The 20/20 Diet (14 page)

Not surprisingly, 49 percent of people rated “emotions,” such

as anger, stress, depression, loneliness, or happiness, as their
most
powerful trigger to overeat. The ru
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nner-up was “seeking comfort

or an escape from physical or emotional pain,” which 30.1 percent

of respondents rated as their most powerful trigger.

The next time you experience an emotion that typically

prompts you to overeat or reach for the bag of chips instead of the

apple, follow these steps:

 Take slow, deep breaths in through your nose and exhale

out through your mouth for a full 30 seconds.

 Decide h
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ow you are going to solve the problem or issue

that has arisen. Write down your plan.

 Take action to execute your plan.

Believe it or not, studies have shown that you’re actually less

able to perceive how much fat is in your food when you are in

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a heightened state of emotion. This is why it’s dangerous to sit

down with a tub of ice cream when you’re depressed; you’re more

likely to just eat the whole thing. Now you know what to do

instead.

Extinguish Your Fake Hunger | 79

20/20 Instant Intervention:
Advertisements for fast food or junk

food are targeted not at your hunger pangs but at your innate desire

for a better life. They are selling you happiness rather than a bag of

French fries. But you’ve got to beat them at their own game. How do

you do that?

The next time you’re standing in front of the chips or candy aisle

or driving by the fast-food restaurant, think about those co
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mmercials

that are trying to dupe you, then spend 30 seconds (it will probably

take less than 30!) playing the scene all the way to the end. Recall how you felt the last time you ate the junk food.

I mean it—really let yourself experience the fog that came over

your brain, the swollen belly, the sluggishness that robbed you of

physical activity, and how miserable you felt afterward. As you relive

those feelings, push the cart or drive the car away and navigate toward

healthy alternatives.

In so doing, you will successful y ov
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erride the effects that the adver-

tising is meant to have on your brain, and you will have a sense of peace and power because you recognize that you, and only you, are in control

of this mission to lose the weight. No matter how many times you gave

in and purchased the junk food in your past, today you won.

A massive marketing machine has been jerking you around and

programming you to buy their food. You should be mad about that;

you have every right to be outraged over their stealthy manipulations.

Now that you’re alerted to their tactics of selling acceptance rather

than food, you ca
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n choose not to be played for a fool anymore.

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80 | The 20/20 Diet

6

STOCK UP ON YOUR

20/20 FOODS

I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’

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t in the book.

I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.

—
Dolly Parton

You’re starting to get a handle on right thinking and how to man-

age and overcome your fake hu
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nger, which is critical. Now let’s

turn our attention to which foods you should be eating, another cru-

cial component to slimming down once and for all.

There are 20 foods at the core of this diet, and for the first five days, you will be eating only these foods. But don’t worry—there are plenty

of delicious ways to combine them, and you’ll have specific, easy-to-

prepare recipes to follow. After those five days, you’ll start adding in lots of other tasty and nutritious foods, so don’t start panicking that

you’re going to be confined to just 20 foods for the rest of your life.

Remember, I’

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m not letting you rebel this time, so I’m sticking to my

word by making this plan 100 percent doable, even enjoyable.

We’ve already talked a little about the fact that new theories and

emerging research suggest that these foods may be able to assist you

in your weight loss goals. Notice I didn’t say these foods will mirac-

ulously melt all the fat off your hips or thighs if you stuff your face

wit
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h them 24/7. I am not giving you carte blanche to sit down with

a pile of these foods and eat them to your heart’s content. You’ve left

that mentality of “eat now, pay later” behind with all the other failed

diet gimmicks. Besides, when you listen to your genuine hunger cues,

there’s no reason to eat nonstop anyway.

81

What I am saying, however, is that exciting, new research points

to certain qualities within these foods that allow them to work with

your body to either help you increase thermogenesis, or feel fuller.

Unlike those super-restrictive diets that left you hungry enough to eat a box of cookies and the box they came in, I intend to keep you feeling

satisfied. Not stuffed, but content and nourished—that’s the idea.

The truth is, regardless of their potential to assist yo
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u in weight

loss, these are healthy, nutritious foods that fuel your body with the

right kinds of nutrients. In this list, you won’t find any processed,

sugar- and salt- or chemical-laden “diet” foods that do you much more

harm than good.

They also aren’t obscure, exotic, strange foods that you’ve never

heard of (and never cared to); instead, they are everyday superfoods

that you can easily (and affordably) get ahold of. They’re not your

typical “diet” foods either—I haven’t just thrown together a food list

consisting of the usual suspects of cel
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ery and broccoli. These foods

taste good, they lend themselves to tons of delicious recipes, and I’m

even betting that you already have many of them in your pantry.

High-Response Cost/High-Yield Nutrition

These 20 foods and the meals I’m recommending are all high-

response cost/high-yield nutrition foods, a concept you may have first

heard me mention in
The Ultimate Weight Solution
. These are foods that take time an
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d effort to prepare and eat. You can’t just swallow

them whole—they require a little work and chewing. Plus, they pro-

vide a lot of nutrition with few calories; in other words, a lot of nutritional bang for your buck.

The balance between fat, fruits, vegetables, protein, and starch

that my team and I have created in the meals is ideal for fueling your

bod
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y with the right nutrients, and you don’t have to worry about eat-

ing too many calories because the portions are just right. So if you’re

fretting about how you’re going to turn this list into dinner, you can

stop stressing because we have done the work for you. You’ll learn how

to create this balance on your own in the Management Phase too. The

recipes throughout the phases of this diet do require a little effort to 82 | The 20/20 Diet

put together, but we’re keeping it simple enough to integrate into your

busy life.

Now let’s take a look at the theories and new, evolving research that

is available for these foods so you can see why we choose them. Again,

there’s no magic to this. No smoke or mirrors. These are healthy, nutri-

ent-dense foods that fit easily into the low-calorie, sensible meals that we have created. More research is needed to confirm the eff
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ects of these

foods, but we wanted you to have access to all the latest information to arm you with additional tools to help you reach your goals.

Foods With Potential Thermogenic Properties

New theories suggest that certain foods can boost dietary thermogen-

esis. Here is some more information about these five foods and how

they could help you lose weight:

Coconut oil

The fat in virgin coconut oil is mad
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e up of medium-chain triglycerides

(MCTs). (Notice I’m talking about virgin coconut oil in its pure form,

not coconut oil that has been highly processed or partially hydroge-

nated.) Scientists believe that MCTs are absorbed quickly and sent

directly to the liver, where the body burns them as fuel almost entirely.

Some scientists also believe that this process stimulates metabolism

and, in some small studies, subjects have experienced an increase in

thermogenesis for a short time after ingestion of MCTs compared to

LCTs (long-chai
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n triglycerides) alone.

The research on coconut oil is intriguing, but I want you to keep

in mind, this is new research that’s constantly evolving. Scientists are still not sure what long-term effect MCTs will have on thermogenesis

or weight, as not all studies have been positive, but I believe coco-

nut oil can easily be incorporated into a healthy diet, so I thought I

wou
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ldn’t hold back on giving you this potential tool.

Green tea

You’ve probably already heard a lot of buzz about green tea and how

it promotes weight loss. But, like everything in this diet, you can’t

just drink a gallon of it or take some green tea extract and expect the

Stock Up on Your 20/20 Foods | 83

weight to fall off of you. (You might have tried that before, and all it did was cause a few extra trips to the bathroom!) Although the jury

is still out as to whether green tea leads to weight loss, consuming at

least 270 milligrams of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green

tea per day has been shown to increase thermogenesis. We suggest that

you aim to drink two to three cups of green tea per day, with at least

one of them being caffeinated. Plus you get other great healt
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h benefits

from drinking green tea.

Mustard

It might be surprising that one of America’s favorite condiments could

actual y offer any benefits other than great taste, but one study involving 25 men published in the
British Journal of Nutrition
suggests that mustard might have the potential to produce diet-induced thermogenesis

shortly after consumption compared to the use of other common house-

hold spices. More research is needed t
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o confirm the effect and how it

can help with weight loss, but mustard is also a low-calorie and delicious way to flavor your foods. So you’ll see different types of mustard used in creative ways in several of the recipes within this diet.

Walnuts

Research from one study of 29 men published in the journal
Clinical

Nutrition
also suggests that walnuts may have a positive effect on thermogenesis a few hours after consumption as compared to dairy

products (which ar
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e high in saturated fats). Like the other foods I’ve

described in this section, more research is needed to confirm the

effect, but I wanted you to know the latest information and intriguing

theories.

Furthermore, walnuts boast high plant-based omega-3 fatty acid

content, which is shown to help your body support many basic func-

tions
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, including digestion, cell growth, and blood clotting.

Olive oil

Researchers also looked at the thermogenic properties of olive oil in

the same study I mentioned for walnuts. This emerging research sug-

gests that olive oil, like walnuts, may increase thermogenesis shortly

84 | The 20/20 Diet

after consumption compared to dairy products. I’m hopeful that more

research will be conducted soon to confirm the effects of olive oil.

The nutrition community has been taking a closer look at olive oil

in recent years and have been intrigued by its other potential health

benefits. For example, some developing research indicates that it may

support heart health and cognitive activity. Many dieticians agree

that olive oil should be one of the healthy fats include
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d in any well-

balanced diet.

Foods That Stick to Your Ribs

The whole point of eating food is to nourish your body when you

experience the physical signs of hunger. But, not all foods truly make

you feel full and satisfied, and they can fill you up with worthless

calories.

However, on the opposite end of
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that spectrum, there are certain

foods that have been shown to make you feel
fuller
and
more
satisfied than other foods in their same category. What follows is some of the

new research on them.

Almonds

Almonds, which contain healthy, monounsaturated fats as well as

vitamin E and magnesium, have been shown to increase our sense of

fullness. A study published in the journal
Nutrition and Metabolism

compared whol
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e almonds to almond butter, almond flour, almond

oil, and no almond products to see which had the greatest effect on

satiety. Whole almonds showed the strongest results. Almonds have

also been shown to support the cardiovascular system and healthy