Vol. 1, No. 1, July 2006

No Willpower Weight Loss System

Moderate to severe obesity is an unwanted burden for more than five out of ten adult Americans. Yet many of those who are overweight try over and over - unsuccessfully - to lose their excess pounds. Why is there so much obesity in our country, and why do so many initially successful people almost always regain weight - often even more than they lost in the first place?

Oprah Did It Wrong, Then Right

Let's look at what happened with Oprah Winfrey. In 1988, when she lost 67 pounds in three months using some "magic" liquid diet, we predicted that she would gain the weight back - and then some. By knowing how the mechanism that produces obesity works, she was destined to gain it back. That's what's wrong with the way most Americans try to lose weight.

Once Oprah went off the liquid regimen, she immediately began regaining weight, and wound up at more than she weighed when she started. This highly publicized failure should have blunted the enthusiasm of most Americans for quick-fix diets, including the much-hyped low calorie, liquid-protein diets, but I don't think it has.

The second time around, Oprah committed herself to a long-term, well-publicized regimen that included a low-fat diet and physical exercise, and therein lies the key. Lifestyle changes are the foundation of effective weight control. I believe the failure to control weight is due to the fact that most people don't understand how the body controls weight, or how much lifestyle has to do with losing weight and maintaining that loss.

The Yo-Yo Phenomenon 

The yo-yo phenomenon is when you lose weight, then gain back more than you lost. When you go on a restricted-calorie diet (800 calories or less) per day, your metabolism slows to conserve energy. Your body thinks it's in danger of starving, so it stores ingested fat to be used and altered for survival. There is an increase in the enzyme lipoprotein lipase that governs how efficiently fat is stored in the body.

At first you lose weight, but once your metabolism starts slowing down, it actually works against your efforts to lose. You reach a "plateau" and lose little weight in the next weeks. Your metabolic rate stays depressed for up to two months, even after you start eating normally again, and when you do return to a normal caloric intake, the depressed metabolic rates ensures rapid weight gain, often taking you beyond your original weight.

 Studies have demonstrated this. Scientists gave animal's excessive fat. When the animals were switched to a marked calories-restricted program, they lost weight.

 The low-calorie regimen made their bodies more efficient at storing and keeping fat. When they regained their lost weight and were put back on their original high-fat regimen, it took them substantially longer to lose the weight the second time. In addition, when the animals were allowed to gain weight the second time, they gained it much faster - and they gained more.

 Our patients who have the most difficulty losing weight on the "right" program are those who have used the "wrong" programs in the past. It appears that damage done by calorie-restricted diets can be difficult to reverse.

Diet Drugs Don't Work Either 

Near-starvation regimens that can cost hundreds of dollars per month don't work for long-term weight loss. They set the stage for a more severe weight problem in the future. Even worse, some weight loss drugs such as Pondimin, if used for longer than three months, increase the risk of developing primary pulmonary hypertension, a fatal condition. Additionally, diet drugs have serious side effects such as dry mouth, short-term memory loss, dizziness, and diarrhea.

In July 1997, researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation reported cases of rare valvular disease in 24 previously healthy women who had taken the weight-loss medications Fenfluramine and Phentermine (Fen-phen). All 24 patients had cardiovascular symptoms or a heart murmur.

Subsequent testing showed that one or more heart valves in each patient were thickened and blood was regurgitating (or "leaking" backwards), making the heart work harder or pump blood throughout the body. Five patients needed open heart surgery to repair or replace damaged, leaking valves. As a result, the FDA received 66 additional reports of heart-valve disease associated mainly with "Fen-phen." It was eventually taken off the market.

Diet drugs are dangerous. Fortunately, there are alternatives for losing weight that have no side effects and no risk.

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CAUTION 

Not all ineffective diets are commercially hyped. Some are promoted by doctors who should know better. You may have heard of a "revolutionary" diet which advocates restricting all carbohydrates, while allowing as much fat as desired.

Such a diet is dangerous. It will not reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, or other degenerative diseases. Like the calorie-restricted diets, this diet will provide weight loss at first, but you will quickly reach a plateau and stop losing weight. In fact, any diet that is all of one thing or none of another is bound to cause problems, from the possibility of a fouled-up metabolism to malnutrition.

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What Is The Answer? 

If low-calorie diets actually make obesity more resistant and diet drugs don't work either - what is the answer? In the standard American diet, 40% of the calories come from fat; in many other countries people consume only 10% to 15% of their calories from fat. Yet, although overall calorie consumption in other countries is equivalent to that in the United States, in most countries, obesity simply does not exist.

Studies have proven that a diet based on reducing fat calories is successful for weight control. Protein and complex carbohydrate calories, even if taken in excess, are seldom converted to and stored as fat. These calories are metabolized, and by-products are excreted quite rapidly. The body simply has no efficient metabolic pathway to turn protein into fat. (This doesn't mean you should adopt a high-protein diet - excess protein stresses your liver and kidneys, causing them to work overtime).

In studies in which radioactive carbohydrate markers were placed in food and tracked through the body, less than 1% of the carbohydrate load was converted into fat and stored. Even when carbohydrates are taken in excess, the excess is generally burned up in "wasteful metabolic reactions" that have a tendency to increase the body's metabolic rate - not reduce it.

To be sure the carbohydrates you consume are burned most efficiently; you should consume only complex carbohydrates. New research demonstrating the dramatic variations in different carbohydrates, plus the mushrooming array of fat-free, nutrient-free carbohydrate foods, have prompted me to re-evaluate my dietary recommendations. I still recommend that they comprise 60% to 70% of your diet, but I want you to be more selective of the carbohydrates you choose - become a "carbo connoisseur." I have seen the changes in our clients; slight modifications in carbohydrate selections can pay large dividends in successful weight loss.

Simple Verses Complex Carbohydrates 

There are two basic types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are essentially sugars - white sugar, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, and fructose. These simple, one-or two-molecular sugars are quickly broken down into glucose, enter the bloodstream rapidly, and cause a rapid rise in blood glucose, accompanied by a rise in insulin.

Grains and vegetables are examples of complex carbohydrates. They are made up of many sugar molecules bonded or chained together. Their sugars are released more slowly into the bloodstream, a process made slower still by the fiber in these foods. Once the fiber is removed, as it is in refined flour and processed grains, they are metabolized like a simple carbohydrate.

Recent research at the University of Toronto and at the Glycemic Research Institute in Washington D.C., has added a twist to the simple/complex carbohydrates game - the glycemic index. It is a way of evaluating foods according to how quickly they are metabolized into glucose. Foods with a high-glycemic index enter into the bloodstream rapidly, while low-glycemic foods promote a slower release of glucose and insulin.

This means that the bulk of your diet should be low-glycemic complex carbohydrates. Sugars and refined grains are high-glycemic and most vegetables and whole grains are low. But there are a few surprises - some complex carbohydrates behave more like simple sugars, with a quick release of glucose.

Start Burning Fat 

Your body stores fat calories in the fat reserves in your body. If you stop eating fat and cut off the "storage cycle," you will lose weight. You can accelerate this process with a plan designed to help your body burn more fat. This plan has three parts - foods that raise your metabolism, exercise, and nutritional supplements.

GLYCEMIC INDEX

Low-Glycemic Index Foods

•  Most fruits except tropical and dried fruits

•  All vegetables except carrots

•  Beans and peas

•  Pasta

•  Oatmeal

•  Sprouted grain and rye breads, whole wheat pita bread, and whole wheat tortillas

High-Glycemic Index Foods

•  Most breads (not made with whole grains)

•  Potatoes, rice, corn

•  Fruit juices and sweetened jams and jellies

•  Most cold cereals

•  Snack foods and other foods made with refined flour

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1. Foods That Burn Bright

Many people who religiously avoid fat make the mistake of increasing their intake of bread, potatoes, rice and food made with refined flour. The results in a type of insulin resistance known as Syndrome X, in which insulin levels are driven up and carbohydrates cannot be properly utilized by your cells and are converted into fat instead of energy.

To combat Syndrome X, choose vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, and whole wheat pasta. In addition, moderate amounts of low-fat protein from foods like lean poultry, fish and beans will help you convert stored fat into energy.

For many obese people, the practice of eating adequate amounts of fat-free carbohydrate foods not only would eliminate the fat storage problems, but would also add to food. This should give you even more incentive to shift to low-glycemic carbohydrate foods that are low in fat.

2. Exercise

Anything you do to increase your body's metabolic rate will help burn fat. The most powerful and consistent way to do this is exercise.

Many people believe that you only burn calories while performing the exercise. That's not true! Regular exercise increases your metabolic rate for a long time after you stop exercising. Studies have shown that regular exercise simply sets your body's thermostat higher throughout the day - which is precisely what you want.

To be effective, exercise does not have to be a burden. Forget the old adage "no pain, no gain" myth which went a long way towards discouraging non-athletes from exercising. Exercise, however, should be regular and last for a reasonable length of time. A brisk half-hour walk is more efficient at burning fat and increasing the body's metabolism that a five-minute sprint on a bicycle. If you were to commit to a vigorous half-hour walk four or five days a week, you would move into the top 1% of Americans doing physical activity. And you would cover 6 to 10 miles per week, or 300 to 500 miles per year! Now, there's something to brag about!

3. Fat-Fighting Nutritional Supplements

I routinely recommend a nutritional supplement program for our clients, which include a high-potency multivitamin that contains adequate amounts of the B-complex vitamins. They are important for the energy reactions that not only burn fat, but also keep you moving and alert. In addition, there are a number of other supplements that are particularly helpful for losing weight. All are available at your local health food stores.

Pyruvate - Pyruvic acid is one of the end products of glucose metabolism. Ultimately, the energy from glucose, as well as fat and protein, is converted into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used by the body for virtually all processes that require energy. You produce about 90 pounds of ATP per day - it is both the spark plug and the gasoline that runs your system. Recent research has demonstrated that supplementing the diet with Pyruvate speeds up the production of energy and increases the body's use of it, setting the body's "idle" at a higher level.

If you have had difficulty losing weight in the past, and if you are willing to embrace a program of a healthy diet, regular exercise and nutritional supplements, then Pyruvate may be successful where other therapies have failed in the past.

Recommended dosage: 3 to 4 g (under 120 lbs. body weight); 4 to 5 g (120 to 165 lbs.); and 5 to 6 g (over 165 lbs.) taken three or four times a day, with meals.

How To Get Pyruvate In Your Diet 

Fruits and vegetables are high in natural Pyruvate. An apple, for example, contains about 450 mg. Add this to the already substantial list of benefits from fruits and vegetables, and you have one more reason for increasing your intake of these foods.

L-Carnitine - is essential for fat metabolism. This amino acid transports fat molecules across the membrane of your mitochondria (small particles in the cells where fat is burned). L-Carnitine has been shown to increase fat burning, even in people who regularly fast. Studies have shown that L-Carnitin will significantly lower the blood fat level, as well as the cholesterol level - even when there is a higher-than-required consumption of fat.

Recommended dosage: 500 to 1,000 mg per day

Chromium picolinate - helps build lean muscle mass in exchange for fat mass - exactly what you want if you are trying to lose weight. By building muscle mass, you increase the capacity of your body's internal "furnace," because the fat is primarily burned in muscle. In studies, athletes taking chromium lost more body fat and built more muscle mass than those taking a placebo.

Recommended dosage: 200 to 400 mcg per day

Coenzyme Q10 - Like L-Carnitine, this antioxidant supplement will enhance energy production in the mitochondria. Some studies have indicated that it might also increase the amount of "brown fat," which is the more metabolically activated fat. This is desirable because you want your fat stores to be readily available for burning in your metabolic furnace.

Recommended dosage: 30 to 60 mg per day

Magnesium-Potassium Aspartate - This is a good way to supplement your diet with both magnesium and potassium and enhance your physical endurance. If you start an exercise regimen and are taking magnesium-potassium aspartate, your endurance will likely increase, allowing you to exercise longer with less fatigue.

Recommended dosage: 2 to 4 500 mg capsules, twice a day

Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) - burns off fat by helping keep your body from converting carbohydrates and glucose into fat. It's a natural substance which comes from the dried rind of fruit of Garcinia cambogia , a tree indigenous to southern India. Known locally as the Malabar tamarind, and used as a flavoring in curries, its active ingredient is Hydroxycitric acid (HCA). HCA comes in supplement form, and can be added to anything you are now taking to facilitate weight loss, including chromium and thermogenic agents.

Recommended dosage: 750 mg per day (250 mg with each meal)

Stubborn Cases 

Two groups of people seem to be particularly resistant to weight loss. The first group consists of those who have cycled through low-calorie diet programs, especially if they stayed on the low-calorie diet for more than a couple of weeks. (As I've explained, these diets "freeze" fat by disrupting the metabolic systems that burn fat). The second group consists of those who have been heavy their entire adolescent and adult lives. They are battling the genetic bulge, because their percentage of body fat is genetically determined to be higher than those of others. That's their natural state. Successful weigh loss for individuals in these two groups may require two additional elements:

Thermagen Herbal Tea - Small doses of ephedra have been shown to increase metabolically active fat. Green Tea is an excellent product for this purpose.

Thyroid Supplements - The inability to lose weight, and obesity, can be the result of an under-active thyroid, or hypothyroidism, even if thyroid blood tests are normal. I often recommend thyroid supplements for an individual who needs to lose weight. Thyroid supplements can only be administered under a doctor's care, and your doctor must monitor your blood chemistry values and your heart rate while you are taking them.

How To Test Your Thyroid Function Yourself 

You can test for a low thyroid yourself by testing your basal body temperature. Just shake down a regular oral thermometer before you go to bed and leave it within easy reach. Immediately upon awakening in the morning - before you've moved at all - place the thermometer in your armpit and leave it there for 10 minutes.

Do this for three to five consecutive days, recording the temperature each day. (For menstruating women, this test is only accurate during the first four days of their menstrual cycles). Normal temperature is 97.8 to 98.2 degrees F. If your average temperature is lower than 97.8 degrees, you could have an under active thyroid and would likely benefit from thyroid supplements.

Two Success Stories 

Many of these therapies in this report are primarily used for patients suffering from heart disease and diabetes. Invariably most people adhering to this program, lose weight, some dramatically - without restricting the calories they consume. And they improve their overall health to boot! So it's a win-win situation.

One prominent businessman lost 100 pounds of excess body fat in one year, and an executive at another prominent publishing house, shed 30 pounds in three months, while his cholesterol level fell from 248, the "dangerous" range, to 180, within the optimal range.

Neither of these people was told to reduce their calorie intake or to "watch" their calories. They simply followed the regimen that has been laid out for you in this report - a low-fat, complex-carbohydrate diet, regular exercise and targeted nutritional supplements.

Getting Started: Your First Week To Permanent Weight Loss 

Like so many of our patients, you can achieve success. Use the energy you've been wasting on fad, failed diets to avoid fat and continue exercising. No calorie counting this time! On the next pages you will find a simple seven-day regiment you can use to get started. By substituting similar foods here and there, this menu can serve you indefinitely, and you WILL lose weight without dieting.

Good Luck.

MONDAY

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Ripe banana for sweetener (cooked with oatmeal)

High-fiber, low-fat whole-grain toast

Herb tea

Mid-morning snack

Fresh apple (the fiber pectin in fresh fruit is very healthy)

Lunch

Diversified salad (Vary the contents from meal to meal. Try for a variety of greens, fruits, and vegetables for lots of vitamins and minerals. Avoid avocado, it is 75% fat).

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh pear

Dinner

Whole-grain spaghetti or pasta (without egg)

Marinara sauce (Make with tomatoes, tomato paste (look for brands without salt), onion, garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper, spices. Simmer for one hour).

TUESDAY

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes (Use egg whites instead of whole eggs in batter; add no butter or margarine. Spray skillet with Pam - it adds no calories).

Mid-morning snack

Two fresh plums

Lunch

Lentil soup (Soak fresh lentils; cook with onions, carrots, herbs, and seasoning to taste, with no salt or oil).

Diversified salad

Play a round of golf, take a brisk walk or go shopping

Dinner

Stuffed bell pepper (Stuff bell peppers with steamed brown rice, tomatoes, fresh kernel corn, and pimento. Season with hot spices or a little stone-ground mustard. Bake).

Diversified salad

Fresh fruit dessert

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast

Seven-grain hot cereal

Banana, apricot, or raisins cooked in for sweetener

Nonfat milk

Herb tea

Mid-morning snack

Fresh grapefruit sections

Lunch

Pita Surprise (Whole-grain pita or pocket bread, stuffed with sprouts, onions, tomatoes, parsley, cucumbers, seasoned with mustard - if you use stone-ground mustard, this healthy sandwich will taste like a hotdog!)

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh apple

Dinner

Steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, squash)

Steamed brown rice (herb and spice seasoning; no salt or oil)

Diversified salad

Fresh fruit dessert

THURSDAY 

Breakfast

Belgian waffles (1 cup whole-wheat flour, 1 cup skim milk, 3 beaten egg whites; grease waffle iron with Pam)

Top with unsweetened fruit spread

Mid-morning snack

Fresh fruit (This morning, try a fruit you've never had before)

Lunch

Vegetable soup (Simmer vegetables with spices and herbs; no salt or oil)

Diversified salad

Work out in your garden for an hour or take a brisk walk

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh grapes

Dinner

Have a baked potato as your main course

Homemade mock sour cream (nonfat yogurt with chives and chopped onions)

Kernel corn

Diversified salad

Fresh fruit dessert

FRIDAY

Breakfast

Puffed wheat or rice cereal with no preservatives

Fresh strawberries

Nonfat milk

Herb tea

Mid-morning snack

Fresh apple

Lunch

Garbanzo Inroad (cooked garbanzo beans with onions and raw bell peppers. Mash until smooth; stuff into pita pocket, with lettuce and tomato).

Take a walk around your neighborhood

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh orange

Dinner

Chinese Revolution (steamed brown rice with Chinese vegetables; beans, sprouts, and water chestnuts)

Season with Tamari sauce, diluted with water

Diversified salad

Fresh fruit

SATURDAY

Breakfast

Cantaloupe (one-half)

Cracked whole-wheat cereal cooked with banana

Nonfat milk

Herb tea

Mid-morning snack

Fresh grapefruit sections

Lunch

Homemade tomato soup (Use any cookbook recipe, but omit the oil and salt; season with herbs and spices)

Clean your house

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh pear

Dinner

Steamed garden vegetables diversified (steamed vegetables - carrots, corn, squash, bell peppers, mushrooms - seasoned with herbs on pita bread or sourdough rye rolls)

Fresh fruit

SUNDAY

Breakfast

Scotch oat cereal (cooked with banana)

Nonfat milk

Unsweetened applesauce

Herb tea

Mid-morning snack

Fresh grapes

Lunch

Black bean soup (use any recipe, without salt or oil)

Season with lemon juice

Take a walk in a park by your home or at the beach

Mid-afternoon snack

Fresh orange

Dinner

Succotash (lima beans and cooked corn with onions and spices)

Black-eyed peas flavored with onion

Salad

Pita bread

Fresh fruit

Pulling It Together 

With any long-term weight-control plan, it's important to maintain the right balance of nutrients through proper supplementation with vitamins. The supplements I have recommended will support you in your goal to lose weight.

The most successful approach to losing weight combines the magic three steps - a low-fat diet, regular exercise, and specific nutritional supplementation - and results in a reduction in overall body fat and an increase in muscle mass. You will look better, feel better and best of all, be more healthy!