Automatic weight loss
If you want to lose weight in a (very healthy!) hurry, here’s an amazing trend to try: Simply eat veggies, high- quality protein and good-for-you fats before anything else. “You don’t have to stress about calories or being hungry— and no food is ‘bad’ or off-limits. Just eat the good stuff first,” says The Setpoint Diet author Jonathan Bailor, who’s helped hundreds of thousands of folks slim down while reversing diabetes, low energy and hormonal issues. “People are always incredibly surprised, but once you eat enough of the right things, your brain and hormones take over to get you lean automatically.” Readers back him up, telling us they’ve used this way of eating to drop up to 16 pounds in a single week. Wow! B ailor’s guidelines may sound too simple to work, but consider this: A University of Florida review of 87 studies found that dieters who eat mostly highquality foods lose far more weight than those who eat lower-quality fare. And a Harvard team determined that focusing on quality is more effective than counting calories at reducing belly fat and other risk factors of diabetes. Says UCLA’S Theodoros Keleidis, M.D., PH.D., an NIH researcher and fan of Bailor’s plan: “I am often asked if there is a proven prescription for weight loss. This is that prescription.” It certainly worked wonders for Jean Simmons, 80. In under five months, she went from a size 20 to a size 10— and was able to move out of a nursing home. Notes Bailor: “I want people to know that the more high-quality food you eat, the higher your quality of life will be.” Get lean automatically As a young health coach, Bailor used to recommend cutting calories. “But people tried so hard for little or no results,” he recalls. Looking for a better way, he read more than 1,300 studies and grilled countless scientists.
Ultimately, he learned we each have a “setpoint”—a narrow weight range “that the body fights to maintain no matter how much we eat,” he explains. In a famous eight-week Mayo Clinic study, volunteers were overfed by 56,000 calories each; some put on nine pounds, but others gained virtually none. “Those with lower setpoints automatically burned nearly 56,000 extra calories,” notes Bailor, who experimented to find the easiest setpoint-lowering techniques. “A diet full of nonstarchy vegetables—10 or more servings a day—plus plenty of high-quality proteins and whole-food fats is all it takes.”
How does this lower your setpoint exactly? Bailor’s guidelines load you up on so many nutrients that steady blood sugar and ease inflammation (like fiber, protein, antioxidants and good fats) that you begin to want fewer foods that spike blood sugar and inflammation (like sugar, grains and processed food). And this has a huge impact on setpoint. “Poorly controlled blood sugar causes a cascade of hormonal problems that trigger cravings, pack on belly fat and drive setpoint up; meanwhile, steadying blood sugar has the opposite effect,” Bailor notes. There’s also evidence that inflammation affects the brain in a way that raises setpoint. “University of Washington researchers found that eating antioxidant-rich veggies and omega-3–rich seafood relieves this inflammation, leading to a nice drop in setpoint. And bringing down brain inflammation improves overall well-being too.”
Real-world wow!
“Cutting calories made me cranky, but not slim,” recalls Texas mom Lavanya Challa, 37. Using Bailor’s techniques, “I got my servings of veggies, protein and whole-fat foods. I was never hungry and found I stopped craving sugary stuff. The next thing I knew, my belly was four inches smaller!”
Then there’s Christine Biswabic, 51. At 270 pounds, “every diet I tried left me miserable,” recalls the Wisconsin mom. Then she heard Bailor in a podcast. “I started with just one thing: increasing my intake of vegetables. I added them to omelets and meatloaf and found frozen cauliflower tots and zucchini noodles that I love.” As it felt easier, she worked in more protein and healthy fat. “There’s plenty I didn’t give up—like cheese and mashed potatoes. I just eat a lot less now because I fill up on the quality foods. I lost 104 pounds. I’m healthy and medication-free. And I did it without dieting!”