You’ve just rounded the corner on another year, and like most people in this country, you’ve resolved to lose weight. (Incidentally, losing weight is the

number-one New Year’s resolution people make.) Maybe you’ve decided on a “diet” to follow; maybe you’ve haven’t. If you haven’t, please listen to what I have to say in this column, because I want to make sure you pick the right “diet” for 2003. If you are like most people, you have probably lost and regained hundreds of pounds in your lifetime — and you have done it by restricting calories. Okay – that’s the wrong way. Remember, we’re going to be talking about the right way. In theory, restricting calories to lose body fat sounds like a good idea, but in reality, this approach simply does not work.

That is because low-calorie diets are really a form of starvation. Yes, you lose weight initially but only because the body is eating itself — its own tissue, muscles, and organs — to maintain life. This process is physically destructive. Parts of your body are dying. I once consulted with a man who had been following a liquid shake diet. He would drink his shakes during the day and eat a meal at night. Even after talking to me, he continued this regimen. A few weeks later, a trainer told me that this man had had a body composition test (ratio of muscle to body fat), and it showed a significant loss of lean mass and very little in body fat. His body had turned into a cannibal, feeding on its own muscle tissue to survive. That’s what will happen to you, if you choose an overly restrictive diet for losing weight. Such diets also slow your metabolism, the physiological process that converts food to energy so that your body can run. A sluggish metabolism means that your body cannot burn calories efficiently.

As a result, the excess calories are stored as fat. Unless you start eating to restore your metabolism, it will remain sluggish. Other factors are at work to keep you fat with low-calorie dieting. Did you know, for example, that by not eating, you are training your body to store fat? Here’s why: Your body contains an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase or LPL. Found on the surface of fat tissue, LPL governs fat storage. When you go on and off diets, your body starts producing more LPL — which in turn steps up fat production and storage. Repetitive low-calorie dieting has many other severe consequences on health. For example: • Studies show that when people regain pounds after dieting, blood pressure rises, and blood levels of glucose (blood sugar) and triglycerides (blood fats) increase.(1) • Weight fluctuation (“yo-yo dieting”) has been linked to heart disease — especially among men and women between the ages 30 to 44 — the age group in which dieting is the most common, according to an analysis of data from participants in the Framingham Heart Study.

The risk factors for coronary heart disease in this age group (30 to 44) were comparable to coronary risk factors associated with obesity! That is frightening, especially if you consider the fact that about 50 percent of American women and 25 percent of American men are on diets at any given time — and most of the time, these diets fail.(2) • When you lose and regain weight quickly, you are at risk for developing gallbladder disease. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 13 of 38 obese women and 13 obese men on a rapid weight loss program developed gallstones within eight weeks. All but one recovered after eating normal foods again.(3) • The action of important digestive juices is diminished with low-calorie diets. When normal eating resumes, you start experiencing gas and are unable to handle certain foods.

• Overweight patients who go on low-calorie diets of between 400 and 800 calories a day experience side effects that include fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches, hair loss, menstrual irregularities, and intolerance to cold.(4) • Low-calorie diets not only cut calories, they also cut vital nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals. These are your “armed forces” for good health. When in short supply, these nutrients cannot adequately defend your body against invaders. Your immune system is weakened as a result, and you are a target for disease. • Some diets can kill. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first “very-low-calorie diets” were introduced, and these took the form of powdered formulas mixed in water. The diets supplied about 400 calories a day. They were so popular that more such products were developed. In 1976, a best- selling diet book led to the widespread use of liquid protein products that were available over the counter. By the end of 1977, thousands of people had gone on this diet. As reported to the Centers for Disease Control, 60 people died as a result of ventricular arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat).

The liquid protein diet was implicated as the cause of the heart problems.(5) Even though liquid protein diets are off the market, liquid very-lowcalorie meals are still with us. In connection with one particular brand that was popular several years ago, six deaths were reported. My contention is that these regimens are very damaging to health — and obviously life-threatening — because of their dangerously low level of calories and their questionable nutrient content. In fact, the primary ingredient in current formulations is sugar. Now that you know, what doesn’t work and what you should avoid, what’s the right diet for 2003? It’s a “diet” that lets you eat more — not less. Not only does this approach work, it is the only way to successfully lose body fat and keep it off. On John Parrillo’s Nutrition Program, you can and will lose body fat by increasing calories — to 2500, 5000, even 10,000 calories a day (if you’re at the competitive level) — all while you get leaner and fitter than you have ever been in your life. No more starving yourself, no more regaining all the weight you worked so hard to lose.

This program, which is truly revolutionary, will dramatically speed up your metabolism and turn your body into a highly efficient fat burner. You will notice the changes almost immediately, and you will get measurable results. This program helps speed up your metabolism so that your body utilizes food more efficiently and burns body fat in the process. This occurs because you gradually increase your calories. As you do this, at first you will feel as though you are force-feeding yourself. In truth though, you are training your metabolism to become more efficient — much like a novice runner would train himself to run faster and farther every time he hits the road. At first, he is so sluggish, he can barely run around the block. After adding a mile or two each week, he is at the head of the pack on race day. Your metabolism is no different.

 

By gradually increasing calories, you kick your metabolism into high gear. You burn fat with a faster metabolism. How will you know when your metabolism is faster? Here are the signs: • You are eating a surplus of quality calories a day or more and not gaining body fat. • You look leaner, with attractive muscular definition. • Your appetite is so strong that you cannot wait to eat all your calories. • Your energy level reaches an alltime high. With John Parrillo’s Nutrition Program, you can successfully change the way you look and feel. Just think: No longer will you have to “starve” yourself to get in shape. You will soon be free from the bonds of restrictive dieting. Before long, you will know how to eat more of the right kind of calories and stay leaner and healthier than you have been in years. It’s the right “diet” for 2003.

Visit Parrillo Performance
(800) 344-3404 

References

1. Schelkin, P.H. 1991. The risks of riding the weight loss rollercoaster. The Physician and Sportsmedicine 19: 150-153.

2. Lissner, L., et. al. 1991. Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the Framingham population. The New England Journal of Medicine 324: 1839-1844.

3. Liddle, R.A., et al. 1989. Gallstone formation during weight-reduction dieting. Archives of Internal Medicine 149: 1750-1753.

4. Schelkin, P.H. ibid.

5. Felig, P. 1984. Very-low-calorie protein diets.The New England Journal of Medicine 310: 589-591.

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