The All You The Diet Report

Can Eat“ Diet”:

Lose Weight
and
Never Go
Hungry
Again
 The Diet Report

The All You Can Eat “Diet”: Lose Weight

and Never Go Hungry Again
Fat is not your fault — so what can you do about it?
There’s a health crisis sweeping the world, and there’s a good chance you’re part of it. More than 69.2% of
Americans are overweight, while over one-third are obese1. Being overweight isn’t just unappealing to the eye
— there are very real and very dangerous health risks involved, including increased risks of2:

• coronary heart disease

• low testosterone and other hormonal imbalances
• high blood pressure
• stroke
• type 2 diabetes
• gallstones
• cancer
• arthritis
• sleep apnea
• reproductive problems (sexual dysfunction)
• gout
• Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia
• death

Your health isn’t the only thing that will suffer — your wallet will, too. According to the Center for Disease
Control, the estimated cost of obesity to the U.S. in 2008 was $147 billion3 — and that number is only expected
to rise. People who are obese spend about $1,429 more per year on medical care than those of normal weight;
overweight folks are somewhere in between4.

These are scary numbers. The impact of our expanding waistlines will take a heavy toll on both us and our
loved ones, both financially and physically. But before you get too depressed from reading this, I have two
good pieces of news for you:

1. It’s not your fault.

2. You have the power to lose the weight and the unhealthy baggage that comes with it. You have
the power to take your health into your own hands — adding years to your life, drastically
reducing your medical costs, and energizing your everyday living (including an added zest to
your sex life!).

And it’s much easier than you think...

1 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
2 http://www.webmd.com/diet/tc/obesity-health-risks-of-obesity
3 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
4 Ibid.
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That’s what Dennis learned after he read this report.

In case you haven’t met Dennis yet, he was one of the first people to try out the All You Can Eat diet...

When he started out in the winter of 2013, he had a whopping 282 lbs. on his 43-year-old, 5’11’’ frame.

Several months later he was down to 238 pounds (and dropping!).

As he told me, “Ken, I haven’t looked this good or weighed this much since I was 16. I really can’t thank you
enough for this report. Not only can I keep up with my kids without getting tired, but I can also keep up with
my wife without getting tired...”

Dennis’ favorite part about the diet?

“Well, I didn’t have to give up my steak and eggs breakfast, I could eat all the bacon, pepper jack
cheese and dry-rubbed ribs I wanted, and I still lost weight. It was so easy, after a week or two I
never even thought about going back.”

Does that sound better than your last diet? Of course it does...

Here is what you can expect:

• We’ll show you why most diets don’t work (hint: they leave you hungrier than when you started).
• We’ll reveal the food industry conspiracy that is keeping you addicted to their goods.
• You’ll learn how we evolved to store more fat from some foods than others.
• We’ll give an easy-to-follow meal plan full of healthy, filling, and delicious foods (like bacon-
wrapped avocados and pumpkin chili).
• And — most importantly — you’ll have an easy-to-follow template for losing weight and keeping
it off.

You could easily shed 2-3 pounds every week and never, ever go hungry.

Why We’re Fat: Evolution, Misinformation, and Corporate Donations

You can trace our world’s weight problem to three distinct periods in history, with the obesity rates increasing
drastically after each period: The agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago; the takeoff of food science
and the “research” done by physiologist Ancel Keys in the 1950s; and the publication of the McGovern Report
by the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs in the 1970s.

These three periods together have done more to destroy public health than any virus or plague ever has.
Understanding these three changes will highlight the problems of the modern Westernized diet — and show
you what you need to know to make the appropriate health changes in your own life.

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8,000 B.C.: Grains Gone Wild

If you went back to the period before 8,000 B.C., you’d see a life rarely found in the modern world5. Barring
death from infections, childhood accidents, or (for women) childbirths, you would witness the human body
at its healthiest and longevity to match. You would see men and women in their 40s and 50s with little to no
cavities, excess body fat, or chronic degenerative diseases (think cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.)6. Even their
rates of dying from communicable diseases like the flu or typhoid were much lower7. So what happened? The
agricultural revolution — more specifically, the domestication of grains.

Now don’t get me wrong — there were some benefits to that particular change in human history. It allowed
us to create a steady and secure source of food, the psychological comfort of which cannot be understated.
And it created the leisure time that allowed civilization to flourish. Art, mathematics, science — all those would
not have been possible without the freedom from spending much of our waking hours chasing down our food
day after day.
Are You Vitamin Deficient? If you eat these foods, you are...
According to the USDA11, without added supplements in their diet, the majority of Americans are deficient in vitamins A, C, D,
E, as well as two B vitamins (thiamin and folate), calcium, and magnesium. Additionally, a significant number of us are lacking
in iron, zinc, and the B vitamins niacin and riboflavin.
Biochemical engineer Todd Becker has a different view — that despite the fear mongering we get from the USDA and many
medical organizations, these numbers aren’t really what they seem. In fact, they’re downright misleading. If you’re a healthy
eater, then the reason you may not be reaching the USDA’s recommended levels is because their numbers are based on
people who needed many more nutrients than someone eating a healthy diet.
The Estimated Average Requirements (or EAR, used by the USDA) and Recommended Daily Allowances (or RDA, used by
the Institute of Medicine) were developed from studies of people eating traditional Western diets — which contain a high
amount of processed grains and other refined carbohydrates and are low in fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and organic
meats. The problem with this is that grains contain natural chemicals to prevent animals from eating them. Many animals
evolved ways around these defenses — but humans are not one of those animals. The most well known of these chemicals
are phytates. Phytates are known as “anti-nutrients” because they bind to certain nutrients the body needs, making them
poorly absorbed by your digestive system. Becker points to calcium as being one of the key nutrients rendered ineffective by
phytates2, but studies show that iron, niacin, zinc, and magnesium are also affected3.
The combination of having low nutrient content and having chemicals that bind with the little nutrients they have makes
grains the primary culprit in America’s nutrient deficiency. So what does this mean for people who already eat healthy and
keep grains out of their diet? More likely than not, you’re not nutrient deficient even if you’re not reaching the levels of nutrient
intake recommended by the USDA. If you’re not consuming loads of phytate-rich foods, you don’t have to worry about eating
as many nutrients as the USDA recommends.
1 http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12355000/pdf/0102/usualintaketables2001-02.pdf
2 http://gettingstronger.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-case-against-nutritional-supplements.pdf
3 There are multiple studies that confirm these findings: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2820048, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/8777015, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2998440, and http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00217-004-0912-7

The same can’t be said about human health for two reasons: it increased our risks of contracting infectious
diseases8, and it gave us a new diet that created many diseases of civilization (also known as chronic
degenerative diseases).

The former is very easy to understand — when villages and towns started to pop up around crops, people
who would normally spend their time as nomads chasing game and foraging fruits and veggies would

5 Outside of isolated tribes across South America, Africa, and the Pacific
6 http://www.melvinkonner.com/images/PDFs/articles/eatonkonnerstoneagersfastlane88.pdf
7 Ibid.
8 http://anthropology.si.edu/outreach/anthnote/fall96/anthback.htm
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now come into contact with one another more as they settled down near the food sources. This increased
proximity to other people meant viruses and bacteria now had more room to spread and a much larger
population to infect.

The grain issue is a little more complex. Until their domestication, grains only made up a minimal part of
the human diet9. In order to be eaten in any substantial amount, grains must be ground (which removes the
protective bran shell) and cooked (to break down lectins, which are proteins that inflame the gut). Provided
early humans were able to do that, they got very little in return other than calories — there are not many
nutrients available in grains compared to meat, nuts, fruit, and veggies. Much of this is due to the presence of
chemicals called “phytates” (pronounced fi-tates) that are found in the grains10.

In the human body, phytates act as “anti-nutrients,” blocking the absorption of many important vitamins and
minerals in your digestive system (see side bar for more information)11. Because nutrient-dense food sources
like meat, fruit, nuts, and veggies were much more abundant during the majority of the year, grains were only
really a food of last resort for most of human history.

The agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago brought with it the invention of methods that allowed for simpler
cultivation and processing of the grains. Because grains store well (i.e. they were an available food source
through the winter, when other forms became scarce), and because they’re a stable source of calories, they
became a preferred source of food. This stable source of food allowed humans to have more children, who
were able to increase the advances in agriculture and technology (and other aspects of civilization), which
allowed people to have even more kids. The rest is history — or so we thought...

This newfound source of food increased the amount of carbohydrates in the diet to a level previously unseen
in Western history. As you’ll soon see, this played a tremendous role in the development of cavities, heart
disease, diabetes, and other diseases of civilization in the developed world.

Of course, there is one important objection to this argument: If grains are the cause of all our maladies, how
come we’ve only seen these health problems hit health-crisis levels in the past several years? Why were our
grandparents and great-grandparents so much healthier than us? Doesn’t our couch-potato lifestyle play a
role in this? To find the answer, we need to look back a little over half a century ago...

1950s: Food Science Becomes Bad Science

America’s melting-pot past had given it a rich culinary tradition — yet it seems like that all but disappeared in
the 1950s. You could once walk through the different ethnic neighborhoods in places like New York, Chicago,
and even immigrant settlements in the Midwest and smell the fresh scents of chopped veggies, roasted
meats, and fresh herbs that made up the native dishes of the different communities. Even outside of these
communities, most food was made from scratch using ingredients that were usually sourced from farms close
by.

Food science changed all that. With advances in preservation and storage techniques, you didn’t have to
worry about constantly going to the grocery store and always worrying about buying fresh ingredients that

9 http://www.doctorauer.com/history-of-gluten-grain-based-diets/
10 It's worth noting that phytates are also found in high amounts nuts, seeds, and legumes – but due to their cost and their satiety
factor, I highly doubt most Americans are eating enough of these to warrant any problems. Though to be on the safe side, I like to follow these
guidelines on reducing the amount of phytates in my own seeds and nuts: http://chriskresser.com/another-reason-you-shouldnt-go-nuts-on-
nuts 
11 http://www.cavemandoctor.com/2011/12/07/grains-part-ii/
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would only spoil a few days later. You could buy all your frozen meals and boxed macaroni and cheese on
Sunday and have it last you the next three weeks.

Not only did these meals last longer, but they were quicker to make too. Marketers and advertisers played up
the convenience factor — why spend hours slicing, dicing, and cooking when you could shove a frozen cube
into the microwave for three minutes and have a hot meal ready to go?

Unfortunately, the very ingredients that made these foods last long also made them extremely unhealthy
— not only the artificially created ingredients, but also the refined grains that were the primary ingredient in
most of these meals. The same excellent storage properties that made grains an ideal choice of food for our
ancestors also made them an ideal choice for processed foods — throw in the dirt-cheap prices of corn and
wheat from the agricultural boom that was happening in the Midwest, and you can understand why food
manufacturers were so eager to develop processed foods.

The profit margins and desirability of their products were beyond anything they had ever seen before. But
marketing and convenience alone weren’t enough to get consumers to grow their refined grain consumption
to the levels we see today. Back then, Americans were still eating plenty of meats, eggs, and other sources of
saturated fats, which provided a level of satiety and nutrients that refined grains simply couldn’t match12.

It may surprise you to know that up until the 1950s, meats and saturated fats were not seen as a cause of
weight gain or even a health problem. Most doctors believed at the time (rightfully so, as current studies are
proving once again) that the primary cause of weight gain was sugar and other refined carbohydrates.

There are multiple studies that date as far back as the 1820s that show people gained weight on a diet of
sweets and breads and lost weight when they switched to a diet that eliminated those things13. Most of this
research was being carried out in Germany before World War II, but it wasn’t continued afterwards due to
lack of funds in Europe and anti-German sentiment in the Allied countries14.

The Man with the Misguided Plan

But there was one man who took up all the slack for this and who would come to represent the face of diet
research in the United States — much to the detriment of public health. His name was Ancel Keys15. Though
his intentions may have been good, it was Keys who initially theorized that dietary fats are the primary causes
of heart disease. Through his overzealous work on the issue (and friends in the right places), Keys was able to
popularize his theory to the point of accepted science—he was locked into promoting his theory despite much
evidence to the contrary.

The primary piece of evidence behind Keys’ theory was an observational study (one of the weaker forms of
scientific research) he conducted in 1953 that compared the average number of fat calories in a country’s diet
to its rate of heart disease:

12 http://chriskresser.com/rhr-what-science-really-says-about-the-paleo-diet-with-mat-lalonde
13 This is just one facet of the history of obesity research that you can find in Gary Taubes book, Good Calories, Bad Calories
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid. It should also be noted that Keys did do a lot of beneficial research, especially in regards to starvation and fasting.
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You can see for yourself an unmistakable correlation between fat calories (especially from animal fat) and
heart disease. You’ll find a more detailed explanation about why animal fats aren’t bad for you below, but
here’s a quick hint that you may remember from your college statistics class: correlation does not equal
causation.

In other words, just because two things happen to be found together does NOT mean one caused the other.
That is why observational studies are so weak—they don’t account for other factors that may have caused the
increase in heart disease. Health journalist Denise Minger puts it this way16:

Intake of fat and protein—particularly from animal sources—is usually a proxy for a country’s
development. These foods goes hand-in-hand with other features specific to industrialization,
making their relationship with disease likely to be confounded.

One of those other key factors of industrialization? An increase in the consumption of carbohydrate-rich
processed foods...

Due to the lack of studies on obesity at the time and his own over-zealousness, Ancel Keys and his “saturated
fat causes heart disease” theory skyrocketed in popularity in the pop-science community — eventually landing
him on the cover of Time magazine:

16 http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/12/22/the-truth-about-ancel-keys-weve-all-got-it-wrong/
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The point here is that once Keys’ misguided (and very wrong) dietary advice was accepted into the
mainstream, there was no turning back.

The consequence of this wasn’t just the villainization of saturated fat—it was also the indirect promotion of
processed oils and carbohydrates as America’s primary source of calories. You see, until the rise of Keys’
theory, most Americans enjoyed a higher saturated fat content in their diets17, usually coming from meats and
dairy products. In addition to providing many nutrients, these food sources also provided a significant chunk
of calories in the diet because of their saturated fat contents.

But when you remove one source of calories, you need to replace it with another source. That leaves you with
three other options: protein, unsaturated fats, and carbohydrates. Most foods naturally high in protein also
happen to be naturally high in saturated fats, so that leaves the other two options—and they happen to be
the ones that make up the largest chunk of the standard American diet today: carbohydrates (in the form of
refined grains and sugars) and unsaturated fats (in the form of ubiquitous vegetable oils).

1970s: The Government Sells Out Your Health to King Corn

Among the many poor decisions Richard Nixon made in his short time as President of the United States was
his appointment of Earl Butz as Secretary of Agriculture. Butz was an agricultural economist who first started
17 http://www.dietheartpublishing.com/diet-heart-timeline
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his career under President Eisenhower and was an influential figure in developing America’s agricultural
policy. Unknown to Butz at the time, he would play a key role in expanding America’s waistlines to obesity
crisis levels. It was Butz who made corn the primary ingredient in America’s diet18.

Before Butz, the government tried to keep supply and demand in balance by paying farmers to grow more or
less corn as demand dictated. This was meant to help farmers in times of drought and other situations when
their yields would be low. But Butz had other ideas. He decided to cut these subsidies and enacted a few of
his own.

Instead of tying corn production to consumer demand, he emphasized growing as much as possible,
even when demand wasn’t there. The government would be there to buy any excess crops that would be
produced, thereby securing a steady price for farmers no matter how much (or how little) they produced.

The result was a flood of corn in the market, driving down prices of this commodity crop to record lows. Corn
started to pile up across the country (and it continues to do so as technology increases yields). The subsidies
mean that every stockpile of corn just sitting there are your tax dollars going to waste.

But even for a government as wasteful as ours, this was unacceptable. They needed Americans to eat more
corn. Luckily, its dirt-cheap price was exactly the incentive food manufacturers and their food scientists
needed to start making foods in which corn was a primary ingredient.

Now, I’m not talking about corn on the cob. While it’s not an ideal food (it’s not very nutrient-dense), it’s hard
to eat enough of that to blow up your belly. I’m talking about the corn that hides in almost every food you eat
these days — corn that goes by the name of corn syrup and other corn sugars like maltodextrin.

Corn solids. Corn starch. Corn proteins. Corn (sometimes just labeled as vegetable) oil. Corn fed cattle,
chickens, pork, and fish. The corn you’re eating today is much different than the stuff your grandparents
were eating. Because of the push to grow as much as possible, today’s corn is chock-full of petro-fertilizers,
pesticides, and weed killer.

There are three big reasons why corn’s presence in our food is horrible for your health:

1) It’s by nature a low-nutrient food (any nutrients that are in there are killed when the corn is
processed to make it edible).
2) It contains an ungodly amount of carbohydrates — which, as you’ll soon see, have played a larger
role in America’s obesity epidemic than any other food substance.
3) Because it’s unsaturated, corn oil has become the preferred source of fat for Americans, and
you’ll see that this, too, has had a corresponding effect on your health.

Additionally, corn is now being fed to animals that never ate corn before in their evolutionary history, with
detrimental effects on their health and yours. These grains add to the accumulation of unhealthy fat in these
animals (the “marbling” you see in many fancy steaks), and one of the reasons 70% of all antibiotics produced
go towards farm animals19 is because their corn diet makes them more prone to developing infections20. Those
antibiotics make their way into your body every time you nibble on a piece of grain-fed beef or farm-raised
salmon.
18 For more information on Butz and the introduction of corn as the primary source of calories in the American diet, check out the
documentary King Corn (2007).
19 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=most-us-antibiotics-fed-t
20 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010511074623.htm
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Today, you see the same preferential treatment by the government for soy and wheat as you do for corn, with
the same results for our health. Both of these foods are chock-full of carbohydrates and contain very few
nutrients in an average serving (in other words, you would have to eat a lot in order to get the same amount
of vitamins and minerals you would from something like salmon or spinach)21 — and of course, they too are
coated in all sorts of nasty chemicals.

If you think the government’s involvement in the obesity crisis couldn’t get any worse, I have a story to tell
you...

The McGovern Report

Funny enough, one of Butz’s biggest political rivals would help cement the high carbohydrate diet into
America’s eating habits. Starting in 1968, Senator George McGovern formed and chaired the United States
Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs22. The original goal of this committee was simple
enough — deal with the hunger and malnutrition that was affecting children in the U.S., especially in the Deep
South (which, oddly enough, now has the highest rates of obesity in the U.S.).

However, beginning in 1974, the committee expanded its scope to include America’s nutrition policy and the
problems of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. McGovern was already a fan of low-fat diets after attending
a four-week program with Nathan Pritikin, a low-fat guru (even though McGovern himself admitted to only
lasting four days on the diet!).

Much of the research used to develop their policies on saturated fats and meats in the diet came from Mark
Hegsted, who was a controversial Harvard nutritionist and self-proclaimed anti-saturated fat extremist. None
of the recommendations or findings of the committee came from any kind of conclusive evidence. There was
very little published research/controlled studies at the time linking health problems with saturated fat intake
(you may be surprised to know that this is still the case). Yet based on this insufficient evidence, the committee
came up with these recommendations for the American public:

1) Reduce fat consumption from 40% of the calories in the diet to 30%.
2) For the fat that you should consume, saturated fat should be minimal, and unsaturated fats
should make up the bulk of your fat consumption (i.e. less meat and dairy, more vegetable oils).
3) Raise carbohydrate consumption to 55-60% of the diet.

Despite much opposition to these recommendations by professional medical organizations and even
the government’s own scientific bodies, McGovern’s report had started a domino effect on government
nutritional policy. The same researchers whose bad science made its way into McGovern’s report were now
finding themselves as influential advisors to the USDA, the American Heart Association, and the non-profit
Center for Science in the Public Interest (all of which, despite the evidence, still promote a low-fat diet to this
day).

These researchers and their new organizational patrons preached the “evils” of saturated fat like it was gospel,
until every news outlet, nutritionist, and doctor believed that eating fat-filled meat was the worst thing to ever
happen to public health. Over three decades later, the obesity crisis is continuing to rise, despite the fact that
America is eating less saturated fat and many more carbs and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) than it was well
before the obesity crisis started in the late 1970s:
21 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwbY12qZcF4
22 The following story of the development of McGovern's nutritional policy can be found in Good Calories, Bad Calories.
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The rise of corn in America’s food, the increased consumption of processed foods, and the promotion of low-
fat, high-carb diets acted to create the perfect storm for weight gain! So forget what you’ve been told about
eating less and exercising more...

Forget all the chastising you’ve heard from the media, “nutritionists,” and playground bullies. You’re the victim
of America’s obesity crisis, not the perpetrator.

A Sneak Peek at the Food Industry’s Battle Plan

Just look at some of the other schemes Big Food has come up with to ensure you stay fat and addicted:

• One company hired scientists to “optimize” its yogurt brand. After they were done with it, it had
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twice as much sugar per serving as the marshmallow cereal Lucky Charms!
• When one company found that consumers weren’t eating enough of their famous pasta sauce,
they “optimized” it so people would consume more. How did they do it? By adding more sugar
then you’d find in a handful of Oreo cookies.
• Like Big Tobacco, you have to get consumers started young. That’s really what the popular kids’
pre-prepared Lunchables meal was all about. It’s been said, “If you take Lunchables apart, the
most healthy item in it is the napkin.”
• Ambiguous, misleading language is a food advertiser’s best friend. Companies will often leave
off certain words or include other ones to make you think a food is more healthy than it is — for
example, one executive for potato chip giant Frito Lays once “suggested that Frito-Lay avoid
using the word “fried” in referring to its chips and adopt instead the more healthful-sounding
term “toasted.” To counteract the “fear of letting oneself go,” he suggested repacking the chips
into smaller bags. “The more-anxious consumers, the ones who have the deepest fears about
their capacity to control their appetite, will tend to sense the function of the new pack and select
it,” he said.”23
• Michael Moss, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote an expose on Big Food. In one instance
of corporate insanity, he found that they often see us as drug dealers see their junkie clients:
“Within Coke they referred to their best customers not as you might think — ‘consumers’ or ‘loyal
fans’ or something like that. They became known as ‘heavy users.’”

The food industry has used the government’s saturated fat recommendations to pump its processed foods full
of cheap sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup (when you remove the fat, food tastes awful!). Sugar
and other refined carbohydrates have been shown to operate on the same brain pathways as pleasurable and
addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin. The food companies know this, and they spend billions on advertising
and marketing to make this crap even more irresistible to you and your children.

For example, did you know that...

• Chemical-intensive food processing started out as a way to extend the shelf life of foods, and
is now used to create novel tastes and sensations to make food more addicting. These food
additives “require no refrigeration and cost less than the fruits, vegetables, cheese, and spices
that they replace.”24
• Another primary tool of the food industry: indulgence. Purchasing junk food is seen “as an
inexpensive form of entertainment,” a way to get away from our stressful lives and have a little
bit of “me time.” Former FDA chairman Dr. David Kessler asserts that “by encouraging us to
consider any occasion for food an opportunity for pleasure and reward, the industry invites us to
indulge a lot more often. That theme populates the marketing reports and conferences that drive
food-service decision making.”25
• Beware the restaurant chain: It is an increasingly common practice for these restaurants to do
more food assembly than actual cooking. “Many restaurants are no longer show cases for real
cooking and creativity but are rather little more than construction sites” using prepackaged,
previously frozen (or dehydrated) food.26

23 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=11&_r=0
24 http://www.myhealthwire.com/news/mind-body/527
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
11

• Sugar is as potent an additive substance as
narcotics. Food scientists have long known about
humans’ natural instinct for sugary things. In fact,
this is one of the few food cravings that we’re
actually born with. Dr. Nora Volkow, a research
scientist and psychiatrist, has found parallels
in the way that sugar and narcotics affect the
brain. Her work has led her to find that for many
people, stopping sugar intake can be as difficult
as stopping an addiction to illicit drugs. Other
studies confirm that sugar can be as addictive as
cocaine.27
• The CEOs of Big Food don’t even consume the
foods they sell to you! This should be a glaring
fact to any consumer. Food journalist Michael
Moss pointed out often in his book Salt Sugar Fat
that many of the CEOs of the big food companies
don’t even consume the products their
companies make — likely because they know
what goes in them and what kind of damage they
do to the body.28
So how are you to break this addiction to weight gain and an
early death? You fight science with science.
Will the Real Belt Buster Please Stand Up?
Despite the lack of media attention it’s received for its role
in obesity, sugar hasn’t gotten off the hook completely with
the medical community. They’ve always known excess sugar
consumption played a role in America’s growing guts, but
the ‘80s and ‘90s saw the focus shift away from sugar as
the primary culprit to fat. While it’s not wise for anyone to
consume excess of anything (including fat), the fact remains
that it’s very difficult for saturated and monounsaturated fats
to make you fat, and equally as difficult for them to clog your
heart all by themselves. The reason for this has to do with
how your body responds to the different types of calories
(fat, protein, carbohydrates) — specifically how each type of
calorie creates a different hormonal response.
The two primary hormones you’re concerned with here as far
as weight loss go are insulin and leptin. Insulin is produced
in your pancreas and is primarily responsible for controlling
blood sugar levels (too much blood sugar is toxic). It removes Dr. Champ reminds Moore about one blood-fat
the excess sugar by converting it to triglycerides (a type of fat) that is a good marker of your health — triglycerides.
27 http://www.myhealthwire.com/news/food/502
28 http://www.myhealthwire.com/news/food/502
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The Truth Behind Your Cholesterol
Numbers1
“Knowing your total cholesterol is about as useful
as knowing the total score of a baseball game,” says
Jimmy Moore, author of Cholesterol Clarity in an
interview with HealthWire’s senior medical expert,
Dr. Colin Champ. “It doesn’t tell you much about the
game. Which team scored which points? Who player
scored the points? How many strikeouts were there?”
In other words, your total cholesterol numbers mean
nothing without the details of how we arrived at
those numbers and what comprises those numbers.
For instance, your total cholesterol basically consists
of your LDL and your HDL scores. A high HDL level
is correlated with a decreased risk of heart disease
and death — in other words, high HDL is a good thing.
Most people associate LDL with “bad cholesterol,” but
the truth is a bit more complicated than that...
Moore informs us that the “LDL-C” test you’ll see on
your lab results is actually an estimation of your LDL.
It’s calculated from a formula using total cholesterol
and HDL cholesterol because this method is much
cheaper than measuring the actual amounts in your
blood stream. So right off the bat, your LDL numbers
are not an exact number. Moore also tells us that the
Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) guidelines (which set
what healthy cholesterol levels should be) are based
on estimated thresholds — again, they’re not exact
numbers (some would even call them arbitrary). And
in fact, Jimmy tells us, traditional cultures free from
heart disease actually have cholesterol levels that run
higher than what the ATP guidelines consider healthy.
So his response when a doctor tells him he should
go on statins because he has high total cholesterol?
“Prove it — prove how this high cholesterol is actually
harming me.” Instead of high cholesterol being the
cause of heart disease, Moore believes (as does Dr.
Champ) that it’s inflammation of the arteries that’s
the real thing you have to worry about. “Without
inflammation, you have zero chance of having heart
disease,” Moore informs us, no matter how high your
cholesterol may be. It’s the inflammation that causes
cholesterol to stick, not the mere presence of the
cholesterol. It’s worth noting that both inflammation
and arterial calcification are much better predictors
of heart disease than any cholesterol test you can get
these days (with the possible exception of having low
HDL).
1 From Caveman Doctor Podcast 52 on http://www.
cavemandoctor.com/

and storing it as fat in your body’s fat cells. Let’s take a quick Triglycerides are how your body transports fats and
look at this hormone and how exactly it causes you to pack on sugars from your liver to other parts of your body.
the pounds.
Insulin
The biology behind it all is pretty east to understand. When
you have too much blood sugar present in your body, it’ll
produce insulin. The more sugar you have present in your
body over time, the more insulin you will produce over time,
and the only way for insulin to lower the blood sugar is to
store the sugar as fat or transfer it to muscle to burn.
Your muscles can only store a limited amount of sugar as
fuel; any amount over that is stored as fat. So the greater the
amount of blood sugar, the greater the chance you won’t
have room for it in your muscles, and the higher the likelihood
insulin will store it as fat.
There you have it — the size of your waistline is tied to how
much insulin you have in your body. But that still leaves us
with a question:
What causes your blood sugar to rise?
The “sugar” in “blood sugar” is all the answer you need. But
we’re not talking just regular table sugar here. We’re talking
about a whole host of carbohydrates (the organic compound
of which sugar is a part) ranging from simple table sugars to
more complex ones like starches found in rice and potatoes.
Your blood sugar will rise for any foods containing these
sugars.
Now, blood sugar is not really a problem when it’s controlled
and in very low amounts. Having blood sugar and a
subsequent insulin response is a natural bodily function.
Almost all foods have some amount of carbohydrates, and our
bodies have evolved to deal with them. The important factor
is how quickly your insulin rises and how long it stays above
normal levels.
The sugar content of a food is the primary determinant of how
fast your blood sugar will rise. Your blood sugar will rise if you
eat any foods containing carbohydrates, but there are other
properties of foods that can slow it down to healthy levels.
The first is the complexity of the carbohydrate. Complexity
just refers to the size and shape of the carb molecule. The
more complex it is, the harder the body has to work to break
13
The Diet Report
Low triglycerides in your blood stream means your
body is utilizing them efficiently. High triglycerides
usually indicate an abnormality in how your body
is utilizing the fats and sugars, which is a sign that
something is very wrong with your body. Your HDL
levels also decrease as your triglycerides increase,
putting you at a greater risk of developing heart
disease. Both Dr. Champ and Mr. Moore agree that
one of the biggest culprits in raised triglycerides is
carbohydrates and polyunsaturated fats (mainly
found as vegetable oils), as triglycerides correlate
with your carbohydrate tolerance.
Moore suggests that a good level of triglycerides
is below 100; ideally it’ll be below 70. This is much
lower than what traditional medicine will tell you —
current guidelines have a “normal” triglyceride level
of being at or below 150, but Moore tells us that
even at these levels, you can still exhibit metabolic
problems and other markers of metabolic diseases
(like diabetes and obesity).
Remember how they mentioned that LDL numbers
weren’t 100% accurate because they were estimated?
Well, measuring LDL is further complicated by the
fact that there are different kinds of LDL, some of
which are more important for your health than others.
For our purposes, you only really need to know about
pattern A LDL (which is big and fluffy in shape) and
pattern B LDL (which is small and dense, also known
as “VLDL” for “Very Low Density Lipoproteins”).
Despite what their names may suggest, it’s actually
the small and dense pattern B VLDL that you need
to worry about. It’s these cholesterol molecules that
are associated with heart disease and other health
problems because they’re more likely to stick to the
side of your artery walls.
 The Diet Report

it down, and the less quickly the sugar enters into the blood stream (which prevents extreme blood sugar
spikes). “Slow carbs” are the more complex molecules that take longer to digest, and “fast carbs” are the
opposite. Second, liquid foods containing carbohydrates (sodas, juices, beer, etc.) will cause a quicker rise
in blood sugar than solid foods containing carbohydrates. Lastly, a food’s fiber, fat, and protein content will
help slow down blood sugar digestion by delaying the time it takes for your stomach to empty its contents. For
example, whole fruits, which naturally have lots of sugar, won’t spike your blood sugar as much as things like
white bread and pasta because of the fruit’s high fiber content.

Want to know one nutrient that won’t cause your insulin to spike?

Saturated fat. Without the spike in insulin, your body can’t store your food as excess body fat. It’s simple
biology. It will either use it as fuel, as part of other biological processes, or simply excrete it (a “normal” stool
may contain up to 7% fat by weight29). In addition to its non-insulin-spiking properties, there are a couple
other things that make saturated fat an ideal weight loss food when it compliments protein and replaces
carbohydrates in the diet:

1) Satiety: Fat empties from the stomach the slowest, followed by protein (which makes carbs the
quickest)30. Because they take so long to digest, they won’t leave your stomach feeling empty and hungry
as quickly as carbs.
2) Won’t decrease “leptin” levels: Leptin is a hormone produced by your fat cells that tells you that you’ve
had enough to eat — it gives you that “full” feeling. Sugar and other refined carbs suppress leptin
production, so you continue to eat even while your body is full31.

Now, you may have a lot of trouble swallowing the fact that a high-fat, low-carb diet will not only not make
you fat but will actually help you lose weight as well. Lucky for you, science is on our side...

Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, a specialist in family medicine and weight loss in Sweden, has compiled a list of 16
studies32 that show the effectiveness of eating a high-fat, low-carb diet for weight loss. He ends his list with
this comment:

The first eleven studies in the list are weight loss trials, the last two are studies on type 2-diabetics
(usually overweight) showing the same effect. Many of the studies are of six months or one year
duration, one of them (Shai et al) is two years long.
All of these studies show significantly more weight loss for the group that were advised to eat a
low carb diet (Atkins, in most cases).
As far as I know the opposite has never been shown: low carb has never lost a weight loss trial
significantly. This means that low carb is winning versus the failed low fat/low calorie advice by
16-0!

More recently, the Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment (a panel of health and science
experts funded by the Swedish government) undertook a study to “compile the scientific literature for
advice on food.”33 They concluded that not only are low-fat diets ineffective for both weight loss and health
improvement (including reduction of heart disease risk factors), but that low-carb diets are superior for
29 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003588.htm
30 Found in David Kessler's The end of overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
31 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2255442/The-REAL-reason-eat-New-theory-revolutionise-way-lose-weight.html
32 You can view the full list here: http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
33 http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&tl=en&prev=_dd&u=http://www.sbu.se/sv/Publicerat/Gul/Mat-vid-fetma-/
14
 The Diet Report

weight loss, weight maintenance, and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

So now you’re thinking, “Okay, so a low-carb, high-fat diet will make me lose weight — but at what cost?
Won’t all that fat still clog my arteries and give me heart disease?”

As I mentioned before, this belief is a relic of Ancel Keys’ shoddy science. Saturated fat is maligned because
it raises cholesterol, which, as Keys theorized, contributes to heart disease. Now, it is a fact that saturated fat
raises cholesterol. But a review of studies that covered over 347,000 subjects found there are no convincing
studies that show dietary saturated fats have anything to do with heart disease!34 (For a similar review of
cholesterol, see the sidebar.)

Despite its maligned reputation, saturated fat is actually a necessary component of our body. It’s necessary
for calcium absorption in our bones, protects the liver from harmful side effects of medicine and alcohol,
and is the primary component of your brain (among other things). It’s no wonder America’s fat-phobia has
correlated with all sorts of increases in chronic degenerative diseases.

Cholesterol, too, is a needed substance for us to function. It benefits hormone production (including
testosterone), the creation of cell membranes, nerve cell signals, and the synthesis of vitamin D in your body.

Omega-6 Overload

The “evils” of saturated fat isn’t the only lie you’ve been told. As I mentioned earlier, nutritionists and other
diet “experts” have long pushed unsaturated fats as a healthy substitute to our traditional saturated fat
consumption. Yet these processed fats are proving to be much more dangerous for your health than saturated
fats ever proved to be — and it’s all thanks to the little-known chemical known as omega-6 fatty acid.

You see, together with the well-known omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6s are part of a larger family of fats
known as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The difference between PUFAs and other (saturated and
monounsaturated) fats is in their molecular composition, a chemistry lesson I won’t bore you with. I will,
however, share with you an easy way to tell them apart: Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature,
while saturated fats will be solid.

Omega-6s — in moderation — are necessary for a healthy life. They’re important for brain, bone, reproductive,
and metabolic health, with an important caveat: These fatty acids are only beneficial when balanced equally
with omega-3 consumption. When they’re consumed in roughly equal amounts, they work together to
promote a healthy body. But when omega-6 levels outweigh omega-3 levels, you’re putting your body at risk
for serious damage35.

Excess omega-6 consumption is actually a relatively new dietary phenomenon. Prior to the 1950s, our biggest
sources of omega-6 were things like pork, chicken, and some nuts and seeds. The concentration of omega-6
in a serving of these foods was generally low enough to not cause any long-term health effects.

But that all changed in the ‘50s and into the ‘60s and ‘70s for two reasons: Saturated fat started to become
demonized, and livestock started to be fed grain as their primary source of calories (this has the effect of
increasing the omega-6 in their meat).

Unfortunately, many doctors made no distinction between omega-3s and omega-6s and the necessity of
34 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2943062/
35 http://chriskresser.com/how-too-much-omega-6-and-not-enough-omega-3-is-making-us-sick
15
 The Diet Report

maintaining a balance. Some of the oils they were (and oftentimes still are) recommending are some of the
worst for you because of their omega-6 content36:

The sad thing is you’ll even find these oils in so-called “healthy” processed foods at organic grocery stores. (If
you can’t eat a cotton or canola plant, what makes doctors think the processed oil would be healthy?!) Now,
if you were consuming equal amounts of omega-3s with omega-6s, this wouldn’t be a problem. But because
grain-fed meat and vegetable oils have become such a large proportion of the American diet, the omega-6 to
omega-3 ratio has jumped from a healthy 1:1 to an average 20:1. In other words, most Americans these days
are consuming 20 times more omega-6 fats than omega-3 fats.

This is dangerous because omega-6s cause chronic inflammation. While acute inflammation is beneficial for
our immune system and the body’s ability to handle traumatic injuries, chronic inflammation is implicated in
a whole host of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, macular degeneration, and even
death37. Cooking with these oils makes things even worse. Many of them are easily oxidized, which in turn
create free radicals in your body. The presence of these free radicals causes aging of the skin and other organ
damage (free radicals are neutralized by antioxidants, which is why it’s important to eat antioxidant-rich foods
like fresh fruits and veggies).

I’ll end this section with another important thing we’ve learned about omega-6: Recent evidence38 suggests
that omega-6 fats can aggravate insulin resistance — a condition that causes your body to produce more
insulin than it actually needs. And as we know from above, more insulin = more body fat.

So fat is good — but what about the calories?!

If you go to most nutritionists or dietitians these days, they’ll all spout off the same nonsense: a calorie is a
calorie. If you want to lose weight, you have to simply (ha!) burn more calories than you take in. One gram of
protein and carbohydrates each contains four calories; a gram of fat will contain more than twice that — nine
in total. So fat is worse for you than carbs and protein because it contains more calories per gram... right?

Wrong. This “law” of human metabolism is actually taken from the first law of thermodynamics in physics (the
one all about energy conservation). Hopefully I don’t need to tell you that at this point, the whole “energy in
36 Ibid.
37 http://www.ncbi.nlm,gov.pubmed/8960090
38 http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/6/983.long
16
 The Diet Report

must be less than energy out” is a huge oversimplification. If this view of calories were true, the obesity rate
would have declined decades ago, since this advice has been around for at least that long, and everybody
could lose the weight they wanted to by just eating less and exercising more.

What these nutritionists fail to grasp is that the human body is not just a physical system — it’s a biological
one, too. Biologically speaking, weight loss is a much more complicated process than simply applying just
one of the three laws of thermodynamics to how we eat and move. (Next time you talk to a nutritionist, ask
him why he’s cherry-picking just one of the laws instead of using all three in his weight loss advice.) Laws of
physics need to stay in the physics realm; for weight loss, we want laws of biology:

“You are not what you eat. You are what your body does with what you eat.”
— Todd Becker, Bioengineer

The Skinny on Exercise: Ineffective for Weight Loss

Adhere to the “calories-in, calories-out” mantra, and you almost certainly subscribe to the idea that exercise is an effective weight
loss method. If movement burns calories, then vigorous movement should burn more calories than not moving at all, right? This is
true — to a point. More energetic movements will burn more calories than slower ones, but the amount of calories you’re burning
is actually much lower than you’d think. Take jump rope, for example. It’s popular among boxers because it produces great cardio
benefits; it’s one of the more strenuous exercises out there (try doing it for 5 minutes and you’ll see what I mean!). But a 160-pound
boxer would only burn about 287 calories after jumping for 20 minutes — about the same amount of calories in a slice of pepperoni
pizza. At first, that may sound like a lot. But a pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories — which means that even if you jumped
rope everyday, it’d take about 12 days straight of jumping rope to lose a pound of fat. Most of us aren’t trying to lose just a pound
— if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, then it would take you 240 days (8 months!) of jumping rope every single day for 20 minutes to
reach that goal!
Even if you have the dedication to jump rope 20 minutes a day, there is another biological mechanism working against you — when
you exercise, you get hungry! This is simply your body’s way of replenishing the energy that it expended to exercise — but it can
lead to food cravings that can put a damper on your weight loss efforts (it’s easy to justify a slice of cake after a 30 minute jog).
That’s not to say exercise isn’t important for a healthy life — study after study shows its importance in brain health, heart and
muscle function, and so much more. But unless you have the time (and insanity) to run a marathon every day, then most exercise
(especially endurance exercise like running) won’t be an effective way to lose weight.
However, there is some new evidence that High Intensity Interval Training — HIIT — may be able to dull your appetite1. This type of
exercise involves rotating bouts of intense exercise with periods of rest. So for example, I often have my personal training clients
sprint for 15 seconds, rest for 45, sprint, then rest, for about 10 minutes total — not for the faint of heart, but well worth the benefits.
As a fitness professional, I’ve found this to be one of the most effective workouts that won’t leave you feeling as hungry as you
would after running for 20 minutes.

1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/

That’s the reason it’s virtually impossible for you to gain weight with fat. Even though it has more calories per
gram than carbohydrates, it won’t spike insulin, is more satisfying than carbohydrates, and will keep you fuller
longer — which means you won’t eat nearly as much fat as you will carbohydrates. Try eating a half-pound of
bacon and a half-pound of bread and see which one leaves you less hungry at the end.

It’s the same reason excess carb intake will make you fat. Remember the effect carbs have on your body —
they stimulate insulin production, which ends up storing fat in your gut. With this rule in mind, it’s time to turn
to what you’ve been reading all this information for: the diet advice that will get you to lose the weight you
want.

17
 The Diet Report

The “All-You-Can-Eat” Diet

Meet Dennis. This is Dennis before the All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) diet at 276 pounds and 42% body fat (that’s 115
pounds worth of fat!):

This is Dennis right now, 43 pounds lighter, about half the body fat (23%), and still dropping:

Dennis has used the science and biological facts in this report to help him lose over 2 pounds a week. He’s
had his ups and his downs, but Dennis will tell you one important thing about his weight loss: Not once in his
6 months of his lifestyle change has he ever felt hungry or unsatisfied after a meal. He’s never had to starve
himself, cut back on how much he eats, or even count calories (the favorite “tool” of today’s nutritionists). He
didn’t have to buy a scale to weigh his food, go jogging for an hour every day, or eat cabbage soup for weeks
on end. In fact, he did it with one simple trick — he cut all carbohydrate-rich foods out of his diet with the
exception of fruit.

Dennis will tell you, “I ate practically anything I wanted: all the porter house steaks, roasted salmon, butter,
bacon, and ham omelets. I even got to eat chicken wings – with the skin on!”

Perhaps more important than the three meals a day are the healthy snacks that will keep you from backsliding.
Snacking is the main culprit for most people’s weight gain.

“The AYCE diet gave me plenty of other things I could snack on besides the processed junk I was
putting in my body. I actually like the stuff I’m eating now better... when I snack on blueberries,
almonds, and pork rinds, I’m actually satisfied. And let me tell you, being able to eat bacon anytime
18

of the day was the best thing to happen to my
weight loss.”
Dennis has already dropped 40 pounds, but he loves the
diet so much that he’s doubling down to lose yet another 20
pounds!
So, are you ready to look and feel like Dennis?
Now is the time to put your desire into action.
Now for the best part — all the foods you can eat!
• MEATS! of all different cuts and types: bacon,
porterhouse, T-bone, pork loin, salmon, lobster,
ribs, oxtail, any kind of organ meat (if that suits
you), shrimp, bison, crab, oysters, trout, lamb
shank, goat, goose, duck, chicken legs, wings,
breasts, and thighs, strip steak, pork shoulder.
TIP: Go organic and grass-fed for the
land animals if you can, and have your
fish be wild-caught (they’re healthier
animals this way). Also, avoid processed
deli meats like cold cuts and hot dogs,
which often have artificial preservatives
and corn syrup.
• All vegetables: broccoli, avocado, pumpkin,
squash, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, kale, spinach,
cabbage, radishes, onions, eggplant, etc. Some of
the most nutrient-dense food out there.
TIP: While buying organic is best to
reduce your consumption of pesticides
and other chemicals, it can get
expensive. If you have to buy regular
produce, make sure to wash it thoroughly
before you eat it. Some fruits and veggies
will contain more chemicals than others,
and most the time those chemicals will
concentrate on or within the skin of the
fruit. So another option to save money
would be to buy organic when you
want to consume the skin (ex: apples,
tomatoes, cabbage) and go regular with
the ones you peel or remove the skin (ex:
oranges, potatoes, avocados).
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, cashews, sunflower,
pistachios, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, etc.
19
The Diet Report
To grill or not to grill?
That really is the question. And the answer isn’t as
straightforwzard as you might think.
Why? Because high temperature cooking can quite
literally coat your animal protein in potentially
dangerous chemicals—more specifically, heterocyclic
amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs). HCAs form as part of an interaction between
amino acids, sugar, and creatinine. PAHs, on the other
hand, coat meat as a result of charring.
And both are very, very bad news.
Animal research has revealed a link between
consumption of HCAs and PAHs to cancers of the
breast, prostate, colon, lung, liver, and skin, among
others. And human population research shows a
significant connection between high consumption of
grilled meat and the risk of pancreatic, colorectal, and
aggressive prostate cancers.
So how worried should you be? Well, it’s worth
noting that studies on animals have used a much
higher level of either of these chemicals than the
average barbecue-loving person would consume.
And while the epidemiological correlation is there,
that’s all it is—a correlation.
In other words, there’s no ironclad evidence to
conclude that grilling your chicken, beef, or pork will
cause cancer. But there is plenty of reason to use a
few reasonable precautions when you cook.
Here are some quick tips to help you limit the dangers
associated with high-heat cooking:
• Cook most of your meats at lower tempera-
tures—think roasting, baking, braising, and stew-
ing.
• When you do break out the grill, avoid direct
exposure to open flame, turn your meat often,
cut down on the cook time (no more “well
done” steaks—go for medium-rare at most),
and remove the charred portions before you dig
in. Trimming excess fat can also help to reduce
flare-ups.
• Keep your grates clean and clear of residue that
could make its way to your dinner plate.
• Use a marinade. Studies show that marinades—
especially ones packed with antioxidant-rich
herbs and red wine—can reduce HCA formation
by as much as 88 percent.
Sources:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes-
prevention/risk/diet/cooked-meats-fact-sheet#r20
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241593
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18950185
 The Diet Report

They are all good sources of proteins, fats, and many micronutrients.
TIP: An important thing to remember with the AYCE diet: While you can eat as much of
the above foods as you like, it’s important to have moderation and variety within those
parameters. It’s easy to indulge in the meats and nuts at the expense of vegetables — but
veggies are as necessary to weight loss and a healthy life as the other two, if not more.

So the main rule of the AYCE diet — no processed or refined carbohydrates:

• No grains or grain products. That includes: breads, pastas, corn, tortillas, granola bars, oatmeal
(including steel-cut), cereal, flour, biscuits, rice, etc. And yes, you’ll need to avoid “whole grain/
wheat” products too. While those are slightly better for you than white breads and pastas,
they’re still low in nutrients and high in carbohydrates and anti-nutrients.
I’m going to posit one glaring exception to the rule here—and that’s for the occasional serving of
white rice.
Yes, I actually said white rice. And yes, I realize that this seems like a blatant contradiction at face
value. But hear me out...
White rice, in contrast to brown rice, is a refined grain. But this is one case where refining
actually works to your advantage. The milling process removes the phytates and lectins that
make brown rice problematic. (The same can’t be said for white flour, which still features an
abundance of gluten.)
The result is a non-toxic source of glucose to fuel your body when you really need it—for
example, after a really hard workout—as well as a source of “resistant starch” that acts as food
for beneficial gut bacteria.
Now, carbs are carbs—so this isn’t carte blanche for a white rice free-for-all. But just like starchy
vegetables (I’ll get to those in a moment) there’s a place in your diet—albeit a small one—for this
particular refined grain.
TIP: You can optimize your white rice’s starch and calorie profile with a few simple prep hacks.
In fact, very recent research shows that adding coconut oil to your boiling water before you add
your rice—and then allowing your rice to cool for 12 hours in your refrigerator before eating it
(even if you re-heat)—can alter its composition for the better.
The result? Higher levels of beneficial resistant starch—which can cut the calorie content by as
much as half.39
• No sugar or artificial sweeteners. This includes almost all baked goods, table sugar, sweetened
beverages, etc. Be wary of artificial sweeteners, as they can actually stimulate the appetite and
make you hungrier (among other unpleasant side effects). And don’t be fooled by “natural”
sources of sugar; they’ll still hamper your weight loss efforts. These include fruit sugars, cane
sugar, molasses, agave nectar, honey, and maple syrup (though the latter three can be consumed
in very limited amounts on special occasions).
• No processed oils or any kind of food cooked or covered in processed vegetable oils — that’s all
oils except for coconut, olive, and macadamia.
• No processed snack foods that don’t fall under the above-mentioned categories: chips of any
kind (including potato, black bean, chickpea, etc.).

39 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/25/scientists-have-figured-out-a-simple-way-to-cook-rice-that-dramatically-
cuts-the-calories/

20
 The Diet Report

• No legumes. Despite all the hype they get from mainstream nutritionists, legumes aren’t all
they’re cracked up to be. They’re primarily carbohydrates, they’re full of phytates (the anti-
nutrients I mentioned earlier) and lectins (an inflammatory protein), they’re relatively low in
protein and other nutrients compared to meat, and they can cause gas and bloating. So any kind
of bean (with the exception of cocoa beans, which aren’t actually beans), pulse, peas, lentils,
peanuts, soy, or tamarind is out of the question.

The second rule of the AYCE diet — moderate your intake of foods that naturally contain a significant amount
of carbohydrates. I wouldn’t eat more than one serving of these foods per day total (so if you eat a piece of
fruit, avoid anything else on the list). Some people will be more carbohydrate-sensitive than others, so you
may actually have to eliminate these foods from your diet if you’re not experiencing your desired weight loss
after giving up the foods in the first rule.

• Plantains, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other starchy tubers: On the plus side, these guys
are packed with vital nutrients. On the negative, they’re also packed with starch, which your
body breaks down into sugar. So especially if you’re trying to lose weight, you want to indulge
with caution—and always be sure to pair them with quality fats to avoid unwanted blood sugar
spikes.
• Dairy: This one comes with a caveat. Whole fat dairy products are actually okay to munch on
— cheeses, yogurts, milk, etc. However, you’ll want to completely avoid low-fat dairy products.
You see, dairy contains lactose, which is a type of sugar. When you take away the fat in milk, the
lactose is more quickly digested, which leads to a spike in blood sugar and insulin — the exact
things we want to avoid.
• Fruits: If you feel the need to over-indulge on any of these foods, fruit is the one to go with. It’s
chock full of nutrients and antioxidants. It’s also loaded with fiber, which helps slow the digestion
of the sugar naturally found in the fruit.
TIP: Craving something extra sugary? If you can’t fight it, cut up some fruit and sprinkle
some Truvia on it. The fruit is naturally sweet, but it is also loaded with fiber and other
nutrients, so it’s not just empty calories. Truvia is a mix of stevia, a natural no-calorie
sweetener, and erythritol, a natural low-calorie sugar alcohol. While it’s not as sweet as
a brownie or cookie, it’s damn close and should help you get through your sweet-tooth
craving until it subsides.

Quench your thirst the AYCE way!

By now you know that kicking your soda habit is a must if you want to lose weight. But what other drinks are
okay, and which ones should you avoid?

Safe to drink:

• Coffee (As long as there is no cream or sugar. For a healthy substitute, use coconut milk.)
• Unsweetened tea — for additional weight loss benefits, make it a green tea, which contains fat-
burning catechins40. Other types of tea that are great for you: black tea (research has shown that
people who drink three or more cups of black tea daily may cut their risk of stroke by 21%41),
yerba mate (a caffeinated South American herb that has a high antioxidant content), and red tea
40 http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050126/green-tea-fights-fat
41 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23295000
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(also known as rooibos, a caffeine-free African herb that is also high in

antioxidants and has a slight vanilla flavor).
• Vegetable juice, like V8 or Campbell’s Tomato Juice.
• Water! The best drink ever. This should be your primary thirst-quencher.
TIP: Most people think water is a boring drink — but it doesn’t have to
be. To jazz it up with flavor, you can add fresh fruit to it and let it soak,
or add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a few sprigs of mint.

Drinks to avoid:

• All sodas or any other drink with added sugar (including sweet tea and
lemonade).
• Fruit juice: Juicing a fruit removes all the fiber, which slows down the
digestion of the carbohydrates and any insulin spikes that follow. Fruit
juice is basically a sugar bomb in disguise.
• Alcohol: Moderate consumption is fine if you’re at your desired weight, but I’d avoid it
completely if you’re trying to lose any amount of weight, and not just because of the calories.
Because it’s a low-level toxin, alcohol breakdown takes priority in your liver. The liver is also
responsible for releasing triglycerides (a form of body fat) into the blood stream, where they can
be burned for fuel. When you drink, the liver stops the fat breakdown process to deal with the
alcohol. If you really feel the need to drink alcohol, stick with red wine or unsweetened liquors
like whiskey. These tend to have fewer calories and a bit more antioxidants than most other
alcohols.
TIP: Having trouble ditching your soda habit? Try adding the sweetener Truvia and a
squirt of lemon or lime juice to a glass of soda water. Same carbonation and similar
sweetness but with relatively no sugar.

Condiment Conclusions

One of the trickier parts of avoiding sugars and refined grains in your diet is condiments — unless you read
the ingredients, you could be opening yourself up to weight loss sabotage. Here are some condiments that
generally have no added sugar, starches, or vegetable oils:

• olive oil and vinegar salad dressing

• mustard
• homemade buttermilk ranch dressing
• hot sauces: Tabasco, Sriracha, Texas Pete, Cholula, Frank’s Red Hot, Tapatio, etc.
• pesto
• salsa
• guacamole
• spicy relish
• sour cream
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Of course, those are just all the liquid condiments. Salt, pepper, and other spices are safe to use as well.

Generally speaking, here are the condiments that will have added sugar (sometimes in the form of “syrups”
or “starches” — so watch out!). You’ll also want to make sure you’re steering clear of vegetable oils — a lot of
condiments will use soy, canola, or other vegetable oils as a base. Avoid those too:

• almost all BBQ sauce

• steak sauce
• teriyaki sauce
• honey mustard
• tartar sauce
• sweet relish
• brown sauce
• duck sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• cocktail sauce
• ketchup
• most salad dressings (especially the low-fat stuff)
• many mayonnaises (even “olive oil” mayo can have soy oil!)

If you’re unsure, always check the label. If it has any added sugars or names you don’t understand (like
maltodextrin, dextrose, maltose, fructose, sucrose — all different names for various types of sugar), then let it
sit on the shelf.

TIP: Really really really craving tartar sauce for your fish — or any one of the other condiments I listed
above? A simple Google search can help you find a healthier recipe alternatives to the store bought
stuff — just Google “paleo” and your condiment of choice, and you’ll find recipes that don’t contain any
artificial ingredients and are much lower in sugar.

Know Your Enemy: Healthy Eating Obstacles

Making the drastic lifestyle changes needed to lose weight and improve your health takes dedication — but
even the most dedicated person will stumble. Maybe it’s picking up a donut at a company meeting. Maybe
it’s grabbing a slice of pie for dessert during your anniversary dinner. Or maybe you just can’t seem to give up
the beer when you head over to the baseball game. We all have our weaknesses, and it’s okay if you give in
to them every once in a while — as long as it doesn’t turn into a habit. Some people have found great success
with the 80/20 rule — they’ll eat healthy 80% of the week, and then indulge the other 20%. This is a great way
to transition into the AYCE lifestyle without driving yourself insane. Sugar is an addictive substance42, after all,
and there will be a period of withdrawal until you get it out of your system.

TIP: Need help keeping your “cheats” down? Keep a food journal and food calendar. The food journal

42 http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/09/18/sugar-dubbed-dangerous-addictive-drug/
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will keep track of everything you’ve eaten for the day, while on the food calendar, you’ll write down your
cheat day/cheat meal. The food journal will help you become conscious of what you’re putting into your
body, while the food calendar will help remind you that it’s much easier than you think to go without
body-damaging foods for a few days.

Hack Your Brain: How to Fight Cravings and Other Mental Weight Loss Enemies

The key to not making these indulgences a habit is to listen to your body after you eat the offending food.
How does it make you feel? I guarantee that in the next hour or next day after you eat the danger food, you
won’t feel so good. It’s your body’s way of telling you it’s toxic. So don’t beat yourself up if you indulge or use
it as an excuse to just go off the diet altogether. Instead, use it as a learning experience to see how and when
you crave these kinds of foods and what your body does in turn. Do you feel nauseous? Energy levels feel
lower? Feel bad all around? Depressed? By recognizing how these foods make you feel, it will be easier to
avoid them in the future so junk food doesn’t turn into a junk habit.

Dr. David Kessler, former FDA chairmen, dedicated an entire book43 to the behavioral issues behind
conditioned overeating of unhealthy foods. In it, he outlines several important psychological steps you can
take to help break your bad food habit:

1. Awareness: As I mentioned above, be aware of the environmental and emotional triggers that
cause cravings and cause you to give into those cravings. Is it stress? The presence of certain
foods in certain situations? Finding these factors can help you learn which situations you need to
fix or avoid.
2. Engage in competing behaviors: Learn to create alternative responses to your cravings. If your
normal response to a sugar craving is to eat a donut, eat a piece of fruit instead. If binging is a
response to stressful situations, you can either binge on healthy snacks (nuts, fruit, beef jerky) or
you can take a walk or go chat about the stress with a coworker. Whatever behavior you decide
to replace your eating with, just make sure its something that’s easy for you to do and that you
can stick with.
3. Develop competing thoughts: When you give in to indulgences, there are certain thoughts going
through your head: “I’ve had a stressful day, I’ll have just a few bites of ice cream to make myself
feel better,” or “I’m really craving some sweets, I’ll just have one brownie from the tray.” It’s not
that these thoughts are bad in and of themselves, but it really doesn’t reflect the truth of what
will happen. Be honest with yourself, replace those thoughts with things like “I can’t have just one
bite of a cookie, because that will lead to seven more,” or “If I eat that ice cream, I’m going to feel
like crap tomorrow and contribute to my weight gain.” If you can start to see food as fuel and
medicine for good health instead of something that’s supposed to blow your taste buds away,
you’ll find it much easier to avoid bad food.
4. Support: We’re social creatures, and as such it will be very difficult to follow through with a
drastic health change without support. Whether it’s a family member or friend, let them know
of your intentions, and tell them you may need some help keeping yourself on track. Better yet,
find someone who wants to lose weight with you — doing something together will allow you to
share your experiences and commiserate with one another. You can help each other tough it out
through the rough patches by providing a different viewpoint on things.

43 The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

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It’s All About the Benjamins

One of the most common objections to a healthy diet — “It’s just too damn expensive!” This is true — but only
if you’re looking at short-term food costs. What this belief fails to take into account is the high long-term
price of medical costs associated with treating excessive weight gain and all it’s related illnesses like diabetes,
heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. In addition, there are doctor visits, medications, surgeries, disability devices,
and assisted living community prices — it all adds up. And that’s not counting all the time out of your life
you’d be wasting to attend to your medical problems. Wouldn’t you rather spend your time and money taking
your grandkids to Disney World? Or having a 50th wedding anniversary dinner on the shores of Acapulco? If
you’re eating junk food now and aren’t sick yet, you will be — and those medical costs will eat into your ability
to enjoy your much deserved retirement. So, you decide — is saving money now worth a ruined life in the
future?

Still don’t think you can do it? I know you can — and here’s how

It’s simple really — try it for just 2 weeks and see how you look and feel. If you follow this diet exactly as I lay
it out, I guarantee you’ll lose at least 4 pounds — maybe even more. When I asked Dennis for any advice he
would give to All You Can Eat beginners, he said:

“I have NEVER looked or felt this good in my life. At 43, I’m way healthier and skinnier than I’ve ever
been. I’ll admit, the sugar thing was a bit hard to get over – but once I saw myself in the mirror
and realized I haven’t felt this good in years, it became much, much easier. And really, it wasn’t a
problem since I could substitute plenty of other much more satisfying foods in its place...
I guess what I’m saying is do the 2 week challenge. Two weeks isn’t that long, and once you see
how easy it is to drop off the weight, you’ll be looking like me in no time!
If I can do it, anyone can do it...”

You’ve seen the pictures for yourself — Dennis is a testament to the extreme effectiveness of the AYCE diet.
He’s not anything special (don’t tell him I said that!) — like a lot of us, he’s struggled with his weight all his life.
He doesn’t have the willpower to starve himself when he’s hungry, and he’s not a fan of going out for a jog in
any kind of weather. He’s tried all sorts of diets to drop his weight over the years — low fat, Weight Watchers,
Slim-Fast, etc. — yet every year he went back to the doctor for his annual physical only to be told “you need to
lose more weight.” Starting to sound familiar?

My point is, if Dennis can lose the weight that’s been plaguing him for years, so can you. Heck, I’ll even help
get you started with a sample meal plan and some of my favorite healthy recipes!

Just dive into your copy of the All You Can Eat Master Meal Plan and the All You Can Eat Kitchen Cookbook to
get started today!

To Your Health,

Dr. Geo & the Atlas Health Research Team

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