#1 Absolute Best Diet To Lose Belly Fat For Good

hello health champions if you're one of the  millions of people who have tried various  

diets to lose weight and lose belly fat but  without results or maybe you had some results  

but the weight and the belly fat came right back  then this video is for you because today i want  

to talk about the best diet to lose belly  fat to lose weight for good forever and i  

want to emphasize i know you think this is sort of  self-explanatory but i want to emphasize a couple  

of things in this phrase for good that means to  not gain it back because if you lose the weight  

and then you gain it back then what was the point  of it all i know you're desperate and you just  

want to lose it fast you want to lose it now i  don't care but yes you do care you do not want  

to gain it back all right and the second word  is diet we want to get past the idea of a diet  

so many people think i'm going to do this for  a while i'm willing to do anything for a week  

a month three months but as soon as we have that  mindset then we're gonna do something for a while  

we get some results and then we're gonna stop  doing that something and we're gonna go back to  

doing the same thing that created the problem in  the first place and that's why we have hundreds  

of millions of people who are yo-yo dieting  because they're doing something for a while  

get over that idea what we have to do is adopt  a lifestyle adopt some principles around which  

calories but we're going to cover this in some  detail because a calorie is not a calorie is not a  

calorie it starts with high blood sugar high blood  glucose because that triggers high insulin levels  

and insulin does many things in the body but  one thing it causes indirectly is fat storage  

the insulin acts on the glucose the glucose gets  into the cell we can use some of it right now  

but most of it we're going to store for later  and most of that storage is going to be as fat  

but if we maintain that insulin high because we  keep eating frequent meals with high carbohydrate  

now that high insulin prevents us from using  that fat storage so even though we store all  

that energy we can't get to it as long as we  maintain high insulin one more thing happens  

and this is low blood sugar right  so if we eat high glucose high carbs  

frequently we teach the body to depend on that  but we also sort of confuse the body over time  

and the body learns to make a bunch of insulin  and oftentimes that's going to overshoot and  

it's going to push if we have high blood sugar  it's going to rebound and cause low blood sugar  

that's a glucose roller coaster that is why  a lot of people even with insulin resistance  

are going to have hypoglycemia so even though they  may have high blood sugar according to an a1c test  

in between they're actually hypoglycemic and this  is extra bad when you can't get to the fat storage  

because of high insulin so you have all this  energy stored you need some energy because of your  

low blood sugar but you can't get to it because  of that high insulin and now what the body does  

it says i gotta have some energy let's create  some cravings and a craving is an urgent need  

to bring your blood sugar up and this is why  they put a vending machine and a soda machine on  

every corner in every office and every business  in every school so that we can get a quick blood  

sugar fix we can get some comfort foods and  now of course that creates high blood sugar  

so we're sort of stuck in a loop and that makes  it very very difficult to get out of this loop  

because we're constantly hungry we have high  blood sugar but the high insulin keeps us from  

ever using that fat that we have in storage so  insulin is the first and most important thing  

we have to understand the second one is that low  blood glucose creates a second hormone it triggers  

the body's cortisol and cortisol is a messenger  that tells the body make more blood sugar  

all right so there are two ways you can do this  you can eat it by cravings or your body can  

generate it from glycogen or from protein  but you can't really get it from the fat  

still and so this cortisol raises blood sugar and  now you have a second loop where you get stuck  

and this is why it's so difficult to just eat  less because you're not really breaking this  

pattern and for a lot of people there's one more  factor called stress because what does stress do  

stress is a state where your body says i need more  energy because there's a threat there's something  

i gotta get done i'm having heightened demand  so we have to make more energy so no matter what  

your glucose levels are when you're stressed your  body still wants more because that's fast energy  

so stress is also going to create cravings  and stress is going to raise cortisol and if  

we want to lose belly fat for good we have  to be absolutely clear on what triggers  

insulin and we already said that it's triggered  by blood sugar but then obviously the next step is  

the foods that can become blood sugar and  carbohydrate is the obvious candidate but there's  

more to it first of all there's enormous confusion  around carbohydrate we hear all the time that  

white bread and processed carbs are  bad but complex carbs are good as in  

white bread is bad and whole wheat bread is  good it's not true it doesn't work like that  

high sugar things like candy and soda they're  out of the question everyone agrees on that but  

things that are starchy like white bread or  whole wheat there's still eighty percent starch  

they break down the same way the fact that one  has a smidgen of fiber makes no difference they  

break down into glucose within minutes and they  have a huge impact on blood sugar and insulin so  

any concentrated form of carbohydrate and starch  is a bad thing if you're trying to reduce insulin  

and lose weight so if we compare the  insulin response between different foods  

then high sugar and high starch we'd put  around a hundred okay there's some variation in  

in that group but just to give an idea  high starch carbohydrates and high sugars  

they're like a hundred how does that compare to  other foods well low sugar and low starch like  

berries and leafy greens and cauliflower and  broccoli and brussels sprouts and asparagus  

they're still all the energy that they have  pretty much is carbohydrate but there's so little  

of it it's mostly water so in comparison  a non-starch or low starch carbohydrate  

would only produce a fraction as much insulin  and that's why you can still eat those things  

even though they're all carbohydrate because it's  mostly water and if you're counting carbs then  

these are the kind of carbs you count but there  are other things that can turn into blood glucose  

if the protein you eat is like egg or meat then  a fairly high percentage gets turned into tissue  

because the composition matches the composition  of your body pretty closely but if you eat a  

much much less of that protein gets turned  into tissue which means more of it gets turned  

into glucose so protein can become glucose and  then it will affect insulin so on the low end  

it might be like something like this which  is more than the non-starchy carbohydrate  

and if it's on the high end it would be a little  bit more still but we have to understand that even  

though it turns into protein it's not in the same  way that this does it's not nearly as much and it  

is much much slower than carbohydrate so it has a  lesser and a slower impact which is very favorable  

and even fat can become glucose the fat itself  can't but the way we package fat in the body  

is called triglyceride three fatty acids on a  glycerol molecule and this glycerol is about  

five percent of the weight so a few percent of  the calories in fat can actually become glucose  

but again it's much much less and it's vastly  slower than either protein or carbohydrate so  

if we have a relative relationship in how  much insulin is produced this is pretty much  

what it looks like and why do we need to know  about cortisol why is that important because  

cortisol is a hormone that's produced in response  to stress and when you're stressed your body puts  

a break on the healing and inflammation so they  use that principle by giving you a medication that  

is the same molecule but man-made of cortisol and  if they give you a shot like in a joint somewhere  

they're going to call that cortisone cortisone  shot and if they give you a pill for a systemic  

effect it's going to be something like prednisone  and there's many different names to these they're  

called steroids and they're many different brand  names but what they all have in common is that  

they are glucocorticoids and the only thing you  need to know there is that it affects glucose and  

if there's any doubt as to how important how  profound this can be then just ask anyone who  

has been put on prednisone and they will tell  you in many many cases the side effects are  

weight gain high blood sugar increased thirst in  some extreme cases some more severe cases and also  

frequent urination and if you notice if you watch  some of my videos or if you're a diabetic you  

know that that's another word for diabetes high  blood sugar increased thirst frequent urination  

is diabetes so this is something that contributes  very very strongly to weight gain and diabetes  

so the best diet slash lifestyle is simply the  one that you can stick with right so we're not  

trying to promote a special brand or a special  diet we just want to understand how do they work  

and if you're in favor of calorie restriction then  you're probably going to get hungry so if you lose  

weight and you want to be if you're okay with  being hungry for the rest of your life if that  

works for you then that might be the diet for you  if you're okay with deprivation then that might be  

an okay diet for you and if you want to do it  like the people on the biggest loser and exercise  

four five six seven eight hours a day  and they lose enormous amounts of weight  

if you are comfortable with keeping  that up for the rest of your life  

then that might be the model for you but if you're  like most of us then we want to start applying  

these principles in an intelligent way then what  is it going to take for diet success and when i  

say diet i mean the principles governing your  food choices the proper food for humans well if  

you want to lose weight first you have to create a  calorie deficit that's a given but it's not enough  

because if that's all you do it will be short term  there'll be rebounds you can't keep it up and so  

forth that's why 98% of diets fail in addition  to that we have to solve the hunger deprivation  

problem we have to create a plan that will  keep us satisfied where we're full when we eat  

and not so hungry between meals we have to solve  the problem of unstable blood glucose because if  

it keeps being high and low every time it's high  you have insulin being high you can't burn fat  

every time it's low you're going to get cravings  and you get hunger and deprivation you have to get  

you to where you have metabolic flexibility that  your body can live off can create energy flexibly  

from whatever you give it and it can burn the  fat when you don't feed it for a little bit and  

when you feed it it knows what to do with it also  have to solve the problem of insulin resistance  

because when we have insulin resistance we can't  burn fat that insulin has to come down before  

the fat off the body is burned and  we also have to create a long-term  

lowered insulin resistance we have to become more  insulin sensitive to change our set point because  

if we can't change the set point then we will  have a rebound no matter how few calories you eat  

and most importantly it has to be satisfying and  so easy that you won't go back you can't go back  

because if you do then you're going to create the  problem all over again so let's talk through some  

of these variables and the different popular diets  so when i say usda i'm talking about the standard  

version standard recommendations that count  your calories eat low fat because fat is high in  

calories avoid saturated fat eat skimmed milk eat  lots of fruits and vegetables lots of grain lots  

of bread and all the other things that haven't  worked so initially you create a calorie deficit  

but how about hunger and cravings well you're  going to have plenty of them and what about  

stabilizing blood sugar no it won't do  that because you eat low fat and high carb  

and frequent meals so your blood sugars can  keep being all over the place because of that  

you're going to create some reduction in  insulin resistance just because you eat less but  

because of the unstable blood sugar you're not  going to solve your insulin resistance problem  

you're not going to be consistent enough you're  not going to be able to do it long enough to truly  

change that insulin resistance and therefore  you're also not going to change your set point  

and this is why almost every time this becomes a  yo-yo diet because the set point makes you rebound  

and can you create long-term health maybe if you  eat all of the whole foods even if they're low-fat  

you can probably create pretty good health but can  you stick to it probably not next we have low carb  

high fat which if you take the carbs very low then  you get into ketosis your diet is ketogenic and  

again you can create a calorie deficit now  the difference is you also address your blood  

sugar your hunger and cravings and your insulin  resistance very profoundly it's going to be very  

powerful in addressing all of these and because  of that it's much easier to create and to maintain  

that calorie deficit and what about the set  point well i put a question mark here because  

it depends on you for a lot of people doing low  carb high fat slash keto is going to be enough the  

majority of people will lose weight permanently  and have find it easy to maintain that but if  

your body is really stubborn what tends to happen  is you lose some weight and then you hit a plateau  

so for some people that set point does  not change enough will this create  

long-term health depends on the quality of the  foods you eat so you can eat low carb high fat  

and you can eat food with a bunch of chemicals you  can eat processed foods you can eat margarine and  

it will work for these four things but if you  put a bunch of chemicals and foreign stuff and  

frankin food in your body then that's not going  to create long-term health you might lose the  

weight and you get skinny but skinny people get  headaches and cancer and autoimmune disease and  

they suffer from a bunch of other things so you  want to look for the bigger picture and also look  

at the quality so you can create long-term health  next is intermittent fasting and this is one of  

the easiest ways to create a calorie deficit and  get good results because you eat fewer meals you  

go longer between meals it's much easier to eat  less you train your body to expect fewer meals now  

the rest of them as far as handling cravings and  blood sugar and insulin resistance and set point  

it's going to depend on the person and it's  going to depend on the type of foods you eat a  

lot of people can still keep eating pizza and ice  cream and not have cravings but for some people  

you're gonna have cravings unless you also combine  it with foods that are low insulin stimulating  

same thing with stable blood sugar some people  are going to be hyper and hypoglycemic unless  

they teach their body with good foods with  low carb foods whereas others can actually  

become metabolically flexible still  eating pizza and ice cream same thing  

with insulin resistance same thing  with set point it's going to depend  

on the person if you eat more carbs it can still  work but you're going to have more insulin swings  

so it's going to be adequate for some people and  not for others same thing with long-term health  

it's going to depend on the quality of the food  skinny people get sick too and what about paleo  

paleo is where you eat like people ate before  agriculture before civilization so now you cut out  

the dairy you cut out the grain you cut out sugar  and processed foods and if you're a more strict  

version you also cut out beans and various forms  of legumes and this is going to give you a huge  

advantage over the standard usda because you're  going to naturally eat lower carb not necessarily  

super low carb but you're going to eat low carb  you're going to stabilize blood sugar you're  

going to improve all of these but depending on how  sensitive you are it may or may not be enough okay  

if you have stubborn metabolism you may have to  go lower carbs than that allows for paleo can be  

a keto diet so then you would get more and more of  those benefits same thing with the mediterranean  

diet what does mediterranean really mean it's  just more of the type of foods they eat around  

the mediterranean but that's a huge variety so  for most people that just means that they eat  

more whole foods and less processed foods so  it's kind of like the paleo but they do allow  

some bread and the biggest difference is that  they eat more olive oil so in that sense it's a  

higher fat diet than the usda and you're getting  it from a whole food source because the olive oil  

that they're eating is still a relatively stable  and healthy fat source so how does it help with  

all these other factors well it's exactly like  the paleo it depends on what you do with it if  

you understand what we said about insulin and  cortisol then you can adapt it you can make it  

low carb or you can make it high carb but the  advantage is it has more whole foods and it has  

some good healthy fats in there then how can we  check off all of these boxes well now we go to  

what i call ideal or clean keto we eat low  carb high fat to the degree that we need as  

low as it takes to correct the problem in our  case and then we also understand that margarine  

is not a good food chemicals are not good  processed high fat low carb foods are still not  

great food and now we start addressing obviously  the same four as previously but we also getting  

some long-term health what about set point well  for an even larger number we're talking probably  

95 percent of people are now going to have  success in permanent weight loss they're going  

to lose weight they might have a short plateau  but then they'll keep losing again but if you're  

among the most stubborn then you'll hit that you  lose a little weight then you hit that plateau  

and just getting in ketosis is not enough what  those people have to do if you're among the most  

stubborn now you also have to add intermittent  fasting and now we get to check all the boxes how  

much intermittent fasting depends on how stubborn  your plateau is if you do 16 or 18 or 20 hours and  

it works great if not you got to do 24 or 36 or  48 and then once you have addressed all of these  

now you can have permanent weight loss and  then you'll have some flexibility to vary  

the amount of fasting period and the amount of  carbohydrates and so forth but you understand  

what governs these principles you can eat  till you're full and you can have a satisfying  

lifestyle for the rest of your life if you enjoyed  this video you're going to love that one and if  

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