I consider protein the most important of all nutrients in the burning of fat. I don't mean to the exclusion of others, but if I had to prepare a list of priorities I would place protein at the top.

Protein foods, as you know, include meats, fish, cheese, eggs, and poultry. Proteins act just the opposite of carbohydrates. They give you slow constant energy instead of a sudden surge that peters out. Also, they step up the metabolic rate of the body, instead of slowing it down. With metabolism at a higher clip, more energy is utilized and more fat is burned off. Proteins are the body's building blocks. The body needs these building blocks just to keep in repair. As cells die, and millions die in the body every day, they must be replaced with new cells. This takes protein and lots of it.

In areas of the world where proteins are scarce, no amount of other foods will prevent the inevitable deterioration of the body that occurs. The reason protein is on the top of my list of nutrients is that that's where nature puts it, too.

Perhaps by design, nature has made proteins the most appetizing and tasteful foods. Fat is lost only when energy is being produced by the body. It follows that weight cannot be lost unless fat is effectively burned, a process requiring many vital nutrients.

A lack of any of the B vitamins causes a marked lag in energy production. Vitamin B utilized both protein and fat so ineffectively they came grossly obese. Vitamin E added to a diet formerly deficient in it or in protein causes the rate of utilization of fat to double. Protein itself is needed for a host of energy producing enzymes.