the meal more satisfying. We need more protein as we get older. Our goal as we age is to keep as much muscle as

possible.

Heart-healthy fats are also an important part of the mix in providing satiety. Fats slow down digestion so that energy from your food enters your bloodstream more slowly.

Yes, fats have more calories than carbs or protein. However, in moderate quantities they are very beneficial for keeping hunger under control. Often when recipes reduce the

amount of fat in the food, they don’t reduce the calories. How can this happen? One of the things that fats do in recipes is to help hold in air introduced during mixing. So without the fat, the food is denser, and a serving might have the same calories with or without the fat. Remember the low-fat cookies popular in the early 1990s? They had

exactly the same amount of calories as the full-fat cookies they replaced. Life isn’t fair.

But that does provide another example of where the high-carb, low-fat diets went awry.

What about the health issues around fats, carbs, and protein?

In the 1980s and 1990s, it was generally believed that low-fat, low-protein, high-carb diets were best for heart health. The experts told us that diets higher in fat would cause our cholesterol and triglycerides to soar. Higher protein would cause our kidneys to fail.

However, in actuality, the high-carb diets can cause triglycerides to spike, especially if someone is insulin resistant. Elevated triglycerides can be an early sign of impending type 2 diabetes. And high-carb diets tend to stoke the production of bad cholesterol, while depressing the level of good cholesterol.

Research has shown that people who consume heart-healthy fats, especially olive oil,

nuts, and seafood rich in DHA and EPA, have lower rates of cardiovascular mortality.

Add in their anti-inflammatory properties and these heart-healthy fats are definitely on our must-have list.

It was once thought that high-protein diets would be bad for everyone since excess

protein would create extra work for the kidneys. However, we are not recommending

excessively high levels of protein. And of course, traditional diets with high levels of salt, sugar, and starch do create extra work for the kidneys, and elevated blood sugar can

harm the small blood vessels of the kidneys. Fortunately, the balanced approach of the DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution is consistent with heart health and is less likely to

aggravate the kidneys than the traditional American diet. Of course, people with existing kidney disease who have been told to follow certain dietary restrictions by their physician or dietitian should check with their health care professional before adopting any new eating plan.

Another theorized health concern was that high-protein diets might impact bone

health. Newer research shows that moderate intake of protein is associated with improved bone health and reduced risk for bone thinning as compared with a lower-protein diet.

Weighty Issues

With this book, you will learn that the most important things that you can do to lose weight are to get on track with healthy eating and become more physically active. Not only will you be healthier, but you will feel better and look better, too.

What Is a Healthy Weight?

There are many definitions of what makes a healthy weight, but the most obvious one is the weight at which you have no health problems. And unfortunately, even individuals

whose weight fits the definition of “healthy” can still have habits—such as eating too many processed foods and being inactive—that are causing them to be at increased risk for certain diseases. This is called “metabolic obesity” or “normal weight obesity.”

Currently, BMI (Body Mass Index) is the most common measure used to define

healthy weight. If BMI is between 19 and 24, it is considered to be healthy. Between 25

and 29 is considered overweight. BMI over 30 is considered to be obese, and in excess of 40 is extreme obesity. These categories aren’t just arbitrary distinctions. Health risks go up in each category. For example, women in the overweight category are about 70%

more likely to have high blood pressure, compared with normal weight women, and

twice as likely if they are obese. The concerns are much more dramatic with diabetes, with women who have a BMI over 35 being 30 times more likely to develop the disease,

and even women who are just in the overweight category having about 18 times higher

risk for diabetes.

Now, BMI cannot tell you how fit you are, and it is certainly possible for someone to have a BMI in the obese category, but not actually be “overfat.” Football players, for example, are normally very muscular and will have weights that appear to be too high by BMI standards. But they are likely to be very fit. A measure of fitness could be percent body fat. This can be evaluated through underwater weighing, DEXA x-ray evaluation,

bioelectrical impedance (BIA) done by professional equipment with electrodes, or even home scales that perform BIA to give a percent body fat reading.

Waist size is a very simple measure of whether your weight is healthy. If your waist is over 35 inches (88 cm) for women or over 40 inches (102 cm) for men, there are health concerns that you will want to have evaluated. You may have elevated blood pressure,

blood sugar, and/or triglycerides. Even if your BMI is in the healthy zone, with too much belly fat you need to change your eating habits and start to exercise more. Fortunately, the DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution attacks this mid-body fat. At one time, no one

believed in being able to “spot reduce.” However, since excess belly fat is mostly due to overconsumption of starches and sugars, following this program will help you lose your muffin top.

Your Healthy Weight Goal

Setting targets, and especially short-term targets, can be very motivating and help keep you on track. Your weight target should fall somewhere in the healthy to overweight

categories. If you have a lot to lose, setting a more modest goal, say, 5% to 10% of your current weight, would help you feel successful as you meet and exceed your targets, and make you healthier. In the Diabetes Prevention Study, losing as little as 7% of body

weight significantly lowered the risk of diabetes.

BMI (Body Mass Index)