Read Online The Doctor's Diet: Dr. Travis Stork's STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health by Travis Stork - Free Book Online
Authors: Travis Stork
they’re hidden in an omelet made with a mix of whole eggs and egg whites.
Choose eggs from hens fed an antibiotic-free vegetarian diet. Limit yourself to one yolk a day, or three per week if you have heart disease or diabetes. We don’t know exactly why, but in studies of groups of people with diabetes, those who limit egg intake seem to have less heart disease. We need more research to understand the connection—or whether there really is one—but in the meantime, we’ll go with that advice because it’s the best we have.
THE POWER BEHIND PROTEIN
Full disclosure: we don’t know exactly why protein helps with weight loss. One reason is that it has an impact on the action of ghrelin, known as the “hunger hormone,” and leptin, the “satiety hormone”—which is why people who eat protein at each meal find they feel fuller and lesshungry during the hours after they eat than do people who skimp on protein. In fact, protein is more satiating than fat or carbohydrates.
Another explanation for protein’s contribution to weight loss is its ability to help keep blood sugar levels stable. When you eat a low-protein, high-carbohydrate meal, your blood sugar soars soon after you eat. What goes up must come down, and it doesn’t take long for blood sugar that shoots up quickly to come falling down fast, too. When blood sugar comes down fast, alarms go off in your endocrine system. Hormones tell your brain that you need more food in order to get blood sugar levels back up, and before you know it, you’re wandering around the kitchen looking for a snack just a short time after you finished your meal.
Something different happens when you eat a protein-rich meal. Instead of skyrocketing, your blood sugar levels go up gradually, allowing your endocrine system to proceed at a normal pace as it does its job of getting energy to all of your body’s cells. Without a dramatic spike, there’s no dramatic fall, meaning no sudden hormone alerts telling you to eat something right away, meaning no sudden, intense desires to inhale jelly donuts or chocolate cake.
Without those blood sugar spikes and constant cravings, you’re much better able to make it to your next meal without wanting to fill your tank with lots of extra food.
PROTEIN’S OTHER PROMISES
Eating a protein-rich diet has other benefits as well:
Protein vs. paunch. Protein helps burn belly fat. In studies, people who eat higher-protein diets lose more belly fat than those who eat lower-protein diets with similar calorie counts.
Muscle maker. Protein helps preserve muscle. When you’re losing weight, you take in fewer calories than you need, which forces your body to burn fat for fuel. When you eat a high-carbohydrate diet, your body is more likely to turn to muscles for stored fuel rather than fat. But eating a protein-rich diet protects your muscles and pushes your body to rely on fat rather than your hard-earned muscles.
Speedier healing. Protein is a necessary nutrient that just about every part of your body needs. Protein contributes to the growth, development, and healthy function of each cell in your skin, muscles, organs, and glands. It also allows your immune system to work effectively.
Tool for the ticker. Your heart benefits from protein as well. Eating a diet rich in lean protein—I’m not talking fatty steaks and processed lunch meats here, but lean, healthy protein sources—benefits your blood cholesterol levels.
EATING FROM THE SEA
One of the absolute best sources of protein is seafood—especially fish and shellfish that contain omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat that has a wide range of health benefits. Omega-3s are credited with reducing heart disease risk, boosting brain health, and supporting eye health, and studies are under way to tease out other benefits as well.
Nearly all fish contain omega-3s, but some have especially high levels, such as herring, salmon (farmed and wild), mackerel, tuna (bluefin has the most,
Choose eggs from hens fed an antibiotic-free vegetarian diet. Limit yourself to one yolk a day, or three per week if you have heart disease or diabetes. We don’t know exactly why, but in studies of groups of people with diabetes, those who limit egg intake seem to have less heart disease. We need more research to understand the connection—or whether there really is one—but in the meantime, we’ll go with that advice because it’s the best we have.
THE POWER BEHIND PROTEIN
Full disclosure: we don’t know exactly why protein helps with weight loss. One reason is that it has an impact on the action of ghrelin, known as the “hunger hormone,” and leptin, the “satiety hormone”—which is why people who eat protein at each meal find they feel fuller and lesshungry during the hours after they eat than do people who skimp on protein. In fact, protein is more satiating than fat or carbohydrates.
Another explanation for protein’s contribution to weight loss is its ability to help keep blood sugar levels stable. When you eat a low-protein, high-carbohydrate meal, your blood sugar soars soon after you eat. What goes up must come down, and it doesn’t take long for blood sugar that shoots up quickly to come falling down fast, too. When blood sugar comes down fast, alarms go off in your endocrine system. Hormones tell your brain that you need more food in order to get blood sugar levels back up, and before you know it, you’re wandering around the kitchen looking for a snack just a short time after you finished your meal.
Something different happens when you eat a protein-rich meal. Instead of skyrocketing, your blood sugar levels go up gradually, allowing your endocrine system to proceed at a normal pace as it does its job of getting energy to all of your body’s cells. Without a dramatic spike, there’s no dramatic fall, meaning no sudden hormone alerts telling you to eat something right away, meaning no sudden, intense desires to inhale jelly donuts or chocolate cake.
Without those blood sugar spikes and constant cravings, you’re much better able to make it to your next meal without wanting to fill your tank with lots of extra food.
PROTEIN’S OTHER PROMISES
Eating a protein-rich diet has other benefits as well:
Protein vs. paunch. Protein helps burn belly fat. In studies, people who eat higher-protein diets lose more belly fat than those who eat lower-protein diets with similar calorie counts.
Muscle maker. Protein helps preserve muscle. When you’re losing weight, you take in fewer calories than you need, which forces your body to burn fat for fuel. When you eat a high-carbohydrate diet, your body is more likely to turn to muscles for stored fuel rather than fat. But eating a protein-rich diet protects your muscles and pushes your body to rely on fat rather than your hard-earned muscles.
Speedier healing. Protein is a necessary nutrient that just about every part of your body needs. Protein contributes to the growth, development, and healthy function of each cell in your skin, muscles, organs, and glands. It also allows your immune system to work effectively.
Tool for the ticker. Your heart benefits from protein as well. Eating a diet rich in lean protein—I’m not talking fatty steaks and processed lunch meats here, but lean, healthy protein sources—benefits your blood cholesterol levels.
EATING FROM THE SEA
One of the absolute best sources of protein is seafood—especially fish and shellfish that contain omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat that has a wide range of health benefits. Omega-3s are credited with reducing heart disease risk, boosting brain health, and supporting eye health, and studies are under way to tease out other benefits as well.
Nearly all fish contain omega-3s, but some have especially high levels, such as herring, salmon (farmed and wild), mackerel, tuna (bluefin has the most,
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