Читать книгу The Virgin Diet: The US Bestseller - JJ Virgin - Страница 16

Now here’s the key to the Virgin Diet: when it comes to weight loss and healthy eating, moderation doesn’t work.

Why? Because weight gain among the non-obese is generally gradual, averaging almost a pound a year as the result of only moderate changes in diet and activity. Yes, if you binge for months on crisps and ice cream, you’re going to put on weight quickly. But that’s not how most people gain weight. They continue eating their normal diet, with maybe just a tablespoon of butter here or a few extra biscuits there. Before they know it, they’ve gained a pound a year, which adds up to almost 1 stone in 10 years and almost 1½ stone in 20 years. It looks like age itself is the problem, but it’s not. It’s that pound a year that caused all the trouble.

Moderation doesn’t work.

In other words, the average 30-year-old who consumes a moderate caloric diet while eating the wrong foods will be 10 pounds heavier by age 40 for what may seem like no reason at all. And if at any point along the way that person tries to lose weight – usually by restricting calories – she’s going to find it very difficult to lose weight, keep it off or both.

Why? Because, you guessed it, your body is not a bank account or a calorimeter. It is a chemistry lab. Eating the wrong foods affects your body’s chemistry. Gaining weight affects your body’s chemistry. Stress and lifestyle changes affect your body’s chemistry. So, if you want to get that extra weight off, you have to heal your body’s chemistry.

TOTAL POINTS:_________

Your Food Intolerance Score:

1 to 5: Low-FI

Currently, you seem to suffer from few food allergies or intolerances, if any. I have found that most people feel and look better while removing high-FI foods and often are reacting to one or more of them whether or not they have any overt symptoms. You are reading this book because you want to make sure that you eat the best diet so you can keep feeling and looking lean and young.

6 to 14: Mid-FI

You consistently suffer mild or moderate discomfort and bloating with certain foods, but you do experience periods of relief. Over time, you have probably noticed weight gain even though your diet hasn’t changed. Your skin and hair may look somewhat dull, and you tend to feel more tired or stressed than you used to.

15+: High FI

Help! You can’t remember the last time you felt light and lean after a meal, and it feels as though your stomach is constantly bloated. You’ve done everything you can think of to lose weight, and it just hasn’t worked. Every time you look in the mirror, you think, How did I get so old? Why do I look so tired?