Eat More… and Lose Weight?

This is a fat country. And that means Americans are prone to a long list of fat-related health problems. Heart disease and high blood pressure are two of the big ones.

Dr. Al Sears, my personal physician, has helped me lose more than 25 pounds of fat, reduce my blood pressure, and strengthen my heart with an amazingly easy “eating program” he has developed over several years. It’s based on relatively large quantities of high-quality protein (wild salmon, grass-fed beef, and organic eggs, cheese, milk, beans, and nuts).

How does it work? By exceeding your body’s daily protein requirement, you boost your metabolism. As a result, you stop storing fat and start burning it.

For an active person like me, Dr. Sears recommends 1 gram of protein per day per pound of lean body mass (LBM).

Lean body mass is the weight of your body minus the fat. (There are several simple ways you can measure your own LBM. I’ll explain how to do it in a future issue.). So a 180-pound man with 15 percent body fat would have an LBM of 153 pounds. And he should be eating 153 grams of protein a day. To give you an idea of what that means, an egg has 7 grams of protein, 6 ounces of fish has 42 grams, and a cup of cashew nuts has 21 grams.

I crave protein, so this is easy for me. I eat eggs every morning for breakfast and all sorts of high-quality protein throughout the day. My snacks are high-protein. And my dinners are a combination of proteins and organic vegetables.

One big benefit you will notice right away: By eating more protein and less starchy carbs, your appetite will decrease dramatically. Try it. Let me know how it works for you.