The Petite Advantage Diet (9 page)

Protein is essential to this successful eating plan–more so than with any other weight-loss plan. I recommend that you consume approximately 35 percent of your total calories in protein. The upper limit to the majority of other weight-loss plans is 30 percent. I go that extra 5 percent as it will be protein comprised of the “good” fat, and not the artery-clogging saturated fat that should be kept to a minimum because of potential health issues. I have increased your percentage of protein because protein is the most difficult food to digest. This is actually good, as it will give you a more lasting feeling of satiety and thus ward off hunger. Here’s how it works.

Think of protein as a woman’s pearl necklace, with each individual pearl representing an amino acid. There are twenty individual amino acids or building blocks to protein. The body manufactures ten non-essential amino acids, while the remaining ten essential amino acids must be supplied by food. When you consume the necklace (a protein chain of essential amino acids), your stomach has to work hard to break the necklace apart. That “hard work” takes a good deal of time, and more time in your stomach translates into a more lasting feeling of satiety. That’s very important for Petites, as some of you need to keep your total daily calories down in the 1100-calorie range on certain days.

In addition, protein has a very high thermic effect, which is defined as the incremental energy expenditure it takes to turn the food that you consume into fuel for energy (that’s good) or storage (that’s bad). Simply put, the thermic effect is the amount of calories it takes to bite, chew, and swallow food, plus the amount needed to process it–digest it, transport it, metabolize it, and store it. Protein has a thermic effect estimated as high as 30 percent. That means that 100 calories of protein actually requires as many as 30 calories for processing, leaving only 70 calories for your body to use. That’s
good
! For the record, fat has a thermic effect of only 2 to 3 percent. That means that 100 fat calories consumed become 97 or 98 calories for your body to use or store. That’s
bad
! In addition, protein helps maintain lean muscle tissue when restricting calories and losing body weight–and making sure that the weight lost is all fat! This is somewhat complicated, so let me break it down.

When you lose weight without my exercise program, you will lose approximately 60 to 70 percent fat and 30 to 40 percent muscle. Remember:

Lean Muscle Up = Metabolism Up

Research proves that the more protein you consume when restricting calories, or dieting, the more muscle you will spare. Therefore, you will keep your metabolism up while shedding pounds of fat. Since you know that muscle is the engine to a Petite’s metabolism, you want to do everything in your power to minimize the loss of lean muscle tissue.

Now, let me be clear–this does not mean that eating protein will result in increasing your lean muscle tissue. That will only happen with my exercise program. But, when you restrict calories or diet, consuming adequate protein will result in
less
muscle loss with my exercise plan. I will all but guarantee that you will keep your muscle, but–just to be extra careful–I am going to increase your protein intake to be safe and smart.

The next fuel source I want to explore is
fat
. Of your total calories each day, you will receive approximately 25 percent of them from fat. Fat has gotten a
very
bad rap in the past two decades. Around the late 1980s, everyone said, “avoid fat–eat fat-free–eating fat will make you fat.” The food companies then jumped on the “fat-free” bandwagon and churned out products that reduced the fat by stuffing products full of sugar and simple, refined carbohydrates to make up for the loss of fat. Later in this chapter, you will learn my thoughts on simple, refined carbs and sugars (it isn’t good) and the fact that fat is good–if it’s the right kind in the appropriate portion. You should also note that the fat-free belief system that came out of the late 1980s correlated with our obesity epidemic exploding–literally. That correlation comes as no surprise when you learn more about what simple, processed carbs and sugars do to our bodies and to our hunger.

There are two kinds of fat. The first, saturated fat, is what you need to minimize or avoid as much as possible, as this is the type of fat that increases the risk of heart disease as well as other illnesses. Saturated fats are found in fatty meats, butter, full-fat dairy products, egg yolks, the skin in animal protein (though there is a very, very small amount in boneless, skinless chicken and turkey, which is in your eating plan), and some processed and many fast foods. Not only is there fat in some of animal protein skin and fatty meat, there is also partially hydrogenated fat in some processed and fast foods that makes them even more lethal. Saturated fat should not constitute more than 10 percent of your daily caloric intake. In this eating plan, you will eat only 10 percent of your calories from saturated fat, as I totally agree with all the research. Saturated fat should be avoided–especially by Petites, since you are smaller and an average serving can cause more damage to you given your size.

Unsaturated fats, on the other hand, can lower cholesterol and aid in the reduction of heart disease. But don’t be fooled, as these are still fats and that means they are high in calories. Unsaturated fats come from plants like peanuts, olives, corn, soybeans, and sunflowers. And, although they are
better
for you than saturated fats, remember my discussion about Addies, as they do fall into that category.

Now, let’s go on to how carbohydrates play into this eating plan. In the last decade, since the resurgence of the old Atkins diet, carbs have been vilified. That is so wrong, as most people are lumping all carbs into the same category. I want to introduce you to what I believe the three categories of carbohydrates should be.

The first category is processed, simple, refined, or “white” carbs. These carbs (they are generally white, which is why I added that name to the list) are pretty much the exact same thing, so don’t get confused by the various names. Let’s just call them the Evil Carbs. These evil carbohydrates have had all of the natural nutrients and fiber removed, which is why the name “simple” applies. They have been stripped of all their good, natural components, including fiber, which I have established as critically important to your success. They are what your mother may have referred to as “empty” calories, as they don’t possess many vitamins or nutrients (if any). They are being blamed for a large part of our current obesity epidemic, as many people I know, especially Petites, consume them in very large quantities, unaware of their danger. Most people unfortunately rely on “evil” carbs because they are inexpensive, convenient (you can see and smell them everywhere), and easy to eat (how hard is it to open a bag of chips or a candy bar?). But they offer no nutritional value. The list of these carbs includes all white bread, bagels, pasta, rice, and chips, as well as sweet items like cookies, cake, and candy. And top off the list with the most evil of all “evil” carbs–liquid calories in the form of sports drinks, soda, and juice.

Why are these carbs so evil? Well, because the majority of these processed, simple, refined, or “white” carbs are what I refer to as a “quick empty” from the stomach.

All food turns to glucose in the bloodstream, which is then used for fuel (energy). For some, however, this may unfortunately be stored as body fat. It all depends on how you manipulate your “calories in minus calories out” equation. When you consume one of these evil carbohydrates, they very quickly empty into your bloodstream as glucose and spend very little time in your stomach. Again, that’s why they are called “simple”–because all the good stuff has been stripped away, so your stomach has very little work to do. You want food to stay in your stomach (that’s what protein does, since it is difficult to digest) and slowly empty into your bloodstream. But these evil carbs don’t do that.

Insulin and the Blood-Sugar Dance

A “quick empty” is a major problem when it comes to hunger, which you are trying to avoid. A “quick empty” will lead to a big insulin surge. The human body is very efficient. It frequently operates in a “you do this and I’ll do that” manner, generally to help it operate smoothly and in a balanced rhythm. That’s good, and balance is truly what you want for your body. But that balance has to be used to your advantage and, in this instance, it’s to your disadvantage. The “blood-sugar dance” is something that you want to manipulate
properly
and not let get extreme. You want your blood-sugar response to seem more like “easy listening” than “heavy metal rock.” The goal of the blood-sugar dance is to maintain a slow, steady stream of food emptying from your stomach and turning into glucose for your body to use. That keeps hunger to a minimum, as your mind and body keep saying to each other: “Okay, there’s a steady flow of glucose coming our way. No need to ask–hunger–for more.”

Your ultimate partner in the blood-sugar dance is insulin. When blood sugar enters the bloodstream in a slow, “easy listening” way, the pancreas releases insulin in a similar way. Think of insulin as the drawbridge that allows the glucose to enter your cells for energy, or fuel. Most of this storage occurs in the liver and muscles. Without insulin to guide the way for glucose to enter, the sugar runs amok and causes tremendous damage to your body
and
to your desire to lose weight. I will elaborate on this in a moment.

Virtually all food turns to glucose, so that is not the issue. What is the issue is how quickly your food empties from your stomach and turns to glucose. Your goal is to consume foods that
slowly
leave the stomach and turn to glucose. When you consume a simple carb as a “stand-alone” food–which means you are not combining it with other fats or proteins, as when you get up first thing in the morning and grab breakfast–that’s good. But if breakfast is a white bagel–that’s bad. You get the unwanted “quick empty.” A quick empty is
not
advantageous, as it will be interpreted by your body as a big “heavy metal” sugar party in your bloodstream. Your body doesn’t want to be the host of that big sugar party and wants to shut it down quickly. That prompts your pancreas to push out a big insulin surge that pulls all that sugar out of your bloodstream.

Think of what happened when your parents came home early from vacation to find you throwing a big summer bash for 150 of your closest friends. They threw the lights on, killed the music (heavy metal?), and said “everyone out!” That’s what your body does to the big sugar surge; it makes the pancreas secrete insulin to do its dirty work and get the sugar out fast. The human body is very, very smart. It knows that too much sugar in your bloodstream is a negative. Why is that so bad?
Hunger
.

Hunger and Energy

When you get that big insulin surge after your blood sugar is overly elevated, you
crash
, as the insulin strips all the sugar out of your bloodstream. I know you have probably felt this in the past. You just feel wiped out. What most people then do is reach for another processed carbohydrate. That’s why those brownies you avoided all day suddenly become irresistible at 3:30, or you find yourself lured to the “break room”–a carb-lovers, “vending-machine fantasy.” When you do this, you hit your body with another sugar surge, followed by another insulin surge and another crash. You spend far too much time each day on the sugar/insulin highway and that leads you to overeat–constantly. Since hunger is the enemy, when you regulate your blood sugar, you are well on your way to minimizing it–and your hunger and your weight. These carbs are the major culprits. They are also generally packed with calories, so not only do they induce hunger, they come with a great deal of caloric damage.