The Badass Body Diet: The Breakthrough Diet and Workout for a Tight Booty, Sexy Abs, and Lean Legs (7 page)

________ I understand that to take care of my body is to nurture the most valuable physical resource I have.

Signature: ________________________________________ Date:__________

Make this 21-day promise to yourself, and make it non-negotiable—no matter what happens in your life. Just 21 days. I know you can do it.

Of course, when I say 21 days, I don’t want you to stop there. I want you to follow this way of living on a daily basis, well into the future.

But if you at least make the 21-day pledge to yourself, you’ll love the results—in how you feel, mentally and physically, and in how you look. Congratulations on taking the first step!

As you and I go through this program together, I want you to periodically check your progress against your benchmarks. Have you dropped pounds? Have you shaved off body fat percentages? Do you look leaner in the mirror? Have you noticed that you’ve developed some attractive muscle? Are you controlling your portions and feeling nice and full? Are you feeling more confident and empowered?

Answering yes to any of those questions is powerful motivation for sticking to the plan and changing your lifestyle. If your resolve ever starts to slip, look at how far you’ve come from those benchmarks, and there’s no way you’ll turn back.

Booty Foods

WE WOMEN DO A
lot to look good on the outside. We pluck our eyebrows, color our hair, get our bikini lines in order, and slather on skin creams and makeup. But when it comes to the inside, many of us let ourselves go. We put crap in our bodies and let them deteriorate through lack of use.

I’ll use the analogy of a car engine to explain what I’m talking about. Put sugar in the gas tank and you’ll crack the engine. By contrast, put high-octane gas in the tank and your car will run better and longer the car. The human body is the same: the higher the quality of fuel you ingest, the longer you’ll be able to run without costly maintenance and the longer it’ll be before you break down for good. On the highway of life, you want to zip along like a well-tuned Ferrari, running on quality fuel.

You get that fuel from the right kind of nutrition.

MEET THE MACROS

If you haven’t met, let me introduce you to the
macronutrients,
or “macros,” for short: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Everything you eat, from cereal in the morning to a steak for dinner, is made up of macros. This “trifecta of success” provides energy, measured as calories, to maintain life. There are also
micronutrients
in food: vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. They don’t give you energy, but they help your body metabolize and use the macros. Without macronutrients, we’d starve to death, and without micronutrients, we’d suffer deficiency diseases and poor health and eventually die from malnutrition.

At every meal and snack on the Badass plan, you’re going to eat a precise balance of the three macros, which in result will give you a good balance of your micros. Let me give you an overview.

PROTEIN

Of all the macros your body needs to develop firm muscle, protein is king. Why? Because it’s an absolute must for building and maintaining all your body’s structures. I’m not just talking about muscles, either. I’m talking about tendons and ligaments, blood vessels, brain, organs, skin, your immunity system—just about everything. As old cells naturally die off, protein is constantly needed to renew and repair them. If brand-new protein from your diet isn’t coming in on a regular schedule, body structures can start to break down.

Protein is a supreme fat burner. Some quick background: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are measured in terms of their “thermic effect,” which refers to how many calories it takes to burn them off. Sugary carbs and fats have around a 3 percent rate; this means it takes 3 calories to burn off 100 calories of these foods. Natural carbs like fruits and veggies have a 20 percent rate (it takes 20 calories to burn off 100 calories of these foods.) Proteins, at 30 percent, have the highest thermic effect of food (TEF), which is why protein is a fat-burning food.

Most of the protein on the Badass plan is animal protein. It’s my position that animal protein is an important part of the human diet when balanced correctly, and is definitely a key to getting a firm body.

I know what you’re thinking: What about plant-based proteins such as beans, legumes, soy foods, and so forth? These proteins are acceptable, but some of them are high in carbs, while others (such as soy foods and alternative meats like veggie burgers) are often processed, which leads to limited muscle development, and they may do nothing to help eliminate booty fat and cellulite.

A confession: I was a vegetarian for eight years, but at age 20 I started eating meat again, and I haven’t looked back. It’s one of the reason I was able to put lean muscle on my body. So don’t mess with my animal protein. If you try to take steak away from me, you might as well lock me up.

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates are simply the sugars and starches in our food. The body burns carbs as fuel. The brain also runs off carbs. Have you ever felt draggy and moody? I know I have. This is because your body might be running low on carbohydrates. Carbs include grains, cereals, breads, fruits, and vegetables. They contain essential vitamins and minerals plus fiber and plant nutrients that are vital for health and disease prevention.

Carbs come in two forms: simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are found naturally in fruits, dairy products, and processed foods such as breads and many packaged foods. They’re also found in refined sugars, such as table sugar, that are used in sweet foods. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are found in grains, potatoes, beans, and vegetables.

Carbs can be troublemakers. If you eat too many, you’ll get fat. When we eat carbs, the body secretes the hormone insulin in response. Insulin activates enzymes in fat tissue; those enzymes stimulate the body to hold on to fat and pack it away. When insulin levels decline, fat is released and burned. So the worst possible diet is one that’s high in carbohydrate, because the body makes fat from carbohydrates and lots of it. That’s why you can’t eat a lot of carbs and expect to lose weight and get a nice, sexy ass.

I’ve carefully calibrated the Badass plan to make sure you eat enough carbs for energy, but at levels that keep your body in a fat-burning mode. And I balance carbs with protein and fat for the very best results.

FAT

I love peanut butter, especially on top of my scrambled eggs (no, it’s not yucky; the taste is amazing, really!). I love bacon, too, sizzling right next to those eggs. And I eat nicely marbled red meat at times. Yes, some experts still feel that low-fat eating is supposedly important for health, the responsible thing to do, but this view is changing.

I firmly believe that we all need to shift back to eating more fat, including the much-demonized saturated fat. I’m not talking about fatty junk foods or man-made fats like trans fats, but fresh meats and fats such as nut and seed butters, butters, and some cream. These foods are nutritional gold mines.

Surprised? Take a look at all the good things about fat:

1. Fat helps control your hunger. The first purpose of fat is to slow down the rate at which food goes into your bloodstream. The net effect is that you feel satisfied, and any urges to eat more are delayed. If you eat your meals and snacks with fat, you’ll need less food than you think. Fat is a natural appetite suppressor!

2. Fat is a carrier for certain vitamins. Several essential vitamins are transported through the body by fat molecules—namely, vitamins A, D, E, and K, also known as the fat-soluble vitamins.

3. Fat makes food taste good. For example, butter is yummy on vegetables (and on popcorn, of course). Greens and salad veggies come to life in oil-based salad dressings, and fresh berries in rich cream is one of life’s most scrumptious treats.

The thinking that fat makes you fat is wrong. There’s little evidence that eating fat makes you put on weight. Fat is not fattening. So, fat? Fear not.

PRIMO, ACCEPTABLE, REALLY TERRIBLE MACROS

Macros rule, for sure. But some are better than others, and some are downright bad. I further classify the macros like this:

PRIMO FOODS

These are “whole” foods found in their natural state—no processed crap. They don’t have labels or multiple ingredients, either. Examples are:

Proteins.
These include meats (beef, pork, lamb, veal, and so forth), poultry; fish, shellfish, eggs, and egg whites.

Non-starchy Vegetables.
This category includes broccoli, cauliflower, peppers of all kinds, asparagus, lettuce and other greens, green beans, yellow beans, cabbage, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, onions, zucchini, and many more. These foods are low in calories, high in fiber, and loaded with nutrition.

Fruits.
Fruits are full of nutrients and fiber, plus they provide energy in the form of carbohydrates to power daily activities, including exercising. All types of fruits in whole form are allowed on my plan.

Fats.
You get to eat a wide variety of fats on my plan. They give you energy, help your body burn fat, and lubricate your joints. Fats make you happy, too—they’re a terrific mood lifter. They also tell your body when you’re full and prevent you from overeating. The Badass Fats Choices list in
chapter 5
gives you many options; primo fats such as nuts and seeds are excellent choices because they contain natural fats, fiber, and excellent nutrition.

For your first 21 days, I want you to choose “primo” foods only.

ACCEPTABLE MACROS

There are foods you can pick that are healthy in moderation and with deliberate purpose, but your progress might slow down if you eat too many of them. Examples are dairy products such as milk and cheese and starchy foods like sweet potatoes and natural grains. There are limited benefits in adding dairy foods to your diet; they can be a good combo item but contribute to extra fat gain if not careful. Plus, a lot of people can’t stomach the lactose in dairy foods and suffer digestive problems. Most of the nutrients you get from dairy you can get easily from other sources, including canned salmon, broccoli, and green leafy veggies. As for starches, choices like legumes and grains are healthy, but they’re carbs. Carbs kick up insulin. You don’t want that happening, since insulin interferes with the breakdown of fat and drives fat right into storage. When you eat a balance of carbs, insulin stays in line.

REALLY TERRIBLE MACROS

No matter how good we try to be, there are times when we women turn a little naughty, calling back the guy we know is wrong for us, just because he’s good in the sack. Well, “really terrible macros” are like that: tempting but bad for us. I’m talking about junk food here: anything that comes in a box, foods with long lists of ingredients on the label, fast foods, lunch meats, soy products (soy tends to increase estrogen, a fattening hormone), sodas, alcohol, and anything with sugar dumped into it, natural or imitation.

“Really terrible macros” are also known as processed foods. They are loaded with additives, preservatives, flavorings, dyes, processed fats, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, sodium, and all kinds of gunk and junk. Your body is just not designed to handle these foods, and they will make you fat and unhealthy. Your muscles crave high-quality, primo foods and will respond best when fed the best possible food choices. Put the best fuel into that beautiful body of yours, and it will take you to the highest level of fitness and performance.

That said, I’m a realist, and I know there are times when you want some of these foods. It’s okay. I for one like to treat myself to a cupcake every once in a while. Later on, I’ll show you how to do some controlled cheating that won’t throw your eating plan out of whack. But for best results, you want to avoid the really terrible macros.

FOOD COMBINING, THE BADASS WAY