CHAPTER SEVEN

Turbocharge the New American Diet

How to use the New American Diet to jump-start your metabolism and start burning fat—fast

Great news! Simply by reading this chapter for the next 15 minutes, you’re going to burn off between 65 and 75 calories. Magic, right?

Well, not really. Sure, we’d like to claim credit for it—you’re burning calories because of our heart-poundingly brilliant prose!—but in fact, it’s the magic of your individual biology that’s making this happen. Your body is built to be a fat-burning machine.

So how come so many of us are still so heavy? Because the Old American Diet has our bodies confused. Instead of burning fat, we’re storing it. Instead of revving up our calorie burn, we’ve been slowing it down, unnaturally. A belly-bulging mix of simple carbohydrates, bad fats, food additives, pesticides, hormones, and other stuff our bodies aren’t made to live on are conspiring to tamp down our fat-burning abilities and turn our guts and butts into the human equivalent of the back room at Walmart: a storage facility where all the junk goes.

Fortunately, the New American Diet is riding to the rescue. In the following pages, you’re going to learn some of the basic facts—and myths—about exercise. And we’re going to introduce you to the principles of the USA! Workout—a series of simple moves that, in just 90 minutes a week, will create an incredible “afterburn” effect that will keep you burning fat for hours—even in your sleep!

Fire Up Your Natural Calorie Burn

Calorie burn. Is there another phrase in the English language that so easily evokes the triple threat of boredom, hard work, and frustration? Burning calories means sweating for hours on a stationary bike or a treadmill, slogging along in front the TV, watching as Judge Judy tries to get people to stop yelling, right?

Well, no. Burning calories is what you’re doing right now—at a surprising rate. Your lungs are pumping, your brain is processing, your belly is digesting, and all of those activities take up a lot of energy—at least as much energy as it takes to jump up and down in Judge Judy’s courtroom, or to pedal away as you watch her. What’s burning off all these calories?

Your metabolism. And it’s your metabolism—not the hours you spend sweating in the gym—that really makes the difference in your weight. Speed it up, just a little, and you’ll burn off pounds faster than you could ever imagine.

Metabolism is the process by which our bodies convert food (fuel) into energy (glucose). Every cell in our body is involved, because every cell needs energy. So your metabolic rate is basically the number of calories your body needs to function. And that number changes constantly, depending on how fast your heart is beating, whether your muscles are idle or active, or whether you’ve just eaten a large lunch.

That’s because we all have three “burns” that make up our metabolism:

  

Basal (resting) metabolism: Your BMR accounts for 60 to 70 percent of your overall metabolism, and surprisingly, it’s the number of calories you burn doing nothing at all: lying in bed staring at the ceiling, or veggin’ on the couch watching TV. It is fueled by the inner workings of your body—your heart beating, your lungs breathing, even your cells dividing. 

  

Digestive metabolism, or thermic effect of food (TEF): Simply digesting food—turning carbs into sugar, and protein into amino acids—typically burns 10 to 15 percent of your daily calories. Protein burns more calories during digestion than carbohydrates and fat do—about 25 calories for every 100 consumed. Carbohydrates and fat burn about 10 to 15 calories for every 100 consumed. (You’ll see why this is important to remember in just a bit.) 

 

So pause a moment to think about this: Between 70 and 85 percent of the calories you burn every day come from either eating, or just hanging around doing nothing.

So, what about the other 15 to 30 percent?

 

Exercise and movement metabolism: This part of your metabolism includes both workouts at the gym and other, more enjoyable physical activities ( we call this exercise-activity thermogenesis, or EAT) and countless incidental movements throughout the day, such as turning the pages of this book and twiddling your thumbs and scratching your head as you try to help the kids with their math homework. (That’s called non-exercise-activity thermogenesis, or NEAT .)

So, here’s an interesting question: Why is it so hard to lose weight just by exercising? Why are there so many fat people in the gym? The answer is simple. Exercise targets only 15 to 30 percent of your fat burn. Up to 85 percent of the calories you burn in a given day have nothing to do with moving your body!

So the way to burn fat faster isn’t through exercise itself. It’s through adjusting your eating and activity habits so that you’re burning as many calories as you can when you’re eating and relaxing.

And that’s what this chapter is designed to help you do.

The Undercover Enemy That’s Making You Fat

Your BMR, or resting metabolism—the body system that eats up the majority of your daily calorie burn—is determined by two things: your parents, and the amount of fat versus muscle in your body. And while you can’t change who your parents are (if you could, there would be no children on Real Housewives of New Jersey), you can improve the other part of the equation. Here’s why:

First, the term “fat and lazy” is pretty accurate, from a scientific standpoint. Fat is lazy, on a metabolic level. It doesn’t burn many calories. A pound of fat at rest (as fat usually is) uses about 2 calories a day. Plus, certain types of fat actually break down muscle—causing you to gain more fat! Think about that equation.

More flab = less muscle + less calorie burn = even more flab!

Muscle, on the other hand, is very metabolically active. At rest, 1 pound of muscle burns 40 to 50 calories a day just to sustain itself. Start using your muscles, and you burn even more. So…

More muscle = more calorie burn = less flab

It’s as though fat and muscle were in a constant war within your body. Fat wants to erode muscle so it can get more of its fat friends into your body, while muscle wants to burn off fat so it can stay strong and torch all the incoming calories.

The real bad guy in this internal battle happening right now, in your body, is a nasty character called visceral fat. Visceral fat is the kind that resides behind the abdominal muscles, surrounding your internal organs (viscera). This type of fat pushes the abdominal muscles outward, making them protrude into a hard, round belly. And over the past decade, scientists have concluded that the rounder and harder your belly, the more it puts your health in danger.

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MEASURE YOUR METABOLIC RATE

The best way to measure your daily metabolic rate is to look honestly at the amount of calories you consume in a day. Start by keeping a food log containing a full list of all the foods and liquids you ingest daily for a minimum of 3 days. (Try the USDA’s online tool at mypyramidtracker. gov.) If you’re not gaining weight, then your daily calorie consumption is also your metabolic rate. If you’re packing on the pounds, your metabolic rate is lower than your calorie intake and you need to tweak your eating habits.

If foods logs aren’t for you, gyms and health clubs usually have devices you can use to assess your metabolic rate. The Bod Pod, for example, has pressure sensors that measure the air your body displaces when you sit in it. The machine uses that information to determine your muscle-to-fat ratio. (To find one near you, go to bodpod.com.)

That’s because visceral fat doesn’t just lie there. It actively works to harm your body by secreting a number of substances, collectively called adipokines. Adipokines include a hormone called resistin, which leads to high blood sugar and raises your risk of diabetes; angiotensinogen, a compound that raises blood pressure; and interleukin-6, a chemical associated with arterial inflammation and heart disease. Visceral fat also messes with another important hormone called adiponectin, which regulates the metabolism of lipids and glucose. The more visceral fat you have, the less adiponectin you have, and the lower your metabolism.

And the more visceral fat you have, the more likely it’s sabotaging your muscles. A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that those biologically active molecules that are released from visceral fat can actually degrade muscle quality—which, again, leads to more fat.

That’s why managing your muscle is so important, even if you’ve never aspired to be the governor of California. After age 25, we all start to lose muscle mass—a fifth of a pound of muscle a year, from ages 25 to 50, and then up to a pound of muscle a year after that—if we don’t do anything to stop the decline. This process of age-related muscle-mass loss, called sarcopenia, slows our resting metabolism, and it is one of the main reasons we gain fat as we age. And on top of a slumping metabolic rate, loss of muscle strength and mass are empirically linked to declines in the immune system, not to mention weaker bones, stiffer joints, and slumping postures. Muscle mass has also been shown to play a central role in the response to stress. And further research is expected to show measurable links between diminished muscle mass and cancer mortality.

Muscle mass has also proved to play a key role in more common, but no less deadly, conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. A study of scientific literature published in Circulation in 2006 linked the loss of muscle mass to insulin resistance (the main factor in adult-onset, or type 2, diabetes), elevated lipid levels in the blood, and increased body fat, especially visceral fat.

See? It’s a war. And if you want to stop the bad guy—visceral fat—you need to call in more reinforcements. How? By turbocharging the New American Diet with a fat-burning, muscle-maintaining exercise plan. That’s why we’ve created the USA! Workout, which you’ll find in Chapter 8. It’s simple:

USA!: good

   

Visceral fat: bad

Burn (Fat), Baby, Burn!

Imagine we could sell you a potion that could not only change the way your body looks and feels, but could also lower your stress level, burn fat effortlessly, relieve anxiety and depression, improve your sleep habits, protect you from injury and back pain, and keep your heart healthy. Okay, now imagine we told you that you didn’t even need to buy it, because it was free.

Interested?

That’s what strength training, and the USA! Workout, can do for you. But even before you start exercising—even if you choose not to exercise at all—there are still plenty of tricks you can use to eliminate visceral fat, improve your flab-burning metabolic process, and start losing weight fast. Here are 19 easy ways to up your metabolism: 

 

Don’t diet! The New American Diet isn’t about eating less, it’s about eating more—more nutrition-dense food—to crowd out the empty calories and keep you full all day. That’s important, because restricting food will kill your metabolism. It sends a signal to your body that says, “I’m starving here!” And your body responds by slowing your metabolic rate in order to hold on to existing energy stores. What’s worse, if the food shortage (meaning your crash diet) continues, you’ll begin burning muscle tissue, which just gives your enemy, visceral fat, a greater advantage. Your metabolism drops even more, and fat goes on to claim even more territory.

 

Go organic when you can. Canadian researchers report that dieters with the most organochlorines (pollutants from pesticides—obesogens—which are stored in fat cells) experience a greater-than-normal dip in metabolism as they lose weight, perhaps because the toxins interfere with the energy-burning process. In other words, pesticides make it harder to lose pounds. Other research hints that pesticides can trigger weight gain. Of course, it’s not always easy to find—or easy to afford—a whole bunch of organic produce. You need to know when organic counts, and when it’s not that important. Go organic whenever you’re buying the Dirty Dozen, and stick with conventional whenever you’re buying the Clean Fifteen. You can opt for organic versions of other produce as well if you want to further decrease your exposure to obesogens. 

 

Go to bed earlier. A study in Finland looked at sets of identical twins and discovered that of each set of siblings, the twin who slept less and was under more stress had more visceral fat.

 

Eat the meat, skip the potato. Remember that when you eat a protein-rich food, such as a hamburger, your body burns 25 percent of the calories you’ve taken in just digesting said burger. But it burns only 10 to 15 percent of the calories you’ve taken in by eating the bun. And a study at the University of Connecticut found that people on low-carb diets lost three times more abdominal fat than those on low-fat diets, while lowering their risk of heart disease.

 

And add a little more protein. Your body also needs protein to maintain lean muscle. In a 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “The Underappreciated Role of Muscle in Health and Disease,” researchers argue that the present recommended daily allowance of protein—0.36 grams per pound of body weight—was established using obsolete data and is woefully inadequate for an individual doing resistance training. Researchers now recommend an amount between 0.8 and 1 gram per pound of body weight. Add a serving—think 3 ounces of lean meat, 2 tablespoons of nuts, or 8 ounces of plain organic yogurt—to every meal and snack. Plus, research shows protein can increase post-meal calorie burn by as much as 35 percent.

 

Take a walk. Here’s great news: Research shows that the body prefers to use visceral fat for energy. So when you start to lose weight, you’re going to lose the most dangerous fat—the belly fat—first. In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers asked obese men to walk briskly or jog lightly daily for 3 months, while eating enough to maintain their weight. The result: They reduced their visceral fat by 12 percent.

 

Drink cold water. German researchers found that drinking 6 cups of cold water a day (that’s 48 ounces) can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily—enough to shed 5 pounds in a year. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature. Though the extra calories you burn drinking a single glass doesn’t amount to much, making it a habit can add up to pounds lost with essentially zero additional effort.

 

Stay hydrated. All of your body’s chemical reactions, including your metabolism, depend on water. If you are dehydrated, you may be burning up to 2 percent fewer calories, according to researchers at the University of Utah who monitored the metabolic rates of 10 adults as they drank varying amounts of water per day. In the study, those who drank either eight or twelve 8-ounce glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than those who had four glasses.

 

Eat the heat. It turns out capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their mouth-searing quality, can also fire up your metabolism. Eating about 1 tablespoon of chopped red or green chilies boosts the body’s production of heat and the activity of your sympathetic nervous system (responsible for our fight-or-flight response), according to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology. The result: a temporary metabolism spike of about 23 percent. Stock up on chilies to add to salsas, and keep a jar of red pepper flakes on hand for topping pizzas, pastas, and stir-fries.

 

Rev up in the morning. Eating breakfast jump-starts your metabolism and keeps your energy high all day. It’s no accident that those who skip this meal are 4.5 times as likely to be obese. And the heartier your first meal is, the better. In one study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology, volunteers who got 22 to 55 percent of their total calories at breakfast gained only 1.7 pounds on average over 4 years. Those who ate 0 to 11 percent of their calories in the morning gained nearly 3 pounds.

 

Drink coffee or tea. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so your daily java jolts can rev your metabolism 5 to 8 percent—that’s 98 to 174 calories a day. A cup of brewed tea can raise your metabolism by 12 percent, according to one Japanese study. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the boost.

 

Fight fat with fiber. Research shows that some fiber can rev your fat burn by as much as 30 percent. Studies find that those who eat the most fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about 25 grams a day—you’ll hit that number just by eating three servings each of fruits and vegetables.

 

Eat iron-rich foods. It’s essential for carrying the oxygen your muscles need to burn fat. Unless you restock your stores, you run the risk of low energy and a sagging metabolism. Shellfish, lean meats, beans, fortified cereals, and spinach are excellent sources.

 

Get more D. Vitamin D is essential for preserving metabolism-revving muscle tissue. Unfortunately, researchers estimate that a measly 20 percent of Americans take in enough through their diet. (As we’ve said before, much of the deficiency in vitamin D has to do with the way our livestock are raised; animals raised in pens aren’t exposed to sunlight, and so they don’t convert sunlight to vitamin D the way pasture-raised livestock do.) Get 90 percent of your recommended daily value (400 IU) in a 3.5-ounce serving of wild salmon. Other good sources include tuna, eggs, and fortified milk and cereal.

 

Drink milk. There’s some evidence that calcium deficiency, which is common in many women, may slow metabolism. Research shows that consuming calcium through dairy foods such as milk and yogurt may also reduce fat absorption from other foods.

 

Dance, dance, dance. A University of Wisconsin study found that adults who played Dance Dance Revolution, a video game that challenges you to move your feet in time with on-screen prompts, burned up to 270 calories in a half-hour session—equivalent to a very fast walk or jog. Practice makes perfect: Sharpen your skills to get to the highest level and you’ll be burning more than 400 calories in 45 minutes!

 

Eat watermelon. The amino acid arginine, abundant in watermelon, might promote weight loss, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition. Researchers supplemented the diets of obese mice with arginine over 3 months and found that doing so decreased body fat gains by a whopping 64 percent. Adding this amino acid to the diet enhanced the oxidation of fat and glucose and increased lean muscle, which burns more calories than fat does. Snack on watermelon and other arginine sources, such as seafood, nuts, and seeds, year-round.

 

Get up, stand up. Whether you sit or stand at work may play as big a role in your health and your waistline as your fitness routine. Missouri University researchers discovered that inactivity (4 hours or more) causes a near shutdown of an enzyme that controls fat and cholesterol metabolism, so you store more fat, rather than using it for energy, all day long. To keep this enzyme active and increase your fat burning, break up long periods of downtime by standing up—for example, while talking on the phone.

 

Lift quick. An 11-minute workout can help you burn more fat all day, say researchers from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. In the study, people who lifted weights for that duration three times a week increased their metabolic rate—even as they slept. The process of breaking down and repairing your muscles increases your metabolism. What’s more, the participants were able to fit their workouts into their schedules 96 percent of the time.

alt Six Stealth Health Foods

Some foods just aren’t taken seriously. Power up your diet by expanding your menu.

   

Consider the sad stalk of celery—forever the garnish, never the main meal. Guys might even downgrade it to bar fare, since the only stalks most men eat are served alongside hot wings or immersed in Bloody Marys. All of which is a shame, really. Besides being a perfect vehicle for peanut butter, this vegetable contains bone-beneficial silicon and cancer-fighting phenolic acids. And those aren’t even what makes celery so good for you.

You see, celery is just one of six underappreciated and under-eaten foods that can instantly improve your diet. Make a place for them on your plate, and you’ll gain a new respect for the health benefits they bestow—from lowering blood pressure to fighting belly fat. And the best part? You’ll discover just how delicious health food can be.

Celery

This water-loaded vegetable has a rep for being all crunch and no nutrition. But ditch that mind-set: Celery contains stealth nutrients that heal.

Why it’s healthy: People who eat four sticks of celery a day have seen modest reductions in their blood pressure—about 6 points systolic and 3 points diastolic, according to doctors at the Hypertension Institute at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. It’s possible that phytochemicals in celery, called phthalides, are responsible for this health boon. These compounds relax muscle tissue in artery walls and increase blood flow. And beyond the benefits to your BP, celery also fills you up—with hardly any calories. One caveat: Celery is one of the Dirty Dozen, so look for organic varieties.

How to eat it: Try this low-carbohydrate, protein-packed recipe for a perfect snack any time of day.

In a bowl, mix:

one packet of low-sodium tuna (avoid tuna in cans)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup finely chopped apple

2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

pinch freshly ground pepper

Then spoon the mixture into celery stalks (think tuna salad on a log). Makes 2 servings. Per serving: 114 calories, 15 g protein, 12 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, 3 g fiber

Hemp seeds 

Despite the cannabis classification, these seeds aren’t for smoking. But they may provide medicinal benefits.

 

Why they’re healthy: Hemp seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. What’s more, a 1-ounce serving of the seeds provides 11 grams of protein—but not the kind of incomplete protein found in most plant sources. Hemp seeds provide all the essential amino acids, meaning the protein they contain is comparable to that found in meat, eggs, and dairy.

 

How to eat them: Toss 2 tablespoons of the seeds into your oatmeal or stir-fry. Or add them to your yogurt or kefir for an extra dose of muscle-building protein.

Lentils 

It’s no surprise that these hearty legumes are good for you. But when was the last time you ate any?

 

Why they’re healthy: Boiled lentils have about 16 grams of belly-filling fiber in every cup. Cooked lentils also contain 27 percent more folate per cup than cooked spinach does. And if you eat colored lentils—black, orange, red—there are compounds in the seed hulls that contain disease-fighting antioxidants.

 

How to eat them: Use lentils as a bed for chicken, fish, or beef. They make a great substitute for rice or pasta.

 

Pour 4 cups chicken stock into a large pot. Add 1 cup red or brown lentils, ½ cup each of onion and carrot chunks, and 3 teaspoons minced garlic. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, add a splash of red-wine vinegar, and serve.

Ginger 

This sweet, spicy root is used primarily in Asian cooking.

 

Why it’s healthy: Beyond its role in aiding digestion, ginger may also have cancer-fighting capabilities. That’s because it contains 6-gingerol, a nutrient that has been shown to stop the growth of colon-cancer cells, according to researchers at the University of Tennessee.

 

How to eat it: Grate 1 tablespoon of peeled fresh ginger (discard the skin), and heat it with 1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil, a chopped garlic clove, and half a small white onion as the base for your next stir-fry.