Have you ever wondered why some people put on weight and others don't?
Why some people seem to be able to eat everything you would like to, but don't seem to put on an ounce?
Are you fed up with expensive "specialist" diets that leave you feeling hungry all day, or craving for a big cream bun to sink your nose into? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then you have not tried the unique Fade Away Diet.
Modern living leaves little time for food preparation, so we tend to rely very heavily on convenience foods in cans, packs and freezer containers. This is largely responsible for the weight problems that are the scourge of the Western world.
Man evolved to fill an ecological niche as a hunter-gatherer. He does not have the speed of a cheetah, nor the strength of a lion.
He cannot climb trees as well as a chimpanzee, neither can he smell out underground roots and tubers like a pig. He cannot swim or dive a well as a seal, neither does he have a gut designed to extract the last calorie from sparse grasses like a rabbit.
In fact, on the surface of it, Man is not really equipped for survival at all. He has no insulating layer of hair or fur to protect him in the winter, no natural weapons such as claws or fangs to protect himself, nor enough speed to catch most "food" animals, and is not strong enough to take prey from most predators.
What does this have to do with losing weight? Well, let me explain. The sources of energy available to the human being are very varied and diverse.
A sheep or deer would starve to death if offered nothing but meat. A lion or a cheetah would starve to death if offered only vegetables. Man can live on both, individually or together.
His system is designed to be able to extract energy from meat as easily as it does vegetables. What it does not need for everyday use, it converts into fat and stores around the body, this brings us back to the problem of being overweight. As I said earlier, Man evolved as a hunter-gatherer.
He would need to walk or trot miles each day to find food. If no meat was available, he would eat nuts, berries, fruit and seeds, and sustain himself this way.
If he wanted to have hot food, he would have to gather wood, make a fire and tend it constantly, make utensils to cook with and so on. This required him to use a large amount of energy just in the collecting of food.
Just as much, if not more, energy is used in the collection of food these days, but very little of it comes from human effort. Agricultural machines are used to plough, sow, harvest and store most vegetable produce. It is often put into tins or frozen to make it easily available.
Meat is intensively farmed rather than hunted, and the small amount that is hunted is done using firearms which have been bought rather than the weapons of our forebears which required much effort to make.
The point I am trying to make is that very few of us, in our daily lives, use up the energy gained from the food we take for granted.
I am not suggesting that we should abandon civilization and go back to being small bands of Nomadic hunter-gatherers, but we should look at what we eat in terms of the effort required in our daily lives.
By following the plan in part two, you may easily find that you can literally eat yourself slimmer, not by limiting what you eat, but by merely altering the proportions it is eaten in!
If we compare what is available to us, it can easily be seen that by eating a lot more of certain foods and less of others, a new balance will be struck, by which we will gradually lose weight, without feeling hungry, without special foods, and largely without limiting what we enjoy eating.
A recent experiment showed that a group of overweight young men could lose an average of 18 pounds over a three month period by doing nothing more than eating an EXTRA 12 SLICES OF BREAD PER DAY, in ADDITION to what they normally ate!
This may seem to be a little puzzling. How can eating more of what is traditionally thought of as a "fattening" food in extra quantities help you to lose weight?
To explain this, I will go back to what I said at the beginning. Man's gut is not designed to extract every last calorie from vegetable matter - and bread is all vegetable!
In order to break down the complex starches in bread to a form that can be used by the body, energy must be expended - you don't get anything for nothing. Generally, the more complex the starch, the greater the energy requirement for digestion.
Refined carbohydrates, such as ordinary white or brown sugar, glucose requires none at all! Think now of all the foods that applying this method leaves available to you in UNRESTRICTED amounts.
Here is a short-list: Bread - white, brown, wholemeal, granary or whatever Potatoes - boiled or baked Carrots, turnip, Kohl Rabi, salsify etc Oatmeal Cornflakes, Weetabix, Porridge Rice - polished, brown or wholegrain All leaf vegetables Fresh fruit Dried fruit Pulses (peas, beans, lentils etc) Tinned fruit in fruit juice Any tinned vegetables
As you can see from the above list, there is absolutely nothing in regard to vegetables that is restricted with this diet. No more tiresome weighing out your daily allowance of this, that, or the other, just to be seen not to be cheating.
As I have said before, you don't get anything for nothing, and although there is no rigid formula
for this diet, I would recommend that you try to restrict your animal protein to around 2 ounces
(50 grams) per day.
This may not sound much, but believe me, once you start experimenting with different foods you will find something that you don't use this allowance. For instance, prawns may seem an expensive luxury, but if you use 2 ounces of prawns in, for example, a stir-fry with rice, carrot, cabbage, peas, sweetcorn, beansprouts, alfalfa, and perhaps even some apple, you will find those 2 ounces of prawns
will provide a meal for 3 or 4 people, and because of the mixed nature of the vegetables, you will not feel hungry half an hour later, as is often the case with high fibre diets.
As with animal protein, you should also try to keep your consumption of fat to a minimum. As a
guide, 1 ounce (25 grams) of animal fat and 2 ounces (50 grams) of vegetable fat per day should
be more than enough. Again, this does not sound a lot, but with practice and experimentation you
will find that it is more than adequate. For example, the stir-fry used as an illustration earlier will only need about 1 ounce of vegetable oil!
There are two items that it is best to avoid if
possible, but again, if this is not possible,
moderating their use will still enable you to
make this diet a success. One is refined
carbohydrate - sugar particularly, and products
containing a large amount of sugar, such as jams
and tinned fruit in syrup. The other is alcohol,
and while I don't recommend you avoid it
entirely, you should try to keep within the
guidelines of a half pint of beer, or a glass of
wine, or a small tot of spirits per day. Don't
try to save your daily amount for a binge at the
weekend either - this will be counter productive.
Apart from the items mentioned above, you can eat
more or less what you please. You can eat any
amount you wish, as often as you wish and still
lose weight. It will not be the dramatic weight
loss offered by more stringent regimes, but it
will be sustained and sustainable weight loss.
The problem with many diets is that a large
weight loss occurs within the first week to ten
days, then it becomes much more difficult. This
is because the body goes into a 'starvation'
response - again linked to our evolutionary
heritage. What happens is that the metabolism of
the body - the way in which it handles food -
becomes much more efficient. It streamlines it's
activities to such an extent that it may be able
to get as much as 60% more 'work' out of each
calorie! This means that something that
previously took 100 calories to accomplish can
now be done with only 40! This mechanism enabled
early man to go for longer periods without food
in time of shortage, and then build up his
reserves quickly in plenty of time, before
speeding up again to help take care of any
excess!
Many modern diets try to circumvent this process
by telling you to have one 'sin' day per week, or
to diet for only two or three weeks then have a
rest for a month. The problem with these methods
is that by having 'time out', you never really
get around to educating your stomach to accept a
change in eating habits. Your 'sin' day becomes
two or three days, your month off becomes two or
three months and so on, and the only thing that
is pounds lighter is your purse! The diets that
promise massive weight loss very quickly can be
even worse. Unless you follow the initial
'crash' diet with a very strict calorie
controlled regime for a prolonged period, you will
find you quickly put weight back on. You are
eating less than you were at first and now weigh
more!
This diet offers a fresh approach to these
problems by fooling the body into thinking it is
not losing mass. As weight loss is very gradual,
often only a pound or two per week or even less,
the starvation response will not 'kick in' until
you are well below your 'proper' weight, and if
followed, this diet will not allow that to
happen, because as your weight decreases, your
energy requirement to do your everyday things
will diminish, until once again you are back in
'balance', with energy taken in the form of food
matching closely that which you need to carry out
your daily activities.
One subject I have not yet touched is exercise.
Again, it is up to the individual how much or how
little exercise is taken as part of the regime.
Those who take no exercise at all will still
continue to lose weight, but not as quickly as
those who take exercise. Exercise need not be
hard work and drudgery either - if you have a
dog, take him for a longer walk, if you commute
to work by bus, walk to the next stop or get off
a stop earlier. If you go by car, park further
away from your work place and walk - it all
helps. As you lose weight you will find that you
have more energy and will want to take more
exercise. Treat this urge with caution,
particularly if you have been inactive for a long
period of time - you will do yourself no good by
straining a muscle and having to be made inactive
for a while, or by giving yourself a heart attack
by trying to do too much too soon. If you are
one of those unfortunates who have already
suffered a heart attack, a little GENTLE
exercise, gradually building up over several
weeks will probably do you no harm at all,
particularly if you are losing weight at the same
time, but please, consult your family doctor or
hospital specialist first.
By keeping within the very lose framework
provided by this diet, you can eat yourself to a
new and healthier lifestyle. There are other
benefits too! As vegetables are far cheaper than
meat, you will find that your shopping bill is
less. Arable farming (growing crops) is much
less land intensive than animal husbandry, so you
will be doing your bit for the environment! If
you are suffering from piles, this diet will help
relieve your suffering.
Also it can help reduce high blood pressure, and
combat colds and flu because of increased vitamin
intake - the benefits go on and on. However, you
must not try to lose weight too quickly, and if
you are currently consulting your doctor for any
reason, get his advice before starting on this or
any other diet.
PART TWO - THE PLAN
To take advantage of this diet, you need to be in
the right frame of mind - losing weight is a bit
like giving up smoking, you put it on slowly so
you need to take it off slowly.
I would suggest that you give yourself two or
three weeks notice of starting. Write the date
in your diary or calendar, and remind yourself
every day that on this day you will begin the
diet. This may sound a bit like "Diets always
start tomorrow", but if you look at yourself
critically in the mirror at the same time, it
will all help to strengthen your resolve to lose
weight. Look around your local health food shops
for books on Vegetarian and Chinese cookery -
remember, vegetables are totally unrestricted,
so you can always make yourself a "Vege" snack
anytime you feel peckish. Get in some things for
the freezer like vegeburgers - they may taste
like sawdust at first, but you will soon learn
how to prepare them to your liking - a touch of
ketchup or some Worcester sauce can make all the
difference! Don't be afraid to put them in a bap
or bun with some relish either!
Stock up also on basic items like rice (I really like the brown Surinam rice from my local health food store), potatoes, fruit and nuts, frozen vegetables, etc.
I would also suggest that you get some dried pulses - chick peas, kidney beans and the like. They are very high in protein and can be used instead of meat in many dishes.
On the day before your diet begins, get up five or ten minutes earlier than usual - this is important. Have your morning wash at a leisurely pace, then take a few minutes to think about your day.
When do you normally take a snack? How many
snacks during the morning and the afternoon?
Write down those you can think of and keep your
note with you all day. Tick off each one as you
arrive at it, and add any others you might have
forgotten about. In the evening, prepare your
'snacks' in advance, remembering the guidelines
about fat and animal protein. I would suggest
that at least two or three of them could be
replaced with fresh fruit, and most of the others
with a slice or two of bread with, say, a low
fat spread and some Marmite or Bovril, or other
to your liking.
On the day your diet begins, again get up a
little earlier - this is a good habit to get
into. You eat your breakfast at a more leisurely
pace and it will keep you satisfied for longer.
Make sure you take all your prepared snacks to
work with you and eat them. Don't worry if you
still find yourself taking an extra snack or two
at this time, old habits die hard. Just write
down each extra one and then make up another to
fill the gap the following day. I said earlier
"eat your breakfast at a leisurely pace". By
this I mean eat your breakfast. If you have
gotten into the habit of not having breakfast,
get back into the habit of having something, even
if it is just a bowl of cereal or a piece of
toast. I would recommend that you have both, and
some fruit or fruit juice - and a second helping
of all three if you fancy it! (Go easy on the
milk though!)
To start with, it is probably better to take a
packed lunch - a pasty or some sandwiches, plus
some fruit, or, if you have access to something
to heat it up with, prepare something like a
vegetable curry, or even a meat curry provided
you remember to try to keep within the
guidelines. After a while, you will be more used
to your new eating regime, and you can then rely
more heavily on your judgement as to what to eat
from the works canteen - curry is usually low in
both fat and animal protein, for example. Pasta
is nearly all vegetable, so can be eaten in any
quantity you wish, as long as the sauce is not
over the top with fat, animal protein or refined
carbohydrates.
If, for any reason, this is not practical, or you
have business lunches you have to attend, below
is a list of some foods you can still enjoy
whilst on this diet. You will find it makes for
very interesting reading indeed.
Pasties - meat or vegetables - one per day
(standard size) Fish and chips - one portion per
week Beef burgers (standard) - two per day (if no
other animal protein) Bacon - two rashers per day
(if no other animal protein) Eggs - one per day
(if no other animal protein) Cheese - 2 ounces =
1 ounce fat + 1 ounce protein Meat and poultry -
2 ounces cooked Bread, rice, potatoes- as much as
you like Vegetables - cabbage, pulses, root
vegetables - unrestricted Beer, wine and spirits
- moderation recommended Refined carbohydrates-
avoid altogether if possible. (Try Candarel or
Hermesetas (saccharin)).
The essence of this diet is flexibility.
Experiment all you wish, and have fun!
Try to get a smaller portion of meat and extra
vegetables - they should be happy to oblige in
most quality restaurants - and stick to dry wines
in moderation if having a tipple. Have fresh
fruit or some nuts in preference to a pudding or
cheese and biscuits, but don't be afraid to 'sin'
a bit, particularly if you have already shed a
few pounds - you won't put them back on at one
meal or with one cream bun!
As you get lighter, do remember to remind yourself each day that you have lost X pounds rather than you still have Y pounds to lose - your resolve will strengthen by concentrating on the positive rather than the negative, and as the success of this diet depends on you altering the content rather than the amount of your food intake, it will help to remind you of the need to examine what you eat daily until your new, healthy way of life becomes normal for you.
I would recommend that you have at least one portion of oily fish (mackerel, herring, tuna, sprats, etc) per week.
These fish oils contain substances that are proven to help in the reduction of coronary heart disease, which leads to angina and heart attacks.
Remember that although all quantities and foods in this plan are recommendations which may be tailored to your individual tastes or requirements, the closer you manage to get to them, the better the diet will be for you.
Try to follow the plan, but don't give up if you stray for a while. Go back to it when you feel like it, and each time try to last a little longer.
If this does not work, try altering your eating habits gradually, say by replacing one meal a week with a low animal protein/low fat meal, then two meals after a month or so, and so on until your entire eating pattern has changed.
This really is the only way to a slimmer life without constant restrictive dieting. Take as long as you like, but stick with it.
