Eat Fat, Get Thin_Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss and Vibrant Health

by Mark Hyman

  Resistant starch is not digested in the small intestine—at least not by you. It is digested only by the bacteria in your gut. When you eat resistant starch, it “resists” digestion and doesn’t spike blood sugar or insulin.

  Resistant starch is a prebiotic. Think of it as compost or fertilizer for your healthy gut bacteria. This sea of bacteria—more than ten times the number of your own cells and about three pounds’ worth—is not just waste. It is profoundly connected to almost every part of your health. Imbalances in your gut flora have been linked to a whole host of diseases, including obesity,5 diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, cancer, depression,6 anxiety, and autism.7

  One of the best ways to get your gut back in balance is to give the bugs good food in the form of prebiotics. This food can come in many forms, including inulin (not insulin) from chicory or Jerusalem artichokes, soluble fiber from psyllium, or starch from high-amylose plants such as potatoes, green bananas, and plantains. Cooking then cooling starches like potatoes or rice and not reheating them all the way can also transform regular starch in rice or potatoes to resistant starch.

  When resistant starch gets to your gut, it stimulates the growth of beneficial bugs that crowd out the bad bugs. They produce short-chain fatty acids that are fuel for colon cells—one in particular called butyrate can prevent cancer, speed up your metabolism, and reduce inflammation.8

  Resistant starch can also improve insulin sensitivity9 and help reduce your blood sugar after meals.10 In other words, it helps reverse diabesity.11 In fact, in one study, 15 to 30 grams (about 2 to 4 tablespoons) of potato starch improved insulin sensitivity in obese men as much as losing 10 percent of their body weight would!12

  It has other benefits as well: helping with weight loss, reducing insulin spikes after eating, increasing fat burning, and reducing fat storage in your cells.13 It changes the gut bacteria in ways that promote health and weight loss. We know that you can reverse diabetes by taking the fecal matter of a thin healthy person and putting it in a diabetic. I would say that eating potato starch is more appealing to most of us than getting a fecal transplant!14

  The best way to add in resistant starch if you are on a low-carbohydrate diet like the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan is to use Bob’s Red Mill Unmodified Potato Starch (not potato flour). It has about 8 grams of resistant starch per tablespoon. You can also use plantain flour and banana flour. Potato starch is well tolerated and mixes well with water and tastes just a little like potatoes. Not so bad. It can help you sleep at night. It can also be included in smoothies or mixed in almond milk (but it should not be heated).

  Resistant starch can initially cause gas because the good and bad bugs are duking it out. Start small—with ¼ teaspoon at night—and slowly increase to give your body a chance to get used to it. If you have a lot of gas or gut discomfort, it probably means you have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or yeast overgrowth and need treatment by a Functional Medicine doctor to fix your gut. If you want to know more about how to tend your inner garden and fix your digestive symptoms, please download the special free e-book called Beyond Food: Other Causes of Obesity and Damaged Metabolism at www.eatfatgetthin.com.

  Here is a list of optional supplements to help relieve symptoms:

  Digestive enzymes: 1 to 2 capsules with each meal. Good digestion is critical to good health. As you transition your diet, you may need help digesting a higher-fat diet and a higher-fiber diet. They also can reduce inflammation.

  Magnesium citrate: 150-milligram capsules or tablets, 2 to 3 twice a day. This is essential if you have constipation, which can be caused by extra fiber such as PGX. If you don’t have a bowel movement once or twice a day, you may feel ill on this program, so be sure to pay attention to how often you are eliminating and do what’s needed to enable you to go every day (see here for troubleshooting if constipation becomes a problem).

  LaxaBlend (an herbal laxative): 2 to 3 capsules at night if you haven’t had a bowel movement in a day or feel constipated.

  Buffered ascorbic acid: 500 mg capsules, 2 to 4 capsules twice a day to help with detoxification and constipation (see here for more tips on easing detox symptoms)

  For an easy-reference chart of all the daily supplements and dosages, please see here in the Resources section as well as www.eatfatgetthin.com.

  PGX: The Wonder Fiber

  Most Americans don’t eat enough fiber. We have gone from eating almost 100 grams a day as hunter-gatherers to eating 8 to 15 grams a day or less on a processed-food diet. Fiber helps fertilize the good bacteria in your gut, improve your bowel movements, and prevent cancer and heart disease. But it also helps you lose weight. A special superfiber called PGX (polyglycoplex) has been extensively researched over the past few years.15, 16, 17 A combination of konjac root (glucomannan) and seaweed fibers, it slows the rate at which sugar (and fat) is absorbed into the bloodstream, and it has the overall effect of balancing blood sugar and insulin, reducing appetite, and helping with weight loss.

  One of my diabetic patients got off 100 units of insulin just by using this special fiber, and another lost forty pounds. That is why I recommend taking PGX before every meal during the program. If you choose to use only one supplement, PGX is the most important for the program.

  Please note: To ensure that the fiber moves through your system the way it’s meant to, it is essential to drink the recommended eight glasses of water each day. Otherwise, you can get constipated. If you tend toward constipation, please see here to learn how to safely clean out your bowels and stay ahead of this problem.

  Fitness Gear

  If you’ve read any of my other books or my blog or seen me on television, you’ve likely heard me say, “You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.” It’s really true. No amount of exercise can undo the harmful effects of a fat-deficient, processed, and otherwise bad diet. You’d have to walk four and a half miles to burn off one can of soda. But that doesn’t mean that exercise is not critical to a healthy, well-functioning metabolism and long-term health and well-being. On this program, you’ll be eating the optimal diet to repair your health and reset your metabolism, and exercise can go a long way toward enhancing that.

  One of the biggest deterrents to exercise isn’t a lack of motivation—it’s a lack of organization. When you make it easy for yourself to get up and out the door to exercise, you’re far more likely to do it. Scrambling around trying to find the right shoes, the right clothes, or even the right time of day to fit it in throws up unnecessary roadblocks where they don’t need to be. Use these two days of the foundation stage to organize what you need to get going. For instance, a good pair of sneakers, hand weights, comfortable workout clothes, motivating music downloaded onto your smartphone, and so on.

  Equally important, schedule exercise into your days. For the next twenty-one days, carve out a minimum of thirty minutes each day to exercise. (Yes, every day!) Plan for it, the same as you would plan for anything else important in your life. Create an appointment with yourself in your calendar. It is as important as any meeting or deadline. I work with very busy and successful people, and they always make time to work out. Personally I don’t watch TV because there are too many other fun things to do. I mean, how much time do you spend on Facebook or social media? We somehow spend seven to eight hours a day on our screens; I have to imagine we could find thirty minutes somewhere in there to move our bodies. Because, really, what’s more important than your health?

  Water Filter and Bottle

  It is essential to drink at least eight glasses of clean, pure water each day to aid the detox process and keep your bowels functioning well. Having the right tools on hand will make daily hydration an easy habit. I recommend getting a simple carbon filter, like Brita, and pouring filtered water into a stainless steel or glass bottle to carry with you at all times. You can purchase a filter and bottle at most home supplies stores or the supermarket.

  Eat Fat, Get Thin Journal

  Yo
ur journal will be your constant companion throughout the twenty-one days. Purchase a blank notebook or journal that appeals to you so that you can record your results, thoughts, and experiences. Or you can use the online journal at www.eatfatgetthin.com.

  CHECK YOUR NUMBERS

  It’s important to take measurements and get your numbers checked before you begin and when you’ve completed the program. I want you to be able to see the hard numbers and facts of your transformation!

  Take Your Measurements

  Take the following measurements the day before you start the program and record them in your journal (or go to www.eatfatgetthin.com to find our online health-tracking tools):

  Your weight. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning without clothes and after going to the bathroom.

  Your height. Measure it in feet and inches.

  Your waist size. Using a tape measure, find the widest point around your belly button, not where your belt is.

  Your hip size. Again using a tape measure, find the widest point around your hips.

  Your thigh circumference. Measure the widest point around each of your thighs.

  Blood pressure. This can be done by your doctor or at the drugstore, or buy a home blood pressure cuff (go to www.eatfatgetthin.com).

  Also, be sure to fill out the FLC Quiz here. And if you are planning to have your cholesterol profile or basic lab testing done (which I strongly encourage you to do), now is the time. See below for the specific tests you should have done. Seeing your test results before and after you do the program can be a powerful motivator.

  Test Your Blood Sugar

  Many people think you need to check your blood sugar only if you are diabetic. Not so. While it’s optional, I think measuring your blood sugar before, during, and after this program is a simple, great way for you to see how your body responds to what you eat. It will give you immediate and direct feedback about how dramatically and quickly your body responds to the right information in diet and lifestyle.

  Some of you may already have a glucose meter and know how to test your blood sugar. Others may want to get a meter at their local drugstore. The newer ones are easy to use, and you can always ask your pharmacist to show you how. I like the ACCU-CHEK Aviva blood glucose meter with strips (this comes with a few test strips; you may need extra) or the FreeStyle Freedom Lite (you will also need extra test strips).

  Here is the protocol I recommend for testing:

  Measure your fasting blood sugar daily, first thing in the morning before breakfast. Ideally, your fasting blood sugar should be between 70 and 80 mg/dl.

  Measure your blood sugar two hours after breakfast and two hours after dinner. Ideally, your two-hour sugars should never go over 120 mg/dl. If they go over 140 mg/dl, you have pre-diabetes. If they go over 200 mg/dl, you have type 2 diabetes. Technically, these measures are the ones we use after a 75-gram glucose load, but if your sugars go this high on the plan, you definitely have a problem. Pay attention to how they change depending on what you eat.

  Get Tested by Your Doctor

  Again, this is optional, but I encourage you to consider getting basic lab tests done before and after the program. These lab tests can be done through your doctor or at most hospitals or laboratories, or you can order them through personal testing companies such as SaveOnLabs (www.saveonlabs.com). For more information and detailed explanations for each of these tests, go to www.eatfatgetthin.com. There you can find my free e-book How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need.

  The tests I recommend include:

  Insulin response test, which is like a two-hour glucose tolerance test but measures insulin as well. It is done by measuring both insulin and glucose after fasting and one and two hours after a 75-gram glucose drink.

  Hemoglobin A1c, which measures your average blood sugar over the past six weeks. Anything 5.5 percent or above is considered elevated; over 6.0 percent is diabetes.

  NMR lipid or the Cardio IQ test (cholesterol) profile, which measures LDL, HDL, and triglycerides, and the particle number and particle size of each type of cholesterol and triglycerides (which is also important because big, large triglycerides are bad—the opposite of the HDL and LDL particles, which are better when large). This is a newer test, but I would demand it from your doctor, because the typical cholesterol tests done by most labs and doctors are out of date. These tests can be obtained only through LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics.

  Total cholesterol—ideally under 200 mg/dl, but this matters less than the overall profile. If your total cholesterol is 300 mg/dl and your HDL is 100 mg/dl, that is much better than a total cholesterol of 150 mg/dl and an HDL of 30 mg/dl.

  LDL cholesterol—ideally under 100 mg/dl but more important is the total particle number, which should be under 1,000, and the small LDL particle number, which should be less than 400 (or even lower).

  HDL cholesterol—ideally over 50 mg/dl for men and over 60 mg/dl for women (although I think both men and women should be over 60 mg/dl).

  Triglycerides—ideally less than 100 mg/dl or even under 70 mg/dl. And you want the small, not the large version of the triglycerides.

  Total cholesterol to HDL ratio less than 3:1.

  Triglyceride to HDL ratio less than 2:1, or ideally 1:1 (if it is over 3:1 you almost certainly have carbohydrate intolerance).

  DNA Diet Testing

  This exclusive panel of tests helps you identify genetic tendencies that may affect your ability to lose weight and get healthy. Depending on the results, you can create a customized approach to optimizing your metabolism. You might do better on a higher- or lower-fat diet, or you might have a tendency toward insulin resistance or sugar addiction. You can order a simple saliva test at www.eatfatgetthin.com, and also find a customized guide of recommendations to turn on your unique disease-preventing and weight loss genes and turn off your unique disease-promoting and weight gain genes.

  Part of what you’re doing over these twenty-one days is becoming an active partner in your health and weight loss, and that includes having a full understanding of your numbers and following them over time. I believe everyone should become empowered to learn about their bodies, interpret their test results, and use that information to track their progress.

  JOIN THE EAT FAT, GET THIN ONLINE COMMUNITY

  Losing weight and getting healthy are social activities. You can do the program alone, but if you find a buddy, join or create a group, or join our online community at www.eatfatgetthin.com, you will not only find support for your journey and friends on the path to help if you have questions or get discouraged; you will get twice the results.

  I encourage you to join the Eat Fat, Get Thin Online Course at www.eatfatgetthin.com to get all the tools you need and connect with a community online to get daily support.

  I am also a strong proponent of life coaching to help you get out of your own way. I have used it successfully for many years to help me grow and change behaviors that prevented me from thriving. My favorite life-coaching group is the Handel Group (www.handelgroup.com). You can access all these resources at www.eatfatgetthin.com.

  BE SURE TO CHECK IN WITH YOUR DOCTOR

  One note of caution for you before you get started: The program works so well that your blood sugar and blood pressure can drop dramatically in just a day or two. If you are on medication or insulin, you must carefully monitor your blood pressure and blood sugar and reduce your dose of medication in partnership with your doctor to make sure you don’t get into trouble. Having your blood sugar or blood pressure run a little high for a week poses almost no danger (if your sugars are under 300 mg/dl and your blood pressure is under 150/100), but rapid drops in blood sugar or blood pressure can be life threatening. If you are taking insulin or oral hypoglycemic medication, you need to be especially careful, as your blood sugar can drop dramatically. So please be sure to talk with your health care provider before embarking on this journey.

  I still cannot believe how quickly I could stop taking my drugs; my blood sug
ar and pressure numbers were actually lower than when I was taking them. It was just like a miracle for me.… I have my health back with NO drugs!

  —Joanne Schwien

  CHECKLIST FOR STAGE 1:

  Do your kitchen makeover and throw out the bad stuff.

  Stock your pantry and fridge with the essentials listed here.

  Write your answers to the journal questions here to tackle your fear of fat.

  Read Chapter 15 and choose your meals for Days 1 to 7 to shop accordingly.

  Purchase your supplements.

  Organize your fitness apparel and any needed gear.

  Purchase a water filter and water bottle.

  Take all your body measurements and write them down in your journal (weight, height, waist size, hip size, blood pressure, and ideally blood sugar).

  Do any of the optional testing mentioned here.

  Check with your doctor before beginning the program.

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  Stage 2: The Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan

  The Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan is simple and easy to follow. I designed it to give you a working template so you can learn the essentials of how and what to eat and what to do to maximize weight loss and optimize your health.