The Zen Diet Revolution (11 page)

Reinforce to yourself how easy this change is – just one habit swapping for another. Instead of going to the canteen for a coffee and a chocolate bar, you are going to go for a walk in your break and drink a bottle of water and have a carrot. Think of the extra calories you have burned and the health benefits of the vitamins and roughage from the vegetables. Fresh air. Imagine what others will think. Those who approve start to join you or are inspired; whereas for those who don’t, use their cynicism as a strength to make the change stick and then to entertain them with another!

Really enjoy the emotions of the exercise, so that your subconscious starts to associate the small change that you are making with those positive feelings.

Now think of the example you are setting. You are making this change not just for yourself but for others around you. The people who you love and who you want to be healthy, too; perhaps you have children who you want to grow up healthy and fit. Perhaps you have a partner who you want to be as healthy as possible to enjoy life together.

Make sure the goal is as global as possible. This is your quest to stand for what you want to see in the world – health, harmony and positive focus.

‘No man is an island …’ as the saying goes, and this is truer about eating habits than many other things. It is not just you involved in this mission. As mentioned previously, some people will not be on your side. They will not like the change you are bringing about. This section is about those who
are
on your side. One small change you can make that is very powerful is to start to recruit help. It seems a strange idea when you first think about it, but it really is a must to have some people on your side in this mission. It’s very hard to cook your children and partner sausage, chips and beans and then to make yourself a salad niçoise! So step one is to attempt to bring those close to you in line with your goal. They don’t need to want to slim with you, but you just need to see if they would like to join you in making life healthier. It is far easier to go for a walk every evening with someone else than it is to go alone.

It’s a great thing if you have someone interested in diet and health to work with you on your goal. That way, you can work together and only buy healthy food and cook the best meals for your goals. Sometimes, however, you may need to sell the idea to your partner, parents or whomever you live with. I use the term ‘sell’ because that’s exactly what your mission is. It is best not to simply impose healthy
changes on those around you (except those that they would never notice). You need to bring them on board. Don’t just tell them your goals; think about what they would want from the same changes. It may be that they would like better health or to be more athletic. Look at what they want to change in their life and give them a chance to fulfil those aims. I know one woman who rather cunningly made various changes to the family diet in order to help a health complaint her husband had. By making it all about
him
, there were no complaints, and within a month he was rejecting food that he previously would have fought for!

Do go to your doctor first. He is, after all, going to be over the moon at your goals, but it is important to make sure that no existing health issues could cause problems with any of the changes you are hoping to make. But far more exciting are the ways he may be able to help you with your goal. If you are a certain weight, your area may offer a ‘gym prescription’ which is basically a free gym membership. They may even offer a few sessions with a personal trainer. Likewise, they may have a free slimming club or exercise group. I even know of one person who went to a doctor and came out with some lovely slimming green tea extract, all free of charge. Great result!

Slimming clubs are brilliant. Yes, they are! So many people say cynical things about them, but the truth is they work. And they replace social activity that involves consuming calories! Perfect. I know three people who have used well-known clubs and got perfect results. When you join, you instantly get a team of supportive people who have the same goal. Just remember most clubs let you carry on coming for free as long as your weight stays within your target. It’s not just only for women. If you’re a man and you choose to go to a slimming class, you are bound to be outnumbered, but you will get more female attention than a new baby in a retirement home for midwives. If you lack support in your goals with the people you know, a slimming club is highly recommended.

If you join an exercise class, you get a new support network of health-conscious people. You also lose a bit of weight and build health every time you attend. It’s a great way to gain support and have fun. However, one word of advice: I box, and as a boxer I tend to think of myself as pretty fit. One week I missed a class and decided that I should go to boxercise instead, thinking it would be easy – after all it’s not
real
boxing! I was wrong. It was the most gruelling hour and a half of my life – worse than martial arts training in Japan, worse than long-distance running in the desert. Some of the exercise classes out there are very high-octane,
so always start with a beginner’s class or choose something gentle like yoga, aqua-aerobics, tai chi or something you really love the idea of doing. If you want to do ice climbing – do it!

Love being the most important thing, sustainability being the second. You need something you can do during the busiest, the run-down and tired stages of your life. It is better to do tai chi every week and burn an extra 100 calories than to do step aerobics twice and never go back! And remember, if you take a friend along, you are far more likely to carry on.

Obviously, there are some overweight people who find it hard to be mobile and cannot get to the gym. A gentle but persistent approach is then necessary to begin the process of not only losing some weight, but also regaining mobility in joints and muscles that have not been used properly for some time. Of course, exercise alone is not going to make you lose weight and so is just one of the small but permanent changes you need to make.

Being immobile is not confined to those who are overweight; many people have an illness or disability that also makes movement and exercise difficult, and at the back of the book is a programme of the types of exercise that can be of use to those unable to move around freely.

Some people love gyms. I love them, but not for the social side. I find it annoying when people talk to me. I am just
there to exercise, and I resent anything that gets in the way of my workout. However, many people find the social side a great support. People notice if you don’t come and they help you with your goals. Most gyms have free exercise classes and help you track your goals. It’s a great support network if you don’t have many people around you who are into health and exercise. Some individuals think of the cost of a gym as being expensive, the average price being about £25 a month. I find that those who look down on this kind of cost will spend that on a takeaway or on a night’s drinking. We spend so much money investing in our car, our house and in pleasure. I don’t think £25 a month is much to invest in your body.

Are you ready to go for a walk? Want to go to an exercise class? Is it time for the gym?

Don’t feel like going?

Going to give it a rest today, but you have a friend to pick up on the way. You can’t let her down; time to get in the car. Yes, that’s the power of appointment. It makes you go when you would have stayed at home. So, if you can, make sure you have a friend or two involved in everything you are aiming to do.

One of the things about associating with healthy people is the power of peer pressure. It is hard to have a giant steak
and chips at the vegan conference or to go to Slimming World with an ice cream for everyone! As you make new friends, you will find peer pressure starts to become your ally, rather than the alternative of people around you with unhealthy habits.

One study into people giving up smoking showed they were far more likely to persevere and succeed if they announced their goals to the whole universe. This seems to work on two levels. Firstly, if you say that you are a non-smoker to people around you, it starts to become part of your new sense of self. You think of yourself as a non-smoker and so you act like one. Secondly, embarrassment; none of us wants to look silly. If we have been telling everyone we don’t smoke, we don’t want to be caught smoking! So we would rather not smoke. The same is true with weight-loss goals. I was silly enough to post a YouTube video of myself posing and showing off my muscles before I started a new body-building regime. I said I would post my results in 60 days. A week later I realized I had to stick to what I said. I can honestly say this helped me stick to my regime.

If you are going to lose weight, be bold about it. If someone asks you about your weight, tell them that you are losing some every day. Make your goals public and invite people to share in what you do. It takes a bit of guts, but it really helps when you get to a hard point in your goals.

The beauty of the Zen Diet is that it allows you to make big differences with small steps! Rather than radically changing your diet in one huge step (which is much harder to stick to in the long term), little steps are used to help you get used to each change before you go on to the next one. As each step becomes a natural habit, you will see a permanent change in your lifestyle and health. Each step is backed up by research and statistics proving that it is a habit worth having – there are too many diet books that give faulty or realistic advice, but here I aim to use examples and techniques that have a firm basis of success and positive health benefits.

The delicious warming taste of cinnamon is a great way to keep your insulin at a safe level. Insulin is the hormone responsible for turning any excess sugar you consume into fat. Studies published in the
American Journal of Nutrition
showed that when volunteers were given rice pudding with 3 grams of cinnamon added, they produced less insulin after their meal. Aside from the benefit of reducing sugar levels, it may also help you feel fuller for longer by slowing down the rate at which the stomach is emptied.

Sprinkle cinnamon powder onto your food (try not to overdo it as large amounts of uncooked cinnamon may have undesirable effects
³
). The use of cinnamon supplements in capsule/tablet form may help control sugar cravings and reduce insulin sensitivity.

The humble clove – studies
⁴
have shown that there may be some real benefit to using clove supplements as a way of helping reduce insulin levels in those who are diabetic or prediabetic.

Chilli fans will be delighted to know that chilli has a beneficial effect on the metabolism. The potent ingredient capsaicin, which gives chillies their heat, is responsible for reducing hunger pangs, especially for the salty, sugary and fatty foods we need to avoid. Apparently, though, you won’t get the same effect from taking chilli powder in capsule form as you do need to actually taste it.
⁵
You can use fresh or dried chilli as the effects should be the same.

But don’t overdo it! We don’t mean limit the heat, feel free to go as hot as you can stand, but studies have shown that if you only eat chillies occasionally, the appetitecurbing effect is greater.
⁶

Not only does garlic reputedly keep vampires away, but it appears to do a pretty good job at getting rid of excess weight. Trials in Israel showed that the pungent odour of garlic can help trigger the part of the brain that reduces hunger by convincing us that we are full. The main effective compound in garlic is allicin (also the stuff that gives off the smell); this has several major health benefits, including helping to prevent cardiovascular disease, improving the immune system and thinning the blood. Garlic can be enjoyed fresh or in capsule/tablet form (as long as the active ingredient allicin has been preserved – check the packet).

As obesity becomes more and more of a problem, we have to look at what food choices we are
really
making. A lot of people believe that fruit and vegetables are expensive, but if you eat them when they are in season (more of this later), buy locally every few days for freshness, and buy just as much as you need to avoid waste, you will find that they are actually incredibly good value for money when compared to fat-laden or sugary foods. You can make some wonderfully filling, delicious and nutritious meals with just a heap of vegetables and some good-quality protein; all it takes is a bit of creativity to avoid the same old ‘two veg’ routine.

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and this may indeed be true. Not only do apples have a good dose of vitamin C, an antioxidant with attitude, but they are loaded with pectin, a great source of soluble fibre that can help keep blood sugar levels on an even keel and helps lower cholesterol by binding to bile acids and drawing the cholesterol from the body.

It looks as if Mum was right – breakfast
is
the most important meal of the day! Think about it: ‘break-fast’ – breaking your fast, that long, lean period overnight that needs to be addressed when you wake up. The reasoning is based on sound scientific fact. Eating breakfast, even if it is just a wholesome bowl of cereal, is a necessary requirement for your body to function healthily – on all levels. It restores those plummeted blood sugar levels and kick-starts your metabolism into its daily work. If you don’t replenish your ‘fuel tanks’ not only do you feel empty, jittery and probably a tad grumpy, but if you don’t eat anything until lunch (which is a common practice for dieters), then your body starts to go into ‘famine’ mode and alerts your system to start storing fat for hard times. Remember, if you skip breakfast, by the time it gets to lunch, you have potentially been running on empty for over 14 hours! This then usually leads to eating a calorie-laden lunch as
your body is crying out for energy, and more often than not giving in to snacking and a heavy dinner to make up for it.