As we enter the twenty-first century, the United States has become one of the most overweight nations on earth. Currently, 59.4 percent of the adult population, approximately 97 million people, are overweight or obese. In other words, more than one out of every two people-every other person that you see-has a weight problem. This figure has increased by 8 percent in the last ten years-and is continuing to rise with no end in sight. Of that number, 12.5 million are severely overweight and 2 million are morbidly obese, meaning that they are severely at risk for life-threatening health conditions such as heart disease, cancers, stroke, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. And these figures represent only adults over the age of 20. During the last couple of decades, childhood obesity has also been on the rise. At present, 27.1 percent of children ages 6 to 11 are obese, as are 21.9 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18.Back in 1900, only 5 percent of Americans were obese. This figure is amazing when one considers that never before have people spent so much time, money, and energy trying to find out what causes them to be overweight and how to take off unwanted fat. We have more diet books, food programs, and health and exercise books to choose from than ever before. At any given time, 40 percent of all women and 25 percent of all men are dieting, and about one in three of these people are trying to maintain their weight. But according to the American College of Sports Medicine, people who diet gain back 67 percent of theirlost weight within a year, and the remainder within a five-year period. These individuals spend approximately $30 billion per year on commercial weight-loss programs and about $6 billion on weight-loss products. If you add to this the money spent on medical treatments and work days lost due to obesity-related illnesses, the total cost to society surpasses $100 billion per year.

In spite of the huge sums of money invested in weight loss and health care for the obese, each year Americans, as a whole, continue to become more overweight and unhealthier, not less so. While ten years ago only a quarter of the population was obese, now that figure has risen to a third. In fact, since 1943, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has had to change their height-and-weight tables three times to accommodate the changing state of American weight. More than 250,000 deaths a year are due to obesity-related health problems, making this the second-greatest preventable cause of death in the United States. These figures prove that there are widespread misconceptions about how we become overweight in the first place, what constitutes proper nutrition, and the relationship between exercise and body composition. All of us start out on an even playing field as infants, instinctively knowing that we have to eat regularly to fuel our metabolisms. When a baby is hungry, it cries until that need is satisfied. But as we get older, we become inculturated with the idea that hunger is a positive thing; we begin to associate the pain of wanting food as something that is good for us because it will keep or make us thin. Therefore, we eat less and develop inconsistent caloric patterns. But one day we wake up and see an overweight man or woman staring out at us from the mirror, and we don't have a clue about how we really got that way in the first place. We do not realize that the cultural effects of how we have been fueling ourselves have had an adverse metabolic impact on our bodies. We wound up getting fat because we did not provide our bodies with the right nutritional management system. The bottom line is that the diet and food-management programs currently available to us are not working. If they were, the people who follow these food programs would become fit, lean, and healthy-and they would stay that way. But they aren't and they don't. The saddest part of all is that every one of us who has been on a diet and gained back the weight-and who hasn't?-feels that he or she has failed. It is not uncommon for my clients to tell me that they have tried four or five different diets in their attempt to lose weight and to get healthier.A very successful 38-year-old man named Paul told me at our first meeting that he had been on numerous diets over the last few years. Paul is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 275 pounds. He had tried almost every popular diet program, including the Zone, the Atkins Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, and ultra-low-calorie programs, such as Optifast and Medifast. While he had lost many pounds in the short term, the extreme caloric deprivation coupled with the emotional and physical stresses of all these diet programs caused him not only to gain back the lost weight, but to gain even more. By the time he came to me for nutritional counseling, he was completely confused about the proper nutritional choices for his performance level, weight loss, and future health. There is only one way to experience permanent weight loss, greater energy, vibrant health, and improved quality of life: Adopt a food program based on one's metabolic type and unique nutritional requirements, and couple it with the appropriate exercise program. Proper nutrition is not something a person can figure out by looking at the current diet fads and marketing strategies that are being used as a ploy to get us to buy low-fat, low-sugar, and low-calorie products. We must be taught about foods and how they affect our bodies. We must learn how to chose reliable teachers and how to become "coach-able" regarding food management and proper exercise. We need to get onto the playing field of nutrition and see how certain concepts can dramatically improve our daily performance.

Where do these myths come from? Why do people believe in them so faithfully in spite of the obvious evidence that these dietary strategies do not help them to achieve any long-term weight loss or greater health benefits? Part of the problem is our steadfast belief in the power of science to always provide us with the correct answers. Most of the clients who come to me have been searching for years for answers to their questions about weight loss and health, and they have taken much of what they have read or heard in the media as scientific fact. The inherent problem is that much of this information does not work for them, or only works if they have a particular metabolic type that randomly matches the nutritional findings of the study. For example, there is a lot of information out there about high-carbohydrate diets, yet 74 percent of people in America are fat-and-protein-efficient and require 25 percent fat, 50 percent protein, and 25 percent carbohydrate in their daily diet in order to adequately fuel their bodies metabolically. With diabetes on the rise (a 33 percent increase over the last decade alone), it is clear that people are not receiving accurate information about how to manage carbohydrates in their food plan. In the scientific research I have read over the last couple of decades, I have found many inconsistencies and half-truths in what is presented to the general public as "science." All too often the results of nutritional research are based upon original faulty premises or test groups that are too small or limited in range. Here are some of the most common studies and theories, as well as their inherent inconsistencies and flaws. --from Turn Up the Heat by Philip L. Goglia, Copyright © May 2002, Viking Press, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc., used by permission.

Table of Contents

Preface, vii Acknowledgments, ix

Introduction: If We Are All on a Diet, Then Why Aren't We Thin?, xiii Part I-The Program, 1 1. Why America Can't Stay Thin, 3 Exposing the Myths Behind Dieting and Uncovering the Mystery Behind How Our Bodies Work 2. Turning Up the Heat, 25 Discovering Your Metabolic Type and Making It Work for You 3. Creating a Youthful Future, 62 Eating for Your Metabolic Type 4. Quickstart, 93 A 2- to 3-Week Program to Maximize Your Weight Loss 5. Maintenance, 102 Allowing Your Metabolism to Mature 6. Uncovering the Body You Were Born With, 112 Exercise Programs for Your Metabolic Type Part II-The Food Programs, 143

The Fat-and-Protein-Efficient Food Program, 145
12-Week Instructions and Meal Plans for Caloric Levels, 1-11
The Carbohydrate-Efficient Food Program, 203
12-Week Instructions and Meal Plans for Caloric Levels 1-11
The Dual-Metabolism Food Program, 267
12-Week Instructions and Meal Plans for Caloric Levels 1-11

Appendix A: Food List to Determine a 3-Day Caloric Average, 329
Appendix B: Turn Up the Heat Allowable Food Exchange List, 341
Appendix C: Turn Up the Heat Free Foods List, 349
Glossary, 351
Index, 353