Lyssie Lakatos - The Secret to Skinny: How Salt Makes You Fat, and the 4-Week Plan to Drop a Size and Get Healthier with Simple Low-Sodium Swaps

THE Secret
TO Skinny

How Salt Makes You Fat
and the 4-Week Plan to
DROP A SIZE AND GET HEALTHIER
with Simple Low-Sodium Swaps

Tammy Lakatos Shames, R.D.
Lyssie Lakatos, R.D.
The Nutrition Twins

www.hcibooks.com

Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is not intended as a substitute for the advice and/or medical care of a physician. It is recommended that you consult with your physician before embarking on any eating, exercise, or lifestyle regimen.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lakatos, Lyssie.

The secret to skinny : how salt makes you fat, and the 4-week plan to drop a size and get healthier with simple low-sodium swaps / Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN-13: 978-0-7573-9602-1 eISBN-10: 0-7573-9602-X 1.

Salt-free diet. 2. Weight loss. I. Shames, Tammy Lakatos. II. Title.

RM237.8.L35 2009

613.285dc22

2009025601

2009 Tammy Lakatos Shames and Lyssie Lakatos

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

HCI, its logos, and marks are trademarks of Health Communications, Inc.

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th Street
Deerfield Beach, FL 334428190

Cover design by Larissa Hise Henoch
Interior design and formatting by Lawna Patterson Oldfield

To Summer and Riley

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 10 The Nutrition Twins Favorite Skinny Recipes

Appendix I: The Jumpstart Plan Food Lists
(Brand-Name Green Light Foods)

Appendix II: The Maintenance Plan Food Lists
(Brand-Name Green Light and Yellow Light Foods)

Special thanks to our wonderful editor , Allison Janse, whose incredible vision and tireless efforts helped to mold this book. We feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you, and we truly couldnt ask for a more insightful and dedicated editor. Thank you. Thank you to our amazing literary agent, Laura Dail, of Laura Dail Literary Agency, for always believing in us and for working your magic to make this all happen.

Our warmest thanks to everyone at HCI, especially to Carol Rosenberg and Candace Johnson for guiding this book through to its finish; to Kim Weiss for your fabulous PR expertise; and to Tonya Woodworth for your fantastic eye for detail.

To the amazing Jessica Fishman Levinson, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., thanks for your amazing support, your hard work, and your nutrition expertise. Without your fantastic writing contributions, this book would not be what it is.

To Theresa Quadrozzi, thanks for your inspiration, encouragement, and writing expertise.

Thank you to all our clients who have taught us how to take nutrition science and turn it into practical, everyday advice, even for those with the most hectic of schedules.

To all of the great chefs who contributed their delicious recipes to our book, we are so grateful.

To Lou DAmico, a huge thanks for keeping us creative and for always helping us to find a salternative.

Another big thank you to Sara Joseph for your support and for being so on top of your PR gameand, of course, thank you for being such a great friend.

On a personal note, thanks to our incredible friends and family for always being there for us. Without all of you, this journey would not be the happy experience that it is.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for your love and support in everything that we dowithout you both, we would never be where we are today.

And to Tammys husband, Scott, thank you for your constant support and for helping Tammy to get through the long hours.

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Tammys twin daughters, Summer and Riley, for always making us smile, always helping us to keep things in perspective, and reminding us what we value most. You both truly are an inspiration.

As registered dietitians and certified personal trainers , weve spent more than a decade helping thousands of clients get healthy and achieve the bodies they longed for. Not only do our clients typically reach their dream weights, more important, they keep the pounds off. Our clients have kissed yo-yoing dieting good-bye and have embraced their new slender bodies for life.

While our core weight-loss beliefs havent been swayed by fads, we continually refine our methods to find innovative ways to help our clients attain maximum results. Our most recent diet discovery compelled us to write this book because we found what we consider the missing link when it comes to weight loss. Many new clients came to us frustrated from months or years of dieting without substantial or lasting results, convinced that they couldnt lose the stubborn pounds because of too many carbs, too little cardio, or not enough stomach crunches. And although at times they were right, after analyzing their habits, we came to realize that more often than not, something else was flying under the radar, hindering them from achieving the body they wanted.

The culprit? Its seemingly innocent, and often invisible, so most people dont pay it any attention when it comes to weight loss. But if youre trying to lose weight, its one of the nastiest four-letter words: S-A-L-T. And, as we will explain, our experience proves that if you learn to drop the salt, you will drop a sizeor moreand add years to your life.

Salt is ubiquitous: Most of us unknowingly consuming 75 percent of our sodium intake from prepared foods, not from the saltshaker. According to a 2008 Time magazine article, typical American adults eat 50 percent more salt than we did in the 1960smore than twice the amount that our bodies can process. Manufacturers sneak salt into everything, especially the healthy foods that we dutifully eat while trying to be goodeverything from low-fat salad dressings and packaged diet entrees, to lean meats and soups, and wheat breads and cereals that are touted as healthy.

Why Excess Salt = Excess Weight

Once inside your body, salt wreaks havoc on your waistline. In fact, a 2007 study published in Obesity Research shows that high-salt diets are directly associated with more fat cells in the body. Even worse, salt makes the fat cells you already have become denser. Thicker fat cells? No, thank you!

If you eat a lot of salt, your kidneys have to work overtime to excrete the excess. In the Western world, excess is an understatement. Most people get 4,000 to 6,000 milligrams of salt per day, far exceeding the 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams that the body can handle. No matter how hard your kidneys work to reduce body sodium, salt builds up in the tissues, causing salt-saturated cells and salt toxicity. Excess salt damages cells. And damaged cells dont function at their best. This means all bodily processes will suffer, including your metabolism and your ability to burn fat and repair muscle. A high-salt diet hardens your arteries, making it more difficult for fat-burning oxygen to get to your cells. Less oxygen to your cells means a less efficient metabolism, and therefore less fat burned overall.

In addition, salt increases food cravings. Obviously, hunger is the last thing you want when trying to trim down. This may be one reason research shows that diets high in salt lead to obesity.