Best diet: why and how the diet works, it’s time to make it start working for you

Best diet: why and how the diet works, it’s time to make it start working for you

FAST METABOLISM DO’S AND DON’TS

THE DO’S

RULE #1: YOU MUST EAT FIVE TIMES PER DAY, 35 TIMES PER WEEK

That’s three meals and two snacks every day. The good news is that you get to eat 35 times per week, so when I tell you that you won’t be starving or missing fruits or carbs or fats or protein, I mean it.

You may not skip any meals or snacks. This is crucial to repair the metabolism. It’s nonnegotiable. I don’t care if you don’t think you’re hungry. You have to eat.

RULE #2: YOU MUST EAT EVERY THREE TO FOUR HOURS, EXCEPT WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING

This may mean even more eating than five times a day! If you stay up late or go for more than three or four hours without eating, you must add an additional phase-specific snack. For example, if you finish eating dinner at 7:00 and you don’t go to bed until 11:00 or 12:00, you must have a third phase-specific snack three to four hours after you finish dinner. If you’re worried about how to fit all this eating into your busy schedule, don’t be. My clients are all exceptionally busy people, just like you, and they find the time to eat every three to four hours. The key is to time it to your individual schedule. The chart below gives you some examples of how to do this if you keep relatively average hours, if you’re an early riser, a late riser, or someone who works the night shift. The last row is for you to fill in your own typical schedule.

Don’t wait to have breakfast. If you are dashing out the door and you don’t have time to sit down for a full meal, you can have your morning snack first and your breakfast when you get to work. But you must eat something within that first 30 minutes so your body doesn’t have to run on fumes. Also, please don’t exercise before you put something in your stomach. I like to tell my clients, “Don’t fast and then go fast.” You might think you’re burning more fat this way, but in reality it is one of the worst things you can do to your metabolism.

The plan lasts for 28 days for a reason: to follow the natural circadian rhythm of the body. Individual weeks can be repeated again and again for additional weight loss, but the initial commitment has to be for the full four weeks to get true repair in all phases of the body. It’s like sweeping off the patio. Your first run-through you don’t get everything, so you have to go back through and catch what you didn’t catch the last time.

You must do this religiously. If you are in Phase 1 and it’s not on the food or meal map for Phase 1 days, don’t eat it. The same goes for all three phases.

There are also foods left off the lists and maps, and that’s not a mistake or a typo. These things are intentionally left off. In the Don’ts section after, I’ll explain why certain foods are left off. For now, know that if it’s not on any of the lists or the maps, you’re not going to eat it for the next 28 days.

That means two days of Phase 1 followed by two days of Phase 2 followed by three days of Phase 3. And it is easiest to follow if you start the plan on a Monday.

As you know from the last chapter, each of the phases is designed with a particular goal (Unwind—calming the body to facilitate the absorption of nutrients from food, Unlock—building muscle and releasing stored fat, and Unleash—burning fat) and in a specific order for a reason.

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, that’s 100 fluid ounces of water every day. If you weigh 180 pounds, that’s 90 fluid ounces of water each day. Once you’ve met that required amount, you can have noncaffeinated herbal tea, or make lemonade with fresh lemons and limes sweetened with a natural sweetener like Stevia or Xylitol (but not with sugar, honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar). However, tea and lemonade do not count toward your required water ounces.

Limit any naturally sweetened drink to no more than two per day. I don’t want your taste buds to get too accustomed to the taste of sweet beverages, even if they don’t have any glycemic value. And remember—the water comes first.

I understand that at times organic food can be more expensive, and not everybody believes that organic food is better or healthier. I’m not going to argue that point either way, but it’s a fact that any synthetic chemical products you put into the body—including additives, preservatives, pesticides, insecticides, and hormones—have to be processed through the liver. This monopolizes time and energy that could be used to repair your metabolism. Remember, I’m trying to be greedy with the liver’s energy here. So eat as cleanly as possible. Also, try to keep your environment as clean as possible. This is not a time to paint the inside of your house or recarpet. These kinds of environmental chemicals have to be processed through your liver, too, and that will keep your liver distracted from the job we want it to do: burn fat.