You may have heard, a new diet book is hitting the shelves on January 6, 2015. It is the 20/20 diet written by Dr. Phil and it’s getting a lot of press behind it. It may kick of the year as being the first big diet being advertised.
Update 1/8/14:
The diet has been released and so has the official review! Click here to learn everything about the 20/29 diet!
With not too much information being released, all we really know right now are a few things:
1. It’s Dr. Phil so the information is probably going to be good. Generally he has a good reputation on bringing good info to the market and I’m pretty sure this time around won’t be any different.
2. It’s probably going to mostly be focused on healthy eating and exercising (or least to that extent). Most of the good diet books really deliver on that broad message. The Doctors Diet was one of those examples of another hyped diet that in the end just made the most obvious message clear (eat healthy and exercise).
3. Specifically, Dr. Phil’s book will focus on 20 specific foods (20/20 foods) you will have to eat to improve health and lose weight. I’m personally curious to read about these foods.
This isn’t the first diet book that talks about powerful foods to help us lose weight. One particular example was J.J Virgin’s The Virgin diet where she listed 7 foods you need to avoid in order to improve health. With Dr. Phil, it’s going to be foods we need vs ones we don’t.
One detail I did read about was that the 20 foods may have good impact on your body’s heat production (called thermogenesis). It just means these foods are going to increase fat burning and if my guess is correct, these ingredients and foods/ingredients that might make an appearance:
A) Cayenne pepper. This pepper is known to increase heat in the body and cause more calories to burn.
B) Flaxseeds. I really hope Dr. Phil’s book will mention this product. It’s a super food and greatly helps with digestion and weight loss.
C) Red wine. Drinking it in small amounts can be good for your health but it also raises the body’s temperature. A few years back a huge diet pill hit the stores called resveratrol which was an ingredient found in red wine that helped with weight loss and increasing the body’s temperature. However, when I reviewed it, I said it was really hyped and you could get better benefits from just eating healthy.
Most of the diet products we see being released every year have a lot of hype behind them but then they just diet out in popularity and a new one comes out promising to be the solution to all our diet worries.
Whatever we’ll see in the book and whether or not the foods I mentioned will be in there, I can’t wait to see what’s inside and once it comes out, I’ll be sure to offer up a review.
Besides the irony of saying such a thing, the even more ironic thing is that you can lose fat while eating fat. The key is knowing how to do it correctly.
First, the basics:
Not all fat is bad. In fact, there’s a lot of good fat out there that’s even necessary to help us maintain essential functions in our body. Don’t let “conventional dieting wisdom” fool you. It constantly flip flops around issues, continually confuses people and ends up making a lot of money out of all the confusion. High fat diets work.
Here are the most important things to remember when trying to lose weight through a high fat diet:
You can really eat as much fatty foods as you like so long as they are the right fatty foods (you’ll get a list). Eat every meal until you are satisfied. With more options of what to eat on the table, you can bet there’s less chances that you’ll fall of the wagon. There’s really no set rule on how many calories you need to intake. If you’re aiming to lose a lot of weight, one strategy you may want to follow is eating under your BMR level. As for long term purposes, there’s really no set amount.
You’ll find a lot of fatty foods on the list of a high fat diet are also protein rich foods such as chick (with the skin). It’s completely fine to eat it.
Here are some examples of high fat foods you can eat:
Meat: Chicken, beef, turkey, bacon (I recommend turkey bacon).
Eggs: (I prefer hard boiled)
Oils: Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil (I love this one), flaxseed oil. You can add these to your drinks.
Dairy: Anything with high fat concentration (as long as it’s natural). Margarine doesn’t count.
Nuts: Walnuts.
Vegetables: Avocados and any vegetables with high fat levels as well as any vegetables in general.
Drinks: Water, coffee, tear (no sugar).
As for sugars, if you can get it from a natural source, do it. Fruits, berries (all organic). Think Paleo. Everything natural, nothing artificial. And also keep it in low amounts.
The most important thing to keep in mind is really to limit carbs. Carbs are the enemy. Even if you nothing else changes, reducing carb intake is a step in the right direction to losing weight. Keep sugar intake low. If possible, avoid white sugar and products with that ingredient. I also add white flour and regular salt to the mix. Avoid foods such as bread (even whole wheat), foods with starch, drinks with tons of sugar (juices and soda), dairy with sugar (ice cream), cereals, rice, pasta.
On the topic of weight gain, carbs have always been the culprit, not actual fat from foods. Carbs what increase glucose levels in the body which lead to fat deposits in the body and an accumulation of weight around specific areas of the body (waist, stomach, behind). Fat on the other hand helps regulate the body’s metabolism and provides essential nutrition to help it function better.
Stick to fatty foods which are organic or grass fed. The more natural it is, the better.
Any special diets that focus on this style of eating?
You can find a lot, but there’s 2 in particular which you may want to check out:
1. The Bulletproof diet. A completely high fat diet with a few differences and unique elements added in (bulletproof coffee and intermittent fasting). This diet is very good when it comes to explaining the benefits of a high fat diet, but I really don’t like that it doesn’t focus on anything else. Chances are cholesterol levels will rise if you follow it, but if you want to get a good idea on the theory of high fat dieting, this is a great book to check out.
2. The 3 week diet. It’s a 4 phase system. Each phase is a different dieting style and the last part of the plan is an actual high fat diet. I think compared to the Bulletproof diet, this one is more convenient in that it’s less strict on what you can eat. Plus there’s also more focus on fast weight loss. You can lose 20-30 pounds within 3 weeks. The Bulletproof diet is more of a lifestyle change and weight loss results can be anywhere from high to gradual.
And the best diet on healthy fat eating, and losing weight is…
3. Eat Fat, Get Thin. Without a doubt, there is no other book more comprehensive on the misconceptions of eating fat and how to lose weight doing it than this one. A highly, highly recommended book that will undoubtedly change how you look at this subject forever.
And one more recommendation:
4. You can get free fat loss tips (cheats) to drop a few pounds every single week (here).
Health benefits & risks?
There are many health benefits to eating a high fat diet. Besides weight loss (not very major), you’ll feel more energy, better focus, more stamina and more. Also by having more varieties of foods to eat, you can also expect this to raise your confidence levels. A lot of traditional dieting isn’t very flexible and it really affects people’s confidence levels. High fat diets are much easier to deal with.
As for risks, it’s hard to explain because the “risks” I’ll list here, some would say aren’t really that but just initial side effects you may feel which go away overtime:
You may feel irritable. This is usually because you’re cutting down on the sugar and this can make you feel tired and frustrated. However, like I said before, these “risks” are said to be temporary and in this case, once your body gets used to eating a high fat diet, irritability will go away.
Higher cholesterol. If anything is guaranteed, this is it. If you eat a lot of eggs, bacon and other high fatty foods, expect cholesterol to go up and this includes both HDL and LDL levels.
You can also find more foods and great tips on high fat dieting on this site.
The other side effects I’ve read about seem mild and temporary as the body gets used to it. It’s really the cholesterol effect that I don’t like. I said before in a previous article that eating should be balanced. If you eat in a style that’s too similar, you’re probably going to overdo it overtime so if you currently have high cholesterol levels or fear it going up, cut down on eggs whenever possible and substitute it with other healthy foods. Always talk to your doctor if you’re worried!
Did Dave Asprey really create an amazing plan with the bulletproof diet? How does it work? Just the name itself is great for catching attention.
The Bulletproof diet explained:
I didn’t look through the diet as much as I should have, but what is easy to understand is how it works. Basically this is what happens:
It’s a high fat diet with a mild addition of vegetables added to the mix and very low carbs. Some people compare this diet to the Paleo diet and there really a lot of similarities, except there is more focus on fat here than there is on Paleo. Aside from that, the same exceptions such as no bread or gluten (well it’s really just not suggested) are there as well.
Much of what you eat on this diet plan is going to revolve around protein rich foods. However most of the fat you’re going to get is going to come from oils such as coconut oil, avocados and other foods and ingredients. You’re also going to have to drink a special kind of coffee called “Bulletproof coffee” to help you get through a specific period (mornings) when you’re doing another part of the diet which is intermittent fasting.
Basically mornings aren’t going to have meals and it’s recommended that you don’t eat the night before, so through this diet, there is going to be a bit of a “starvation period”. The way to get through that is to go to sleep early so you can avoid experiencing the cravings and when you wake up, instead of having breakfast, you’re going to continue the fast, but to help you through it, you’re going to have to drink the bulletproof coffee as a substitute. After lunch, you’ll be able to eat again.
This type of coffee isn’t just grounded beans. It’s actually going to combine other ingredients including oil. I’ve read that this coffee has over 400 calories alone, but don’t let the number fool you. 400 calories doesn’t include the satiety part which means in spite of having a high amount of calories, you’re still likely to become hungry after a short while.
But the idea behind drinking is going to help you be more alert and focused, plus it’ll help you get through the last portion of your fast. The intermittent fasting varies, but you should do it several times a week.
Also by not eating during the fasting period, you will be able to burn more fat through ketosis. This is really where the weight loss will occur.
As for the eating fat portion of the diet, don’t let this freak you out. Specific fats are actually good for the body and health and rather than cause weight gain, they can do the opposite. The key is to eat foods that are grass fed to get the best results from this diet.
Side effects:
You may feel tired especially during the fasting periods but this is normal as is any other time you don’t eat for an extended period of time.
Your LDL and HDL cholesterol levels will rise. Eating fatty foods will do that and this is really what I see as the biggest problem with this diet.
HDL is fine, but LDL levels are considered to be the bad cholesterol. I have read a blog post from one man who did this diet for over a year (the post). His LDL levels skyrocketed the first month, but as he continued going through the diet, they actually ended up being lower in the end than when he first started the plan. There may indeed be a lot of truth to Dave Asprey’s assumption on cholesterol that isn’t mainstream, but I would absolutely consult with a doctor if you’re considering this diet.
Is the bulletproof coffee really necessary?
When the topic of bulletproof coffee comes up, so do question on things like mycotoxins which are fungi found in mold that can exist in coffee beans that aren’t properly processed. Bulletproof coffee is said to have NO mycotoxins while other major coffee makers do. This is what Dave sells it as.
I don’t know about the research, but I firmly believe if other types of coffee companies had this problem, there would be much more widespread complaints and health issues. What I think is happening here is Dave is just marketing his bulletproof coffee this way.
So is the bulletproof coffee itself a must? I really don’t know what to say on this topic, but I do know that it does coexist with the diet meaning you shouldn’t do one without the other, otherwise you won’t feel the same effects.
If you have tried this diet without the bulletproof coffee, I’d love to hear what you think!
Bulletproof diet score:
2.5 out of 5 stars. The diet works, no doubt about it, but because it really goes deep into unorthodox approaches to dieting, there are safety concerns, especially when you talk about the rise in cholesterol.
Even though it was only rated 2.5 stars (50%), I do like that this diet does take a great approach to losing weight and that’s through dieting while eating fatty foods. I actually love that and I agree with it too.
But in experience, if you do too much of something, good or bad, it can end up being bad overall and with this diet, eating too many fatty foods (eggs, bacon, avocados, ect…) can really lead to much higher cholesterol levels. I think there should be a balance with dieting. Eating healthy and exercising should also be included and carefully added into it. With this diet, eating vegetables is actually way less than 50%. Most of the diet (about 60%) is eating the fatty foods.
I don’t know what that can lead to long term and I believe this diet will work differently for different people. I’m sure weight loss is going to happen, but it’s what happens months and years after being on this plan that I wonder what will happen to people.
It’s very upsetting to me that most people who seek to lose fat overlook the importance of drinking water. Frankly they think it’s overrated. I’ve gotten many questions and comments on weight loss approaches and something I commonly see asked or mentioned is “Is it just water weight that I lose?”.
The very question to me sounds like water weight isn’t a big deal and you’re just basically drinking and flushing out water so how can there be weight loss? Well the truth is there is and it isn’t JUST water. It’s a lot more. Water weight isn’t just water leaving your body, it’s also undigested foods, a form of cleansing the body, fat and weight loss all combined. That’s what “just” drinking water will do for you. In regards to fat loss, you better believe it helps!
Let’s get the basics out of the way…
I could tell you just to drink more water, but that’s obvious advice. If you want specifics, we have to back track for just a moment and start from the following:
Each person is different meaning they consume a different amount of foods and drinks every single day. Combined, that means everyone has their own specific amount of calories being consumed daily and when you get into specific foods and drinks, some may eat mildly healthy, some completely healthy and others just unhealthy altogether.
See which category you fall into before taking the next step and don’t for a moment try to sugar coat (pardon the pun) yourself. If you feel you eat a lot of bad foods and they contain a lot of calories/sugars and other ingredients that are known to lead to fat gain, put yourself on the more negative end meaning the unhealthy consumption class. This will actually end up helping you when you start adding water into the mix.
Once you’ve identified which category you’re in, it’s time to understand one very important thing:
Eating less unhealthy ingredients = more fat loss and more weight loss and one of the best ways to do that is by drinking more water. What are the unhealthy ingredients in this case? Well it varies on who you ask, but specifically for myself, I would categorize white sugar, white flour and very basic salt (even iodized) into that.
It’s safe to say that many foods we consume, especially the unhealthy ones carry one or more of those ingredients and if not, we use them in combination with our foods and drinks. And add into that fatty foods and super loaded sugar drinks and we’ve got ourselves a surplus of massive fat piling up in our body. Keeping this in mind, is it any wonder why so many people are overweight?
So now that we’ve pointed out the obvious and know we have to eat less, I want to make one more point that I feel may end up making or breaking you and that is that going cold turkey and quitting all of these foods may end up increasing the chances of you failing and that’s because the body just won’t be used to the shock of such drastic changes being made.
So if you’re going to lose weight via drinking water, dieting, whatever the case is, the best way to do this from my point of view is to transition into it, and slowly. The only time you may want to drastically change things is if you have some sort of health emergency which requires immediate attention and radical change.
How to maximize fat loss results by drinking water:
Most people and health experts will tell you to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Is this the correct number? Well it’s pretty close. I’d say there’s no actual amount set because again, everyone is different. Different weight. Different age. Different health conditions and based on your individual case is where you should start from. I can’t give you a whole table of calories, weight, age and tell you how much water to drink, but as general rules go:
1. Drink more water than you currently do. If you drink 2 glasses a day, try to bump it up to 3, then 4 and do this every few days to get the body used to the transition. If you feel you can’t drink anymore water, don’t do it. It’s one of my personal 5 tips to losing weight fast. See the other 4.
2. Substitution is a great way to help the process and really handle 2 problems (drinking less sugary drinks and substituting that with more water). If you’re drinking 10 cans of soda a day, start by substituting 2 or more cans a day with a glass of water. Then the following week, bump it up to 4, then the next week 6 and keep this up. Ideally you would want to stop drinking everything with high amounts of sugar in it.
As someone who used to drink a lot of sugary drinks, I can tell you that it’s very difficult to get over the addiction of sugar, but through the process of slow transition, not only is it more possible, but in time your body is also going to start craving that water and that’s when you know you’re on the right track. Believe me, it will happen.
Keeping these 2 simple guidelines in mind, what exactly are we accomplishing? Well:
1. We’re already consuming LESS calories on a daily basis by substituting a portion of it with water.
2. Less of the bad stuff means we have less fat piling up in our body.
3. Drinking more water has a number of health effects including increased circulation and digestion which means your metabolism is going to go up and with that so will fat and weight loss.
And while there’s more benefits I could list, remember, it doesn’t get anymore cleaner or healthier than water. I would personally recommend some sort of high end water filter because it will end up saving you more money in the long run and you can rest assured, the water you’re drinking is truly pure.
Regardless, make it a habit to drink and really substitute your current drinks with water. It won’t be easy at first, but like I said before, it will become a habit and you will crave it overtime. Cravings for what’s healthy is what you’re really chasing here.
As for the fat and weight loss, it will come with it. Don’t just drink water to lose fat or weight. Do it to improve your health.
Cheating sounds so cheap and it’s really a bad thing in most subjects, but in dieting, there are ways to cheat and lose weight that actually won’t come back.
I’m not talking about fat burners, diet pills or those starvation diets. Those things are more dangerous than they are healthy. I’m talking about something completely natural and it’s called the EODD diet.
EODD means every other day diet and that’s exactly what you’re doing with this plan. Eating in a specific way one day and completely cheating the next. That means that yes, on cheat days you’re going to be allowed to eat fast foods, cakes, cookies, whatever you can imagine.
So many ways to do it, but one way works better than the rest:
There are many different versions of the EODD, but the one created by Jon Benson in my opinion holds the most benefits because it provides not just a great way to do this plan, but also offers other resources for all your needs (Fast fat loss, an exercise plan and more).
About 3 years ago, I decided to check out Jon Benson’s EODD plan and I will have to say, if I were to list my top 3 favorite diets in terms of effect, short/long term results and flexibility, this would easily be in the top 3, if not #1. Just to answer the most immediate questions you may have:
Can you drop 7 pounds every 7 days? Yes.
Is it an easy diet? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being effortless and 10 being impossible, I’d give this a 2-3 which is very easy.
Is the workout optional? Yes, but if you do it in combination with the diet, you will get better results (there’s also a another fat loss guide).
EODD really is as simple as it sounds:
This is one of those diets where you don’t have to play any guessing games. It works just as it says: You diet every other day and eat what you want in between.
There is a system to it and this is where the actual plan becomes important. The basis of the diet itself is divided into 2 parts: Burn and feed days.
On burn days, you eat less calories in total and focus on eating foods from what’s known as the “SNAPP” meal plan. This stands for: Shake, nuts, apples, protein and produce. You get meal plans for burn days with EODD.
Feed days are going to be the very next day where you get to “cheat” by eating anything you want. Typically the idea is to eat no more than twice the caloric amount you had overall on burn days so if you eat about 1,500 calories on burn days, you’d want to keep it to 3,000 and under for feed days.
1. Eating this way actually makes you eat less calories overall. Consider a person who consumes about 4,000 calories a day. In a week, this would equal to 28,000 calories. As soon as they start implementing the EODD approach, on burn days, they would consume about 2,000 calories which means if they were doing this 3 times a week, they would now be eating 9,000 calories less for a total of 21,000 calories weekly and if they were doing this 4 times a week, that would be 12,000 calories taken out with a total of 18,000 calories consumed weekly.
This means by eating less calories, you’re going to be experiencing weight loss right off the bat and while it may be difficult to do at first, understand that this is only every other day which makes it much easier to deal with rather than going on multi-month diets.
2. You’re eating healthy on burn days and already preparing your body for long term results. Healthy eating is one of the most obvious ways to get results and this is what you’ll be doing (part time basically).
3. This way of eating is called interval eating and it only adds to your weight loss.
You’re hitting fat from 3 angles and losing weight because:
There’s less caloric intake OVERALL.
There’s healthy eating every other day.
You’re interval eating.
All 3 methods attack the weight and help you lose it quickly. This and other details are mentioned in the EODD ebookwhich is 119 pages long. It’s a great read.
Optional, yet powerful additions to the EODD program:
These are OPTIONAL, but in combination with this book, there are also a few other ebooks you get. I only focused on one in particular which was called: The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint.
The title alone is what struck me especially when it said you could lose 21-30 pounds in 21 days. The idea behind it is that it combines some elements of EODD, but adds a little bit of fasting with a very strict workout schedule.
On the food end of things, you’re supposed to eat a combination of very healthy foods and take supplements that Jon recommends. These are natural. Things such as fish oil, liquid L-carnitine and a few others. As for the foods eggs, chick, tofu, vegetables, lemons with water, and other types of foods are listed, all of which help with fart burn.
The supplements are meant to sustain you while you do intermittent eating/fasting which is a part of this diet. They are meant to help you maintain energy during your workouts.
It is very important to understand that this side of the diet is optional and not something to be done over and over again, at least not consecutively. Jon Benson says this is a fast approach to losing weight which shouldn’t be done more than 3-4 times a year. The EODD diet itself can be used for that, but not the Radical Fat Loss Blueprint.
There are fast weight loss results from it and also long term.
You can do this diet until you reach your target weight and even keep going after.
You can eat what you like every other day (yes anything).
No complex supplements
No need for expensive meal plans. Just use regular foods you’re already eating.
Working out is optional.
Cons:
In terms of typical diet problems, this one doesn’t have any of them.
Every Other Day Diet Score:
5 out of 5 stars. I don’t know about perfect, but this is a diet most if not all people will like and it delivers great, fast results. There’s nothing traditional about it either which makes it that much better. See official site.
Conclusions on EODD:
I’ve rated EODD #1 because it suits pretty much everyone, but specifically the general public which wants fast, healthy results, but don’t have the time to try long diets. I doubt you’ll find a faster more flexible diet than this one.
