The Brown Fat Revolution Diet Review

The Brown Fat Revolution by Dr. James Lyons is a four-week diet plan that alternates between high-carb and high-protein days, and recommends 20 minutes of daily muscle strengthening exercise. The theme of the book is differentiating types of fats. Good fats versus bad fats, as has been the focus of lots of diet plans, both low-carb and low-fat. But this time, it's yellow versus brown fats. What's the difference?

Yellow fat refers to body fat -where we store fat on our bodies-. It's the flab, cottage cheese, unpleasant looking fat that makes us look bad. Brown fat, on the other hand, gives our skin volume for a better appearance and keeps us warm when it's cold. It actually helps us lose weight, according to Dr. Lyons, by burning calories to generate heat for the body. When we're young, we call it baby fat, but as we get older we lose it.

The Brown Fat Revolution, according to Lyons, is not so much a weight loss plan, but a regimen to increase your metabolism, and convert yellow fat to healthier brown fat. Weight loss is a by-product of increasing the amount of brown fat on our bodies.

The basic principles of The Brown Fat Revolution are as follows:

• Eat six times a day to keep your metabolism churning.
  
• Alternate between "carb days" and "protein days." Rotating between carb and protein days is supposed to control blood sugar levels, thereby preventing yellow fat from accumulating on your body.
  
• Follow the glycemic index, which favors complex carbs (whole grains, fruits and veggies) over simple carbs (white sugar, flour, potatoes, etc.)
  
• Consumption of lean proteins (meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, legumes, nuts, low-fat dairy)
  
• Eat before and after workouts.
• Control portion size. Eat less.
• Keep hydrated by drinking lots of water.
  
• Take days off to eat what you like. Decreases stress, increases enjoyment.

Sound kind of familiar? (The Zone, Sugar Busters) The bottom line with the Brown Fat Revolution, as far as weight loss is concerned, is that it is a 1200-1500 calorie weight loss regimen, which falls squarely into the category of starvation diet. These doctors who write these books can use all the unsubstantiated theories they want about blood sugar levels, glycemic this-and-that, food "rotation", and the rest, but in the end all they are fundamentally saying is eat healthier and exercise. Decrease unhealthy fat and simple carbohydrate consumption and increase healthy fat and complex carbohydrate consumption (see Food Guide Pyramid). They write these books to make money and legitimize careers. Nothing wrong with that, it just isn't a magic bullet for weight loss. But take Dr. Lyons advice anyway, eat healthy and exercise. That works.