WATER

Most people I know are guilty of not drinking enough water. Drinking adequate amounts of every day is absolutely essential for weight loss.

If you don’t drink enough water, you will simply not get the full weight loss effect that you’re after. Water helps your kidneys work at full capacity. When your kidneys aren’t working at full capacity, the liver needs to help out. 

The problem with this is that the liver is responsible for metabolizing fat in your body. When your liver is helping out the kidneys, it can’t do its job as well as metabolizing the fat we need to burn. 

When on The 2 Week Diet, you will lose water weight along with body fat. Remember, water weight is still weight and partly responsible for your body bloating and tight fitting clothes. 

The fact is, carbohydrates are hydrophilic (which means they cause water retention) and water retention is not something we want. Protein, on the other hand, encourages water to be released from the body. 

Once you restrict your carbohydrate intake, you will begin to let loose of that stagnant water that is being stored in your body. Because of this, it is essential that you consume enough water every day to avoid dehydration. 

Further, water acts your body’s filter, flushing out our dead cells and waste. Because you are burning a great deal of fat during The 2 Week Diet, you will need ample water to help flush out the by-product waste of fat burning. 

You will find that when you restrict the amount of carbohydrates you eat and increase the amount of water you drink, your body stops storing water and will begin to use it more effectively. 

This results in a lighter and “cleaner” body. My advice is to drink 8-10 glasses of water every single day. 

This amounts to about half a gallon of water. This may seem like a lot of water at first and you may have to actually force yourself to drink that much in the beginning. However, once you do this for a while, you will regain your natural thirst and actually be thirsty for this much water every single day. And again, once you begin drinking this much water, you will find that your body will not retain water, but will instead use it to flush your system keeping it clean and functioning right.


Click image The 2 Week Diet

DIET OVERVIEW

Following The 2 Week Diet typically results in body fat losses of 3/4 to 1 pound of fat every day. When you add The 2 Week Workout to the diet, fat loss is typically over 1 pound per day. Because of this, you will start to see some nice progress in just a couple of days after starting. In following this diet without deviation, I have yet to find anyone not being able to lose at least 10 pounds in the 14 day period. 

During my trial of this diet—before ever releasing it publicly—I lost 23 lbs in 14 days. It truly was nothing short of miraculous… and I have been excited to share this breakthrough ever since. 

The 2 Week Diet is similar to a Protein Sparing Modified Fast, in that we will “trick” the body into entering a 24/7 fat-burning “starvation” mode, while we provide it with the appropriate amount of protein that it needs so that lean body mass is spared… not to mention the added thermic effect of digesting that protein. In addition to carbohydrate restriction and strategic protein consumption, we will add quality, healthy fats to enhance our fat-burning goals. While carbohydrates are NOT essential to the human body, we cannot live without protein and fat. 

Interestingly, we could eat all the carbohydrates we wanted and could still die of starvation if we did not have fat and protein in our diet. We restrict carbohydrates in this diet because it immediately stops adding to the fat cells we already have AND it forces our bodies to burn fat for all of our daily energy needs. We limit the fat in this diet to EFAs (essential fatty acids) and the trace amounts of fat in the allowed foods.

 Limiting (but not completely eliminating) fat will force our bodies to burn stored fat rather than to use dietary fat (the fat we eat) for our energy needs. Keep in mind that our bodies do need a certain amount of fat every day for proper functioning. 

However, your body doesn’t care if it gets the fat from your diet or from the fat stored on your hips, thighs, belly and butt. So, we will give your body the kind of fat it loves and needs in the form of EFAs. We increase our protein consumption because it helps preserve lean body mass and it keeps our metabolisms cranked up. Also, digesting protein burns a ton of calories due to its chemical structure that makes it far more difficult to digest than fat and carbohydrates. 


Protein keeps you full for hours and the amino acids in protein are an absolute requirement to sustain your life and to keep you healthy. Keep in mind that this diet is about maximizing what we need while reducing/restricting what we don’t. 

Click image The 2 Week Diet

A “fast” metabolism is the true secret to maintaining a lean body.

FIBER


Fiber is actually a carbohydrate but I felt the need to devote a specific section to fiber because of the misinformation surrounding it. In most low-carb diets, fiber carbohydrates are not counted as “dangerous” weight-gaining carbohydrates. 

This is because fiber cannot be digested by the human body. Since fiber is not digested by the body, it does not create a rapid rise in blood sugar like other carbohydrates. But beware! There are two schools of thoughts on fiber. 

While modern medicine encourages a diet high in fiber, there are other medical researchers that state too much fiber is the cause of numerous diseases and irregularities such as constipation, IBS, Chron’s disease, colon cancer and others. If you’d like to see some of the latest research on fiber and how it may be causing irreparable damage to your body, I strongly encourage you to visit www.GutSense.org. Now, after that’s being said about fiber, fiber is not going to create any complications for you in normal portions. 


However, you should be sure to get your fiber from vegetables and salad greens rather than forcing yourself to get 30 grams per day as recommended by the mainstream medical community. If you are concerned about constipation, some researchers believe that constipation itself is caused by too much fiber in the diet. Increasing your water intake during this diet is essential to good health, proper kidney functioning and it has remarkable effects on relieving constipation.


METABOLISM


The primary function of our metabolism is simply to provide the right amount of fuel (at the right time) to keep our bodies alive and functioning. It accomplishes this through a complex series of chemical reactions whereby food is converted to the energy we need. 


When we eat, the food we swallow enters our digestive tract and is broken down by digestive enzymes. Carbohydrates are converted to glucose, fats to fatty acids and protein to amino acids. Once these nutrients are broken down, they are absorbed by the bloodstream and carried into the cells of the body. 

Our metabolism then works to either release these nutrients as energy, use them to build and repair lean tissue or store them for later use. There are two basic metabolic processes—one is constructive and is responsible for building and storing energy for the body. 

The other is destructive, though in a positive sense, as it breaks down nutrient molecules to release energy. The constructive metabolic process is called anabolism, whereas the destructive process is called catabolism. Anabolism: promotes the growth of new cells, the maintenance and repair of tissues, and the storage of energy—usually through body fat—for future use.


 Small nutrient molecules are converted into larger molecules of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Catabolism: is responsible for immediately providing the body energy to use. Instead of building up, it breaks down the nutrient molecules to release energy. 

These two processes do not occur simultaneously but are balanced by the body based on several factors. Catabolism, in particular—though some attribute this to overall metabolism—has three components: 1. Basal metabolism: sometimes called resting metabolism, this is the metabolism component responsible for keeping you alive by ensuring normal body functions. Even if you were bedridden the whole day, basal metabolism is still at work. 

Basal metabolism is metabolism’s main component, as 60 to 70 percent of the calories from the food you eat The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 26 are used for this. People who want to lose weight usually aim for a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR). 2. Physical movement: this can range from a simple moving of your fingers to strenuous exercise. Usually 25 percent of the calories you consume are for this purpose. 3. Thermic effect of food: this indicates the digestion and processing of the food you take in.

 Depending on the type of nutrient you consume, approximately 10% of the calories of the food you eat are burned through this. As you will see, the digestion of certain foods will require much more calorie expenditure than others. 

Protein takes a lot of calories to digest while carbohydrates take far less. Thus, taking all this into account, here is our metabolism formula: Calories From Food = Calories Expended From Basal Metabolism (60-70%) + Calories Expended By Physical Movement (25%) + Calories Expended Digesting Food (10%) What Affects Metabolism? Your metabolic rate, or how fast or slow your metabolism works, is influenced by a number of factors: • Genetics: yes, metabolic rate is also inherited. 

Sometimes this makes an entire world of difference between a person who can eat almost everything and not gain an ounce and a person who easily balloons after indulging just once. • Age: the younger you are, the faster your metabolism is. Metabolism slows down as you age. 


Women’s metabolic rate starts falling at the age of 30; for men, decline starts later at the age of 40. • Gender: men have a faster metabolic rate—usually 10-15 percent faster—than women because their bodies have a larger muscle mass. Muscle plays a key role in a fast metabolism, as will be discussed in exercise portion of The 2 Week Diet. • Amount of lean body mass: as already mentioned above, more muscle = faster metabolism. • Diet: some foods will help you, some will only harm you. While timing is not everything, meal frequency greatly affects your metabolism. The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 27 • Stress level: stress is inversely proportional to metabolism. The more stressed you are subjected to, the lower your metabolism will be. • Hormones: specific hormones metabolize specific nutrients. 

How well the hormones work, then, directly affects metabolism. To a certain extent, diet and stress levels affect the hormones involved in metabolism, as you will find out later. Hormonal disorders or imbalances can affect metabolism as well. 

Looking at all these factors that influence metabolism, you now probably have a general idea of what you need to do to increase your metabolism—accept the things you cannot change, and work on those that you can!


click here image The 2 Week Diet

THE FOOD PYRAMID AND OBESITY

Now, the last thing I could ever be called is a “conspiracy theorist” but you might think otherwise after reading what I have to say about the USDA Food Pyramid. I’m certainly not trying to turn this diet into a political debate, but the fact is, the USDA plays an important role in the economy of our country. And what goes into the food pyramid will, in turn, dictate how much money we spend on certain food products. 

Take a look at the USDA Food Pyramid that has shaped the way most American eat over the past few decades. 

As you can see, our own government recommends we get over 2/3 of our daily nutrition from carbohydrate laden foods (bread, rice, pasta, fruits and vegetables) and only about 20% of our food from protein sources—the primary nutrient that keeps us alive! It’s no wonder that nearly 50% of the US population is considered to be overweight! The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 23 I think the Harvard School of Public Health said it best in their famed article, What Should You Really Eat? Here’s an interesting excerpt: In the children’s book “Who Built the Pyramid?”, different people take credit for building the once-grand pyramid of Senwosret. 

King Senwosret, of course, claims the honor. But so does his architect, the quarry master, the stonecutters, slaves, and the boys who carried water to the workers. 

The USDA’s MyPyramid also had many builders. Some are obvious—USDA scientists, nutrition experts, staff members, and consultants. Others aren’t. Intense lobbying efforts from a variety of food industries also helped shape the pyramid.

 According to federal regulations, the panel that writes the dietary guidelines must include nutrition experts who are leaders in pediatrics, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and public health. 


Selecting the panelists is no easy task, and is subject to intense lobbying from organizations such as the National Dairy Council, United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Soft Drink Association, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and Wheat Foods Council. 


click image The 2 Week Diet 

What the Body Needs and What it Doesn’t

NUTRIENTS

Our bodies need , vitamins, minerals and water for good health and proper functioning. Amazingly, the human body is capable of producing thousands of nutrients that it needs to sustain its own life. 

The nutrients that the body manufactures itself are known as “nonessential” nutrients because the body is able to actually produce those nutrients itself and it’s not essential that you go out and get them from the food you eat. 

Nonessential nutrients: the nutrients manufactured by your body that you do not need to get from the food you eat. Conversely, “essential nutrients” are those nutrients that you must get from the food you eat. To sustain life, it is essential that you get these nutrients from your dietary intake. 

Essential nutrients: the nutrients you must get from your diet because they are not being made in the body. Some examples of essential nutrients include water, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. One very common nutrient that has been purposely omitted here are carbohydrates. 

The biological fact of the matter is that there is not a single  that is essential to the human diet… Not sugar… Not starch… Not fiber. The fact is, carbohydrates do not provide any nutritional benefit to the human body—none whatsoever. You will learn a lot more about this in the coming sections. 

The 2 Week Diet is about maximizing the nutrients that we do need while restricting those that we do not. Really, it is all about eating the right foods in the right quantities at the right time. When done correctly, we are able to put our body into a 24/7 fat burning mode.