David Zinczenko - Eat This, Not That! 2012: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the product of thousands of meals, hundreds of conversations with nutritionists and industry experts, and the collective smarts, dedication, and raw talent of dozens of individuals. Our undying thanks to all of you who have inspired this project in any way. In particular:

To Maria Rodale and the Rodale family, whose dedication to improving the lives of their readers is apparent in every book and magazine they put their name on.

To George Karabotsos and his crew of immensely talented designers, including Courtney Eltringham, Laura White, Mark Michaelson, and Elizabeth Neal. You're the reason why each book looks better than the last.

To Clint Carter. Thanks for another huge effort. And to James Carlson, Andrew Del-Colle, Alex Howe, Hannah McWilliams, and Dana Ramirez. Your contributions are more valuable than you know.

To Tara Long, who spends more time in the drive-thru and the supermarket aisles than anyone on the planet, all in the name of making us look good.

To Debbie McHugh, whose ability to keep us sane and focused under the most impossible circumstances cannot be overstated.

To Agnes Hansdorfer. You make us all look good. To the Rodale book team: Steve Perrine, Karen Rinaldi, Chris Krogermeier, Erin Williams, Sara Cox, Mitch Mandel, Tom MacDonald, Troy Schnyder, Melissa Reiss, Nikki Weber, Jennifer Giandomenico, Wendy Gable, Keith Biery, Liz Krenos, Brooke Myers, Nancy Elgin, Sonya Maynard, and Sean Sabo. You continue to do whatever it takes to get these books done. As always, we appreciate your heroic efforts.

Dave and Matt

Check out the other bestselling books in the EAT THIS, NOT THAT! and COOK THIS, NOT THAT! series:

INTRODUCTION

BY PICKING UP YOUR COPY of Eat This, Not That! , you've just granted yourself membership in one of the most exclusive organizations in the country, a club that 65 percent of Americans simply can't get into.

Or, should I say, can't squeeze into.

I'm talking about the Sorority of the Slim, the Fraternity of the Fit, the League of Extraordinarily Toned Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm talking about men and women and even kids and teens who look and feel their very best and enjoy all the benefitsfrom more energy to bigger paychecks to more robust relationshipsthat come with being lean, fit, and healthy.

Just how exclusive is this club? More and more of us are locked out every year. Two out of every three American womenand three out of every four American menare overweight or obese. Many have simply given up hope of ever looking and feeling the way they want.

But I'm here to tell you that you can do itand the key to unlocking that elusive door is right here in your hands. Millions of Americans have experienced fast, effective, and permanent weight loss the Eat This, Not That! way (in fact, you'll meet many of them in the coming pages). I'm talking about folks just like you who have conquered weight gain, losing 10, 20, 30some of them more than 100!pounds using the No-Diet Weight Loss Solution.

And they did it not by dieting, not by sacrificing, but by eating all of their favorite foods, wherever and whenever they liked. All that these successfully slimmed-down folks needed was a few smart swaps that helped them strip away hundreds of calories a day, like magic.

Does the idea of losing weight and keeping it off seem impossible? It isn't, once you know a few secrets. But it does require having a bit of knowledge and making some smart decisionsand that's what this book is designed to help you do. Whether you're whipping up breakfast at home, popping into the drive-thru for lunch, ordering up delivery for dinner, or swinging by the ice cream shop for dessert, you'll know instantly how to indulge your cravings, satisfy your taste buds, and still strip away hundreds of calories a daywithout ever feeling hungry, tired, or deprived.

Is it really that easy? Yes. But before you move on and discover the thousands of amazing, indulgent, and delicious foods, from fast-food burgers to supermarket desserts, that are going to help you strip away fat fast, I want to share some amazingand, literally, life-alteringinformation with you.

As the editor-in-chief of Men's Health , I've spent the past 2 decades interviewing leading experts, poring over groundbreaking studies, and grilling top athletes, trainers, and celebrities for their health and fitness advice. And I've learned that what separates the fit from the fat, the slim from the sloppy, the toned from the torpid, is a set of rules: The 8 Immutable Laws of Leanness. And what's amazing is that none of them involves spending hours on a treadmill, eating nothing but grapefruit and tree bark, or having part of the small intestine replaced with fiberfill. Follow these rules, and the simple swaps in these pages, and weight loss will be automatic.

(Warning: These rules are so easy and so appealing that you'll invariably wind up smacking yourself on the forehead. If you are holding a sharp object, please put it down before reading on!)

Lean People Don't Diet.

What? Of course lean people diet! They're just magically better at denying themselves than the rest of us are, right?

No. In reality, studies show that the number-one predictor of future weight gain is being on a diet right now. Part of the reason is that restricting calories reduces strength, bone density, and muscle massand muscle is your body's number-one calorie burner. So by dieting, you're actually setting yourself up to gain more weight than ever. And a recent study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine showed that tracking your diet in a food journal can actually boost your stress levels, which in turn increases your level of a hormone called cortisol, and it is linked toyou guessed itweight gain.

Lean People Eat Breakfast.

A recent study of people who successfully lost weight and kept it off found that 78 percent of the weight-loss winners ate breakfast every single day.

Is there some kind of magic in waffles? No, but when you eat within 90 minutes of waking, you trigger your metabolism to start burning caloriesand keep burning them all day long. When you skip your morning meal, on the other hand, you send the message to your body that food may be in short supply; as a result, you develop food cravings throughout the day. That's one reason why skipping breakfast has been shown to raise the risk of obesity by a whopping 450 percent!

Lean People Don't Go Fat Free.

A European study tracked nearly 90,000 people for several years and discovered that participants who tried to eat "low fat" had the same risk of being overweight as those who ate whatever they wanted.

Fat doesn't make you fat, period. Indeed, you need fat in your diet to help you process certain nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, and E. And many "fat free" foods are loaded with sugar, and therefore have even more calories than their full-fat cousins. Even the American Heart Association says that fat-free labels lead to higher consumption of unhealthy sweets. Fat keeps you full and satisfied. Fat free will send you running back to the fridge in an hour, hungry for more.