Authors: Dr. Mike Moreno
After 15 minutes:
After the first morning of eating a healthy breakfast
,
your stomach’s satiety signals have registered in your brain, and you feel full. The body’s internal chemistry is at its most active first thing in the morning, so your breakfast is then used to the maximum. If you eliminated processed foods (white bread, sugary cereals) for whole grains and lean proteins like egg whites, along with fresh fruit, you should feel energetic and mentally alert after just one meal.
After 3 hours:
Your artery linings are able to expand sufficiently to increase blood flow to the body’s tissues and organs.
After 6 hours:
The HDL (happy cholesterol) in your blood perks up and starts scouring LDL (lousy cholesterol) from the blood. You can think of LDLs as delivery trucks, depositing cholesterol in blood vessels, and HDLs as garbage trucks, taking them back to the liver where they’re broken down.
After 12 hours:
Your body finally has an opportunity to burn the fat it has stored for energy because you’ve eliminated sugar. When you’re eating a lot of sugar, your body is so busy processing the sugar that it doesn’t have time to do its other job, which is to help the body burn fat. So guess what? The fat ends up hanging around.
After 16 hours:
You get a restful night’s sleep.
After 24 hours:
You’re 1 to 2 pounds lighter, because your body has begun to flush excess water and toxins from your system.
After 3 days:
Once your body senses it’s losing weight, its blood-related numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar) start traveling in a healthy direction.
After 1 week:
Your cholesterol levels can drop significantly. Blood levels of important disease-fighting antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E are higher. Your bowels are in better working order, and you should be at least 5 pounds lighter.
After 2 weeks:
You’ll experience healthy drops in blood pressure if you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension. Expect to have lost up to 10 pounds by now.
After 1 month:
Nobody has to filter out chunks of fast food from your blood anymore. By now, blood levels of LDL cholesterol can fall by nearly 30 percent—a drop similar to that seen with some cholesterol-lowering drugs.
After 6 weeks:
You’ve lost so much weight you can’t buy new, smaller clothes fast enough. Yes, you should have lost quite a bit of weight (20 pounds is not unusual), and your blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels will be substantially improved.
After 12 weeks:
Many significant health numbers—cholesterol, triglycerides (fat in the blood), blood pressure, glucose and insulin—should begin to, if not completely, normalize.
After 6 months:
You’ll feel healthier because your body will be retaining more vitamins and minerals. Because you reduced your sugar intake significantly over this period, insulin production will have normalized. So your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is reduced, as this can be linked to a larger intake of sugar. Your energy levels have improved dramatically because your body has gone through a detoxing process. You’ve probably reached your goal. The hardest work is over, and now it’s time to learn how to eat to maintain your newly slender silhouette.
Pretty amazing what a good diet can do, right? Don’t you want all of this? Be brutally honest here: if you really want something you’ll find a way to get it. So if you find yourself saying, “I didn’t have time to prepare healthy food,” let me ask you this: would you have found time if your life depended on it? Well, it does.
GET SKINNY
SHORTCUT
Posture
Stand up straight. Not only does slouching make your belly protrude, but it gives your core muscles an undeserved break. Standing erect, with the stomach held in, encourages the abs to work and can make you look slimmer naturally—and in an instant.
Get Sexy
When you’re fit and in shape, you’re much more datable. In one survey of 554 undergrads, researchers found that overweight women were less likely to date than their peers. What’s more, you’re marriage material if you’re thin. Research shows that overweight women are significantly less likely to marry than are women of average weight, particularly if they were overweight as young adults.
Losing weight can do wonders for your sex life, too. Duke University researchers did a study of 187 extremely obese adults, who were asked about their sex lives before and after they lost weight. It turned out the proportion of women who did not feel sexually attractive fell from 68 percent before they began a weight loss program to 26 percent a year later. There were similar decreases in the percentages of women who didn’t want to be seen naked, had little sexual drive, avoided sexual encounters, had difficulty with sexual performance or didn’t enjoy sex. Among men, sex improved in most of the categories, but the improvements were less dramatic, probably because there are a lot more appearance-related pressures on women.
The romantic world revolves around physical appearances. If you want a love life with great sex, lose the weight.
Get Richer
Get in shape and you can improve your financial shape too. It’s considerably more expensive to be unfit than it is to be fit, mainly because you’re sicker more often and you pay higher medical bills. People who are overweight, and particularly those who are obese, are significantly more likely to have expensive-to-treat diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
And while I’m at it, did you know your employment prospects will improve after you lose weight? It’s true! People with weight problems sometimes don’t get hired. In the job market, appearance counts for a lot. Employers think fat people are lazy, incompetent, slow-moving and might have poor attendance. Studies have shown that fat people are paid less than employees of average weight.
I hate fat discrimination. It’s wrong. But this is the world we live in. It’s not going to change anytime soon, so get over it. Lose weight and you won’t have to deal with it.
Thin people look better, and, like it or not, get paid more. If you’re trim and healthy, you don’t have an absentee problem. You might even be more productive on the job. All of this helps your earning potential. So if you want to live well and make your mortgage or rent payment, get those pounds off.
If my message seems too in-your-face, I apologize for the delivery—but not for the content. I’m speaking out because I care. I just want you to get healthy and enjoy your life to the fullest.
LEAN 17
: Are You Ready to Be a Total Hottie?
T
ake this quiz to see if you are ready to go on the 17 Day Diet. A successful and healthy weight loss requires the right frame of mind. Circle the answer that best describes your level of commitment.
1.
When I think about starting the 17 Day Diet, I feel excited.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
2.
I feel that weight loss and fitness are very important.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
3.
I am determined to eat more healthfully.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
4.
I want to look better and feel sexier.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
5.
I am willing to follow the food plans in this book.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
6.
I will eat more fruits and vegetables.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
7.
I will give up soft drinks, candy and other sweets while following this diet.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
8.
I will scale back on my alcohol intake.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
9.
I will prepare more meals at home and eat out less frequently.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
10.
I will increase my water intake.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
11.
I am willing to cut back on starchy foods like white bread, pasta and sugary breakfast cereals.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
12.
I feel confident that I can stick to this plan for at least 17 days.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat
C.
Unsure
D.
Not at all
13.
I will eat at least 3 meals and 1 snack a day.
A.
Yes
B.
Somewhat