Whey Protein
Whey protein is considered a “complete protein” in that it has all of the amino acids you need to sustain life. In the past, whey protein shakes were awful and gritty. Science has come a long way, however, in making these shakes a lot more tolerable.
Do they taste like your favorite milkshake topped with whipped cream and a cherry? Hardly…but depending on the brand and the flavor, there are some really good choices out there that are actually pretty good. And, by adding some sugar-free flavored syrups (like they use in coffee shops), you can incorporate some good variety and really make some very tasty shakes.
When choosing a Whey Protein to use in this diet, be sure to choose a brand that allows you to keep carbohydrates as low as possible (no more than 2 grams per scoop). Additionally, during this diet, you will want to keep fat as low as possible as well (no more than 2 grams per scoop). This will ensure the best possible conditions for your weight loss goals.
Depending on your weight, you may need more than one scoop. If you were to take two scoops, just be sure that you are not exceeding 4 grams of carbohydrates. 4 grams of carbohydrates will not have much of an impact on your blood sugar.
As you will see, whey protein will make up a large component of the 3-Week Diet. For some, purchasing whey protein powder to make up many of their meals for the over the next 21-days may seem expensive, but when you consider that you can get all your meals for the day for about $10, this is actually pretty cheap. Plus, you’ll find that a lot of time is freed up that is normally spent on cooking and eating meals, which gives you more time to take a walk or engage in other exercise.
CLA
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has excited many researchers over the past few years. The fact is, numerous studies have shown CLA to provide a host of benefits including combating diabetes, building lean muscle mass, thwarting cancer, keeping fat cells from becoming larger and dramati-cally reducing body fat.
CLA helps to move the fat you eat into your muscle cells instead of being stored as body fat. It then activates certain enzymes in your body to force your muscles to burn that fat—especially during exercise.
As mentioned, CLA has also been shown to prevent fat cells from getting fatter, so even when you’ve finished the 3-Week Diet, CLA can help keep the fat from ever coming back.
When combined with the 3-Week Diet, CLA can nearly double your fat loss when taken in the range of 6-8 grams per day.
Leucine
As you may recall, Leucine is an essential amino acid that is found in dietary protein. While researchers have known about Leucine for decades, only recently have they determined the amazing benefits that Leucine has on the body.
Leucine is an extremely valuable BCAA (branched chain amino acid) due to its ability to switch on the body’s muscle building process as well as to preserve lean muscle mass when dieting. Leucine has been proven to be the most important amino acid to muscle building.
Researchers at the University of Illinois conducted studies that examined weight loss diets containing 10 grams of leucine per day with 125 grams total of protein per day with a minimum of 2.5 grams of leucine at each meal. In two separate studies, the groups consuming high leucine diets had greater weight loss, greater fat loss and better preservation of lean body mass.
Understand that whey protein is a complete protein which is a great source of Leucine. To ensure that we are getting enough Leucine, however, we will add additional Leucine to our diet every day.
Greens+
Greens+ is full of vitamins and minerals and it is loaded with free radical absorbing antioxidants. It contains electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, sodium) that are extremely important on a low-carb diet. Greens+ is also packed with base producing compounds that neutralize dietary acids and it is rich with healthy bacteria that will help to detoxify the body as we rapidly release toxins from the fat cells as they are used up for energy.
Greens+ is a brand name that gets rave reviews. You can definitely find something similar, but this product does get my personal recommendation.