Weight Loss Challenges

One of my immediate challenges in trying to lose weight was deciding what role exercise would play.  Between my job,  marriage, and raising 2 kids (one with special needs), I have little to no time to actually have a regimented exercise routine – either at home or the gym. Once the kids are in bed around 8:30pm, I am too exhausted to think about exercising, and often want to use this time to either get caught up on work, or spend time with my wife watching one of our favorite shows or a Netflix movie (we once had a NetFlix movie for over 7 months – we could have bought 10 copies of it at that point!]. So, without major changes in my lifestyle I couldn’t see a path to actually fit in a real exercise and fitness program (even weekends are challenging given house maintenance, family activities, etc.).

One thing I am experimenting with is working on adapting my body to get up at 5:30, which today I used for getting a head start on the commute, but over time would like to reserve some of this slot for a morning routine at home using the treadmill and free weights. However, I’m not quite there yet but am hopeful.

The second major hurdle to figuring out how to lose weight was deciding what diet approach I wanted to follow. Being a fairly technical guy, I did more research than most people probably have an appetite for (no pun intended), and I did know going in I didn’t want any kind of program with ongoing fees, special meal purchases, etc. – I wanted to continue cooking meals and bringing in lunches, and being able to eat out at restaurants without some weird calculator tied around my neck.

My research lead me to believe that reducing or eliminating foods that cause spikes in blood glucose and insulin resistance was the overall healthiest way to start.  Aside from weight loss, the research suggested that reverting back to more foods that were pre-agricultural may help with diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and a bunch of other ailments that Western Society really seems to suffer from. My reading also indicated that aside from sheer health benefits, this type of diet would also lead to natural weight loss based on not having gyrating blood sugar levels, and also optimizing the normal functioning of my body which should cause it to not store unneeded fat.

All of this culminated in me purchasing the Diet Solution Program, and I spent a few days reading through the quick-start and the primary book so I had a complete picture before jumping in (Note – after I reviewed and begin implementing the diet, and saw results, I became an affiliate for it as well, which is why you see links throughout my site for it. I believe it is a very credible and effective program when followed, and  for $47 was less than half of our normal grocery bill for 1 week).

Starting the Diet

While I’d love to tell you I switched over to the new diet the next day, it really didn’t happen like that. The problem is, my house didn’t have a lot of the “approved” foods in it, and it didn’t make sense to make a grocery list 2 feet long and clear out the cupboards. What did happen over the next 3-5 days was this:

• I printed out the Diet Solution Guide on 3-hole paper and put it in a binder. I needed to be able to quickly flip back and forth across all of the content.
• I skimmed through the recipe guide and identified some that looked easy and quick to prepare, as often we don’t have a lot of time to cook.
• I created a core list of items I would need. Since my wife wasn’t going on the diet, I had to be thoughtful about items that would serve as the main course of a meal, and items on the side that only I would likely eat [while she would have different sides like rice or pasta, bread, etc.]
• This included: Organic Kale, Apples, Bananas, Walnuts and Almonds, eggs, and frozen vegetables
• While many of these are typically in our house, I began buying double or triple the amount we usually had as I’d be consuming a lot more of them on a daily basis.
• Grass fed beef and organic chicken – we started buying these types of meats right near the start of the diet, based on my research on health benefits. Not cheap though.
• Our next grocery trip we loaded up on our usual items as well as the above list. We didn’t buy as many sides like bread, rice, pasta, cookies, etc. as I wouldn’t be eating those any longer.
• I asked my wife to make sure there was a double helping of a vegetable each night for dinner (she cooks through the week, and me on the weekends)
• I asked my wife to not include any breading on my portion if she was making Shake-n-Bake chicken, or fish fillets, etc.
• I cut out all sugar products (exceptions: dark chocolate, occasional lemonade), as well as bread, rice, pasta, and any other wheat or grain based product.
• I reduced my cheese consumption, but didn’t initially eliminate it completely.

So this wasn’t a bad start. However, I quickly found that lunches became a major issue, as leftovers typically consist of a little bit of the main course and a lot of pasta or grain products. It took me another week to realize that on Sat/Sun when I was cooking that I needed to cook extra portions [i.e. beef, chicken, fish, pork] to freeze for my lunches the following week.

The other conscious decision I made was to allow myself 1 day a week where I could legally “cheat”, and have pizza or bread, or cheese and crackers, etc. I personally think this is needed to basically offset real life circumstances – i.e. you’re at a ballgame all day long, or a cookover, or your family is really craving pizza one night – I found it unrealistic to assume under every single scenario I could stay 100% compliant.

Key Learnings After 3 Months on the Diet

The Good

• I’ve lost 2 inches around my waist [2 belt notches]
• I have more energy and mental alertness
• I didn’t miss pasta, rice, bread, etc. after the first couple of days (no major cravings)
• My blood results have improved (cholesterol, triglycerides) from a year ago, although still not in the normal ranges
• I’ve gotten smarter about having snacks at work to munch on – nitrite free jerky (Costco), hard boiled eggs, and a massive bag of walnuts and almonds
• I’m eating more fruits and vegetables daily than at any other point in my life

The Bad

• Red wine is my weakness. I have not managed to give this up yet, so it is no doubt impacting forward progress to some degree, and likely not favorable to the underlying health benefits of the Diet Solution / Paleo diet. This remains a work in progress and challenge
• Diet Coke – I still drink 3-4 of these a day, and this will be hard to break. I’ve not seriously tried to eliminate yet, but know it needs to happen and likely won’t be pretty.
• Some days I run out of frozen lunch items, or lean nitrite free lunch meat, and find myself at work eating almonds and walnuts for lunch
• Frozen vegetables seem like an easy option to take to work, but preparation and messiness can be a challenge in our little kitchen in the office
• I forget about fresh produce in the fridge, and every week throw it away spoiled
• I still eat potatoes – less frequently, but have not managed to eliminate them completely as it is a side the entire family can eat on busy days
• Potato chips have proven impossible to give up so far
• It is honestly more work to prepare meals since the rest of my family isn’t on the diet. We already prepare a different meal for our son with autism, and now whoever is cooking has to prepare different sides [not all the time] for me versus my wife/daughter.
• Of the 3 books I read, none of them really gave me the list of concise tips and tricks to make complying with this diet easy (see below), so I had to learn them the hard way
• I learned the hard way that you shouldn’t eat too much green vegetables in one sitting!

There are time saving tips that I wish I had known about when I started the diet solution:

• Always have hard boiled eggs in the fridge. Easy to grab and go
• Plan on buying a dozen eggs (organic, cage free) a week no matter what. Use them as fillers or quick meals on the weekends.
• Kale spoils within a few days. Now I wash, cut, and freeze it in a ziploc bag the same day I buy it. It takes 30 seconds to reheat a portion for my dinner when I get home
• Olive oil – don’t forget to buy extra (used more for vegetables)
• Pears are really messy to eat at work
• Jimmy Dean All Natural Tube Sausage – Walmart/Costco. Cheap, nitrite/msg free, and slice/cook/freeze all the patties on a weekend to use for individual breakfast protein item
• Beef and Turkey Jerky [Costco/Amazon nitrite free]. Use as an emergency snack or meal protein source given price [but good to have on hand]
• Grass fed (antibiotic/hormone free) beef is a lot cheaper from a Colorado ranch versus Whole Foods, and you can buy small quantities up to a 1/4 or 1/2 cow, all delivered in prepackaged cuts such as steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc.
• Grabbing something for breakfast is hard, especially a protein. The frozen sausage tip above works, as does fruit of course and in a crunch I eat walnuts in the morning.
• Cook Kale and other veggies in Coconut oil. Not cheap, but very healthy and adds good flavor.
• Have a water bottle at hand at all times – drinking water throughout the day and not just at meals is very helpful and healthy. Use ceramic, stainless steel, or glass.
• Ask to substitute at a restaurant. Even if not on the menu they have always had a fresh vegetable and even fruit option when asked. They are happy to replace that rice or pasta or bread with one of those options.
• Many meals become a salad – whether the base is lettuce or kale or spinach. Be sure and have vinegar/oil, or a healthy dressing always on hand at home.

Overall I would still have to say the good far outweighs the challenges. I do feel healthier, and am losing fat and weight without having an exercise program in place yet. I have to believe I am also helping prevent future health issues as well given what I am eating now.

I’ll keep you updated over the coming months on how I’m doing on the diet, and will add in any new tips, challenges, or successes as I go. I’m always looking for more knowledge and experience, so don’t hesitate to email me with your tricks of the trade!

Russell  May 4, 2012

Given the focus on eating a fair amount of lean protein, it is natural to question whether eggs fit into this category of lean protein, and whether you should eat several a day etc. Both diets suggest eating eggs in moderation, and several articles indicate that the most nutritional value gained is by not overcooking them. I’m not convinced you want to eat them raw, but you want to definitely have them a little soft or runny if, for example, you are frying eggs for breakfast (or lunch or dinner for that matter). Eggs can be a very important source of protein in any diet, and they supply all essential amino acids humans need as well.

According to the USDA:

Eggs provide protein, vitamin A, riboflavin, and other vitamins and minerals. The yolk contains all the fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol in an egg. In 1 large egg, the yolk contains 5 grams total fat, 2 grams saturated fatty acids, 213 milligrams cholesterol, and 60 calories.

In this same article, the USDA states that eggs can be substituted for a serving of lean meat, poultry, or fish due to the quantity  of protein in an egg. Although you may wonder about how much protein in an egg there is, this approach on substituting for another protein source should be a good indicator that the protein content is quite high.

They recommend limiting eggs to 4 per week, but many diets and ongoing research take an alternative position, especially with respect to the actual fat consumed as well as comparing consumed cholesterol versus risks associated with high cholesterol produced by your body itself.  Many studies done around how much protein is in an egg have looked at the effects of blood cholesterol from people eating eggs, and not found a direct correlation.

Many people [as well as many diets and nutritionists] recommend eating more egg whites than yolks given that the majority of the fats and cholesterol is contained within the yolk. Part of the problem with this is that the yolk contains almost half of the protein of the egg.

Protein Content in an Egg

Below is the nutritional profile of a typical egg from the USDA. Note that the amount of protein in an egg is fairly high – 12.6 grams. When comparing how much protein in an egg versus other types of lean meat, you should consider the following:

• Chicken Thighs (skinless):   26 grams
• Chicken Breast (skinless): 25 grams
• Turkey Breast: 42 grams
• Ground Beef (4 oz): 24 grams
• Porterhouse Steak (8 oz): 43 grams
• Fish (6 oz): Generally in the 25-36 grams range depending on type of fish

I love eggs, and tend to eat them several times a week. I typically hard boil half a dozen on Sunday to have as a Paleo snack food throughout the week, as I can easily “grab and go” in the morning and then have something on hand at work to munch on throughout the day.

I only buy cage-free, organic, vegetarian fed eggs. Many brands of these also are higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, which is an excellent health benefit as well. How much protein in an egg doesn’t depend on white or brown for the most part – the color differences have very little effect on nutritional value (I tend to prefer the brown).

Some brands I purchase to ensure the highest quality egg from a healthy chicken include Nest Fresh and Organic Valley. The good news is almost every major supermarket now carries at least one, if not several, brands of cage free, organic, humanely raised and produced eggs.

As I aged, however, got married, settled down and bought a house, and then began having my kids, time for exercise evaporated. As my career progressed I also traveled more, had longer hours at work, and arrived home exhausted almost every night. The dramatic change in my daily life lead to not only not exercising, but also my eating habits got worse as often we ran out of time to really think and prepare the right foods for lunch or dinner. This combination of factors lead to an increase in belly fat, general weight gain overall, and the beginnings of longer term impacts on my health. Haven’t you ever realized that you wake up one morning and realize the spare tire around your waist actually was the result of years of effort – even though it seems like the belly fat appeared overnight!

Natural Ways to Lose Weight

In my mid forties now, I finally began researching how I could lose weight without exercising – and to learn a natural way to lose weight – without the use of artificial pills or magic solutions. I needed information on how to make changes to the way I ate and even thought about food choices, but recognizing that I wouldn’t be able to free up any time near term for a regimented exercise program. Much to my surprise I found that our bodies are pretty well optimized to lose weight naturally – and to keep the weight off long term. My findings, however, indicated that to lose weight without exercise you needed to get back to providing your body with what is was originally designed to function on – which bears little resemblance to our current day diet.

My natural approach to weight loss resulted in me purchasing the diet solution – a well researched, credible program by a certified nutritionist that was based on fairly recent research over the last 15 years or so regarding the glycemic index. Basically the glycemic index is the key to natural weight loss, as it measures the effect different foods have on your blood sugar and insulin levels both short term and long term. The beauty of this approach is I didn’t have to worry about how many calories I should eat to lose weight – I could eat as much of the natural foods as I wanted. When you approach weight loss from a natural perspective, and provide your body with a diet that is focus on low glycemic foods it becomes almost impossible to overeat.

One example of a food I removed from my meals

I avoided the extreme diet pills and weird supplements, as well as “the diet of the week” that promised to make me lose weight within 7 days. Digging deep into these type of programs I realized most of them were tricking my body into an unhealthy state for a short term gain – with dangerous long term risks. I wanted a natural healthy approach to weight loss that mirrored how we evolved as humans, which is also one reason why I ended up moving more towards the caveman diet end of the diet solution program.

My results following a natural approach to weight loss? By following the key tenets of the diet solution and caveman diet approach I’ve lost about 2 inches off of my waist over a period of 3 months – losing weight without exercising at all (aside from normal life activities), and never feeling hungry or being focused on counting calories to lose weight!

Plan to Lose Weight Naturally Without Exercise

So I am not a doctor, and can only relate what I’ve learned and experienced – you have to do your own research and determine what will work for you given your goals, health conditions, and perspectives on the facts and hype that can surround weight and fat loss approaches.  I do plan on trying to introduce some form of exercise in the near future – not for weight loss per say, but more to contribute to my overall health, keep my muscles in shape and limber as I age, and ensure my cardio health is maintained or improved.

Here are key elements of the natural approach for fat loss that worked for me based on the Diet Solution approach:

• Eliminated grain products from my diet – breads, rice, pasta, etc.
• Eliminated dairy products
• Changed buying and eating habits to focus on servings of lean protein, vegetables, and fruits at EVERY MEAL
• Focused on buying free range chicken and eggs, grass fed beef, and selectively organic fruits
• Introduced new “super” vegetables to my diet – i.e. Kale
• Fixed extra portions of my healthy dinner meals on Sundays and froze them to “grab and go” during the week
• Keep a bag of walnuts at work to snack on between meals
• Incorporated a “cheat day” every week where I could enjoy some of the foods I had eliminated, without feeling guilty or forcing myself to fall off the wagon

These changes around my natural method for weight loss only took about 4 weeks to incorporate into my lifestyle. Now I don’t think twice about shopping for more natural foods and making the right selection and substitutions when eating out [i.e. we recently ate at Red Lobster and I swapped out pasta in one dish for fresh seasonal vegetables]. I didn’t have to find time and energy to implement a rigorous exercise program – I was in fact able to naturally start losing weight without exercise.

Some people may not be able to follow this approach, but the nice part about the diet solution is you can implement various pieces of it gradually and still see amazing benefits [whereas the caveman diet approach is a bit more extreme] that are based on real science and research around what your body naturally WANTS to do with the right foods!

Good luck on your journey for natural weight loss  – depending on where you are at in your research, I highly recommend learning more about the diet solution program – for $47 you get not only a step by step approach, but also the research and learning behind it that may change how you think about “diets” forever!  Furthermore, Isabel [author, certified nutritionist for the program] provides a ton of resources and ongoing support and information that keeps you informed on the latest approaches and things to try – for example she explains below why Protein is such an important element of a natural weight loss approach:

Regards,

Russell

Over the last several years more and more people, however, are either being diagnosed with explicit Celiac disease, or are finding that they may have an intolerance to wheat that doesn’t show up in any known testing, but results in several physical symptoms such as pain, irregular bowel habits, inflammatory bowel diseases, or bloating and gas.

To put context around relatively recent research and thinking around if wheat bread is bad for you, you have to look back in history.

According to Wikipedia:

“The earliest archaeological evidence for flour, which was likely processed into an unleavened bread, dates to the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe, around 30,000 years ago.[3] During this period of human history cereals constituted just one of many food sources exploited by hunting and gathering;[4] palaeolithic European diets were based mainly on animal proteins and fats.[3] Cereals and bread became a staple food during the Neolithic, around 10,000 years ago, when wheat and barley were among the first plants to be domesticated in the Fertile Crescent.”

So let’s start with the figure 10,000 years for when bread started entering our mainstream food chain. Seems like a long time right? In comparison, though, you have to consider this:

“Man’s evolution started anywhere from 2-5 million years ago depending on if you count when primates were thought to evolve versus the first form of man.”

If the research into early man is even partially accurate, whole wheat bread certainly was not part of their early diet. In fact, a ton of findings over the last few decades have completed what is considered a fairly accurate picture as to what prehistoric man’s diet consisted of – and it remained fairly steady through millions of years [basically the hunter-gatherer diet]. Prehistoric man did not bake wheat bread, or in fact really have easy access to wheat or other grains as agriculture wasn’t “invented” yet.

So whether whole wheat was bad for your or not wasn’t a relevant question until recently in our evolution. This is very significant given that we had millions of of years for our bodies to adapt to a fairly regular and unchanging diet [i.e. lean meats, wild fruits and vegetables, wild growing nuts]. As a result, our biochemistry became extremely optimized around these types of foods, and our bodies functioned at their peak levels on an ongoing basis with little to no diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and bowel issues.

So now look at that tiny little dot on the evolutionary timeline of man – that dot is the introduction of wheat bread as well as other grain based foods like cereals, rice, etc. Get a magnifying glass and now look at the right side of the tiny dot – now you see the modern western diet that is rich in wheat products – wheat bread, muffins, crackers, snack mix, etc. So we’ve taken a machine that was “designed by nature” and basically began feeding it foods that are completely different than what is was designed and optimized to run on.

Enter stage left: Inflammatory bowel disease, Crohns disease, Celiac disease, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity…the list goes on

Is wheat bread bad for you? Can it be traced as the single culprit that causes these diseases? Not entirely. What happens is whole wheat and white bread, as well as other recent introductions to man’s diet cause your body’s chemistry to change in ways it wasn’t meant to in order to try and adapt to a completely different food than it evolved on. The most relevant factor to look at is something called the “Glycemic Index” – which grew out of research in 1981 to try and map how the human body processes different types of foods.

In a nutshell, this glycemic index measures the affects of different foods on your blood sugar [glucose] and resulting insulin levels – do they go up or down, how rapidly, and how can these changes impact other functions and organs in your body. The most astounding finding is that almost all “staple” foods we consider good to eat actually cause dramatic gyrations in glucose and insulin levels – far above any of the types of foods our ancestors ate.

These gyrations lead to insulin resistance, as well as are thought to cause inflammatory responses throughout our bodies that contribute to the development of many modern diseases.

I could spend another 20 pages going through the latest research, findings, and experiences of people that have removed wheat bread from their diet – however, I’d encourage you to do your own research. The purpose of this article was to make you aware of the history behind why wheat bread may be bad for you, and give you a starting point to learn on your own.

I personally have removed all grain products from my diet – including whole wheat bread, all breads, rices, pastas, etc. and have used the diet solution program to help me structure my diet in the right way. I carefully monitor other products I eat as wheat and gluten can slip into an amazing array of foods.

Because we started our son on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet several years ago as part of his therapy for Autism, I became almost obsessive about understanding why removing gluten was a recommended approach, and more importantly why we saw such immediate improvement in our son’s condition once it was removed. The research is out there for you to get – you first have to overturn the “marketing” message that has been instilled in you over decades by the agricultural industry as well as the government and get the facts for yourself – then decide if you feel bread is bad for you.

Almost any parent of a child with autism is forced to become a semi-expert on nutrition, and this awareness and knowledge of why whole wheat is bad for you begins spreading past your child’s treatment plan to a lifestyle change for the parents and the entire family.

Russell

Some recommended reading:

• Isabel’s Extensive Program: The Diet Solution Program Video Overview
• WebMD Review of a large number of popular programs: WebMD Diet Plans Review

The WebMD review site in particular covers a large number of programs, and is worth comparing low refined carb diets against each other if that is the type of diet you are looking to try [i.e. Atkins, Diet Solution, many others].

As always, good luck in your journey!

Russell

Paleolithic Diet Benefits

Researchers and followers of the caveman diet consider many “modern” diseases that are prevalent in the world (especially in Western societies) to be caused by a shift away from prehistoric food types in favor of largely agricultural products. Diseases they feel are impacted (increased prevalence)  by this dietary shift include:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohns
• Lupus and other suspected autoimmune disorders

Benefits that some researchers (Dr. Loren Cordain and numerous others) have shown to be achieved by followers of this prehistoric caveman diet  include:

• Healthy weight loss
• Healthy fat loss
• Correction of autoimmune disorders
• Correction of inflammatory bowel disorders and other bowel related issues
• Avoidance of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes
• Correct and avoid gout
• Improve hypertension
• Reverse and prevent obesity
• Improve osteoporosis
• Reduce risk of, and improve recovery from strokes
• Improve asthma conditions

The Caveman Diet Basics

At the highest level, the caveman (“paleo”) diet adjusts your food intake to the modern equivalents of what our prehistoric Neanderthal ancestors ate:

• Lean meats including beef, chicken, pork, duck, bison, and others (see separate discussion on differences between wild game versus current day domesticated meats)
• Organ meats
• Wild game meats
• Unlimited fruits and vegetables
• Eggs
• Healthy nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashews
• Various seeds
• Seafood

Seems fairly straightforward right? The problem is that the “food pyramid” in use in the US and elsewhere in the world actually has this somewhat inverted, and focuses more on “whole grains” and “dairy products” – which are not considered foods that caveman had access to or ate during their evolution – and thus you won’t find them on this  diet approach.

To this point, the guidance from the perceived diet of Paleolithic Man specifically prohibits eating the following “modern day” foods:

• Any grain product [bread, corn, cereal, crackers, etc]
• Any refined or added sugars
• Rice – regardless of whether white or brown
• Dairy products
• Peanuts, including peanut butter
• Legumes (beans such as pinto, black beans, etc.)
• Peas (all variants)
• Soy foods of any type
• Starchy foods such as potatoes
• Soft drinks of any kind, as well as fruit juice drinks
• Fatty meats (historically pasture raised beef and other types of meat was extremely lean compared to grain fed, pen raised cattle of today)
• Foods with high concentrations of added salt (i.e. bacon, sausages, etc)

Dr. Loren’s book “The Paleo Diet” also has a category of foods to be eaten in moderation, which includes (not the complete list):

• Oils such as Olive, avocado, walnut, flaxseed, and canola oil

ABC also did a short segment on the Paleo diet that had Robb Wolf on it – you can view it below.

Caveman Diet Controversy

As with any diet plan, there is plenty of controversy around this approach to eating, and its impacts on your health. What is especially difficult to tease out is pure research based findings versus marketing hype, especially given the enormous trillion dollar agricultural and dairy industries, which heavily influence public perception as well as government policies.

Some specific objections to this prehistoric approach that have been raised include:

• Impractical to feed the world’s populations – wheat and other grain products take a lot less resources to produce large volumes of food compared to foods on the paleo diet. Projections have been created by several researchers that indicate it would be impossible to feed the world’s population if wheat, grain, rice, and other prohibited foods were removed from the food supply. Not only can vast volumes of these foods be produced with minimal resources, but they can also be stored for long periods and transported easily.
• High protein diet risks – including increased (versus claims of decreased) risk of heart disease and kidney problems. Note that it is extremely difficult to perform a controlled study, and the type of meat and protein eaten (saturated fat and Omega 3 profiles) is often not fully known even in the studies that were performed. An often cited study of high protein diet risk from a coronary artery disease perspective can be found here, while a counterpoint based on studying modern day hunter/gather tribes in places like Africa is here.
• Modern day diseases are caused by a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise, versus any specific dietary changes (this one is hard for me to support given the research around how our bodies process sugar, and refined carbs, and the impact on blood glucose levels and insulin production, which have been proven to wreak havoc over a long period).
• Concerns around calcium intake if dairy is removed. This is largely not a concern for me based on my readings, and Dr. Loren as well as others explain the sources of calcium on the caveman diet, and why your body also excretes less calcium based on the levels of other minerals and vitamins.

My Review of The Caveman Diet

Given that there is not a single, definitive, branded version of the “Caveman Diet”, but rather flavors of it based on various interpretations of prehistoric eating habits and conditions, my review is based on several different sources of information:

• Reading several online articles from university studies as well as sites like WebMD and others.
• Reading (cover to cover) Dr. Loren’s “The Paleo Diet”.
• Purchasing/Reading (start to finish – Kindle edition) Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Solution”.
• Purchasing/Reading Isabel De Los Rios’s “The Diet Solution”
• Implementing the diet solution program in my life, going on month 3 at the time of this article.

As someone with over 20 years in the high tech industry, and with 2 degrees in engineering, the science and reasoning behind the caveman diet appeals to me, and reading the gory details of what happens after you eat a piece of bread versus a fruit/vegetable/lean meat is dramatic.

All three books above go into a fair amount of detail about refined carbohydrates (aka wheat etc), and the dramatic reactions your body has in terms of blood glucose and insulin production with these types of foods versus the ones recommended if eating “like a caveman”. Furthermore, the very complex, inter-related affects of nutrients entering your body from one source of food versus another is enlightening – i.e. the fact that you may need less calcium when on this approach due to other nutrients preventing calcium loss was intriguing.

If you’ve read my bio on this site, you know I started with the Diet Solution after a lot of research. This diet touches upon the same science and approach as the Paleo diet approach (and in fact references it often in context of possibly needing to go to that extreme based on your medical and weight loss needs), but is what I would consider a “softened” version of the caveman approach. I’ve created a comparison of the Paleo Versus Diet Solution you can read for further information.

My Personal Results

I’ve lost almost 2 belt notches off of my waist in 3 months on the Diet Solution (with the more restrictive caveman variants implemented over the last month), and recently my in-laws told me my skin looked “glowing” which was a bit unexpected!

I do feel better on the diet, and recent blood work showed my cholesterol and triglycerides all showed an improvement from last year (although still high, which is why if you follow me on twitter you’ll know I’m cutting out red wine for a few months to see if that is the culprit).

If you decide to embark on this type of diet, or simply want to learn more, I would recommend the Diet Solution for a more gradual introduction with a lot of great support including recipes, online forums, etc., or if you want to go straight to the more restrictive, purer form of the caveman diet than I would start with Robb Wolf’s book, as I found it to be a much easier read than Dr. Cordain’s.

Paleo Diet Resources for The Caveman in You

As I mentioned above, I’ve read both Robb Wolf’s Paleo Diet Book as well as Loren Cordain’s. I’d strongly recommend that you start with Robb’s as it is an easier read, and I found the information to be laid out in a more easy to follow format.

If you are already on the Caveman Diet, I’d highly recommend checking out his newest book “The Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide” that provides guidance around the shopping experience – which can be a little challenging in terms of the right foods, where you should spend more money versus less, how to not break the bank being on this diet, etc. I plan on doing an in-depth review of this new book in the near future,  so stay tuned!

This is one of a series of books that has a wealth of Paleo Diet Recipes. I have not yet reviewed this, although I will be posting some sample recipes from this series on my site shortly [keep an eye on the "Paleo Books" section of my site].  You can read more about what is  in this paleo book by clicking on the image.

This is another book from the author of the above “Paleo Eating for Modern People”. I haven’t reviewed this one yet either, but plan to in the near future. In the meantime you can click on the book to learn more about it from the author’s web site.

According to Wikipedia:

“A 2012 ABC News investigative report indicated that 70 percent of ground beef (beef mince) sold in U.S. supermarkets contains pink slime, and that the USDA has allowed it to go unlabeled over the objection of a few of its own scientists.[2] A 2008 Washington Post article suggested that the pink slime content of most beef patties containing the substance approaches 25%.[3]“

A Washington Post article indicated the pink slime process involves “taking USDA-approved beef trimmings, separating the fat and meat with centrifuges, then squeezing it through a tube the size of a pencil, during which time it is exposed to ammonia gas. The combination of the gas with water in the meat results in a reaction that increases the pH (lowering acidity) and killing pathogens such as E. coli.”  How can anyone want to be on a diet that includes such manufactured food that started with a healthy choice of beef? Worse yet is in the US beef producers, supermarkets, and restaurants weren’t required to disclose that their “beef” is not truly natural beef. How many meals would you order that said “Beef with Pink Slime added?

In any case the outcry has been huge, resulting in large restaurant chains such as McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco discontinuing the use of this “pink slime” beef product. Furthermore, many large supermarket chains [i.e. Krogers] are now either discontinuing use, or offering other options to consumers.

While companies and scientists insist this pink slime product is safe, the description of how it is made, along with the mental image of the name pink slime has created a fast and furious reaction in the social media, and as of 3/27/2012 numerous press outlets are reporting that 3 out of 4 producers of the pink slime are now discontinuing it.  No doubt this is in large part to losing their major customers versus any real shift towards more wholesome, less processed meats.

Pink slime is NOT a part of the Diet Solution Program – in fact if you’ve followed me here or on twitter (@rtuckerton) you know I am a huge fan of organic, grass fed, pasture raised beef, which is readily available either online or at local organic food stores. This meat is not mechanically processed,  nor does it contain scrap pieces of beef that are treated to a length process and then added back in to other cuts of meat [the thought of this does gross me out, and i think the term Pink Slime is appropriate!].

However, now that fast food giants and many grocery stores have decided this isn’t the best food to feed their customers, what do we see in the news next? Our very own US Department of Agriculture announced it is purchasing 7 MILLION pounds of the pink slime meat to be used in school lunches.

WHAT? So we are essentially bailing out these producers by having taxpayers taking the surplus off their hands and giving it our kids? As a parent I was outraged over this, and the local media in Denver has been running multiple stores around which school districts may receive pink slime meat – many school districts around Denver are publishing confirmations that their meat supplier doesn’t use Pink Slime, or they are switching suppliers (Thank God).

How in the world can the USDA think it is ok to use taxpayer money to purchase a suspect food product to feed children [many in the free lunch program who may not have many other options for food during the day] when adults won’t eat it?

ARGH. GROSS. The sad part is to think that if you aren’t following a healthy diet like the ones I discuss here, you’ve likely been eating pink slime for quite a while now [as I was before I started on the diet solution 3 months ago]. Education works wonders doesn’t it? [unless you're in public education - in which case you may still be eating pink slime ]

Russell

After about 2 months into the Diet Solution (aka DSP), I was running across a lot of research on the Paleo Diet, which is covered a little bit in the DSP as well. I did further research and purchased Rob Wolff’s book, as well as read Loren Cordain’s key reference text on the Paleo Diet. I’ve slowly moved a little further towards the strict Paleo solution, and thought I’d share my view of the two diets here, as I still strongly recommend the DSP program to friends, family, and total strangers.

High Level Thoughts

The Diet Solution shares a number of similarities with the Paleo Diet. In many cases Isabel restricts consumption of items that would be strictly outlawed on the Paleo diet, and she has frequent mentions in her plan to the Paleo plan with guidance that people may be stricter on eliminating specific food types depending on how they feel after consumption.

Isabel has you classify your metabolism based on some basic criteria into 1 of 3 types:

• Protein
• Carbohydrates
• Mixed

I’ve found the guidance for the Protein metabolism type to be the most similar to the Paleo diet in terms of recommended foods, portions, and restriction of grain products. In fact, this is where my metabolism ended up mapping to, and is the variant of the program I have been following.

Percentage of Calorie Intake by Food Type

Data sources: DSP Program Guide, The Paleo Diet, Loren Cordain 2002

The chart above highlights the similarity with respect to protein and carbohydrates – in all 3 metabolism types she increases protein relative to the common diet in the US today. On her diet plan, however, she emphasizes an even higher protein level for 2 of the 3 types, and a dramatically lower fat level than Paleo.

Grains & Other Food Types

The DSP recognizes that grains and associated agricultural products are relatively new to our bodies, and that we have not genetically had time to adapt to them being a mainstay of our current diets. Like the Paleo Diet, the DSP also discusses the major problems inherent in blood glucose and insulin swings associated with high glycemic foods like grains.

While the Paleo Diet does not allow any grain or dairy products at all, the DSP program carves out a few exceptions:

• Sprouted whole grain bread, which Isabel indicates changes the grains composition to make it much more beneficial as a nutrient source.
• Corn is allowed [but in moderation]
• Dairy is allowed [but raw unpasteurized, organic only]
• Cheese and Yogurt are allowed [w/some caveats]
• Legumes are allowed [w/some caveats]
• Potatoes [w/some caveats]
• Brown rice is allowed
• Salt is allowed [natural sea salt only – not processed or manufactured]
• Higher fat meats are allowed in moderation [bacon, etc] vs Paleo where they are on the restricted list

Isabel does discuss the stricter Paleo regimen, and indicates she uses it for some of her clients with a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or struggle with ongoing weight management. You can also see influences of her research on that front in many of the restrictions she places on the allowed foods above.

Soy Products

While the Paleo diet lists Soy on its list of “don’t eat” foods, the DSP has an entire chapter discussing why Soy is so bad for you – and to avoid all form of Soy products. After reading the background and marketing campaigns on Soy products, and the biochemical reactions that occur in your body, I’d be shocked if you continued eating Soy [which you shouldn’t!].

Fats – Healthy and Unhealthy

I couldn’t find many differences across the DSP and Paleo diets with respect to fats, other than the differences in recommended ratios shown in the table above. Both programs have excellent explanations and supporting science behind which fats are bad for you, and which fats are good and must be consumed to maintain optimal health.

Calories

The Diet Solution Program has a little more discussion of calories, including the background and misconceptions that are rampant in the media. Isabel also provides information and some tools to help calculate a general target for your calorie intake each day, although she doesn’t advocate any strict calorie counting at each meal or snack.

Food Quality

Both plans contain excellent guidance on organic versus non-organic fruits and vegetables, risks of pesticides, and differences between organic free range meat versus the pen-raised meats commonly available. Again, I found both sources to be almost identical in terms of the information and recommendations for properly selecting the highest quality foods that minimize ingesting toxins.

Meal Planning

This is one topic that I thought was more prevalent in the Diet Solution Program. Specifically, the DSP is organized and optimized to be as easy to follow as possible, even when presenting the scientific justification for specific recommendations.

Furthermore, I found it easier to create each meal quickly, as well as snacks, based on the ability to pick from a selection of choices in each food category for each meal – so I could assemble a meal on the fly and know it was compliant with the diet.

The DSP also has a very rich set of tools both in written form as part of the books you receive, and also online at their members site. And while I’m not typically a forum guy, the user forums on the DSP web site are a valuable resource for many people to discuss elements of the diet and results they are seeing.

Support

Robb Wolf is one of the major proponents of the Paleo Diet [I’ve purchased and read his Paleo Solution Diet, and he was a student of Dr. Loren Cordain who is considered the leading expert on the Paleo diet – I’ve also read his seminal book titled “The Paleo Diet” published in 2002].

Both Isabel and Rob have very rich web sites that provide a ton of support for people implementing each particular diet type. Purchasing or signing up for their programs includes receiving ongoing emails with new recipes, research, and updates on elements of the diet. There are forums available on both sites to discuss the diet and submit questions to be answered.

I didn’t find any significant differences in the level of support provided across both programs – both are excellent and really help you change and maintain your lifestyle and feel like you have ongoing help on your journey.

Paleo Site: www.robbwolf.com

DSP Site: www.BeyondDiet.com

Bottom Line

The bottom line is both diets are HUGELY beneficial, and represent a lifestyle change that will improve your health, naturally help you lose weight and body fat, and dramatically reduce your chances of coming down with common “Western” diseases like heart disease and diabetes, stroke, and cancer.

I started on the Diet Solution Program, and found it very easy to implement. I’ve gradually moved more towards her stricter version of the diet as I’ve gotten more into the Paelo research. I think most people would find the DSP to be easier to implement as it feels more “accessible” in terms of the information presented, and is a little more lenient on some highly desirable foods like dairy and bread/rice.

Depending on your individual desires and health issues you may follow my path onto a more Paleo type lifestyle approach.

If you’ve been reading through the rest of my site about the Diet Solution Program, you already know that this is the flat stomach diet I chose to help reduce my weight and get to a healthier body. I started at the same place you are – doing a ton of research online, including all of the usual suspects with huge marketing budgets [and in my opinion pricey programs] like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.

I decided to purchase the Diet Solution Program as it was the best fit for me to learn – yes learn – how to get my body to a stage where belly fat would melt away by simply eating healthier. My perspective is that if you’re body is getting the fuel it was designed to use, it will self-optimize not only around general health, but also avoid depositing excess fat around my waist. Furthermore, after understanding better the biochemical reactions that occur in my body in response to specific foods, I firmly believe that following the right flat stomach food diet will by default begin providing me the results I’m looking for.

How to Get a Flat Stomach Fast

You’ve seen it right? Web sites claiming to get you a flat stomach in 2 weeks, or maybe 3 weeks. Does this sound right to you? As much as we all want to believe in magic, you know in the back of your head that ways to a flat stomach fast, in a healthy way, will involve hard work and motivation. However, the hard work doesn’t have to mean a daily grind of eating weird foods, doing a thousand sit-ups every morning, or buying a space age exercise machine for thousands of dollars.

Seriously. With a full time job, business travel, and 2 kids do you really think I have time or energy to select a diet or exercise program that would be impossible to follow and require me to find an extra 2 hours in an already busy day? A flat stomach diet is what I needed that didn’t depend on exercise to produce results.

No – I also wanted to get a flat stomach fast, so I researched and chose a diet solution that involves changing the foods I eat – foods available at almost every grocery store, and don’t involve some weird recipe or spices to make it palatable. I even allow myself to cheat twice a week if I want – and my body has still responded amazingly to this approach. By starting with changing my diet to flat stomach foods I didn’t have to find any extra time in my day – but simply starting changing what I eat during normal meal times.

Flat stomach foods, however, are part of an overall diet solution to improve the fundamental way your body functions. We don’t see overweight tigers, leopards, cheetahs, and other wild animals – why? Because they eat what their bodies evolved to function on. You, however, like most people, aren’t eating anything close to what your body evolved on. Do you really think that prehistoric man had access to pasta, bread, refined sugar, corn syrup, and ate animals that were raised on soy and assorted grains? Uh, no.

Many people believe that starting an aggressive exercise program will result in a flat stomach fast – I personally think that is backwards. You need to fix your diet first to get your body functioning optimally and not storing excessive blood sugar / glucose into your belly cells as fat. Once you are on a healthy diet for fat loss then you can begin adding in an exercise program to start toning the abdominal muscles (that will slowly be exposed as belly fat melts away) and getting your cardiovascular system in order. Focusing on a good flat stomach diet is the essential starting point before running out to buy a gym membership!

Think about it – you purchase a six-pack abdomen exercise program, and start on it right away. 5 days later you are dreading the morning or night stomach exercise routine, and furthermore haven’t seen any change at all other than a sore stomach. If you are still eating the same foods that caused your body to put on the fat, all the exercise program is doing is strengthening your belly muscles under all of that fat – and in the meantime your body is still diligently processing the junk you are eating and continuing to adapt to it by depositing more fat. So all of your hard work is not going to net results unless you change your diet to flat stomach foods (unless your goal is a fat stomach with hard muscles hidden underneath).

If nothing else, do yourself a favor and get a quick education either through Google, through buying the Diet Solution, or check a book out of your local library on the glycemic index. It will take you less than an hour to understand how your body functions relative to blood sugar, insulin, and why fat gets deposited around your waist. You will be surprised at how eating foods that appear to be good [like pasta or whole grain bread] actually can result in more weight gain and increase your stomach fat.

Flat Stomach Diet Plan

So what does a flat stomach diet plan look like – and does it work? My personal results on the diet I chose include:

• I lost 2 belt notches in 2 months – my stomach is definitely losing excess fat (not sure if this is typical of everyone – just my experience on the diet solution program).
• I’m never hungry – this diet isn’t restrictive in terms of how much flat stomach foods I can eat.
• I’m not counting points or calories.
• I’m snacking on wholesome snacks all day long.
• I’m being intelligent about when to spend extra on organic foods versus conventional foods.
• I have not started any kind of exercise program [although that is my next step].
• I have no problems eating at restaurants. It becomes so easy to select the right foods, ask the right questions, and make substitutions for almost any meal you eat at a restaurant.
• It took me about 3 weeks before I had gradually transformed my shopping and eating habits over to what was recommended.

When looking for the ideal stomach diet, you should be sure it is from a certified nutritionist, provides the research behind the recommendations, and has a track record of results.

Whether you choose the Diet Solution Plan or another program that is equally as credible, you can see results fairly quickly in losing belly fat by simply following some basic principles outlined in many of these diet solutions:

• Avoid grains, pastas, and other refined carbohydrates – this includes bread and rice as well (most diets have meal plan guides that make it super easy to prepare all kinds of meals that are compliant).
• Increase intake of fruits and vegetables – easier than you think! I had never tried Kale before starting on my diet, and now I love it – plus it is one of the most nutritious vegetables you can find.
• Incorporate almonds and cashews into your diet – especially good as snack items (whereas salted peanuts are not).
• Minimize or eliminate dairy products.
• Increase green leafy vegetables – this is where we should be getting a lot of our calcium and other key nutrients.
• Your body NEEDS the right fats to function [and burn existing body fat] – Omega 3 is one of the more critical ones, and is found in fish, flax seed, and other sources.
• Where possible buy organic, free range and grass fed meats. The nutritional profile is optimal in terms of fats, proteins, and beneficial fatty acids. When animals eat a diet they shouldn’t be, they produce meat that has things in it you shouldn’t be eating.
• Consider cooking with Coconut oil – a great healthy source of medium chain fatty acids.
• The one key supplement to be sure you are taking is one that provides the right ratio of Omega 3 fatty acids. There are entire books written about just this topic, so I won’t go into how to find the right supplement and ratios here.
• Research soy – don’t believe the marketing without reading up on soy products and how they are processed by your body. Form your own opinion on this topic.

I’m personally not a fan of diets that require pre-prepared meals purchased from a specific company, counting points so I can determine if I can eat something that is completely wrong for my body, or starving myself through some arcane calorie counting program. My quick take on calorie counting as a way to get a flat stomach is that you will never stick with it, and will be hungry all the time and grab the first thing available – which is junk food [when is the last time you saw organic vegetables in the vending machine?]

Any diet that focuses on healthier eating and explains the effects of specific foods like grains is a good one to look at to burn belly fat. Google “glycemic” index, or browse your local library or book store to find a book on the glycemic index. What you will learn is the effect food types have on your blood sugar and insulin levels, and why this is critical when it comes to not only storing excess fat, but also not triggering inflammatory responses in your body that are starting to be linked with a long list of disorders. Getting to a flat stomach fast should involve you having a basic understanding of this concept.

Flat Stomach Diet Conclusions…

Hopefully you now feel armed with a few basic approaches for your flat stomach food plan. It isn’t as easy as simply cutting out snacks and soda and expecting to see results – doing a little bit of research [or better yet buying an already researched and effective plan like I did] will enable you to start changing your diet so it truly starts working as a “flat stomach diet plan”.

I will leave you with one final analogy. Exercising yourself to death is like replacing the engine in your car with the largest horsepower engine you can find – yet if you put bad gasoline or bad oil in the car how far do you think you’ll get? The little 4-cylinder Civic will pass you by every time with the right fuel.

Aside from magic pills that I believe do more harm to a body than good, I’m a firm believer that eating right is the first step to losing body fat – and of course is the path I am on right now – even ahead of starting a real exercise program to lose fat. A proper meal plan like the one provided by Isabel as part of the Diet Solution Book is critical to ensuring you lose that body fat.

Burning body fat [and the associated fat burning meal plan] starts with ensuring your body is receiving the healthy foods and nutrients it needs – I’ve yet to run across an archeologist remake of prehistoric man that shows any obesity. Our bodies are designed after millions of years to operate efficiently – and carrying around extra body fat and weight does not fit that profile.

PS. You can jump to the next section on Fat Burning Foods if that is your preferred topic!

Choosing a Lose Fat Meal Plan

So assuming you’ve made the healthy choice to investigate how to modify your diet to optimize your body [and your health] functions, and avoided magic pills with long term side effects, you’ve presumably started looking into diet plans to help you with weight loss. A key element of any diet plan is the meal plans – basically what does a lose fat meal plan look like? Is a fat burning meal plan a super secret sauce handed down generation to generation? Of course not.

A fat burning meal plan will look different depending on which diet plan you select, although you already know I would highly recommend the diet solution program books from my personal experiences. Some common characteristics of weight loss meal plans that are proven to work include:

• Focus on more fruits and vegetables
• Decreasing your intake of harmful fats
• Increasing your intake of beneficial fats [i.e. Omega 3 fatty acids for example, as well as other healthy fats]
• Minimize or eliminate high calorie, empty foods such as candy, pastries, etc.
• Understand what organic foods belong in your lose fat meal plan, and which foods don’t need to be organic [i.e. many foods carry a low risk of contamination from pesticides, mercury, etc.]
• Moderating grain and processed flour food intake
• Ensuring adequate protein intake, and from a variety of sources including nuts.
• Monitoring or restricting/eliminating dairy products
• Being selective on types of alcohol if not eliminated completely
• Supplementing with key nutrients depending on the foods you’re eating [such as fish oil for Omega fatty acids]

A fat burning meal plan from one diet solution program may include prepared, frozen entrees and snacks that you purchase where the selection of ingredients and portion sizes have already been worked out [e.g. Jenny Craig is an example of this type of plan]. Some other lose fat meal plans may group foods into categories and assign points to them – i.e. Weight Watchers does this based on calorie content – and then you’re allowed a specific number of points each day but the food selection is up to you.

My personal preference, and an approach I knew would work for fat burning with my meal plans, was not to have a complicated point system, not to buy overpriced weight loss meals already prepared, but rather to get educated on the basic nutrient categories such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Coupled with this education on basic healthy eating and my body’s needs, I then explored the other portion of my chosen diet solution program that discussed how to select foods – and better yet provided meal plan information and tools that allow almost an infinite variety of meals and snacks while still hitting my goals.

Whatever diet solution approach  you choose, it will have it’s own meal plan associated with it. Be sure your fat burning meal plan was designed by a certified nutritionist, has been around long enough to show results across thousands of people, and that it meets your life style. There is no right or wrong in terms of most of the meal plans out there for fat loss – it is purely a matter of what will match your personality and you can stick with.

Fat Burning Foods

Did you come here looking for the top 5 fat burning foods – ones that will melt off the fat by simply having a few of them a day? The short list of foods that require no exercise to get a flat stomach in 2 weeks?

Yea, me too. When I first started researching “real” dietary changes for myself, I was amazed at the information I came across on page one of Google – and not pleasantly amazed. Some of the wide variety of “expert” tips on these advertisement laden sites for fat burning – eat more of:

• Yogurt
• Tea
• Whole wheat bread
• Oats
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Water
• Nuts
• Coconuts
• Soup [apparently any kind]
• Weird pills with herbs from some remote jungle region in Africa
• Smoothies that required about 1 of everything from GNC
• Unusual combinations of very specific foods in each meal – like a witches spell

Starting to get the point that there is no magic list of 5 fat burning foods? No way to just snack one a couple of special items every day and watch the fat melt away? Here is the simple fact about fat burning foods: Armed with a few key facts, you can make choices at every meal – home and out – to maximize your bodies natural ability to burn fat. Nothing magical, but some science-based guidance based on how your body was engineered.

Fat burning food discussions often bring up protein (even when diet experts aren’t in the room) – and for good reason. Lean protein is essential for our bodies to function, and furthermore your body spends more energy digesting protein than refined carbohydrates like bread. For every 100 calories consumed, it takes about 30% of these calories to digest protein compared to 7% for refined carbs and other “modern” foods. Higher energy spent – burning calories and fat. Furthermore, ensuring a high protein intake throughout the day helps prevent your body from burning muscle versus fat, and has a low glycemic index which means your blood sugar is not gyrating wildly throughout the day as it does with things like breads, rice, and other refined carb foods.

If you can afford it, grass fed beef is an excellent choice as a fat burner – it has much less saturated fat compared to grain and kennel raised beef, and more importantly it has an almost perfect ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids.

Next up is fruits and vegetables. These are 2nd in line after focusing on your protein plan.  As fat burning foods go again they don’t magically enter your body and attack fat cells. But they make a huge contribution to your bodies NORMAL fat burning cycle by providing:

• Soluble and insoluble fiber [which helps you feel full]
• Major nutrients – most major vitamins, minerals, and even sufficient calcium depending on types eaten.
• Regulate your blood sugar and glucose levels

Most credible diet programs would outline a plan that consists almost entirely of eating a lean protein at each meal, as well as 1-2 servings of fruits and vegetables, which isn’t as hard as it might sound.

Nowhere in here did I mention oats, wheat bread, rice, bagels, donuts, cookies, pasta, etc. – for good reason. If you really want to focus on fat burning foods, these are all your enemy from a refined carbohydrate  and sugar perspective. They will completely imbalance your blood sugar ratios, wreak havoc on your insulin balance, and cause feast/famine cycles throughout the day that will have you snacking on junk within 1-2 hours of eating a meal.

The cycle of increase in blood sugar/insulin from high glycemic foods can cause your body to constantly be faced with having to store extra glucose somewhere – regardless of how much your exercising.

Finally – don’t talk to me about reduced calorie diets as a healthy way to reduce fat. If you were designing the human body, what mechanism would you put in place if “food” was suddenly scarce? Hm…maybe slowing down the metabolism to reduce energy requirements? Not what you want…

Fat burning foods do more than burn fat – they start returning your body to it’s original showroom condition by feeding it what it was evolved to function on. I challenge you to find any rendering of a prehistoric man that is overweight – our bodies functioned much better before we turned our daily meals completely upside down.

Eating should be fun, and with the right food selection [NOT HARD, but requires some education] fat burning becomes an almost automatic expected reaction…while you eat as much as you want and never feel hungry.