What Is Extreme Regime Fat Burn Formula?

A Dialogue with Dr. Heidi

Kim Klaver: This is an unusual call for me because I don’t normally talk about weight loss. I’ve tried to stay in shape all my life, but there’s always those last few pounds – when you’re looking in the mirror naked and it’s just you, and you go, “God, if I could just get rid of that little roll, the one that nobody sees but me.”

I was able to do that this spring eating in an unusual way that Dr. Heidi suggested in her 8-week nutrition program at a university in California.

It was a masters level program for nutritionists. I went out there this spring to film it, because she’d been telling me about the results her students had been getting. We met at Harvard and have been friends over 30 years, so I thought it would at least be fun.

I figured I knew most everything that I need to know about being healthy and slim. Just eat less and exercise daily, right? But since I hadn’t been able to get rid of that little stomach roll no matter how little I ate or how much I exercised, I tried one of the plans that she suggested to her class.

I did it for 4 or 5 weeks, and lo and behold! My jeans are now loose, and that little stomach layer is almost gone. And I didn’t have to starve or eat stuff that has no taste.

If you’re interested in losing weight, if you’ve tried a lot of stuff – especially starvation – and it hasn’t really worked, this is something I want you to hear about.

The general opinion out there is that people who are overweight secretly binge at night, because if you just tape your mouth shut and exercise then you’ll be fine. That’s what the Surgeon General says, right? People who are obese, (that’s 20% more than you should weigh) are people who take in too many calories and don’t exercise enough. What they’re telling us is: we’re fat,because we sit on our butts and we stuff our faces.

But what about the hundreds of thousands of people who try to lose weight and restrict what they eat, only it doesn’t work? Look at Oprah. She lost 50 lbs and gained back 60 these past two years.

Research dating back to the 1850s is vindicating these folks. It shows that calorie counting is not as great as it’s cracked up to be.

But because it is so intuitive, people figure, “Well, it must be us. We are are the problem.” But, this is really not how it is.

That’s why I’m introducing you to Dr. Heidi and to her program that gives you an alternative to starvation and exercise. This is a program for people who are sick of starving. They know there must be a better way, and they would like to try something totally different.

Dr. Heidi is, first of all, a nutrition and health fanatic. She’s been one for probably 30 years, doing all sorts of practices having to do with health – mental and physical. She has had private clients, has directed juice fasting retreats and has been training and teaching nutritionists for ten years.

You know I’m a big believer in “weird”. Weird is Steve Jobs (Apple). Weird is Google’s founders. They were all weird, and suddenly, when it worked, it became something that everybody loved. Sometimes the majority can be wrong, like they were wrong about the world being flat…

Dr. Heidi will describe to you a little bit what this weird Extreme Regime Fat Burn program is and why it might be worth considering. Many features are counter-intuitive. When you hear them, you’ll probably think, “Oh, how can that be?” But, the minute your brain does that, ask your brain, “Well, what I’ve been doing, has that worked?” If the answer is no, tell your brain, “Take a pill. Relax. Let’s try this other thing, because what if it does work?”

The reports of the students in her class who each tried a plan for 2-3 weeks were almost unbelievable. The one that sticks in my mind is an obese woman in her mid thirties who was a top banana in a big financial planning company in San Francisco. She got up and said, “I want you to know that I have been doing after-dinner and after-work drinks for years, plus coffee in the morning.” She said, “I would never have believed this if I hadn’t done it myself, but I don’t have the desire for the after-work drinks anymore.” She didn’t feel any deprivation; she just didn’t feel like drinking anymore. She also said that she didn’t have the urge for her morning coffee anymore either. And she had lost 10 lbs!

You have no idea what’s going to happen to you. But, if you make some changes, and your body reacts in a painless way, isn’t that a thrill! That’s the reason I want to introduce you to my friend Dr. Heidi. She’s probably the most genuine, loving and caring person I know, who is in the business of helping people get their weight, their looks, and their energy back under self-control. So, Dr. Heidi, let me give it to you. How about a little rundown?

Dr. Heidi: It’s a pleasure to work with you Kim. You haven’t made any promises I can’t keep…

Hello all. Let me let you who this program is for.

First, as Kim was saying, it’s for people who haven’t been able to keep the weight off, even when they’ve tried for years. They’re frustrated and even desperate, but are willing to give it another go.

I’m able to offer this, because there is new research that is now coming on the scene that has helped me put the finishing touches on a program I’ve developed with my clients over the last 10 or 15 years.

It would be easy to blame the client, to say, “Oh, they’re cheating. They’re not doing the program. They’re not applying themselves.” But I’ve learned that overweight people, especially obese people, are probably the most disciplined, the hardest-trying people on earth, and that the reason a weight loss program fails is probably not the client.

Let me give you an example of a research finding that really blew my mind – the finding that balanced diets don’t work.

Kim Klaver: Did you just say “Balanced diets don’t work?” Is that what I heard?

Dr. Heidi: Yes, they found that balanced diets may interfere with weight loss.

Kim Klaver: Okay.

Dr. Heidi: This is a finding that many professionals in the nutrition field don’t know, or are not ready to accept. Well, I was ready. Too many of my clients were not losing enough weight fast enough, and this was a finding that did not require compromising my health principles.

Instead, I adjusted the quantities of different foods I was already recommending, using the principles governing fat burning while taking into account unique features of a client’s profile. The adjustments speeded up weight loss significantly across the board.

Another surprising finding is that you have to eat a certain amount of fat including, believe it or not, saturated fat. It ensures enough steady energy and a feeling of satisfaction. The amount you eat is really up to you. I just give you some guidelines.

Kim Klaver: Dr. Heidi, what is a saturated fat?

Dr. Heidi: It’s like cream, butter, most animal fat, coconut oil. Many people unfortunately still think, “Oh, my God, it’s saturated so I can’t eat it until I’ve lost some weight.”

Kim Klaver: So you’re saying this is a wrong assumption?

Dr. Heidi: Yes. In fact, coconut oil helps people lose weight. Eating animal fat, like butter and cream, especially from grassfed cows, is wonderful, and not fattening.

Let me give you an example of how to apply the principle of eating fat to lose fat. You know when you go into a restaurant, they serve you a big loaf or basket of bread, right? If it’s a good restaurant, the bread is usually really wonderful. Now, when I’m in my Fat Burn cycle, I just eat the butter – because even if the butter quality isn’t ideal, it’s better to eat the butter than the bread.

Kim Klaver: I thought this was really weird until I tried it myself. I went to dinner in California with Dr. Heidi. She said, “Why don’t you try eating just the butter?” I said, “You’ve got to be kidding! I’m not going to eat the butter by itself! Duh! I like it with the bread…” She said, “I dare you to eat the butter.”

Well, of course I’m going to take up the dare, and so I put a pat of butter in my mouth, thinking the napkin’s right there, if it’s nasty I can spit it out, right?

But, I didn’t. It melted in my mouth. And, no sooner had it gone down, it was as if my entire hunger disappeared. It was the weirdest thing! I found myself saying, “You know what? I don’t feel hungry right now, so let’s wait a few minutes to eat.” It was the most interesting event.

I wasn’t the only one. She did it to a colleague at another dinner. I was there. The gal said, “I’m not going to! That’s absolutely disgusting!” I said, “Well, I did, so why don’t you?” She did, and she had exactly the same effect!

There are strange things that you wouldn’t think would have any impact, but they actually have results that were quite on the mark. I suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore, and I didn’t expect that at all.

Dr. Heidi: And, by the way, I’m not going to insist that you eat butter all by itself if you don’t like it. Really. I’m not going to insist that you do anything that disgusts you – unless you’re willing to try it. And, if you try it and it still disgusts you, then don’t do it.

If your mind is open to the principles, then you’ll think of ways that you like, that will work for you. I just found this butter thing in the last 4 months. It was the result of applying a research finding that I discovered and was teaching.

That’s why I’m daring to say that this program is new and unique. It incorporates the research findings that I myself have discovered and have been applying this year. That’s why I can offer it to people who have tried a lot of things and are willing to give it another go.

The program is also for overweight people who want to reduce the risk of an unexpected wake-up call, like a heart attack or a diabetes diagnosis.

The research suggests that there are certain ways of eating that underlie both weight and degenerative disease. The weight doesn’t cause the disease. Food choices cause both.

What I’m betting on is that if we eat in a way that drops weight in a healthy way, we’ll not only lose weight but also become healthier. And perhaps avoid or even reverse degenerative conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or Alzheimers.

Now let’s talk about what’s different about this program. I know that some of you, maybe many of you, are experienced in losing weight. I have in my life lost the same 20 pounds probably 100 times, if not more, with all kinds of diets. So, what’s different about this program?

First, there’s no starvation. I won’t recommend that you snack on rabbit food, or that you carry celery or carrots with you because they’re low fat and low calorie. I will not recommend that. If you want to do that, that’s fine. But it’s not necessary; it’s not important.

Second, if you don’t like vegetables, I’m not going to make you eat them – kale or spinach or lettuce, or whatever it is that you don’t like – because it’s irrelevant. It’s not going to affect your results. If you like vegetables, great; if you don’t like vegetables, great.

We’ll find food that you do like, that you can eat and that will follow the principles.

What starving does is it lowers your metabolism and makes you less able to burn fat. In the long run, the more you starve, the fatter you’ll get. There’s some research that shows that if you’re hungry for two hours or longer, your metabolism starts going down. So, you’ve got to have food around you all the time so that you don’t go hungry and your metabolism doesn’t go down.

Third, the food I’ll be recommending will be real food. I know that may be hard to do in this country, depending where you are – unless you know where to go and how to forage. People from Washington and California are very lucky because they have real food all around them. It may be a little harder to get in other states, but it’s certainly possible. Right now I’m in Kansas City, and I can find everything I need here. I’ll give you all of sources around the country that I and graduates of the program have found, so that you’ll be able to get real food conveniently …

Kim Klaver: There are sources for stuff locally almost wherever you live, right?

Dr. Heidi: Wherever you live. And, I have formulas and techniques that I have developed over the last 20 years so that real food is also fast.

What “real food” means is that there’s no artificial sugar, like no Splenda, and no artificial fat, like no Olestra and no margarine, none of the chemical bars or shakes commonly found in many diets – because fake food makes you fat.

Fake food is toxic. Once it enters your body, your body starts retaining water or fat, because it wants to protect you from the toxins. For example, you put some Splenda in your coffee or tea. It mobilizes your immune system, which can start protecting you by retaining water and fat.

Fourth, there will be no counting – no counting calories and no counting carbs. No counting at all. I hate counting! I’ve never been able to count, so I never make my clients count either. What I will suggest to you is to use quantities relative to what you’ve eaten in the past.

You’ll also be able to prepare one meal for the whole family. Some people live with people who are not concerned about losing weight. I’ll let you know how to prepare meals so that your family enjoys the same meals you’re eating. You’re just eating selected parts of the meal.

Kim Klaver: Instead of preparing 3 meals, you prepare one, and everyone eats different pieces of it. Is that what you’re saying?

Dr. Heidi: Exactly! It’s nice if you have teenaged kids and a husband or wife, and everybody’s happy. And you don’t have to say, “I’m not going to touch your food,” or “This is my food.” Or they think your food is yukky and tasteless. It’s not going to be like that.

The last thing that makes this unique is that I really strive to customize the program. I personalize each person’s eating plan based on their own biochemical profile, their food and lifestyle preferences, their kitchen skills (or nonskills  ), and their weekly results in relation to their food journal.

In sum, five things that are different about ER Fat Burn are:

• You won’t starve

• You don’t have to eat what you don’t like including vegetables

• Real food including saturated fats is important,

• No counting, and

• Respect for individual differences.

Before I end, let me tell you why this is called ‘Extreme Regime’ Some people have asked, commenting that “‘Extreme Regime’ doesn’t sound like you at all.”

Well, I confess that Kim gave the program its title. It sounds more like her, doesn’t it? – like you have to be extremely disciplined and intense to be on this program. I’m delighted to say that that is not the case. You have to be extremely disciplined for calorie restriction, but not for this program.

Here, you’ll be cultivating extreme awareness of your body’s reaction to what you put in it. From Day 1 on.

Awareness is very difficult, especially for those of us who are workaholics and good multi-taskers. You tend to put food in your mouth and not be aware that you’re even doing it, much less how your body is reacting. Or, you have a project and you’re running on adrenaline. You forget to put anything in your body until after you get home exhausted and ravenous. Being extremely aware of what you’re putting in your body and its reactions is the ultimate key to healthy, lasting weight loss.

One client I had many years ago, all of the sudden started losing weight after not being able to lose an ounce for a month or two. She said, “I noticed that one day I skipped the quarter of an apple that I normally put in my shake, because I had run out, and from that time on I started losing weight.” A quarter of an apple in her shake! She had two shakes a day, that’s only half an apple, and that made the difference.

It was I who had recommended that she put the quarter of an apple in her shake just to make it taste good. And, of course, apples are nutritious, aren’t they?

It was she who noticed the connection between skipping a quarter of an apple and her weight loss.

In the program, I’ll be asking you to look at what you may not have noticed before – about how you’re eating and what may be causing your body to hold on to the fat. What I hope to do is help you find the secret to your body chemistry so that it can burn lots of fat and keep it off.

Kim Klaver: What if it works, right? What I find magical is that it is often so surprising. I mean, I’ve been a fitness nut since I was 10 years old, playing tennis since I was 8. But I’ve had this little stomach roll and my little vices that I refused to give up for years. You know, giant cappuccinos with a sweet treat, late night drinks, chocolate…

She never said give it up. But something happened and everything changed. And suddenly, that annoying little roll disappeared. If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t be here tonight.

I’ll tell you something else, I’m not much of a milk drinker, but in Holland, where I come from, we all have raw milk and raw butter. In Heidi’s class, she was going on and on about raw milk and that you really have to find it, because the bacteria in it, the good ones, kill all the salmonella and all the other stuff. So, I found a local farmer who delivers raw milk, and makes the kefir from it that she was recommending. I’ve been using it for probably 2 or 3 weeks. Drinking it in breakfast drinks that I make. I thought for sure I’d get fat as a house, because milk makes you fat. But, instead, I am more slender in my center than I’ve been in a long time.

The kinds of foods that I’m eating that I thought would be fattening are not. That’s the biggest surprise of all.

And, the new research that they are digging out, which Dr. Heidi summarizes in this new paper, is going to be quite a shocker for a lot of people. It shows that what’s been taught all these years – the less you eat, the less you’re going to weigh – is really not true. In fact, if you eat the right stuff you never go hungry and you lose weight. Isn’t that right, Heidi?

Dr. Heidi: Oh, absolutely! You have to eat enough, and make sure you eat real fats. I’m going to recommend that you have to eat a certain amount of food so that your metabolism doesn’t go down.

Kim Klaver: What happens if your metabolism goes down? Why is that such a big deal?

Dr. Heidi: It causes the yo-yo effect after calorie restriction diets. People gain more weight than before the diet because their metabolism has gone down. They’re starved. The body says, “Okay, you’re starving, so I’m going to help you by using as little fuel as possible.”

Kim Klaver: What is the effect of that? It puts on more fat?

Dr. Heidi: Yes, and you feel weak doing exercise. Some people even feel pain during exercise because their metabolism isn’t high enough to sustain the exercise they make themselves do.

Kim Klaver: I see. So, the less you eat, the more the body builds up fat in preparation for what it thinks might be a long time without food.

Dr. Heidi: That’s correct. Which reminds me, there’s one other thing that’s unique about this program – I’m not going to insist that anybody do exercise, because it’s not crucial to weight loss. It’s important for general health, but if it’s difficult for you, best not to focus on it until you stabilize your eating plan. Like eating veggies, it’s great if you do and fine if you don’t…

Dr. Heidi Dulay, Ed.D., N.C.

Dr. Heidi’s ongoing quest for all things healthy started with two personal battles – living down an embarrassing childhood nickname “Walking Ball”, and battling cervical cancer in her early thirties.  Now, 30 years later, she’s in peak health and lives to spread the word.  Dr. Heidi teaches Comparative Dietary Approaches, a core course in the Masters Program in Holistic Health at John F Kennedy University, Berkeley, California.  She leads product development for Whole Food Nation, and guides clients with her Little Spa programs in holistic nutrition and weight loss.  She holds advanced nutrition certifications from Bauman College, a Master of Science from Stanford, and a Doctor of Education from Harvard.