The Petite Advantage Diet (10 page)

But carbs do more than promote hunger. Processed, refined, simple, or “white” carbs also annihilate energy levels. Why, you are thinking, would my energy level be important? Isn’t this a weight-loss book? Yes, but you
need
energy. Remember our weight-loss equation–calories in minus calories out. First, to reduce calories in, you need the energy to make the right choices. Come on, you know what your decisions are like when you are exhausted. I don’t have to dwell on that point. You reach for terrible things because you are too tired and think that a sugary fat-filled donut is going to give you the energy to power through. Second, to optimize calories out, you need the energy to work out
and
the energy to keep moving throughout the day. My most successful Petites move around a lot each day. They move for between sixty and ninety minutes a day. So do all the Petites following my program. This is also born out by the Seven Behaviors of Successful Weight Loss.

Now, that movement isn’t exercise alone, nor should it be. Exercise should just be a small portion of your daily movement and it doesn’t have to happen every day. But I know that Petites who have successfully followed my plan and lost weight possess more energy and
therefore
move more and burn more calories during their everyday lives. I’m not talking about a ten-mile hike. Just getting up to fill your tea or coffee mug or standing up at home when you are on the phone can make a difference. We have to manipulate that equation to your advantage.

You
are the one telling your body to store fat. Excessive insulin in the bloodstream will make your body store more body fat. Insulin is basically a “storage” hormone. It shunts glucose into your cells, muscles, liver, etc. When you have too much insulin constantly circulating in your bloodstream (as a result of your repeated consumption of simple carbs), this promotes the accumulation of body fat. We know from the introduction that we are in the “fat-loss” business. Why, therefore, are we teaching–better yet,
demanding–that
your body store more and more fat by prompting a big insulin surge? This is not your goal as a Petite.
Your
regulation of
your
insulin will keep this from happening. That is why I want you to be so careful to avoid processed carbs whenever possible.

Inflammation

And what about your overall health? From my experience, good health and weight loss generally go hand in hand. In many instances, I find that health issues lead to weight gain, since you are in bed or unable to move around and are at the mercy of the easiest, most inexpensive foods–simple carbs. Americans across all geographic regions, socio-economic groups, and education levels are, well, “leveling” their health when it comes to rampant, internal inflammation. Simple carbs cause significant inflammation. According to Bharat B. Aggarwal, Ph.D. and Professor of Cancer Research and Cancer Medicine and Chief of the Cytokine Research Laboratory at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, “Most chronic diseases have been found to be a result of too much inflammation, including cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.”
²

Think of a sunburn or a burn you experienced when you grabbed a hot curling iron by mistake (my son, Evan, did that when he was four). What transpired? Well, the affected area became red and inflamed. That is what is going on in your body, internally, and for some people, all the time. You are “on fire,” and not in the Dara Torres “swimming for the gold” positive sort of performance way. Your organs, cells, you name it, are virtually lit up, puffed up, swollen, and on fire because of what you are doing to them. This will lead to disease, illness, and accelerated aging, not to mention feeling terrible.

As a Petite, your body cannot withstand this tsunami of inflammation. You are smaller, therefore it is going to affect you more. Think of inflammation the way you think of alcohol. A few drinks may impact you far more than a larger person given your smaller size. You may have experienced that in the past. So the inflammatory response will hit you that much more as well. I have noticed for years that my smaller clients are getting hit with more autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease than my larger ones. I strongly believe that is because their bodies are more delicate and can’t take the assault in the same way my larger clients can. This applies to inflammation as well.

A big–and I mean big–reason for this inflammation is simple, processed carbs. I know this is a weight-loss book, but you should be informed that these carbs I am asking you to shun are not only killing your desire to lose weight. They may be literally killing
you
.

And remember, as a Petite, these simple carbs will inflame you more than they will a taller person.

The second category of carbohydrates is complex carbs–whole wheat and whole grain. While I said I truly want you to avoid the first category, the simple carbs, I’m not asking you to avoid wholewheat and whole-grain carbohydrates, but I do want you to use them sparingly. Why?

First of all, these whole-wheat and whole-grain carbs are clearly better for your insulin response and the accompanying hunger. These carbs have more fiber and have not been stripped of other nutrients and vitamins. Therefore, they will stay in your stomach longer and slowly empty into your bloodstream as they become glucose. That’s clearly better than the simple response.

Second, whole-wheat and whole-grain carbohydrates have been found to regulate hunger hormones effectively and tip satiety mechanisms. Two of the compounds in whole-wheat and whole-grain carbohydrates–fiber and resistant starch (which acts like fiber in the large intestine)–both appear to play a role in tipping this mechanism.
³

I bet whole-grain and whole-wheat carbohydrates sound pretty great to you, but there
is
a big reason why Petites have to use them sparingly. Whole-wheat and whole-grain carbohydrates generally pack a lot of calories. I bet you thought that seven-grain bread was better than white bread. True? Yes and no. Yes, because it’s better because it won’t cause as rapid an insulin response. No, because it
may
pack many more calories than a simple carb. Since this is a weight-loss book, I have to help you manage hunger
and
drop your caloric intake.

Now, complex carbs
do
possess a higher thermic effect–some estimates place it as high as 20 percent. Therefore, 100 calories of whole wheat or whole grain, complex carbs, may only become 80 calories for use in the body. That clearly is a plus. But the minus is that, sometimes, the calorie counts of these products jump so rapidly that even a higher thermic effect cannot minimize the calorie damage. You will see in the actual eating plan that you rarely get more than a half-cup of brown rice or one piece of bread. By keeping your consumption of whole-grain and wholewheat carbs on the lower side, you will lose weight faster, while still deriving many of the benefits of these carbs. For Petites, a little goes a long way.

How do you minimize these whole-wheat and whole-grain carbs? You read labels. It will take you less than ten seconds to check out the label on a loaf of whole-grain or whole-wheat bread or a package of brown or wild rice. With regard to pasta, I have to be honest. For your first twenty-one days, I want you to eliminate it. It is simply so densely caloric that a few strands add up to hundreds of calories very quickly. In the future, you can have some, but you’ll have to be mindful of the portion.

The third category of carbohydrates is fruits and vegetables.
Love
them both. As you will soon see, they are the foundation of my weight-loss and eating plan. But I want to take a moment to clear up some confusion with regard to fruit, as it has recently been given a bad, undeserved rap.

Quick. Who do you know who is overweight as the result of excessive tomato consumption? Did your BFF call you last night to say: “Oh, I’m out of control! Help me. I gorged on fresh peaches from the Farmer’s Market all night. I worry I may do it again today.” Or better yet, when was the last time you were at a restaurant or party and witnessed someone gorging on apples or pears? Does this possibly sound as crazy to you as it does to me? Everyone keeps saying to me: “Jim, what is your take on fruit? Should we be avoiding it? I hear it is terribly high in sugar.” My answer–no. The truth is that some fruits have a higher glycemic index than others. The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly a food turns to sugar, which we know is really fast for simple carbs. To give you an example, pretzels, a classic simple carb, have a glycemic index of 83. An apple’s index is 38. While there are some fruits–watermelon, pineapple, plums–that do inch up higher, they are still wonder foods because they are packed with fiber, water, vitamins, and nutrients.

I eat fruit all the time and urge lean Petites to eat it all the time as well. Just make it a point to combine fruit with protein, which is what I have set out for you in the plan. When you combine protein with your fruit, the glycemic index plummets because protein stays so long in the stomach. A classic example is a piece of apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter. That will make all the food that is in your stomach–both the fruit and the protein–turn to glucose more slowly, stabilizing the blood-sugar response. And we already know that we want food to take a long time in the stomach, as that will keep you feeling full longer and ward off hunger.

Please don’t believe the hype that fruit is a “no-no.” It’s “not not.”

Now, since I have addressed the fruit issue, I can lump fruits and vegetables together. Unfortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a National Action Plan in 2005 to increase public health through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. That makes sense, as they are packed with vitamins and nutrients that improve health
and
facilitate weight loss. Unfortunately, the report was
not
good. The goal was to get Americans to consume two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables each day. That doesn’t sound like that much to me. If you can believe it, however, only 6 percent of Americans hit this goal, which I happen to think is very, very low. Think about that. Only 6 percent of all Americans eat two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables a day. Are you hitting this goal? Only 6 percent of you are.

I consider fruits and vegetables a Petite’s best friend for three reasons.

The first is
fiber
. Fiber is one of the essential components that slows the emptying of all foods from your stomach. That slow emptying will minimize the insulin response (and create that “easy listening” environment). That keeps ramped-up insulin levels from making you hungry and causing you to store fat. I like that a lot and so should you. Unfortunately, the average American only eats half of the twenty-eight to thirty-eight grams of fiber recommended. In my plan, you are going to get to that level each day, whether with food or with the help of a fiber supplement.

I strongly urge you all to eat three grams of fiber, either in a powder that you mix with water or in a tablet, approximately fifteen minutes before your dinner. Not only is the fiber great for many reasons, but your dinner is going to be your
smallest
meal of the day, which will be a change for many of you. That fiber consumption prior to the meal will enable you to feel full on less food, which is the whole goal of this eating plan. Trust me, it works. In addition, the power of the “slow empty” will keep you feeling full.

The second reason that fiber is your best friend is that it is heavy. There are a number of research studies that prove that the heavier the food–like fruits and vegetables–the more you feel full. I believe that to be true and have seen it firsthand when I instruct a Petite to eat more fruits and vegetables. She comes back lower in weight
and
claiming that she is regularly feeling full.

Think about that for a moment. Pretzels and chips are the perfect example. Most struggling Petites have confessed to me that they were eating a lot of simple carbs like pretzels and chips (both quickly turn to sugar) and that they never felt full. They just kept eating and eating. Then they replaced those simple, lightweight carbs with the right carbs like fruits and vegetables and dropped weight–fast. That’s exactly what you are going to do.

The third reason is regularity. We know that fiber helps keep everything moving and regularity will lead to a flat belly. Especially as a Petite, I want to lean you out in the midsection. We are going for that tight, hourglass figure, and that requires a leaned-out midsection. Regularity will lead to a more efficient metabolism (got to
love
that). You’ve no doubt heard the expression “a well-oiled machine.” Well, we want you optimally taking in food and eliminating it efficiently and regularly. I have said to hundreds of successful Petites: “So, tell me, are we
moving
more these days?” They look at me and say: “How did you know? I haven’t gone this much in years. I wondered if there was something wrong with me.” No; not at all. You
want
this regularity for weight loss.

Regularity also will eliminate toxins from your body more effectively. I know, I know, this is a weight-loss book, but in a less toxic environment, you will feel better, have more energy,
and
immediately appear to lean out. In chapter 7, we are going to delve into the issue of water balance. For now, trust me that the more I can lean you out and get rid of the water bloat, the better you will look and feel. That alone will keep you coming back to this plan for more information and success.