The 17 Day Diet (42 page)

One dramatic study of 855 people found that those who ate just the RDA of protein had alarming bone losses compared to those who ate more than the RDA. Those who ate the least protein lost the most bone mass: 4 percent in four years. People who ate the most protein (about 20 percent of calories) had the smallest losses: less than 1.5 percent in four years, reported the
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
in 2000.

Although the study was done on older men and women, the results may be important for all adults. When you’re young, you need protein to build bone. After age 30, you need it to keep bone from being lost. Keeping bones strong is a life-long effort.

As for weight loss: take note: Research keeps proving that a protein-dense diet is essential for weight loss. It helps maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss. That’s important because losing muscle slows your resting metabolic rate—the speed at which your body burns calories. That makes it harder to maintain a healthy weight and lose fat. By eating regularly from the foods on the 17 Day Diet lists, you’ll get more than enough protein.

Q. I’m a vegetarian. Can I follow the 17 Day Diet?

A.
Yes. If you’re a “lacto-ovo-vegetarian,” you limit your protein to dairy products and eggs. That means you’ll obtain your protein from probiotics like yogurt, eggs, and beans and legumes (depending on which Cycle you’re on). “Semi-vegetarians,” who avoid red meat but eat fish or chicken, can easily follow the diet. “Vegans” avoid all animal proteins. If you’re a vegan, you can still follow the diet. Simply use vegan meat substitutes at meals for protein and use a probiotic supplement in place of yogurt. The 17 Day Diet adapts to virtually any nutritional lifestyle.

Q: I know that whole grains are really good for me, but I get bored with oatmeal and brown rice. What are some other ones I can try?

A.
There are plenty of other choices. Look into some of the so-called ancient or alternative grains: amaranth (high in protein), kamut (a cousin of wheat), quinoa (a grain-like herb), spelt (a relative of wheat), triticale (a cross between rye and wheat, whole-grain risotto (a delicious type of rice), barley (super-high in fiber) and bulgur (a delicious form of wheat). To find some of these more uncommon grains, you may need to make a trip to a big natural foods store or local ethnic food market. Many are unfamiliar to Americans but have been eaten in other parts of the world for thousands of years.

Q. Sometimes I can’t eat all the food allowed on the 17 Day Diet. Will this interfere with my results?

A.
No, not at all. The 17 Day Diet is very filling. For many people, it’s a challenge to eat all those fruits and vegetables for the first time. If you can’t eat all the food, don’t worry about it. Just don’t substitute those foods for foods not on the diet.

Q. I overindulged all weekend. What do you suggest?

A.
If you gained 3 to 5 pounds over the weekend, I advise that you go right back to Accelerate (Cycle 1) until you lose those pounds. After that, continue on with the other Cycles to reach your goal weight.

Nutrition Questions

Q. Is it better to choose organic foods?

A.
These days, we need to find out where everything comes from and how it’s been grown or raised. Is it organic, cage-free, free-range, or was it just grown in someone’s backyard? We do need to reduce our exposure to toxins, or else they get stored in our body’s fat cells. Scientists think this build-up of toxins may prevent weight loss. So buy organic whenever you can. Eating organic foods helps you naturally rid your body of toxins. Because some produce contains more pesticides than others, try to choose organic when shopping for these fruits and veggies: apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, imported grapes, bell peppers, celery, potatoes and spinach.

Q. What is your recommendation on taking a standard multivitamin?

A.
I’m in favor of it. Taking vitamins and other supplements is important, but it can take quite a bit of time to pop everything you need. You may require a multiple vitamin and mineral, omega-3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation, calcium for bones and vitamin D.

Multivitamins can be especially helpful for anyone who doesn’t eat a healthy diet or eat enough “good” foods to obtain the vitamins we need for sustained good health. Plus, as we age our bodies don’t absorb certain vitamins, such as vitamin B12, as well as they once did. We also need more vitamin D and calcium, but those can be consumed in separate supplements and not necessarily part of a multivitamin.

If you feel a multivitamin is important to your health, bring a bottle of vitamins to your doctor to make sure the doses are safe (mega-doses of some vitamins can be dangerous), and make sure that there are no potential interactions between the vitamin supplements and any prescription drugs you’re taking.

Q. You recommend a sweetener called Truvia. What is it?

A.
Truvia is derived from stevia, a plant found in South America and Asia. This means that it is neither a sugar nor a purely artificial sweetener, but is instead “natural” zero-calorie sweetener. Truvia also contains erythritol, a kind of sugar alcohol found in fruits. As sugar substitutes go, Truvia and stevia are probably better than some of lab-produced artificial sweeteners, which is why I recommend it. You can also cook and bake with Truvia. But like anything else, use it in moderation

Q. Can I use other sugar substitutes on the 17 Day Diet?

A.
Artificial sweeteners are found in many foods these days, such as reduced-sugar yogurt, which is one of the recommended probiotics on the 17 Day Diet. Clinically speaking, all sugar substitutes are testing safely; we just don’t know much about their long-term health effects.

Six of the most common sugar substitutes currently available are aspartame (Equal), saccharine, acesulfame K, sucralose (Splenda), sugar alcohols and stevia (Truvia and Sweet Leaf). Aspartame, saccharine, acesulfame K, and sucralose are all chemical sugar substitutes that do provide some health benefits: They are lower in calories than regular sugar, and they do not raise blood sugar, particularly helpful for people with diabetes. Nor do these sweeteners promote tooth decay.

Sugar alcohols, such a mannitol and xylitol, are carbohydrates but not sugars, which make them sugar-free sweeteners. Unlike artificial sweeteners they can raise blood sugar, but because they are slowly absorbed from the intestinal tract, the rise in blood glucose and demand for insulin is minimal compared to eating pure sugar. They, too, are low calorie compared to natural sugar and do not promote tooth decay. Stevia is a newer artificial sweetener which is natural in the sense that it is not a chemical made in a lab. It is a natural extract from the stevia plant.

My advice is to go easy on sugar substitutes and learn to enjoy the natural sweetness of fresh fruits.

Q. I am trying to kick my sodium habit. Do you have any suggestions?

A.
You might start by using a lite salt, such as Morton’s Lite salt, to wean yourself off sodium. Start cooking with herbs and spices too, especially garlic and onion powder to season meat or vegetables.

When buying foods (such as vegetables), purchase reduced-sodium versions. Buy and use the sodium-free marinades for chicken, beef, pork and seafood.

When buying and using canned vegetables and beans, rinse them under running water at home. This will remove up to 40 percent of the sodium.

The taste for salt is a learned habit. Just as you acquired a taste for salty foods, you can also become accustomed to less salt.

Q: I’ve been hearing more and more about the health benefits of coffee and tea. But they both have caffeine, right? Which has more?

A:
The fact that coffee and tea are good for you isn’t new. The first written records of coffee, from about 1,000 years ago, mention it as a medicine. Over the years, herbalists have thought it could treat head and muscle aches, asthma and fatigue. Early references to tea in China involve boiling raw, wild tea leaves in water to soothe respiratory infections.

You already know that the caffeine in morning cup of coffee keeps you alert and active. Now the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, a long-term examination of the habits of more than 100,000 nurses, has shown that there is a decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes among participants who regularly drink coffee (caffeinated or decaf). Coffee is terrifically high in antioxidants, along with minerals, such as potassium and magnesium and B vitamins. All of these nutrients might be the reason coffee guards against type 2 diabetes.

The good coffee news just keeps on coming: Research linked regular coffee consumption (three to four cups per day) to a decrease in the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have found that even an extra espresso may even help stave off mental decline as you age, according to a 2002 study published in the
American Journal of Epidemiology
.

So grab a cup of coffee, sink into an oversized chair, and read the next question.

Q. If coffee and tea are so good for us, should I drink more?

A.
Well, too much of any good thing becomes not such a good thing. How much you consume depends on your health and your caffeine tolerance. Most docs say three to four 8 oz. cups of caffeinated coffee or tea is the maximum that an individual should have daily.

Be aware that caffeine stimulates the central nervous and cardiovascular systems and is a diuretic. Too much coffee or tea can result in elevated blood pressure, insomnia, nervousness or rapid, uncomfortable breathing. Also, tannins found in coffee and tea may decrease your ability to absorb iron. Drink your tea or coffee at least one hour before meals so you can digest the tannins before iron is released in your system.

Q. I keep hearing people knock high-fructose corn syrup. What is it exactly? And is it really bad for you?

A:
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a potent sweetener made from corn starch. It’s actually twice as sweet as sugar. Manufacturers began using it as a cheap sugar substitute in the 1970s when the price of sugar shot up. HFCS now accounts for 40 percent of the caloric sweeteners added to foods and drinks.

Americans down about 132 calories’ worth of HFCS a day, mainly in sodas and fruit drinks. That’s a lot. By simply slashing 132 calories daily, you can lose about 13 pounds a year without doing anything else.

But calories aren’t the real concern with HFCS. This is: It seems to make us pig out in two ways. First, when soda manufacturers switched from sugar to HFCS, they used the same quantity by volume, so sodas today are actually much sweeter than they were 30 years ago. Regular exposure to their intense sweetness can make you crave other sweet foods too.

Second, your body metabolizes HFCS differently. Unlike other sweeteners, HFCS doesn’t produce a normal rise in insulin after a meal, which prevents the usual levels of a hormone called leptin. Leptin makes you feel full so you stop eating. Too little leptin, and you’ll eat too much.

From everything I’ve read, I don’t like HFCS and recommend avoiding it.

Q. I’ve heard over and over again that trans fat is bad for us. What I’m not sure of is what it is. And why is it bad?

A.
Trans fat is formed when unsaturated oils are put through a chemical process called hydrogenation. This process solidifies the oils at room temperature: think margarine or vegetable shortening. Hard fat is necessary to achieve specific characteristics in certain foods. For example, without a hard fat, crackers would be soft, pie crusts would lose their flakiness and foods would go rancid more quickly.

Not all hard fats are trans fats though; some are saturated fats (the kind found in butter and cocoa butter, palm and coconut oils). But several years ago, the food industry moved away from using saturated fat because of its association with increased LDL (“lousy” cholesterol) levels. In making this switch, the industry unknowingly created a fat that has turned out to be even worse for health: trans fat. In recent years, scientists have discovered that trans fatty acids not only raise LDL levels, they lower HDL (“good” cholesterol)—increasing your risk factors for heart disease. They also increase obesity.

Fortunately, fewer products are being manufactured with trans fats. If you’re worried about whether a product contains trans fat, look on the ingredients label for the term “partially hydrogenated.” Partially hydrogenated oil is trans fat.

Q. Are imitation seafood products good choices?

A.
Imitation crab, shrimp, and other seafood (surimi) are usually made from Alaskan pollock, a whitefish. The skinless, boneless fish is ground up, mixed with binders, salt and other flavors, cooked and then shaped. This imitation shellfish is an excellent source of low-fat protein and is lower in cholesterol than true shellfish.

A disadvantage is that it can contain nearly 700 milligrams of sodium in a modest three-ounce portion. That’s almost a third of the sodium limit recommended for a whole day and almost half of the limit recommended for people with sodium-sensitive high blood pressure.

Imitation seafood tastes pretty good. But if you don’t like to eat anything “fake,” or with ingredients that sound unnatural, stick to the real deal.

Q. Every year I resolve to eat healthier, and I do—for two weeks or a month. How can I keep from falling back into my old diet patterns every year?

A.
First of all, keep making resolutions. The scientific literature shows that people who resolve to quit smoking, lose weight, or start an exercise program are much more likely to succeed than are people who don’t make resolutions.