The Doctor's Diet: Dr. Travis Stork's STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health (2 page)

Change can be difficult—believe me, I understand that. It’s hard to let go of a lifetime of poor eating habits and grab on to a healthy new diet. But I promise you, with The Doctor’s Diet, I’m making it as easy for you as possible. I’ve created a program that will guide you, step by step, in the simplest way possible, to develop a healthier dietary outlook that will help you lose weight, restore your health, reduce disease risk, and pave the way for you to live a longer, happier life.

The Doctor’s Diet is way more than just an eating plan—it’s a blueprint for a longer, healthier, happier life. It’s everything you need to know to keep yourself OUT of the ER.

But don’t worry: as we travel together down the path to better health, I’m not going to ask you to eat bland, boring “diet” food. Listen, I’m a man who loves food. I absolutely cannot make a meal out of a giant bowl of raw broccoli—to tell you the truth, eating straight-up veggies like that is about as appealing to me as sitting down to a plate of swamp grass and acorns. I grew up in the Midwest, raised on bacon and eggs for breakfast, big sandwiches for lunch, and meat and potatoes for dinner. Vegetables
were an afterthought, and more often than not they came from a can. My idea of a snack was a football-sized burrito or as many brownies as I could fit in my hands—and these mitts are pretty big, so that’s a lot of brownies.

As I got older and started tasting food from other parts of the United States and the world, I fell in love with exciting new flavors and delicious new foods. And as I spent year after grueling year training to become a physician, I learned about the strength of the link between food and wellness. So believe me, I love good health. But I also love to eat, and I am not about to tell you (or myself) that a healthy diet has to be boring or tasteless.

Switching from low-nutrient foods (white bread, processed meats, chips, cookies, and so on) to the super-nutritious foods included in The Doctor’s Diet does take some getting used to—I understand that. When you’re accustomed to having a greasy burger with fries for lunch, for example, it may seem strange to sit down to a meal made up of vegetables, healthy protein, and whole grains.

Let me give you some reassurance on this. Yeah, the food in The Doctor’s Diet may not be what you’re used to. But believe me when I tell you you’re going to love it.

I’ll tell you a story. When I first started hosting
The Doctors
, the caterers who provided lunch for our first photo shoot brought in the usual fast-food fare. I took one look at it and realized we needed to make a change—here I was hosting a medical show about health, and the food we were eating was far from healthy. I had to speak up.

Since that time, the caterers have started serving the most delicious, healthiest food you can imagine. And I’m not the only one who loves it—the crew goes crazy over it, too. I always laugh to myself when I see these big guys—the ones who help build the sets and such—devouring a dish with salmon or chicken, quinoa, and veggies served with a spicy curry sauce. This is Doctor’s Diet food, but they’re not eating it because they’re watching their weight—they’re eating it because it tastes incredible.

I think you’re going to love it as much as they do—and as much as I do.

I live The Doctor’s Diet, and I eat the food I’m encouraging you to eat. I’m not about to tell you to put something on your plate that I wouldn’t have on mine!

My program is designed to help you eat the foods you love, but to eat them in a healthy way that will add vibrancy to your life and help keep you out of the ER. Those big burritos I mentioned? I’ve put together my own burrito recipe that is about ten times healthier than those fast-food bombs I used to eat, and you know what? They’re also about ten times tastier, too. Those handfuls of brownies I used to scarf down? Well, I still have a brownie now and then—total deprivation doesn’t work for me, and research shows it doesn’t work for most other people, either.

But I’ve learned that adding a dollop of mindfulness to an occasional treat makes it way more enjoyable and satisfying than a handful gobbled up thoughtlessly. That’s why mindfulness—developing an awareness of what you’re eating so you can fully enjoy its flavor—is one of the many new mindsets you’ll learn in my program that will help you taste and savor healthy food in a whole new way.

Just as flavor is a big part of The Doctor’s Diet, so is medical integrity. My most important professional role in life is being a physician. When I swore the Hippocratic oath—as every doctor does—I promised to practice medicine honestly and without harm to patients. I take that oath very seriously. You can be sure that all of my advice and recommendations are based on my full commitment to your health.

My program is not a gimmicky fad diet based on the latest pseudoscience. It is an evidence-based plan that is grounded in nutritional science. Every recommendation and guideline is backed by solid research that you can trust, and by my sacred oath as a physician. That’s my promise to you.

Come along with me on this journey to optimal health and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you live a long, vibrant life. Decide now to commit to an eating plan that could very well save your life. Don’t wait until you’re lying in the ER, praying for a second chance. Do it now, before it’s too late!

I
’ve been thinking about writing a book of dietary advice for some time. But I didn’t want it to be like all the other diet books out there—I truly want my plan to be the ultimate diet plan, one that rises head and shoulders above all the others not only because of its medical integrity, but because of its simplicity and its effectiveness. As a physician, I don’t believe in gimmicky, get-slim-quick schemes. I believe in an eating plan that leads not only to weight loss, but to an exciting new level of health and vitality that you simply can’t get by following crazy crash diets. The Doctor’s Diet is the real deal.

This book tells you everything you need to do, step by step, meal by meal, day by day, to lose excess weight and build robust health. It is absolutely loaded with tips that you can use in your daily life—tips that require minimal effort but provide huge health benefits with one goal in mind: to motivate you to live your best, happiest, and healthiest life.

Following The Doctor’s Diet is the closest thing to having me by your side throughout the day, guiding your choices, helping you on your journey to better health, a longer life, and yes—to looking better in your swimsuit.

It won’t take nearly as much effort as you might think, but it will take one very important thing: commitment. So I’m asking you today, at this very moment in time, to commit to making the potentially life-saving changes in your diet and activity levels that I recommend in this book. If you commit, then I promise you the pages that follow will give you the simple tools you need to make better, life-changing choices.

One of the things I’m constantly trying to do as a physician is to convince people that the food they put in their mouths today truly will affect how well and how long they live. These days, we have the latest medical technology and access to all kinds of cutting-edge medications
that are extending our lives. But too many people who live longer suffer for years at the ends of their lives because of disease-related disability. We may be living for more years, but how many of those years are filled with vibrancy?

By following The Doctor’s Diet, you will be taking giant steps toward living a life that is not only longer, but better—a life filled with friends, family, fun, and laughter rather than debilitating disease, hospitals, nursing homes, and worry.

The Doctor’s Diet is based on the lessons that have guided me throughout my own journey to optimal health. It is exactly what I recommend to any patient, family member, or friend looking for a way to feel better, drop extra weight, and reduce disease risk. The lessons in this book have helped me and so many others, and I look forward to them helping you as well!

I’m sure you’re raring to get started on The Doctor’s Diet. But before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about what you can expect.

We’ll start with the actual eating plan. In a nutshell, The Doctor’s Diet is a science-based diet that:

Is low in sugar, simple carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, and sodium.

Includes moderate amounts of lean protein, healthy fats, and whole grains.