A real diet for real people

This is going to be the simplest book about food and fitness that you will ever read.

I mean, really simple.

You’re not going to learn anything about food pyramids. You won’t need calorie-counting charts. You’re not going to have to walk around a grocery store with a calculator figuring out fat grams. And you’re not going to have to order any of those absurdly complicated contraptions that are advertised on infomercials which promise you the perfect body.

And most important, you’re not going to read one word about "dieting." Not one. I’m not into fads. I’m not into myths. And I have made it my mission in life to destroy the myths that have held so many of you back for far too long.

I’ll bet many of you still believe you must radically cut back on food and starve yourself in order to get thin.

I’ll show you exactly the opposite is true.

Larry North talks mean – and lean – in his book Larry North’s Slimdown for Life The Real Diet for Real People (320 pp., available at National Book Store). He understands the problem really well. Fact is, he grew up with it: His grandmother weighed a hefty 300 pounds. At 6, his mother was the fattest girl – and the butt of jokes – in the neighborhood. It weighed heavily on his mind as he saw his mother take a roller coaster ride via assorted diet programs that only made her lose hope. That made him really sad but with a stout heart, he dreamt of becoming a weight loss and fitness expert. Today, his radio show has convinced a lot of Americans to go North – and follow his 21-Day Slimdown for Life program (sorry, our space is not big enough to reprint that here).

So let’s face North as he shares these delicious secrets:

• There’s research that proves that we do ourselves more harm than good by not eating. The same research is showing us how we can make our bodies work to our advantage through some basic changes in what we eat and how we eat, and by adding in only small amounts of exercise.

• The first thing you need to do to get lean is to get the food you eat past your fat cells and into your muscle tissue, where it is easier to burn off. And there are three types of food that will race for your muscles like thoroughbred horses: protein, starchy carbs and fibrous vegetables.

1. Proteins: If your body does not get enough of protein in your diet, it will start eating away at the muscles. Proteins include all your meats. But what we’re pushing for here are cuts of boneless, skinless turkey breast, white-meat chicken, white fishes, egg whites, the very leanest cuts of beef, such as sirloin and eye of round steak, center-cut pork tenderloin, canned tuna, chicken or turkey in water, nonfat dairy products, and protein powders.

2. Starchy carbs: Not the simple carbohydrates with lots of sugar and refined flour such as cakes and cookies or processed food that comes in a box like pasta and cereals, but starchy carbs like brown rice, yams, grits, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, oat bran, corn, whole-grain breads, whole-grain pastas, shredded wheat, black-eyed peas, lima beans, black beans, white beans, pinto beans, etc.

3. Fibrous vegetables: Composed primarily of water and nutrients, these include broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green and red peppers, asparagus, celery, spinach, lettuces, green peas, tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, squash, cabbage, radishes, onions, zucchini, and cucumbers. They’re full of vitamins and are invaluable to the digestive system, acting like a scrubbing brush that cleans out cells and eliminates water retention. More, they reduce the levels of insulin in the blood that can stimulate the appetite.

If you start eating the aforementioned proteins, starchy carbs and fibrous vegetables, and if you eat them at regular times during the day, your body’s metabolic rate (or the rate at which your body burns most of the calories in the food you eat) will rise in order to process those foods. Because those foods start burning while you eat them, they produce the kind of heat in your body that causes the metabolism to soar. In a sense, they will trigger a chain reaction that makes you burn even more calories.

• To boost your metabolism so that you lose more weight, research shows you must do gentle – repeat, gentle – exercise. If you haven’t exercised for years, don’t worry. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, men who get their aerobic exercise simply by doing everyday activities such as walking, gardening, and engaging in light, leisure-time sports have hearts as healthy as men who exercise three times as much in more traditional ways.

• Learn to read nutrition labels. "Nutrition facts" can be misleading. Like "light" or "lite" only means that the product contains one-third fewer calories than usual – which could still mean you are taking in a lot of "fat calories." And here’s another common mistake: People who buy "2 percent milk" think they’re getting only a small percentage of fat in their milk. Truth is, they’re only getting 2 percent less fat than what’s in whole milk. And guess how much fat is in whole milk? Almost half of the calories that come from a glass of whole milk – 49.2 percent – are "fat calories."

North whips up this must grocery list if you want to follow the narrow path to weight loss:

Produce

The fresh vegetables to buy are carrots, spinach, peppers, cucumbers, onions, mushrooms, squash, lettuce, asparagus, celery, tomatoes, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, baking potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, yams, zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower, eggplant, and Brussels sprouts. The beans to buy are red beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, sweet peas, and green peas. The grains to buy are brown rice, basmati rice, wild rice, oats, wheat berries, couscous, corn, barley, buckwheat, groats, millet, bulgur, whole corn grits, etc.

Fruit

Fruit may be fibrous and may have great nutrients, but it doesn’t promote weight loss. The calories that come from fruit are easily stored as fat. This is not to say you should avoid fruit. It’s a perfect snack – like nature’s candy. But just be moderate about your fruit intake and look for fruits that are lower in sugar than others.The lower-sugar fruits are strawberries, apples, pears, and berries. A little higher in sugar, but still okay, are grapefruit, cantaloupe, mangoes, tangerines, oranges, honeydew, papayas, plums, and nectarines. Highest in sugar are bananas, pineapples, peaches, grapes and watermelon, but of course, they can still be a part of your eating program. Beware of dried fruits as these are loaded with sugar calories.

Meat And Fish

Beef up on the following meats: skinless turkey breast; white-meat chicken (it’s 4 percent fat vs. dark-meat chicken which is over 40 percent fat); white-meat fishes (like cod, shrimp, mussels, lobster and crab meat); the very leanest cuts of beef such as sirloin, eye of round steak, and roast beef; and center-cut pork tenderloin.

Dairy Products

Say ‘Cheese!’ but to get lean, treat cheese – and milk – as treats, not staples. Thank God for nonfat dairy substitutes! Now, you’ve got low-fat butters and margarines.

‘Health’ Foods

Natural peanut butter has more fat than regular peanut butter. Six ounces of tofu contain a whopping 16 grams of fat. Granola is high in fat as well. Avocados, coconuts, olives, nuts, and seeds are mostly 80 percent fat. A dried fruit such as raisins has 210 calories per half-cup.

Dressings, Sauces and Oils

Oil’s not well. Like salad dressing, vegetable cooking oil, cooking spray, butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, and margarine. It’s oil that makes fried food so fattening. A single tablespoon of that oil contains 120 calories of fat. If you must use oil, look for one that claims to be either monosaturated or polyunsaturated, but remember, the less oil the better.

To add flavor to your food (and years to your life), try those nonfat condiments and spices like, to name some: tabasco, picante sauce, yellow and Dijon mustards, seasoned vinegars, balsamic and wine vinegars, canned tomato paste, horseradish, canned fat-free sauces, fat-free dressings, teriyaki and soy sauces, fat-free taco seasoning mixes, and fat-free onion soup mixes.

Desserts

If you can’t resist dessert, have a sugar-free and fat-free pudding, popsicle, fat-free ice cream or even a fat-free candy just to curb a sweet tooth.

Snacks

Don’t think that just because a product is low fat or fat free it is not loaded with calories. You may end up gaining weight by taking too much of this low-fat stuff. If you’re going to snack, you can pop into your mouth some plain popcorn that you microwave (but make sure it’s not cooked with cooking oil that says "natural flavored" which has as much fat as butter flavored).

Beverages

Any noncaloric soft drink is fine. But do not be fooled by "sports drinks." They are not necessary for a fitness program and they’re loaded with sugar. Fruit juices are basically water loaded with sugar. If you want fruit, eat the real thing so you can get the fiber.

Soft Drinks, Alcohol, and Coffee

A 12-ounce can of nondiet soda has 40 grams of sugar. Divide 40 grams by four (which is the number of sugar grams in a teaspoon) and you have 10 – repeat, 10 – teaspoons of sugar. What’s more, note that fruit juices have more sugar, ounce per ounce, than soda does.

Despite studies that say that alcohol helps the heart, alcohol will get you fat in a hurry. More, you tend to want to eat fat when you drink. If you should drink, opt for lower-calorie beverages like wine spritzers and light beer.

Your body’s metabolism would run at absolute peak efficiency if you drank only water and kept all caffeine out of your system. But caffeine won’t cause you to gain weight, and as long as you are moderate with it, you’ll be fine.

Here’s to a delicious way to losing weight:

Slimdown Recipes Fiesta Bean and Corn Salad

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 pound frozen corn, defrosted

1 jalapeño, chopped

1 15-ounce can black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed

3-4 tbsps. fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the flavors develop. Serve with baked corn tortilla chips. Makes 12 servings.

Classic Vegetable Pizza

Tomato sauce

Fat-free mozzarella cheese, grated

Sliced mushrooms

Diced green pepper

Diced onion

Spread tomato sauce on your crust. Add remaining ingredients. Bake or broil at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes or until cheese melts.

Chicken And Rice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat

2 cans chicken broth, defatted

1 tsp. chopped garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

1-1/2 cups uncooked white or brown rice

1/2 tsp. favorite herb, thyme, tarragon or rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound frozen peas

Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Brown in a little bit (1-2 tsps.) of chicken broth in a large sucepan. When browned, add the garlic and onion. Cook until they brown. Add the rice and seasoning, stirring to mix well. Combine the broth with enough water to make 3 cups. Pour into the chicken and rice mixture. Bring to a boil over high heat. Let boil a minute or two, cover, then reduce the heat to low and cook without stirring for 20 minutes for white rice or 45-50 minutes for brown rice. Add the peas, cover, and cook an additional 5-7 minutes. Stir and serve. Yields 4 servings.

Taco Casserole

3 cupsrice

1-1/2 pounds 90% lean or better ground meat, cooked

1 onion, chopped

2 16-ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 pound corn

1 package taco mix

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

2 cans pinto beans

1 16-ounce can stewed tomatoes

1 tsp. cumin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil rice. Brown ground beef, and rinse in a colander under hot running water. Combine with the remaining ingredients. Bake for 20 minutes.