Bill Phillip's | Transformation

Nutrition FAQ

Q: Bill, to lose fat, do I need to take a diet pill?

A: Over the last 10 years, I have helped literally hundreds of thousands of men and women collectively lose millions of pounds of bodyfat. And most didn't use any of these overhyped "miracle fat burners" that you see extensively advertised on television commercials, infomercials and in magazine ads. So my answer to the question, "Do I have to use a fat-burning supplement to get results?" is a flat out, "No!"

What you do have to do is feed your body the right way. And you do have to make health a priority in your life. You do have to plan to be healthy. You do have to set health and fitness goals, and you do have to focus on those goals daily. Eating right and exercising produces far greater results than using a diet pill. I challenge anyone to dispute that fact.

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Q: Bill, is fast food really as bad as people say? I am very busy, and I have to eat fast food. I need to get in shape too, though.

A: I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I also believe in placing blame where it's deserved. And when it comes to today's health crisis in America, you simply cannot escape the fact that the fast-food industry deserves a supersized serving of condemnation.

Make no mistake, the modern meal made up of a burger, fries and soda is the gold standard of junk food. It's rotten. It's wrong. It's the opposite of what I believe in, which is Eating for Life. A closer look at that fast-food classic reveals it is saturated with trans fats, which have been shown to contribute to numerous diseases, including cancer. The burger, fries and soda combo is high in calories too, which feeds the build-up of bodyfat and eventually obesity. It's also low in vitamins and minerals, a poor source of protein and high in processed carbs, which scientific studies show may lead to the development of type-2 diabetes. And, it's so heavily spiked with salt and sugar that it is potentially addictive. Scientists have discovered that the combination of fat with salt and sugar has a powerful "neurochemical" effect on the brain, causing it to release natural opioids called beta endorphins that are similar to drugs like heroin and morphine. Just sinking your teeth into a fatty cheeseburger and salty fries releases a rush of those "feel good" neurotransmitters in the brain. In some people who eat fast food often, this response to the food can lead to addiction. (Do you suppose the fast-food manufacturers know about all that?)

Now, don't get me wrong-eating fast food, once in a while, is not going to make or break your efforts to be healthy and strong. However, the problem lies in the fact that eating fast food is a daily ritual for millions of Americans who get "hooked" on it. And when fast food is habitually consumed, not only does it contribute to the build-up of bodyfat, it has been linked to everything from bad skin complexion to eating disorders to poor heart health to obesity.

Another disturbing aspect about the fast-food business is that it's really not even about food. What they manufacture might look like, smell like, taste like the real thing, but it's not. It's fake food-pseudo food, which is virtually devoid of nutrition as we know it.

We used to be able to identify real food because of its brilliant colors (like ripe fruits and fresh vegetables), its appetizing aroma, its texture and flavor. Not anymore! Thanks to colors created in chemists' beakers, artificial flavors developed by clever scientists and other food-synthesizing advances, fake food is almost undetectable.

Make no mistake, the fast-food-frenzied lifestyle is costing us, big time. Consider the fact that in 1970, Americans spent $6 billion on fast food. This year, over $138 billion! (That's over a 2,000 percent increase in just over 30 years.) Since 1970, the number of fast-food burger drive-thrus has increased from about 2,000 to over 25,000. (That's an increase of over 1,000 percent.) Shocking really. Sickening too; literally and figuratively.

Not only have the billions of dollars spent on fast food skyrocketed, but the portion distortion has gone through the roof as well. The serving size of a soda, burger and fries has tripled over the past 30 years. They call it more "value," but it comes with a hefty price. Three times the fat, three times the sugar, three times the calories adds up to more than three times the ill-health effects. In fact, the price paid by the federal government to cover health-care costs related to overweight Americans has ballooned from less than $20 billion in 1970 to over $117 billion this year. (So much for the idea that fast food is any kind of bargain!)

Now, is fast food the only problem? No. The so-called "diet industry" is feeding the dilemma as well with misinformation, fads and frauds. And, of course, each adult is responsible for his or her own decisions. However, over the last 30 years, Americans have had a heck of a lot of help making the wrong decisions when it comes to how they feed their bodies. And children are now the "primary targets" of fast-food promotions, which I have a big beef with.

So how do you steer clear of the fast-food frenzy? For starters, you can decide that you will not make the mistake of delegating something so important as your nutrition to an industry that is up to no good. That means not eating meals in your car; not eating out of Styrofoam containers; and not buying into the deceptive marketing message that fast food, good times and "happiness" go hand in hand.

As I see it, we must regain control of how we are nourishing and feeding ourselves. We must fire up our kitchens and begin preparing nutritious meals and feeding ourselves and our families the right way. The way it used to be, before the fast-food frenzy.

Real people, like Jamie Brunner, whose before and after success story is shown on page 367 of Eating for Life, have made the change from fast food to Eating for Life. He and thousands of others will positively tell you that if they can do it, you can too!

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Q: Bill, I need to go on a diet and lose weight. Will your new Eating for Life book help me diet?

A: No.

If you are looking for a diet, do not even consider Eating for Life. It is not a "diet book."

And, since you asked, I'll add that diets, all of them, are potentially dangerous, most always dumb and ultimately a dead-end street.

The whole premise of "dieting" is that you can win a war with food, if you follow a certain plan or know a certain metabolic trick.

Fact is, you cannot win a fight with food. And you shouldn't even try.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans don't know that. And there's a vast and ever-expanding "diet industry" which is convinced that it can convince you that there is indeed a way to finally and forever figure out how to fight food and win.

The truth is, diets don't work. They can't work. Not now, not ever.

Eventually, anyone and everyone who is at all concerned with their health must learn how to feed their body, not how to starve it.

Please remember this: There's no diet "tricky" enough to override our innate hunger to survive. Consider that over the past 30 years, there have been over 10,000 diet plans published. Each supposedly offers the way to win the war against food and allow you to lose weight. But more than nine out of every 10 people who follow these plans fail to become healthier. And it isn't their fault. It's the dumb diets that don't work, not the dieters!

The reality is that through tens of thousands of years of evolution, human beings have been "hardwired" to be vociferous eaters. In fact, way back when, those who could eat the most food, the fastest, and store the most bodyfat were the most "fit to survive" during that era. We are the descendents, the offspring, of these folks. And so, we eat. That's what we do. There is no getting around it. There is no stopping it.

What we need to do is work with our eating instinct and not against it. That's what I do. And I'm telling you, when you stop the struggle and you listen to what your body really wants, what it needs, what it's craving, and you feed it rather than fight it, you will be happy to discover that food and fitness can peacefully coexist.

And so, through my new Eating for Life book, I do not teach you how to diet; I teach you how to eat. There's a big difference. By learning how to eat, by learning how to feed your body, you'll be able to lose unwanted fat, improve your health and lift your energy. And you'll be able to enjoy food-lots of it-which is very important to long-term success. Instead of fighting food, instead of it being a "guilty pleasure," it will become pure pleasure. As it should be.

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Q: You suggest that people eat protein and carbs in each meal. I'm confused. Isn't it true that to stabilize blood sugar and get in good shape you have to stop eating carbohydrates?

A: It's a pop-culture myth that you have to cut carbs to get in shape.

Today's carbohydrate confusion began years ago when we fell for the low-fat fad. When food manufacturers began removing fat from foods and replacing it with highly processed carbohydrates, our collective blood sugar went through the roof, and the problems began.

As it turns out dietary fat wasn't really the problem after all. However, in somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, now the food fad is to cut carbs in an effort to bring blood sugar levels back into balance. Ten years from now, I guarantee we'll be looking back at this current craze and seeing some very serious side effects.

What I've seen is that the low-carb approach often does result in weight loss, but far too often it leaves people lacking energy, losing muscle, becoming weak, feeling frustrated, tired, irritable and, in some cases, severely depressed.

My mission is and has been to help people transform their bodies-to help them gain strength, lose fat, feel younger and boost their energy levels. I've enjoyed helping hundreds of thousands of people achieve phenomenal results in that regard without "requiring" that they cut carbs out of their style of eating.

The fact is, cutting carbs is not the healthiest way to stabilize blood sugar levels. Carbs are essential to eating right. The solution is to eat meals balanced with protein and carbs and to eat often.

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Q: Is it true that your blood type determines what you should eat to lose fat?

A: As I see it, basic, balanced nutrition is best, as long as your blood is red.

Beginning on page 345 of Eating for Life, you'll see before and after pictures and read the success stories of men and women, from all walks of life, who have been following Eating for Life. You'll notice that they've all experienced significantly improved health, while dramatically improving their physical condition.

Fact is, I have absolutely no idea what their blood types are. I really don't. Nor do I know about the blood type of the hundreds of thousands of others who've succeeded with my Body-for-LIFE Challenge.

It's a myth that being overweight is caused by eating the wrong foods for your specific blood type. Obesity has a common cause (overeating the wrong foods and not getting enough exercise) as well as a universal solution (eating the right amount of the right foods and exercising). That's a fact you can take to the blood bank, I assure you!

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Q: You recommend that once a week I should take a "free day" and eat anything I want and not follow Eating for Life. What if I eat too much?

A: Having had the opportunity to help so many thousands of people begin Eating for Life, I've noticed that, at first, their free days become feasts. However, what they discover is when you eat right, six days a week, and then you pig out once a week, I mean really go for it, it hurts. Stomachaches are the rule, rarely the exception. And this becomes a learning experience. Psychologists call it "aversion therapy." Kind of like when parents catch their kids with a pack of cigarettes, which they might puff on at school to try to look cool, and the parents actually "make them" smoke a few. They turn a little green, become just ill enough that cigarettes no longer seem cool; in fact, they seem disgusting.

And this is why free days tend to become self-regulating, self-limiting and part of the overall solution, not part of the problem. They teach you to manage your food intake. And this is something I point out to those who initially are concerned that their free days will be so out of control, it will cause them to gain fat, even if their six Eating for Life days are right on track. I haven't seen that become a real issue, long term. So don't worry about it. Even I've learned there are only so many Krispy Kreme doughnuts I can eat before I make myself absolutely, positively sick and sorry.

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Q: Are there meal recipes in Eating for Life suitable for vegetarians?

A: That's a good question. And the answer is, it depends.

If you're an ovo-lacto vegetarian, which is to say you don't eat meat but do eat eggs and dairy, then yes... you'll find dozens of meal recipes in Eating for Life which you'll be able to enjoy, including Chili Rellenos Casserole, Creamy Salsa Dip, Egg-Cellent Enchiladas, Egg Salad Sandwiches, Chocolate Peanut Butter Blend and Walnut Brownies, to name just a few.

Most of the dinner recipes include some form of meat, such as chicken, fish, turkey or beef. However, Eating for Life provides enough variety and such a wealth of smart, accurate information about eating right that ovo-lacto vegetarians will find it to be a very useful guide to great health, fat loss and increased energy.

Now, if you're a vegan, meaning you don't eat any animal products, includin

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