The 24 Hour Diet: Lose up to 4lbs in a Day
Joanna Hall
The UK’s leading diet and fitness expert, Joanna Hall, shows you the healthy way to shed excess pounds in a day. This fantastic plan is a refinement on the typical low GI diet. It is complimented with a 20 day follow-on plan which builds up in very small steps, day by day. Joanna’s mantra is: small steps make big changes.A totally effective one day diet for any emergency: whether it's a party, beach holiday, or simply when the excesses of Christmas have left you pounds heavier.The eating plan is very simple. Not only are you restricted from eating carbs after 5pm but you have a specially selected choice of low GI foods. Many diet books simply give you a list of foods and their GI rating. This is a flawed system as foods react in the body in different ways and over different time scales. Joanna's system uses a refinement on the traditional GI diet that helps you lose weight faster.SMALL STEPS MAKE BIG CHANGES:The 24 hour quick-fix is followed by one small change you can make each day for a 20 day period to help you change the habits of a lifetime. Every psychologist knows that a human is not designed to make sweeping changes all at once: if you try, they're unlikely to stick.Joanna's small units of change which work up in a careful sequence to the more challenging are an ingenious strategy. For example:• Day 1 will simply start with making sure you drink 6 glasses of water;• Day 2 you'll replace your sugary cereal and/or toast with either a bowl of porridge or unsweetened muesli;• Day 3 you'll be reducing your coffee intake to one cup a day;• Day 4 you'll build a half hour walk into your dayThe cumulation of these changes mean that by day 20 you'll be living a really healthy, fit, and slim way of life.
Joanna Hall
THE 24HOURDIETLOSE UP TO 4lbs IN A DAY
CONTENTS
Cover (#u33c31223-164a-563c-be57-9358c92e938c)
Title Page (#u329f2a34-ca03-5d3d-9e30-afd08a57bce0)
Introduction (#ulink_da6715ee-53b9-5f8e-80a6-5377e5cc8b03)
Are you ready for the 24 Hour Diet? (#ulink_29350427-3d17-55d9-982f-5ce859cf95c6)
PART 1: THE 24 HOUR DIET (#ulink_b70df200-1bc8-5ff9-964d-92391375499f)
Optimizing Your Energy (#ulink_2207e85b-976a-5b13-9b13-dfcc2e589cb6)
Getting Started (#ulink_316baac5-5950-5730-aa96-72e87e1c6988)
Nutrient Know-how (#ulink_e279e450-3789-52b8-9254-18bfc44f2180)
Energizing Yoga Poses (#ulink_6b6291ba-8f1a-506a-8246-8fea32019c68)
Taking Your Measurements (#ulink_af298958-7099-50c7-bbcd-f73c1501f340)
Shopping List (#ulink_78ca4128-65b8-5e1b-a6b9-5548a6962c10)
Recipes (#ulink_c950c434-cfb4-59d0-aa4a-02c7109ce3e3)
The Big Day (#ulink_84c7e6e0-a1ac-52ee-951a-83db2d36c4f4)
What Next? (#ulink_8d918219-6fd2-592b-a19f-628039963a6d)
The Three-day Cleanse (#ulink_362793e2-f87f-5ef1-86d3-e9f471191195)
Forming Good Habits (#ulink_25f03d40-916e-59f9-af7e-4b8cba938b3a)
PART 2: THE 20-DAY FOLLOW-ON PLAN (#ulink_1af8b986-484e-5c2f-bc58-b9d1e1b48483)
Get Motivated! (#ulink_7466de4d-315b-5c2c-987a-96833dcbc8f2)
Understanding Habits (#ulink_ec29cf2d-5258-57c6-b2cb-ce43da6c863e)
Playing by the Rules (#litres_trial_promo)
Habit Ditching (#litres_trial_promo)
Habit Grooving (#litres_trial_promo)
Habit Consolidating (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 1: Calculate Your Calorie Needs – Truthfully (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 2: Operate the Carb Curfew (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 3: Drink Your Food (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 4: Learn to Love to Move More (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 5: Eat More Raw Food (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 6: Stock Up on Sanity Snacks (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 7: Streamline Your Sodium Sources (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 8: Capitalize on Calcium (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 9: Stop Sugar Substitutes (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 10: Benefit from Breakfast (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 11: Get Good at Glycaemic Loading (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 12: Get Real about Your Fruit and Veg (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 13: Take a Probiotic Daily (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 14: Optimize Your Omega Fats (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 15: Kick Trans Fats into Touch (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 16: Get Active with Active Travel (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 17: Do an Act of Kindness Daily (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 18: Cut Calories (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 19: Eat Ethically (#litres_trial_promo)
Rule 20: Be Consistent (#litres_trial_promo)
Your Weight-loss Plans (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 1: Blast-off (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 2: The Four-day Ease-in (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 3: The Four-day Blast-off (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 4: Four Weeks to Fabulous (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 5: Work Up to Your Weight-loss Programme (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 6: Work Up and Keep it Programme (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 7A: Work-down Plan A (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 7B: Work-down Plan B (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 8: Monthly Checkup (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 9: One-week Results (#litres_trial_promo)
Plan 10: Monday Management (#litres_trial_promo)
PART 3: KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF (#litres_trial_promo)
Keeping to Your New, Healthy Habits (#litres_trial_promo)
The 80:20 Principle (#litres_trial_promo)
Goal Setting (#litres_trial_promo)
Rewarding Your Rules (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 1: Smallest Steps for Biggest Change (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 2: Living with Your Chosen Rules (#litres_trial_promo)
Living with Your Rules Support Quiz (#litres_trial_promo)
What Next? (#litres_trial_promo)
PART 4: RECIPES (#litres_trial_promo)
Juices (#litres_trial_promo)
Soups (#litres_trial_promo)
Liquid Meals (#litres_trial_promo)
Carb Curfew Meal Ideas (#litres_trial_promo)
Let Me Count the Ways … to be Good to Myself (#litres_trial_promo)
By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)
The Step Counter Fitness Diet (#litres_trial_promo)
The No Carbs After 5PM Diet (#litres_trial_promo)
Drop a Size for Life (#litres_trial_promo)
Drop a Size Carb and Calorie Counter (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
INTRODUCTION (#ulink_94d1d4d1-aff1-5c20-bc92-d9ec957f29af)
All my years and experience of running weight-management programmes have taught me that we all want one thing: FAST RESULTS. Most of us acknowledge that keeping weight off in the long term is the real objective. However, when you are struggling to lose weight in the first place, the joy of being able to keep it off can seem a very long way away – so far away that it can prevent you from even making a start. My 24 Hour Diet gives you a kick-start so you can enjoy fast results. Yes, you can lose up to four pounds and three inches from your body in just 24 hours.
The 24 Hour Diet is not about creating the perfect body but it is about getting a better body. It has been proven to help individuals – both women and men – lose weight and shed inches in just 24 hours. For some, the 24 Hour Diet can be just that – an emergency when you need to look slimmer quickly, perhaps for a holiday or a special event. For others it can be a fantastic way to get off a weight-loss plateau, or perhaps just to shed a few extra pounds that have crept on over the weekend. I see it as a fabulous, effective way to kick-start your weight loss. I’ve created my 24 Hour Diet so you can do it either as a stand-alone plan or as part of a longer-term strategy for losing weight and keeping it off.
SMALL STEPS TO LONG-TERM WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
It’s difficult to make huge changes to our lifestyle, no matter how healthy they might be. Our attempts to stick to strict diets, for example, are often doomed to failure and lead to frustration, disillusionment and lowered self-esteem. We’re all stuck in our own patterns of behaviour, and the only way to change our habits is through making small, incremental changes. These little units can make a big difference. If you introduce small changes one at a time, healthier habits eventually become automatic.
Getting the body shape we desire involves a series of steps. Broken down into bite-size pieces, each of these steps is achievable. Put together, they represent a series of rules that act as building blocks for long-term weight management.
Each of these simple rules is made up of achievable and results-orientated steps and is accompanied by a support structure that works with your brain and your body for you to succeed at healthy weight loss. In short, by playing by these rules and taking the small steps involved in each one you can make a big change to your body.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
In Part 1 you’ll find the 24 Hour Diet. This truly works, taking inches and weight off your body in just 24 hours. And if you want a follow-up you can do the Three-day Cleanse.
Part 2 introduces 20 simple rules you can apply one at a time. Each rule represents a small lifestyle change. This approach has successfully helped people change the habits that can contribute to weight gain in the first place, transforming them into habits that help them lose weight and keep it off.
Having achieved your desired healthy body weight, the techniques in Part 3 will show you how to keep it off.
In Part 4 you’ll find delicious recipes for juices, soups, liquid replacement meals and a selection of brand-new Carb Curfew evening meal recipes.
By following the 24 Hour Diet you’ll be getting instant results coupled with an effective long-term maintenance plan. You can be confident that you will feel great and lose weight and inches in just 24 hours – and that you will be able to keep up the good work.
Let’s go for it!
ARE YOU READY FOR THE 24 HOUR DIET? (#ulink_93f0376b-ce23-5eaf-b4b9-d2fb14933fe1)
Follow this simple test to find out how the 24 Hour Diet can work for you. All you have to do is answer the following questions, rating your answer between 5 (strongly agree) and 1 (strongly disagree).
Do you like to see quick results?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you find it hard to keep up your diet motivation?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you regularly put on a few pounds at the weekend?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you have a special date or event you are trying to lose weight for?
5 4 3 2 1
Have you overindulged recently?
5 4 3 2 1
Are you prepared to put in a little effort to get yourself organized?
5 4 3 2 1
Have you hit a plateau with your weight-loss efforts?
5 4 3 2 1
Would you like to wake up tomorrow slimmer?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you find it hard to start your new healthier eating and exercise plan?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you have the time to get the necessary things together before you start the 24 Hour Diet?
5 4 3 2 1
Do you have a relatively quiet day in which you can do your 24 Hour Diet?
5 4 3 2 1
Are you struggling to lose those last few pounds or inches?
5 4 3 2 1
So how did you score?
If you scored between 60–45:
You are definitely ready! Your head is in the right place and the 24 Hour Diet can give you the kick start you need, whether it’s to get you started, get you back on track or just help you lose those last few pounds. You have the ability to get organized and collect the things you need. Being thoroughly prepared will make the whole process run smoothly and effectively for you – you’ll get better results. Start with the 24 Hour Diet on page 3 and then you can always progress onto the Three-day Cleanse.
If you scored 44 – 21:
Steady Eddy – you are nearly ready. You want to do the 24 Hour Diet and it will definitely reap results for you, but if you are short of time or getting organized is going to be a little difficult, don’t let that be your barrier to get started. Starting straight with the 24 Hour Diet may not be quite the right approach for you at the moment, so instead I suggest you start with the Three-day Cleanse on page 31 and then progress onto the 24 Hour Diet. You’ll still get great results, it will ease you into the programme, and sometimes these results can be even better. Alternatively, sit down with your diary, or with a friend who is going to help you, and plan and commit to an exact day when you are going to do your 24 Hour Diet. Don’t worry if it is not tomorrow or the next day – it’s much better that you get organized, and then you can really reap the benefits.
If you scored less than 20:
Let’s take it steady, and you will be ready. Building up to the 24 Hour Diet is probably your best approach – you’ll be preparing yourself as you go along as well as making positive improvements to your diet and starting on the road to successful long-term weight loss. So give yourself a pat on the back and commit yourself to taking it steady. I suggest your best approach is to start off by playing by the rules. You’ll find these in Part 2 of the book on page 48. You’ll find a whole variety of programmes to suit you that help you gradually apply all the rules you need to be healthier, trimmer, fitter and more energetic. Plus, you get to choose the programme that best suits you and your needs. Remember, this will depend on your personality, your available time and what you want to achieve and by when. Then, when you are ready, you will be able to do the 24 Hour Diet in a time frame that works for you. Go on, turn to that page now and make a start.
PART 1 THE 24 HOUR DIET (#ulink_a0a7d18c-e400-5109-9088-5c7f21def14f)
We all have times when we need fast weight-loss results. There might be a special occasion on the horizon, and that dress or waistband is just too tight. Or perhaps your weight-loss efforts have reached a plateau, and you just can’t seem to shift those stubborn pounds. Others may need to get rid of a few extra pounds that have crept on after Christmas, a holiday or an excessive weekend. Or maybe you just want to take the first steps to weight loss and you need a kick-start with the weight coming off fast.
These initial motivations are all part of human nature, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If vanity – wanting to look and feel better – is the primary driver for you to take action, well good on you. The 24 Hour Diet can help you do just that. Whatever your reason, your efforts will be rewarded: you’ll lose weight and inches and feel better. What really excites me is that for the vast majority of people who’ve tried it, the diet has been a great kick-start to their long-term weight-loss efforts. With just 24 hours of effort your body will look and feel better.
The 24 Hour Diet is suitable for everybody. However, it’s best to check with your GP first if you are pregnant, breast-feeding or on prescribed medication.
OPTIMIZING YOUR ENERGY (#ulink_3406d785-ca1a-5a79-8e1f-2f6523c0e78d)
As well as helping you lose a little weight and a few inches, the 24 Hour Diet can actually help energize your body too. A long, hard winter or a really heavy stint at work can leave you feeling lethargic and wanting to lighten up on all levels. A full detox can be a grim chore. But you don’t have to go through such extreme measures to feel lighter and brighter. A simple cleansing programme can increase your vitality, bolster your immune system and leave you with healthy habits to live by all year long.
Detoxing is a perfectly natural process. In fact, your body detoxifies itself as it goes about its business. Think of it as a well-organized sanitation system: the lymphatic, respiratory and urinary systems, gastrointestinal tract and skin work in combination and, ideally, in harmony to neutralize and eliminate potentially harmful outside substances such as pesticides, food additives and airborne allergens. From inside the body there are free radicals and metabolic wastes to deal with. For example, the hydrochloric acid in our stomach kills bacteria; our colon readies wastes for expulsion; our skin secretes toxins via sweat; and the tiny vessels that make up our lymphatic system act like garbage trucks shuttling fluids, fats and waste throughout the body, channelling them to our liver. The liver is often described as the key to life as it constantly filters and purifies the blood, and decides which substances the body needs and which it doesn’t.
All this activity begins at the microscopic level of our cells and with a tiny protein molecule called glutathione. Just as we identify rubbish by placing it in our dustbins, glutathione binds with harmful wastes, labelling them up for expulsion from the cell. Normally the body adjusts levels of glutathione according to the amount of toxins present in the body. However, there are limits.
As we are exposed to ever-increasing levels of toxins, our bodies need to work harder. Glutathione gets used up more quickly and faster than we are able to replace it. If too many harmful agents accumulate, the body is unable to expel them. The mercury your liver can’t eliminate may well end up in your hair, while destructive hormone-like substances called xenoestrogens may make a home for themselves in our fat cells. This ‘body burden’ can result in immediate problems like fatigue, headache and lower back pain. Over time, some experts believe it may create conditions ripe for disease.
By following the 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse you will be helping to restore your body’s normal functions and elimination processes.
You may wish to use the 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse as a time to think about your body and your health. Clearing your schedule allows you to watch, moment to moment, the effects of food and lifestyle choices that often remain unnoticed in our busy day-to-day lives. It also provides an opportunity for fresh insights into how diet and lifestyle habits are serving to support or undermine your health.
The 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse provide the benefits of fasting without the physical hardships, which can often be quite uncomfortable. For example, when toxins are released from the fat cells during a fast, the body has insufficient nutrient support to rid itself of them. This often results in headaches, fatigue and other problems, which is one reason why anyone tempted to fast should consult their doctor first.
GETTING STARTED (#ulink_6d83c883-d7e7-5795-b0f4-ce23f9d8ee2e)
The 24 Hour Diet is rich in nutrients and low in calories. By following the diet for 24 hours, the aim is that you will lose some weight and inches. As a consequence, this is a targeted plan that requires some organization and planning to get the most from it. To help you I have included a shopping list, recipes and instructions for taking your measurements. When I have followed the diet I have lost three pounds and just under three inches over my waist, belly and hips. Some people have lost more, others a little less, but everyone loses something!
BEFORE YOU START
Here are some considerations to help you get the most out of the diet.
1 Since your calorie intake will be less than normal I don’t recommend you do any vigorous exercise on the day of your 24 Hour Diet. However, it’s important you are still physically active as this will assist your body’s cleansing process and aid your digestion. Being inactive will slow down your internal system and make you feel less comfortable. Walking and light yoga stretches first thing in the morning and in the evening are advisable. I have detailed three yoga stretches for you to do if you desire (see page 14). If you wear my pedometer, aim to walk at least 6,000 steps on the day of the diet, but anything more than 12,000 steps may make you feel a little tired (12,000 steps equates to six miles).
2 Avoid drinking alcohol the night before your 24 Hour Diet or keep to fewer than two units.
3 It’s very important to keep well-hydrated before and during the diet. This is necessary to help you achieve inch Loss. The diet consists of liquid foods and other easy-to-digest meals. This enhances your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, aiding your energy and the body’s cleansing process.
4 You may experience a slight headache. The first time I did the diet I had a mild headache in the afternoon, but I’ve been fine on subsequent occasions. Some people report a slight headache while others don’t. A headache is a natural response; part of your body’s cleansing process. Keeping your water intake up as well as your elixirs and teas will help.
5 Please follow the plan as closely as possible. The blending of the meals enhances absorption so you may well feel more energized. Some people feel more energetic throughout the whole day while others feel a little tired in the afternoon, but everyone wakes up the following day feeling really good – and that’s before they’ve seen their decreased measurements and weight loss.
6 All the nutrients have been specially designed to assist your body to cleanse itself whilst helping to optimize energy. This is not a detox; it’s more of a cleansing plan. The timing of the food is also important; you shouldn’t go for more than four hours without consuming something. You’ll find out more in the ‘Nutrient Know-how’ section, on page 9.
7 If your digestive system is sluggish and you suffer from constipation, you may wish to take a natural tea laxative the night before the diet.
8 If you have been advised by your doctor not to follow a special eating or exercise plan, it’s important to seek medical advice before starting this diet.
9 It’s a good idea to do the diet at the weekend. If you want to do it during the week, try to choose a day when it will be convenient for you, perhaps when you don’t have to be madly rushing here, there and everywhere.
10 You’ll find a comprehensive shopping list with everything you’ll need on page 18. In Part 4 you’ll find other recipes using these ingredients, which you can use in the 20-day Follow-on Plan.
NUTRIENT KNOW-HOW (#ulink_64134ef0-b836-531b-8c96-63e1f7d87faf)
I’ve designed the plan so that it is high in nutrients and low in calories. The 24 Hour Diet:
• is rich in essential antioxidants – to boost your immunity and help your body cleanse itself and reduce excess fluid and body fat
• provides slow-releasing energy, helping you feel satisfied and energized
• is rich in the important omega 3 and 6 fats – these are vital for your health and make you feel full and satisfied
• is free of artificial sugars
• is naturally low in sodium
• helps stabilize your blood sugar levels
• is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
You may feel a little hungry as your calorie intake will probably be a little lower than normal. However, the specific combination of nutrients means you will feel satisfied and nourished without feeling bloated.
The plan is supported by some dietary supplements. These have been specifically chosen to energize your body and help it eliminate excess fluid and weight.
LECITHIN
Lecithin granules are obtained from soya beans and have a distinct, pleasant, nutty flavour. They are naturally rich in choline, an important nutrient for controlling dietary fat, which is why lecithin is an important supplement for people following a low-cholesterol diet.
NEEM
An Ayurvedic herbal extract, neem can be added to a little cold water to be taken as a tincture. It has powerful cleansing properties, and is particularly beneficial to the liver and for internal inflammation. As it has a rather bitter taste, adding some honey to the Morning Elixir (see page 21) will make it easier to drink. Stick with it as it is highly efficient supplement to your diet.
LIVING GREEN FOOD
Powdered living food is a blend of green foods, herbs, fruits and other botanicals. The powerful phytonutrients in these living raw foods are believed to assist your cells receive deep nourishment. Taken daily, it is thought to help regenerate and sustain mental and physical energy, enhance immunity and support the active recovery of your cells. This is one product where you get what you pay for, so it’s worth investing in a good brand. I personally recommend Pure Synergy, available at Fresh and Wild, Planet Organic and other good health-food shops.
TEAS
Detox teas are often a blend of botanicals that help cleanse the body. These may include dandelion root, burdock root, milk thistle, liquorice root, peppermint, spearmint, artichoke and ginger root. These teas are prepared in convenient tea bags. Although you can buy the fresh herbs yourself and make your own teas, these can be very powerful and exceedingly bitter. The prepared detox teas can be drunk with a little honey to sweeten if necessary, although it’s better to avoid this if you can.
Laxative teas are usually a combination of senna leaves, liquorice, cinnamon, fennel and ginger. These can be very effective so only one cup should be taken before bedtime. If necessary, another one can be taken the following day. Don’t drink more than four cups in 24 hours.
Both these teas support the cleansing process of the body.
Please note: Laxative teas are not recommended if you have or develop diarrhoea or abdominal pain. Consult your doctor before taking them if you suffer from frequent diarrhoea, are pregnant, breast-feeding, taking medication or have a medical condition.
TIME-SAVING TIPS
1 It sounds obvious but read the whole plan before you start – I’ve tried to address all the little problem areas you may have, so a little prior reading will help a great deal.
2 The Vitality Soup and Sanity Snacks can be made in advance. You can freeze the Vitality Soup in convenient individual serving sizes, and the Sanity Snacks last up to a week in a container in the fridge.
3 To save mess as well as time, freeze nut butters in ice cube trays. They easily come out of the trays and two cubes are the equivalent of a dessertspoon. You can put the frozen cubes straight into the Nutty Evening Energizer, but they will need to thaw a little before making a fresh batch of Sanity Snacks.
4 The Body Blender Breakfast can be partly prepared the night before. Soak the oats, wheat germ, lecithin and nutmeg in 200ml (7fl oz) cold water. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge. In the morning, just pour it into your blender with the remaining ingredients.
5 Your Good Morning Body Juice is best prepared fresh from scratch by peeling the vegetables and fruit when you need them. Cutting up the fruit and vegetables beforehand can reduce the vitamin content due to oxidation. However, if you are really short of time you can wash and cut them up, leaving them ready to use in the morning. Alternatively, you can make up a batch of juice and freeze it immediately in convenient individual serving sizes. This preserves the nutrient content and does little to reduce its powerful qualities.
6 The night before your 24 Hour Diet, put your blender and juicer out on the sideboard, all ready to go.
7 Taking your Vitality Soup to work in a flask can be convenient when doing your Three-day Cleanse.
8 Do your 24 Hour Diet with a friend and turn it into a spa day. Doing it together means you can share the preparation. It also makes it a Lot more fun, especially if you have a sleepover the night before and combine it with some pampering.
ENERGIZING YOGA POSES (#ulink_ccfda33b-443d-5db4-91db-c1cb281a9d14)
LYING TWIST
When: First thing in the morning with your Body Cleanse Elixir.
Why: Doing twists massages and helps to detoxify the internal organs, encouraging sound digestion and improving circulation.
What you do: Lie on your back with your arms stretched out to the sides in line with your shoulders. Bring your knees to your chest. Slowly let both knees fall to your left side; turn your neck and look to the right. Breathe for a few moments then return your knees to the centre and repeat on the opposite side.
COBRA
When: First thing in the morning and during the afternoon.
Why: Puts pressure on the abdomen, assisting elimination.
What you do: Lie on your stomach with legs outstretched. Place your palms on the floor near your ribcage. Inhale as you press your hands into the floor and lift your chest, keeping your hips anchored on the floor and pressing down with your pubic bone. Hold for three to five smooth breaths, then lower to the floor. Repeat three times.
CORPSE POSE
When: In the evening, before you go to bed.
Why: A lovely, relaxing body-awareness exercise. Releasing mental and emotional stress is of utmost importance when we cleanse.
What you do: Lie on your back, feet and arms extended and comfortably relaxed. Let your weight sink into the floor and relax everywhere. Keep bringing your attention back to the sensations of the body so you start to get glimpses of where you are holding tension. Try to release these areas of tension with deep breaths, allowing your body to fall into the mat.
TAKING YOUR MEASUREMENTS (#ulink_754c113f-1546-5fee-b356-64651736baae)
You need to take your measurements three times: the night before you start; first thing on the morning of the diet; and first thing the morning after.
The measurements I suggest you take are:
• your weight
• your waist: the smallest part of your middle
• your belly button: the measurement around your middle level with your belly button. For some people this can be the same point as their waist measurement while others may have a Lower or higher belly button measurement.
• your hips: standing with your feet together, measure a level circumference at the top of your buttock cheeks
• your thighs: standing with your feet together, take a circumference measurement 20cm (8 inches) up from the top of your kneecap
Record these measurements in the following table.
SHOPPING LIST (#ulink_f452b4f4-9428-5a35-aa13-da830e820903)
All these items can be bought from an organic shop such as Fresh and Wild (www.freshandwild.com) or Planet Organic (www.planetorganic.com). Dry goods can be found in Holland and Barrett or any good high-street health-food shop.
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Ideally, try to buy organic or local produce – see the ‘Eat Ethically’ rule on page 130 for more information.
• 2 lemons or bottled lemon juice
• 2 apples
• 1 pear
• 1 banana
• 200ml carton of orange juice
• 1 avocado
• 1 small red onion
• Garlic clove or garlic purée
• 1 small red pepper
• Small cucumber
• 1 fresh chilli or Tabasco sauce
• 1 small bulb of fennel
• Fresh ginger
• 1 packet each of fresh basil, parsley and mint
NUTS, SEEDS, DRIED FRUIT
• Small packet of walnut halves or almonds
• Flaxseeds or linseeds (grind with a pestle and mortar or in a coffee grinder for speed)
• Small packet of dried figs
• Small packet of dried dates
• Small packet of semi-dried pitted prunes
• Small packet of pumpkin seeds
DRY GOODS (BOTTLES AND JARS)
• Jar of almond butter (white almond butter is my favourite)
• Small container of pure fruit spread (I use Sunwheel pear and prune)
• Small packet of organic 70 per cent cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)
• Small tin of lecithin granules (I use Optima brand)
• 1 large tin of chopped organic tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Sugar
• Ground black pepper
• Porridge oats
• Small packet of wheat germ
• Whole or powdered nutmeg
• 1 bottle of living green food (I used Pure Synergy brand – expensive but worth it!)
• Honey
• Neem tinture
• Detox tea
• Lax tea (I use the Dr Stuart’s brand)
EQUIPMENT LIST
You will need the following equipment:
• Blender
• Magimix or good kitchen mixer
• Tape measure
• Kitchen scales
RECIPES (#ulink_75a8ac8b-2eb1-581d-9716-83c52e12013e)
All recipes make one serving, unless otherwise indicated.
Body Cleanse Elixir Drink
1 mug hot water
Juice of ½ a lemon
30 drops neem tincture
2 tsp honey, to taste
Mix the neem tincture in a little cold water before adding to the warm water, lemon and honey mixture.
This can be a little bitter so use the honey to taste.
Good Morning Body Juice
¼ fennel bulb
1 apple
½ pear
4 sprigs mint
6 sprigs parsley
1cm (½ inch) fresh ginger, peeled
1 tsp Pure Synergy (or other living green food)
Wash all the fruit and vegetables (ideally these should be organic). Cut into chunks and feed into the juicer. Alternating the ingredients will help prevent your juicer getting clogged up. Add the living green food into the juice and mix well with a fork to help dissolve the powder. If you are not used to fresh ginger, you may want to use less to begin with.
Body Blender Breakfast
2 dessertspoons porridge oats
1 dessertspoon wheat germ
3 semi-dried prunes
1 teaspoon ground flaxseeds
1 dessertspoon lecithin granules
Sprinkle of nutmeg (or cinnamon if you prefer)
2 tsp pumpkin seeds
½ apple or pear, chopped, or a few strawberries
Place the oats, wheat germ, prunes, ground flaxseeds, lecithin and nutmeg in a measuring jug and top up to 200ml (7fl oz) with boiling water. Leave to soak for at least 20 minutes. Now may be a good time to take a shower or bath.
It’s a good idea to prepare to this stage when you are making your Body Cleanse Elixir Drink. Alternatively, you can prepare this the night before.
After 20 minutes the mixture should be quite thick. Pour into a blender. Rinse out the measuring jug with a further 100ml (3fl oz) of hot water to mop up any leftover nutrients and add to the mixture in the blender. Blend for 60 seconds or until smooth.
Pour into a bowl, sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds and fruit. Add more warm water if you want a runnier consistency.
Eat while warm as it’s easier to digest and more satisfying. Enjoy!
Vitality Soup
Makes 2 servings
1 tin chopped organic tomatoes
½ small red onion, roughly chopped
1 small red pepper, roughly chopped
Large chunk cucumber, roughly chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic or 1 heaped tsp garlic purée
(#ulink_80523a77-3395-5eb5-87b5-88ce91db984c)
Fresh chilli pepper or Tabasco sauce to taste
Large handful fresh basil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar to taste
Black pepper to taste
To serve:
½ avocado, chopped
1 dessertspoon lecithin
Large handful fresh parsley
Put the vegetables, garlic, chilli and basil in a blender and whizz until smooth. Add the olive oil and sugar and blend for a further 10 seconds. Season with pepper to taste. Chill until required.
Pour into a large bowl and top with the avocado, lecithin and chopped fresh parsley.
* (#ulink_5b4c8292-aad6-5b49-a6c4-695a60a0f5f4) If you’re not a great garlic fan try using just one clove of garlic.
Sanity Snack
Makes 8
8 walnut halves
1 dessertspoon almond butter
1 dessertspoon pure fruit spread (I use Sunwheel pear and prune)
1 dessertspoon lecithin
1 tsp ground flaxseeds
1 dried fig, roughly chopped
3 dried dates, roughly chopped
Good-quality 70 per cent dark cocoa powder for dusting
In a small blender, first chop the walnuts until small. Then add all the remaining ingredients, apart from the cocoa powder, and mix. After about 30 seconds the mixture should form a sticky ball. If the ingredients aren’t combining well, stop and stir it, then switch the mixer on again for a short blast. Take the ball out of the mixer and divide it into eight equal portions. Using your hands, make each portion into a small ball, then roll each ball in the cocoa powder to dust the outside. Leave in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. These last for four days.
Nutty Evening Energizer
1 dessertspoon almond butter
200ml (7fl oz) orange juice
½ banana
To serve:
½ apple or pear (or apple left over from breakfast)
6 walnut halves, chopped
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Pour into a bowl and serve with the fruit slices and chopped walnuts.
THE BIG DAY (#ulink_0f1ea1af-1b5c-5f8e-af1a-8a78a2716375)
Everything you need to prepare the meals, drinks and snacks for the diet can be found in the shopping list on page 18. Recipes are given on page 21.
FIRST THING:
Body Cleanse Elixir Drink (see page 21)
Good Morning Juice (see page 22) plus 1 tsp pure Synergy powder
(Spacing these two drinks apart works quite well as it gives your body time to absorb and start to utilize the nutrients, and avoids overloading your system all in one go.)
BREAKFAST:
Body Blender Breakfast (see page 23)
Mid-morning:
1 detox tea
6 almonds or walnuts
1 apple
(Again, these can be spaced out through the morning if you wish.)
LUNCH:
Vitality Soup (see page 25)
Afternoon:
Body Cleanse Elixir Drink (see page 21)
One Sanity Snack (see page 27)
Evening:
Nutty Energizer (see page 28)
1 detox or lax tea before bed
Try to drink at least 2 litres of water throughout the day.
Herbal teas are unlimited but please don’t replace the morning and afternoon Body Cleanse Elixir. I have found the Dr Stuart’s range to be the best.
WHAT NEXT? (#ulink_cc256dd6-b660-5b19-89ea-711e493d6f2b)
Once you have completed your 24 Hour Diet there are a number of ways to continue feeling fabulous:
• You can complete the Three-day Cleanse (below).
• You can do the 20-day Follow-on Plan in Part 2 to continue Losing weight and inches.
• You may feel confident enough to go straight to Part 3, ‘Keeping the Weight Off’.
THE THREE-DAY CLEANSE (#ulink_f2bd713f-3551-5840-9e35-dd9ec2d35c74)
This is a great way to continue the good work. Your stomach may have already shrunk a little, and the Three-day Cleanse is a great way to lead out of your 24 Hour Diet. You’ll now have all the ingredients you need. Plus, of course, you get the added benefit of consolidating your inch and weight loss.
Alternatively, you may decide to go straight into the Three-day Cleanse without doing the 24 Hour Diet first. It’s a great way to shake off the body doldrums from the inside out; a super-simple, non-fasting approach to giving your body a spring cleanse.
You can expect visible results when you follow the Three-day Cleanse. Remember to drink plenty of water, little and often. Complete your yoga postures (see page 14) and between 6,000 and 12,000 steps or 40 minutes of brisk walking split into two 20-minute bouts.
The lunches and dinners can be swapped around for convenience. The programme can also be adapted to include meat and fish. For example, you may wish to top your Vitality Soup with some cottage cheese or perhaps a small tin of flaked tuna, rich in the omega-3 essential fats. Alternatively, for your evening meal try wafer-thin chicken or veal escalopes marinated in a little olive oil, sage and fresh rosemary, and then grilled. Or try a steamed skate wing with fresh parsley, a little extra virgin olive oil and small knob of butter with your fresh vegetables. It will be ready in minutes. Salmon and mackerel steaks work really well too, or if your taste buds are less keen on oily fish, try baked cod, haddock or plaice wrapped in foil with some olive oil, fresh dill and chives.
FORMING GOOD HABITS (#ulink_40dd5707-6cca-55da-a41a-9102afcf27f3)
Another benefit of the 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse is that they help us break some habits. We are all creatures of habit with familiar patterns of eating, moving, resting, thinking and feeling. These habits aren’t necessarily the best for our wellbeing, but it’s easy to lose sight of what it’s actually like to have more energy. The diet and cleanse may create an opportunity to see things from a new perspective. By following the diet you will be challenging those bad habits, helping you set a standard for a healthier, more balanced approach to your weight loss.
So if you are ready to start forming some new habits to help you achieve a more balanced approach to a healthy body weight, let’s move on to Part 2, the 20-day Follow-on Plan.
PART 2 THE 20-DAY FOLLOW-ON PLAN (#ulink_7f6b5913-e6ad-5953-b847-08cf72b5e2c0)
In this section I’ll introduce you to the 20 rules that will help you achieve your weight loss and keep it off. You’ll also find 10 highly effective weight-loss plans.
Each of these 20 rules represents a small change. Taking small steps may sound a long way round to getting your weight off but research supports this approach. Implementing the rules in a gradual way to change our habits has been shown to be effective and achievable, and to create a lasting change in our behaviour. The psychologist, Steve Biddulph, has described this as the ‘five-per-cent rule’. Here the rules are about helping you make positive changes for your health and weight; taking one small action at a time.
Each of the rules is supported by a series of ‘habits to groove’ and ‘habits to ditch’. Habit grooving is about the small actions you can take to help strengthen each of the rules. Habit ditching is about minimizing the small actions or cues that may be destructive to fulfilling each of the rules. By applying the rules with habit grooving and habit ditching you will be far more likely to be healthier, fitter and trimmer in the short and long-term.
GET MOTIVATED! (#ulink_612207f1-0297-5c55-a878-0d21c8d9977d)
To apply the rules successfully you need to be motivated to make a change. The rules can’t just take care of themselves; you do need to be prepared to put in a little effort. But in each of the 10 specially designed weight-loss plans in this section I’ve made it really simple for you to apply the rules highly effectively. All you have to do is introduce the rules one at a time. You’ll be losing weight and boosting your health while taking small, effective steps to achieving that weight loss and keeping it off.
This approach – setting a specific habit to groove, telling you why each rule will be beneficial, and offering you a support system to help reinforce the new behaviour – has been shown to be one of the most successful approaches. So when you start any of the weight-loss plans you can feel confident you are following a tried-and-tested method designed for you to succeed.
UNDERSTANDING HABITS (#ulink_cc371082-6474-54f7-a040-c90de771036e)
Before we begin, we need to understand a little about habits: what they are, how they are formed and how we learn new behaviours. This involves looking at how our brains work.
WEIGHTY HABITS
Like it or not we all have habits, little things we do on a regular basis. In terms of our health and weight, some of these may be positive and others not so positive. If you’re going to make an impact on your weight loss and improve your health, there are some new habits you’ll need to develop and groove and others you may need to ditch.
WHAT IS A HABIT?
A habit is a series of automatic behaviours in response to a specific cue. This may sound a bit of a mouthful but in real terms a habit is behaviour we have got used to doing as part of our regular life. For example:
• At 8 a.m. you walk to your car and drive yourself to work.
• You stop at the coffee shop on the way to the office and automatically order a particular drink and something to eat; perhaps it’s a venti latte and pain au chocolate.
• You always stop at the same newsagents to buy your paper and something to snack on.
• You automatically say ‘Yes’ to the doughnuts that get passed around the office at 11 a.m.
• A hunger pang in the afternoon makes you grab that chocolate bar or bag of crisps.
• It’s a colleague’s birthday and the first response is to arrange a box of chocolates.
• You have had a bad day at work so you devour the whole tub of ice cream after dinner without drawing breath.
We each have our own little habits – some of the above examples may be applicable to you while others may not – but a habit becomes so familiar it’s almost like tunnel vision. We just don’t seem to see or think beyond our existing actions. Behavioural scientists explain that habitual acts are an immediate response to a variety of specific cues to which we are constantly exposed. These cues can be either external or internal. External cues can be:
• Walking past a vending machine, prompting you to crave chocolate.
• Meeting your best friend who you always have Lots of wine and nibbles with.
• Going to your favourite Chinese or Indian restaurant where you know you always order excessively.
• Seeing the kids eat their afternoon tea.
Internal cues are things like hunger and pain. They tend to be true physiological messages from our bodies or reactions to our own feelings such as stress, anger, depression, joy or sorrow. Whether the cue is internal or external, we can respond without purposeful thinking or reflection, and often without any sense of awareness. So much so that before we know it we’ve done it again and again, grooving the habit so it gets stronger and stronger.
The challenge comes when we want to lose weight or decide to get healthier. What we fundamentally need to do is change some of our most familiar habits. Continuing with exactly the same set of habits you have already grooved will probably hinder your weight-loss efforts, slow down your progress and lead to frustration. So to lose weight it’s important to ditch some habits and groove some new ones. Before we can do this, it’s important to have a little understanding of how a habit is formed.
HABIT-FORMING
We don’t often do things for the first time. Although we forget about most first-time activities, some stick in our memory for life, such as our first day at school, our first kiss or our first driving lesson. However, the vast majority of everyday activities are behaviours we repeat over and over again. What most of our first-time experiences have in common is that we act in a deliberate and conscious fashion. When we do something for the first time we may:
• search out information
• plan when, where and how to perform the behaviour
• be careful when doing it
• ask for assistance from other people
• perhaps act clumsily or awkwardly.
Afterwards, we may think back over what we have done, evaluate the outcome, plan to do it again or do it differently next time. This may all sound very clinical and regimented but, subconsciously, this is how our brains work in the early stages of forming behaviours. This process changes dramatically, however, once we start repeating a behaviour. After a while we don’t plan, think or evaluate any more. When the time comes to act, we simply act and habit is born.
How Your Brain Forms a Habit
The brain is responsible for receiving, processing and sending out messages based on vast amounts of information. This information is carried via neurons; I like to think of these as message-carriers. Each message-carrier needs to travel to a specific destination in the brain for the information in the message to be acted on. The message-carriers reach their specific part of the brain by travelling along neural pathways; you can think of these as a mini transport system. There are millions and millions of neurons in the brain, all carrying messages and travelling along neural pathways. Different parts of the brain deal with different types of information, and if the information goes to the wrong part of the brain or doesn’t reach its correct end destination, the information is lost, never to be acted upon.
Although this is a major simplification of the amazingly complex workings of our brains, you can appreciate the brain is a very busy place. Our brains simply cannot process all this information. At their end destination the neurons deliver their message; their information gets processed and an action may or may not occur. The brain gets very good at doing the simplest thing: taking a message and sending it along the most accessible neural pathway, delivering its message and creating an action. Some of these actions are so familiar that they become automatic responses requiring no conscious thinking by us. When this happens you’ve given birth to a habit.
Other bits of information can never reach their specific end destination in the brain, so the part of the brain responsible for handling the information to carry out a particular action becomes dormant. Your brain may receive the same information again and again but each time the message-carrier gets lost in the smaller back roads of the brain’s transport system, never to reach its destination.
How this Relates to Habits
So now we can begin to see why applying the five-per-cent rule and taking small steps can be so effective. If your brain is already doing a similar action, the pathways taking the information will be established. Making a small tweak to that action is therefore easier for your brain to process and develop than trying to carry out a brand-new action that appears totally alien. The message-carriers will need to travel along unfamiliar neural pathways to a destination in the brain that may be dormant.
Habit grooving – getting your brain to work with you – need not be that difficult. The trick is to piggy-back your new habit onto something you may already be doing so both your brain and your body have a familiar reference point.
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