Master your metabolism by Jillian of NBC's Biggest Loser

[Jenny Lynn]

Below is a cut and paste of a review of Jillian Michaels one of the fitness gurus on NBC's The Biggest Loser's book Master Your Metabolism; I'm planning on picking it up tomorrow to read it.

I've seen a few conversations here on ArmyRanger.com about healthier eating to include more whole, non processed foods etc. and I for one am noticing that my body defintely doesn't bounce back like it did 20 years ago when I'd get back to eating better after letting my diet go.

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Master Your Metabolism: What It Is
Master Your Metabolism author Jillian Michaels is known as the tough strength coach on NBC’s The Biggest Loser show. In this book, she claims that fixing your metabolism by overhauling your endocrine system is the secret to a hot and healthy body.

Michaels claims that "toxins" in processed junk food, medicines, and the environment can throw our hormones, and thus our metabolism, out of whack.

Our nutritionally deficient, dieting, stress-dominated living and toxin-filled eating has abused our endocrine systems, hormonal balances, and metabolisms to make weight loss nearly impossible," Michaels writes.

Master Your Metabolism: What You Can Eat
In a nutshell: "If it didn’t have a mother or it didn’t grow from the ground, don’t eat it," Michaels says. (I think I may use this phrase as my healthy eating motto now )

Beyond that, the Master Your Metabolism meal plan is centered on 10 "power nutrient" food groups:

Legumes (peas and beans)
Alliums (onions, leeks, shallots)
Berries
Meat and eggs (this group also includes fatty fish like salmon)
Colorful fruits and vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower)
Dark green, leafy veggies
Nuts and seeds
Organic, low-fat dairy
Whole grains
Some items, like meat, dairy, and eggs, should always be organic, the book says. For others, including tough-skinned fruits and vegetables, it's OK to buy conventional sometimes.

Banned on the diet are foods with "antinutrients" -- chemicals, trans fats, hydrogenated fats, refined grains, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, artificial preservatives and colors, glutamates (like MSG), and other additives.

Allowed in small quantities are starchy vegetables; tropical, dried, and canned fruits; soy products; alcohol; full-fat dairy products; fatty meats; canned foods; and caffeine.

A two-week sample meal plan, plus portion size recommendations, shopping lists, and recipes, help dieters plan their meals.

Here's a sample daily meal plan:

Breakfast: Scrambled egg whites, fried tomatoes, and a grapefruit
Lunch: Southwest chicken salad
Snack: An orange and a handful of walnuts
Dinner: Halibut skewers with eggplant, peppers, and onions

Master Your Metabolism: How It Works
Phase One starts in the grocery store, with suggested foods to eat and avoid. This phase is designed to help remove "antinutrients," which "disrupt hormonal balance by increasing weight gain hormones and blocking weight loss hormones," Michaels says.

Dieters are also encouraged to remove toxins from their homes during this phase, by cleaning out unsafe chemicals used in the kitchen, bathroom, and yard.

Phase Two is all about optimal nutrition to repair damage supposedly caused by an unhealthy diet.

And finally, Master Your Metabolism offers advice on how to rebalance your metabolism to help you burn fat. Strategies for this include:

Eating every four hours. Eat three meals and a snack daily, nothing after 9 p.m., and no carbs before bed.
Eating until you are full, not stuffed.
Including protein, carbs, and fat in every meal and snack.

As you would expect from Michaels, the Master Your Metabolism exercise plan is rigorous and comprehensive. She encourages dieters to get 4-5 hours a week of intense fitness, including both cardio and strength training. Her exercise advice: "Do it even if you hate it."
I think that is her way of saying embrace the suck

Master Your Metabolism: What the Experts Say
Eating a healthy, calorie-controlled diet and getting plenty of exercise is a scientifically proven formula for weight control, experts say. Beyond that, the evidence is not so clear.

"There is no scientific evidence that toxins in the environment, yo-yo dieting, or eating foods with artificial ingredients or pesticides cause hormonal fluctuation and weight gain," says Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, the immediate past president of the American Dietetic Association.

Weight control specialist Michelle May, MD, says that hormones serve essential roles in the body, but are not "friendly" or "unfriendly." "Hormones respond to your intake and activity levels in a way that has ensured our survival for thousands of years," she says.

May, author of Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don’t Work, agrees that yo-yo dieting and poor nutrition can keep us from meeting our bodies' needs. But she fears that Michaels' rigid nutrition rules could cause the yo-yo effect, not correct it.

"Demonizing certain foods rarely results in long-term changes in behavior," May says. "Instead, rely on your common sense to help choose balance, variety, and moderation in your eating."

Although Diekman says she likes the book's emphasis on healthy, unprocessed foods, she is concerned about the low calorie levels.

"Menu plans are high-protein, low-carb, with the calories for most days averaging around 1,300 a day, except one was only 700 calories -- which is almost fasting," she says.

Diekman, also nutrition director at Washington University in St. Louis, recommends a daily minimum of 1,400-1,600 calories for most women and 2,000 for most men.

Diekman also points out that not all processed foods are bad.

"Whole-grain breads and cereals, frozen vegetables, canned fruit in juice, and low-salt canned beans are just a few examples of healthy processed foods," she says.

And although fear helps Michaels motivates contestants on The Biggest Loser, the tough taskmaster approach may not be the answer for helping people make permanent lifestyle changes.

"Research has shown fear is a short-term motivator and not an agent for long-term dietary changes," Diekman says.

Master Your Metabolism: Food for Thought
Readers could become overwhelmed by all the technical medical terms and scary words like "toxins" in this book. All the discussion about hormones, metabolism, neurochemistry, biochemistry, and the endocrine system is enough to make your head spin.

Michaels has proven to be an amazing trainer on The Biggest Loser, so follow her fitness advice. But approach the Master Your Metabolism diet with caution. Use the menu plans as a template for a healthy diet, but liberalize the portions. And, don’t be afraid to enjoy a wide variety of foods.

As noted in the review of this book at the link above, "If you want information about your hormones, thyroid function, or whether it is safe to discontinue your prescription drugs, see your doctor."

[panthersix]

Good to know I can still have alcohol :D

I think I'd rather just run/ruck and workout hard and watch how much crap I eat, rather than cutting it all out. After all, God made ice cream for a reason!

Amen on the Ice Cream Brother!

If you eliminate ice cream, then you can't approach strange women and ask them if they want to go back to your place for ice cream and sex!

[CardiacKid]

All I wrote about in letters for 62 days was ice cream.


Go figure... limiting your calorie intake as well as replacing the calories you do consume with healthy food and a regular exercise regimen leads to weight loss. And here I had been spending hundreds a month on "diet, magic, wonder pills."

[panthersix]

Good to know I can still have alcohol :D

I think I'd rather just run/ruck and workout hard and watch how much crap I eat, rather than cutting it all out. After all, God made ice cream for a reason!

Amen on the Ice Cream Brother!

If you eliminate ice cream, then you can't approach strange women and ask them if they want to go back to your place for ice cream and sex!

Because if they say "no thanks" then you can ask "what? you don't like ice cream?"