Free The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life by Joel Fuhrman Page A

which contain fewer calories per tablespoon than oil. At the same time, the body doesn’t absorb all of the fat calories of nuts and seeds. Plus, the fats in nuts and seeds are slowly absorbed, satiating hunger. They stabilize blood glucose at a low level, reducing fat-storage hormones and encouraging your body to burn fat for its energy needs. Nuts and seeds are also rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals, and when eaten with other nutrient-rich foods, they increase the absorption of phytochemicals and antioxidants from those foods as well. They offer unique health benefits that effectively protect against heart disease and cancer. 19
    Nuts and seeds are also a plant-food source of protein. Nuts and seeds (and avocados) are natural plant sources of the healthful fats weneed. Fats in nuts and seeds are rich in sterols, stanols, fibers, minerals, lignans, and other health-promoting nutrients that help lower cholesterol. They are linked in numerous scientific studies to a slimmer waistline and longer lifespan.
    Researchers have found that including nuts and seeds in your diet can help you lose weight. Although they aren’t low in calories and are relatively high in fat, eating them may actually satisfy hunger and suppress appetite. I find that eating a small amount of nuts or seeds helps dieters feel satiated, stay with the program, and have more success at long-term weight loss. Seeds give you all the advantages of nuts, plus more. They are generally higher in protein than nuts and have many additional, important nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids and anticancer lignans (which will be discussed later).
    A recent study compared a traditional Mediterranean diet with one that substituted nuts for oil. According to the study, the Mediterranean diet minus the nuts did not lessen atherosclerotic plaque. The version that substituted nuts for the oil, however, did. 20 The Mediterranean diet was further evaluated in Spain, randomizing 7,216 men and women to include either nuts or olive oil. The group consuming more than three servings of nuts per week had a 39 percent reduced all-cause mortality over the average 4.8 years of follow-up, compared with the group not consuming nuts. 21
    Today, people who live along the Mediterranean are overweight, just like us. They still eat lots of olive oil, but their consumption of fruits, vegetables, and beans is down. Meat, cheese, and fish consumption has risen, while their level of physical activity has plummeted. They have become more like Americans. Utilize the healthful aspects of the Mediterranean diet, but leave behind its weaknesses so that you don’t merely reduce heart disease and obesity a little bit, but eliminate them altogether. Even people with a family history of heart disease can be free of heart disease forever with a nutritarian diet.
    Wheat: How Worried Should We Really Be?
    In his popular book Wheat Belly , William Davis, M.D., advises people to avoid wheat products entirely. He contends that modern “genetically altered” wheat is the main reason our society is sick and overweight. By genetically altered, he doesn’t mean genetically modified; instead, he merely refers to the cross-breeding of wheat cells over the years. This, according to Davis, is the chief cause of diabetes, heart disease, and the nation’s obesity epidemic. He lets off the hook sugar, white rice, soda, oil, fried potatoes, bacon, commercial meats, and cheeseburgers, placing the blame predominantly on wheat.
    Throughout the book, Davis attributes negative qualities to “wheat” but then proceeds to demonstrate and reference the negative effects of white flour, a highly processed form of whole wheat. His lack of precision here is confusing and not scientific. The more finely you grind a grain into flour, the higher its glycemic load becomes. Whole wheat pastry flour, for instance, has a higher glycemic index than coarsely ground whole grains, which are more glycemic than intact whole grains such