I had an interesting experience last month while visiting Miami over New Year's. My cousin asked me what "the secret" was to staying trim. I paraphrased the last chapter of Why We Get Fat, by Gary Taubes. I told him the answer was to cut out sugar, flour, and starches- especially, beer, bread, soda, and anything with high fructose corn syrup. Essentially Taubes recommends a Paleo diet, high in protein, low in carbs, which supposedly prevents modern diseases like Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. However, though not Paleo, I found myself recommending Tim Ferris' 4 Hour Body and his Slow Carb method. Ferris allows for legumes like beans and peanuts as well as a massive weekly cheat day to allegedly reset metabolism, and he's a fun, accessible writer. I forwarded my cousin Ferris' Slow Carb cheat sheet from 4 Hour Chef, and Robb Wolf's Paleo Qickstart pdf from www.robbwolf.com. Both were helpful to me, though I initially just went cold turkey, and jumped in with a 30 Day Paleo Challenge. If you're interested, I recommend googling Robb Wolf (Paleo Solution), Art DeVany (New Evolution Diet), Mark Sisson (Primal Blueprint), Gary Taubes (Why We Get Fat), and Tim Ferris (4 Hour Body, etc). All have their unique take on things. Here's those summaries reprinted, for anyone who's interested:
