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Melanie was a 40-year-old brand manager who had been struggling with her weight for the past 15 years. She was the classic yo-yo dieter, always losing the same 10 pounds and then always gaining it back. Lately, though, she had started gaining back more than she lost, first an extra 15 pounds, then an extra 20. When she came to me, she was beyond frustrated – and not at all sure that I could help her.

“Look,” she told me during our first consultation, “I know what you’re going to say, but please don’t say it. I don’t binge. I do watch what I eat. I count every calorie I put into my mouth. Yes, I eat in restaurants occasionally, but I always have just a salad or maybe some grilled fish. I live on low-fat, low-carb foods, I never let myself have dessert, I exercise five times a week and I don’t even drink! But here I am, 20 pounds overweight, bursting out of my clothes and my skin is breaking out. I’m just a mess.”

“Okay,” I said, thinking that Melanie was just the kind of client I love to work with. Like me, she was a no-nonsense gal who didn’t waste time, and I knew she would respond well to my particular brand of ‘tough love – with love’.

“Just answer three questions,” I said. “First, do you drink milk or eat yoghurt?”

“Every day,” she said proudly. “Nonfat only, of course.”

“What about eggs, including egg whites? Ever have those in your diet?”

“Every day,” she repeated.

“And soy – tofu, soy sauce, edamame – is that something you eat as well?”

“Every day,” she said a third time, awaiting her gold star.

“Okay, so here’s the problem, Melanie. A lot of these so-called healthy foods are actually not good for you. And believe it or not, they can cause you to gain weight.”

We were having a phone consultation, so I couldn’t see Melanie’s face, but I could imagine her surprise because I’ve seen it on the faces of thousands of people I’ve worked with – the weight-loss clients I advise, the healthcare professionals I speak to, the physicians I help to educate about diet and nutrition. Sometimes I think it’s America’s best kept secret: Supposedly healthy foods can actually cause you to gain weight.

“The problem,” I explained to Melanie, “is a condition known as food intolerance.”

“Wait a minute,” Melanie said, interrupting me. “Are you telling me I’m allergic to food?”

Even though Melanie couldn’t see me, I shook my head. “Food allergies are a very specific condition. They’re one type of immune system response – usually very fast and very intense. Food intolerance is usually slower and more subtle. It’s an umbrella term that covers a lot of different ways that your body might have trouble digesting food.”

I explained to Melanie that sometimes food intolerance (FI) is a preexisting condition. You might have been born intolerant to certain foods, such as dairy products or gluten – a protein found in many grains, breads, pastas and baked goods, as well as in many processed and prepared foods. Or you might have developed food intolerance later in your life. Sometimes it’s set off by stress, which disrupts your body’s functioning in several different ways. You might have developed food intolerance from eating too much of the same food every day. If this is a food that your body is reacting to, it can lead to a buildup of immune complexes that set off a myriad of symptoms. Food intolerance might result from many other causes, including a condition known as leaky gut, which itself can be set off by infection, antibiotics, radiation, heavy metals and a host of other causes, including, again, stress. (We’ll look more at the causes of food intolerance in Chapter 1.)

In some cases, food intolerance is permanent. There may just be some foods that will present you with lifelong problems. Fortunately, in many cases, food intolerance can be overcome. If you stay away from a food long enough and repair your system with healing foods and supplements, you might be able to tolerate the problematic food later on.

“So,” I told Melanie, “if food intolerance is your problem – and it certainly sounds as though it might be – there is a quick, simple solution. All you have to do is drop the top 7 high-FI foods – the 7 foods most likely to cause food intolerance. In 7 days, you can lose up to 7 pounds and look years younger. What do you say?”

Melanie might have been surprised, but she didn’t let it slow her down. “Absolutely,” she said, as quickly as I’d thought she might. “Let’s get started.”