Читать книгу The Viva Mayr Diet: 14 days to a flatter stomach and a younger you - Dr Stossier Harald - Страница 7

I had first met Dr Stossier in London, at a meeting to discuss writing this book. The publisher had chosen me for the job because I have written two books in a similar vein – that is, with a mission to appeal predominantly to women. One was called Two Lipsticks and a Lover, which is all about how to get in touch with your inner Frenchwoman, and the other, To Hell in High Heels, is all about how not to age – from which staying thin, healthy, young and gorgeous is, of course, a natural progression. I also write a lot about beauty, health, women and diets in international magazines and newspapers, so I am a seasoned expert when it comes to knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Dr Stossier and I bonded immediately in the canteen at HarperCollins HQ in London, where we discussed the central theme of the book. For years I have been convinced about the profound link between digestion and just about everything else – from how well we feel to how good our skin looks. I have suffered from digestive problems since I was a little girl, and have never really managed to cure them. In Dr Stossier and this project, I saw a way of finally understanding the whole process and changing the way I live to become thinner and healthier. I think he was happy to find a writer who was so in tune with the sorts of issues he has been working so hard to convey to people for so many years.

I first arrived at Viva Mayr with an open mind, ready to take everything on board. One of the great perks of my job is that I get to test everything for the reader. When I wrote my book about ageing, I travelled around the world testing anti-ageing techniques. At Viva Mayr, I was ready to test my own personal theory that if I started digesting properly, a whole myriad of problems, such as insomnia and bloating, would vanish. They did, and what was most incredible was the speed at which they vanished. What’s more, I was not alone in being impressed with the results.

One man had been suffering from chronic diabetes for 15 years before he came to the clinic; since his first visit, he has suffered no symptoms at all. A lady I met had tried every weight-loss programme from Atkins to that well-known ‘eat nothing until you are practically hospitalised’ diet. The Viva Mayr method is the only thing that has worked for her. She had planned to stay for two weeks, and went on to book in for another three. In fact, everyone I met under Dr Stossier’s care raved about his method and how good they looked and felt. These were people with a wide range of ailments, including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. But, according to the doctor, they all have one thing in common: irritated intestines. Dr Stossier estimates that around 90 per cent of us are wandering around with irritated intestines, which, if left to develop, can result in any number of chronic health conditions and diseases. In fact, he believes that almost every chronic illness we suffer from is related to problems in our intestines.

So how come everyone isn’t hot-footing it over to Austria? Could it be that most people try to avoid thinking about their intestines too much?

‘The reason people don’t believe that diseases are caused by problems in our gut is that they live perfectly happily for, say, 20 years doing the same thing. And then suddenly they are taken ill with, say, diabetes. They assume this is something new but it’s not; it’s a slow process that has been building up for years and years, and which culminates in the disease, even though they seemed healthy before. If you look at a tree, for example, its health and strength does not come from its leaves; these are only a reflection of its health and strength. This comes from its roots, and you can’t see if the roots are sick. Our intestines are our roots; they are not visible, but crucial to our health and strength. If they are weakened, so is the rest of the organism.’

Rather like a house that has a fault in its foundations, we go on for years thinking we’re fine until one day we collapse. The point is you are not either healthy or unwell. The road from health to disease is long and full of small imbalances that do not yet constitute real illness. We don’t often think about the impact of our behaviour on our health, or how we either undermine or support our natural desire to be healthy. Staying healthy requires a certain mind-set and a certain attitude, as well as a certain lifestyle. In practice this means having your own health in mind as a priority when you make all those small, everyday decisions.

Dr Stossier’s theory is that we can avoid almost every disease and live a healthy, slim and happy life if we just learn to eat properly.

‘We don’t really think about eating,’ he says. ‘We just throw some food in and carry on with our busy lives. We have to re-learn this most basic human action.’

It is true that until I met Dr Stossier, I just ate. It didn’t really matter to me what I ate, although I did avoid deep-fried Mars bars and other things that were guaranteed to make me fat. In fact, that was my one criterion for food – that it didn’t make me fat. Apart from that, I didn’t really care what I ate or when. And yet, I considered myself quite a healthy person. I exercised regularly, I didn’t get drunk too often, I ate well (or so I thought) and I never drank caffeine. Surely that was enough to secure me a slot as a good person who looks after herself well? Apparently not.

There is something much more crucial than all of that put together, something that I had been neglecting: how I eat.