So delicious, so effective

Consuming the optimal fat-to-protein ratio on the Paleo diet can quickly turn the body into a fat-burning machine, plus provide health benefits including improved immunity, deeper sleep and sunnier moods.

To start, David Perlmutter, M.D., author of The Grain Brain Whole Life Plan (Little, Brown and Co., 2016; Hardcover $28, Kindle $15, Nook $15), recommends getting 80 percent of your daily calories from healthy fat sources like coconut oil, ghee, avocados, nuts and seeds. He suggests aiming for at least 1 to 2 Tbs. of fat at each meal.

“Cook and finish your foods with as much fat as you need to feel satiated,” urges board-certified nutritionist

Nora Gedgaudas, author of Primal Fat Burner (Atria, 2017; Hardcover $26, Kindle $14, Nook $14). “Sauté your foods in plenty of fat, add avocados or olives to your plate and be generous with drizzling oils. If you look down at my dinner plate, you’ll see a little gloss over everything. That’s fat.” Gedgaudas’ favorite dishes include olive oil–coated zucchini noodles topped with ground beef ragù, pork loin and veggies stir-fried in 1⁄2 Tbs. of coconut oil and finished with 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, and cauliflower mashed with coconut cream, ghee and bone broth until creamy.

You’ll also want to keep your protein in check. “Unless you’re moderating your protein intake to just what the body needs for maintenance and repair, your diet won’t be effective,” explains Gedgaudas. To that end, eat no more than 2 to 3 oz. of protein (a serving the size of your palm, 3 eggs, 2 oz. of nuts or 8 oz. of bone broth) at each meal. Then fill the rest of your plate with a variety of leafy greens and non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, eggplant and peppers. For best results, avoid grains, legumes, sugar and processed foods and enjoy dairy in moderation (depending on your tolerance).

While it may look like there’s less food on your plate, you’ll quickly find yourself wanting less, Gedgaudas promises. “When your body is burning fat for fuel, it can go all day—even in the absence of regular meals—without ever losing energy, having mood swings or becoming something that rhymes with itchy.” But if you feel hungry between meals, reach for unlimited fat-rich snacks like guacamole, nut butter or toasted coconut chips to keep metabolism stoked. And for best results, incorporate these strategies:

PRIME THE BODY FOR FAT DIGESTION. “Simply adding more fats into your diet isn’t going to get you to your goal if your body cannot digest them,” asserts Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., a Columbia-trained nutritionist and author of The New Fat Flush Plan (McGraw-Hill, 2016; Hardcover $25, Kindle $14, Nook $15). To prepare the body, she advises starting the day with 8 oz. of hot water mixed with the juice of half a lemon. The citric acid in lemon stimulates the production of bile, which helps the liver break down dietary fats. This ensures that fats can be optimally turned into fuel.

GET A MIX OF FATS. “It’s crucial for the body to get a variety of different fats and fat-soluble nutrients,” explains Gedgaudas. Saturated fats, for example, are typically considered inflammatory, but Dr. Perlmutter says they’re actually essential for brain function. Other fats that play key roles in optimizing health and slimming: Medium-chain fatty acids (found in coconut oil and ghee) provide cellular energy; cholesterol (found in dairy and animal fats) is used to make hormones; and long-chain fatty acids (found in olive oil and avocados) nourish the heart—which is why NIH scientists report that heart function is 28 percent more efficient on a fat-rich diet.

OPT FOR NUTRIENT-DENSE PROTEINS. Aim to eat grass-fed and pasture-raised protein sources when possible—they contain as much as 200 percent more beneficial nutrients and fatty acids than grain-raised meat. These cuts may be more expensive, but Gedgaudas says you won’t spend more because you’ll only be consuming 2 to 3 oz. per meal. “This is the least expensive way to eat—it actually works out to being nearly $1,500 cheaper per person per year than the standard American diet.” To find a source of pastured meat, visit EatWild.com. And in the supermarket, take advantage of lower-priced cuts like bone-in and dark-meat cuts, suggests Carolyn Rush, author of Primal Tightwad. “In addition to being cheaper, dark meat

is more nutritionally dense than light meat,” says Rush. “And you can use the bones to make soup stock.”

FILL UP AT LUNCHTIME. “When you’re trying to lose weight, eat larger meals at lunch and lighter meals at dinner,” suggests Gedgaudas, noting metabolism tends to be higher in the middle of the day rather than the evening. In fact, in a recent study

in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, subjects who ate half their calories at lunch and 20 percent of their calories at dinner lost 25 percent more weight than dieters who did the opposite. Instead of a big dinner, consider bone broth–based soup, a large salad or a small serving of chicken with broccoli.