The 8-Hour Diet (14 page)

The first four food groups in our Elite 8 will keep you satisfied long after your jaws stop moving. The reason: They’re the dietary equivalent of your handy Uncle Bob, who comes for Thanksgiving dinner and doesn’t leave until the filters on your furnace are changed, all the lightbulbs are converted over to compact fluorescents, the spark plugs in the lawn mower have been replaced, and that new closet organizer is installed. Like Uncle Bob, these foods combine staying power, long-lasting energy supplies, and a utility belt that puts the Dark Knight to shame. Invite them over for a long weekend—and the long life that follows.

8-HOUR POWERS:
Build muscle, burn fat

SECRET WEAPONS:
Protein (eggs, especially), iron, zinc, creatine (beef), omega-3 fatty acids (fish), vitamins B
₆
(chicken and fish) and B12 (eggs, again), phosphorus, potassium, vitamin B
₁₂
, vitamin A

FIGHTS AGAINST:
Obesity, hunger pangs, flabby arms

SIDEKICKS:
Shellfish, Canadian bacon

IMPOSTERS:
Sausage, bacon, cured meats, ham, fatty cuts of steak like T-bone and rib-eye, Egg Beaters, egg-white omelets (why leave out the most nutritionally potent part of the egg?)

A classic muscle-building nutrient, protein is the base of any solid diet plan. That’s why this category is such a big and important one. It takes more energy for your body to digest the protein in meat than it does to digest carbohydrates or fat, so the more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. Many studies support the notion that high-protein diets promote weight loss. In one study, researchers in Denmark found that men who substituted protein for 20 percent of their carbs increased
their metabolism and increased the number of calories they burned every day by up to 5 percent.

Among your protein sources, turkey is a rare bird. Turkey breast is one of the leanest meats you’ll find, and it packs nearly one-third of your daily requirements of niacin and vitamin B
₆
. Dark meat, if you prefer, has lots of zinc and iron. Two cautions, though: If you’re roasting a whole turkey for a family feast, avoid self-basting birds, which have been injected with fat. And avoid eating the skin, which contains most of the fat.

Beef is another classic muscle-building protein. It’s the top food source for creatine—the substance your body uses to tone your muscles. Beef does have a downside: It contains saturated fats, but some cuts have more than others. Look for rounds or loins (that’s code for extra-lean); sirloins and New York strips are less fatty than prime ribs and T-bones. And choose a smaller portion for your plate, which can help you lose weight without making you feel deprived. For example, by having a 6-ounce steak instead of an 8-ouncer, you’ll save 140 calories and still get 46 grams of muscle-building protein. Another tip: Wash down that steak with a glass of milk. Research shows that calcium may reduce the amount of saturated fat your body absorbs.

Choose cuts from the top of the list that follows. They contain less fat but still pack high amounts of protein.

To cut down on saturated fats even more, concentrate on getting your protein from fish like tuna, salmon, and sardines, because they contain a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s lower levels of a hormone called leptin in your body. Several recent studies suggest that leptin directly influences your metabolism: The higher your sustained leptin levels, the more readily your body stores calories as fat. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat faster than animals with higher leptin levels. Whether you eat fish or not, consider taking omega-3 supplements.

Which comes first, nutritionally: the chicken or her eggs? I’ll put my money on those embryonic chickens, in fact. For a long time, eggs were considered pure evil—more likely to appear in the Most Wanted poster at the post office than in a healthy-eating chapter of a diet book. That’s because everybody—including food scientists and health editors—spent several decades in confusion over cholesterol. It was in food, and it was implicated in fatal blood clots in the heart. Same name, direct link. Right? Wrong. Five decades later it has become clear that food cholesterol and blood cholesterol are different animals and not really related to one another. In fact, we’ve now learned that most blood cholesterol is made by the body from dietary fat, not dietary cholesterol. And that’s why you should take advantage of eggs and their powerful dose of protein. Eggs have the highest “biological value” of protein—a measure of how well it supports your body’s protein need—of any food. In other words, egg protein is more effective in building muscle than protein from other sources, even milk and beef. Eggs also contain vitamin B
₁₂
, which is important for fat breakdown.

8-HOUR POWERS:
Build muscle, fight cravings

SECRET WEAPONS:
Protein, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, fiber, magnesium, folate (peanuts), phosphorus

FIGHTS AGAINST:
Obesity, heart disease, muscle loss, wrinkles, cancer

SIDEKICKS:
Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, avocados

IMPOSTERS:
Salted, candied, or smoked nuts

These days, you hear about good fats and bad fats the way you hear about good cops and bad cops. One’s on your side, and one’s gonna beat you silly. Oreos fall into the latter category, but nuts are clearly out to help you. They contain the monounsaturated fats that clear your arteries and help you feel full.

All nuts are high in protein and monounsaturated fat. But almonds are the Usain Bolt of nuts: They’re undeniably nutty, but they still manage to finish well ahead of the pack. A handful of almonds provides half the amount of vitamin E you need in a day and 8 percent of the calcium. This handful also contains 19 percent of your daily requirement of magnesium—a key component for muscle building. In a Western Washington University study, people taking extra magnesium were able to lift 20 percent more weight and build more muscle than those who weren’t.

A 2009 study in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
showed that eating almonds suppresses hunger, and the more you chew them, the greater your feelings of fullness will be. In the study, people who chewed 25 to 40 times absorbed more healthy monounsaturated fats and had higher levels of appetite-suppressing hormones than those who chewed just 10 times. You can eat as much as two handfuls of almonds a day. A Toronto University study found that men can eat this amount daily without gaining any extra weight. A Purdue University study showed that people who ate nuts high in monounsaturated fat felt full an hour and a half longer than those who ate fat-free food (rice cakes, in this instance). If you eat 2 ounces of almonds (about 24 of them), it should be enough to suppress your appetite—especially if you wash them down with 8 ounces of water. The fluid helps expand the fiber in the nuts to help you feel fuller. Also, try to keep the nuts’ nutrient-rich skins on them.

Here are ways to introduce almonds seamlessly into your diet:

• Add chopped almonds to plain peanut butter.

• Toss a handful on cereal, yogurt, or ice cream.

• Put slivers in an omelet.

• For a quick popcorn alternative: Spray a handful of almonds with nonstick cooking spray for just a fraction of a second, and bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Take them out of the oven, and sprinkle with either brown sugar and cinnamon or cayenne pepper and thyme.

But don’t stop at almonds. Walnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, and pecans also deliver amazing health benefits. No food packs more selenium than Brazil nuts; 1 ounce has almost 10 times the recommended dietary allowance. University of Arizona scientists recently found that selenium may prevent colon cancer in men. Walnuts, on the other hand, are the only nuts that contain a significant amount of alpha-linolenic acid, the only type of omega-3 fat that you’ll find in plant-based food.

While you’re chomping on walnuts, I also want you to consider adding ground flaxseed to your food, which also provides omega-3s, plus 4 grams of fiber per tablespoon. Although technically not a nut, flaxseed has a nutty flavor, so you can add some to your meat or beans, spoon it over cereal, or add a tablespoon to a smoothie.

One caveat, before you go all nutty: Nuts are high in calories, and smoked and salted nuts don’t make the cut here because of their high sodium content. High sodium can lead to high blood pressure.