calorie counting

Calorie-obsessed health nuts down for the count

When you march into a local restaurant these days, you need more than a menu or a wine list.

The waiter ought to hand you a calculator!

We've become so obsessed with counting calories at every meal... at adding that 300 calorie ham sandwich from lunch with the 200 calorie bowl of oatmeal at breakfast... that it's a wonder we're still trailing the rest of the world in math!

But it turns out all that calorie counting isn't protecting your waist line -- it's just wasting your time.

Two of the most renowned weight-loss experts in America -- myself excluded, of course -- say the mainstream health nuts' calorie counting regimen isn't a roadmap to better health. But it could leave you sicker and fatter than ever!

In their research, just published in JAMA, Dr. David Ludwig and Dr. Mark Friedman say calorie counts are like magicians -- if you're not careful, they'll fool you every time. A chocolate chip cookie may have fewer calories than a handful of nuts, for example. But the nuts are going to protect your heart and brain, while the cookie will spike your insulin, trigger inflammation, and leave you hungrier than ever minutes later.

Let's face it. The mainstream Gestapo may want you to wheel an abacus to the dinner table. But the fact is, nobody ever got fat indulging in grass fed steaks, vegetables, and other healthy foods. It's time to focus on WHAT you're eating, and not some misleading number on the side of the package.

Because the mainstream's fixation on calories isn't just dangerous -- it could have you down for the count for good.

The easiest way to start your low-carb lifestyle

Here's my challenge for the New Year: If you're not ready to commit to a low-carb diet, take it out for a test drive, starting this week.

Try it out for just two days a week and see how you feel. Two days a week -- and that's it.

No dramatic instant lifestyle changes. No calorie counting. No gimmicks. No expensive protein shakes or, God help you, frozen "diet meals" that taste like they were left over from New Year's Eve in 1978.

Nope, forget all that -- and just try two days a week of the foods you love anyway: delicious steak, farm-fresh eggs (even the yolk), your favorite cheese and whatever fresh vegetables you like (or none at all if you prefer).

If that sounds easy, it's because it IS easy -- so easy you can do it no matter how many other diets you've failed on. And the latest research shows that just two days a week of the low-carb lifestyle works BETTER than full-time calorie counting.

In just two months, women who tried the part-time low-carb approach lost nine pounds -- while women who counted calories seven days a week lost only four pounds, which is a lot like losing nothing at all.

The part-time low-carbers also saw their insulin levels plunge by 18 percent -- versus a measly 4 percent in the low-calorie group.

Now, there's a catch here -- there always is -- and it's a pretty big one: I don't care how good those short-term numbers are... because if you're even remotely interested in long-term health, two days a week won't cut it.

The women in the study began to figure that out on their own: Despite having permission to eat whatever crap they wanted five days a week, most of them ate better EVERY day.

Now THAT'S how you live, people -- and if you go low-carb for just two days a week at first, you'll feel so good so fast you'll want to turn it into a seven-day lifestyle yourself.

But let's start with a small step -- start with two days. Take my New Year's challenge today -- and don't forget to drop me a line and let me know how you do.