The 3 Apple a Day GI Diet: The Amazing Superfood for Fast-track Weight Loss. Tammi Flynn
from food?
This is emotional eating. There are several emotional triggers—anger, stress/anxiety, PMS, boredom, and sadness—that cause us to eat. And we usually don’t choose healthy snacks in this state of mind. Instead, we choose “comfort foods” that temporarily fill the void. Often, not only do we consume way too much of these foods but we repeat this type of eating way too often, all of which leads to weight gain and low self-esteem.
How to break the cycle
Breaking the cycle of emotional eating may take some effort. But you can do it! When you feel one or more of the emotional triggers come on, resist the urge for five minutes. Ask yourself if you are truly hungry or are just feeling emotional? Often just waiting a couple of minutes will be sufficient to overcome the urge. If waiting doesn’t work and you are still feeling emotional, try diverting yourself. Go outside for some fresh air, take a walk, turn on some upbeat music, or call a supportive friend.
If you do decide to eat, choose a healthy snack. Dip some unsalted pretzels in yogurt or spread apple slices with peanut butter. Or treat yourself to some low-fat popcorn and a diet beverage. And don’t turn on the television! Huh? That’s right! Watching TV could actually cause you to “unconsciously” eat more.
I definitely have times of emotional overeating—where do you think the examples came from? What I have found to work, besides avoiding unhealthy snacks, is having an established eating plan. If you follow the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet, as I do, you should be able to keep your appetite under control and lessen those unhealthy food temptations.
Hunger versus appetite
Blair McHaney, co-owner of Gold’s Gym, Wenatchee, Washington, suggests this visual: “Think of appetite as a sleeping lion. If you keep him fed, he will purr and sleep. If you starve him, he will attack.” The lion is your appetite. If you aren’t prepared with food on hand, your appetite may attack and you’ll be relying on your willpower. That’s doing it the hard way for sure.
It’s a lot easier to shop for healthy foods in the supermarket if you are not hungry as a lion going in. Not only that, if you don’t go in hungry, you’ll be less likely to buy unhealthy items. It’s much easier to decide not to buy junk food than it is to resist it once you’ve taken it home. Keep your home environment “safe” and junk-food free to avoid temptation.
Last but not least, eat breakfast! You’ll be less likely to eat a donut at work if you’ve already eaten at home.
TIP: Take apples with you everywhere you go.
Key Points of Part II
• If you can visualize what you want to become, it will happen.
• Keep a food and beverage journal.
• Set your ultimate goal. Make sure it’s realistic and measurable.
• Set measurable mini-goals to help you reach your ultimate goal.
• Find some inspiration to motivate you.
• Break the barriers that prevent you from reaching your goal.
• Prepare and plan so willpower won’t be an issue.
*Check in with this person every two weeks and let him or her know how you are doing.
The Truth about Nutrition, Diet, and Fat Loss
Mass confusion
There are simply too many diet books, versions of food pyramids, and guidelines and too much other nutritional advice on the market today. Each source would have you believe theirs is the one. Much of the information is conflicting. Should you eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet? Or a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet? Should you eat high-protein, high-fat? How about the no-dairy, no-wheat, no-fat, no-meat (and no flavour) diet? Just kidding!
Amid the cacophony of opinions, there is one thing that most experts do agree on. Most people are overfat because they don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables and they don’t engage in regular physical activity. It’s as simple as that.
The low-calorie weight-loss trap
I had to laugh when I heard the phrase “skinny fat person”, and that’s when it hit me. That’s what I have ended up being every time I went on a diet because all that I did was stop eating and didn’t have a real exercise program. Then my weight always ended up coming back even heavier than I was to begin with!
—Jim Barker, age 51, lost 43.5 pounds of body fat and
gained 0.5 pound of muscle
Many of the popular programs these days are based strictly on weight loss. Losing weight can be beneficial for many reasons aside from appearance—but only if you can maintain your current muscle mass.
Some of these plans are downright harmful, especially if permanent fat loss is your goal. For example, the diets based on very low calories are the biggest trap of all. They are seductive in that they offer quick results. But in the long term they are disastrous. Ultra-low-calorie diets are the cause of yo-yo dieting, which lowers your metabolism incrementally over time until it’s almost impossible to lose weight.
Research from the University of California has shown that crash diets—of fewer than 1,000 calories a day—slow metabolism down by as much as 45 per cent!
These diets fly in the face of what is now common knowledge: To raise your metabolism, you have to eat more healthy foods, not eat less! Eating less lowers your metabolism by stripping away your muscle tissue. It is the direct cause of the dieting plateaus that are so hard to overcome. It’s likely you’ll become a “skinny fat person” if you follow a low-calorie eating program.
“But,” you reason, “if I eat more I’ll just gain weight.”
Not if you eat healthy foods and exercise you won’t. If you consume small, nutritionally balanced, low-GI meals, at regular intervals throughout the day, your metabolism will be revved up all day long.
In other words, you need the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet.
Why I wrote this book
I’m not a diet guru on the talk show circuit. I’m not selling supplements or magic weight-loss powders. What I am is a registered dietitian, a bodybuilder, and a group training instructor with 20 years of experience in helping my clients lose fat, get fit—and stay fit.
My purpose in writing this book is to use my knowledge of nutrition, diet, and exercise to guide you to permanent fat loss and muscle retention without diet pills, supplements, or gimmicks. I would also like to clear the air of the confusion and disinformation associated with nutrition and weight loss.
The 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet draws on all food groups in balanced proportions to help your metabolism do its job. It features apples because of their convenience, low glycaemic rating, and high fibre content—the latter two of which are extremely important in fat loss.
The control you need to succeed
The 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet will give you the control you must have over your appetite in order to achieve your weight loss goals. You can achieve this control by balancing carbohydrates, proteins, and essential fats.
The plan is for people who want to make the most out of their lives, without perpetually looking for the one and only “next best diet”. Most important, this plan when combined with an exercise program, has been successful in helping people achieve permanent fat loss.
Nutrient recommendations
The