The Virgin Diet (21 page)

What if you’re running out of steam and still have some weight to lose? You can throw in some fun plateau busters:

• Replace 2 meals per day with Virgin Diet Shakes.
  
• Double up your workouts: do some bursting in the morning and resistance training in the afternoon.
  
• Increase the intensity of your workouts.
  
• Replace your high-fiber starchy carbs with more nonstarchy veggies.
  
• Drink more green tea to help boost your metabolism. I love it iced!
  
• Try my metabolic booster supplement bundle (see the Resources section on my website).
  
• Up your fiber.
  
• Make sure to drink half of your weight or more in water each day.
  
• Lighten up a bit by shifting from higher fat animal protein, such as grass-fed beef and lamb, to lower fat chicken breasts, turkey breasts and scallops.
  

You can also do a challenge with some friends if you want to get to the next level. Support each other and then celebrate together when the plateau is busted.

Now we’re almost at the end of our journey, but I don’t really want the journey to end—not for you or for us together. So let me end this chapter with two invitations. First, I am always there for you on my
website at www.thevirgindiet.com, with lots of information, motivation, help and support.

Second, whether you keep going with me or without me,
I want you to keep going.
We call Cycle 3 the Virgin Diet for Life cycle, but maybe we should call it the “lifetime forward movement cycle” because in my experience, you’re either moving forward or moving backward. I don’t want you to be moving backward. That means you need to keep moving forward.

Do you want to know one of my favorite statements ever? “Weight loss is a metaphor for life.” I love this! One thing I’ve learned in my life is that how you do one thing is how you do everything. If you commit to yourself to lose weight, look younger and feel terrific, it won’t just be your health that benefits—it will be your whole life. Many of my clients have found that their whole lives changed. I’ve seen it over and over again: as you start to put yourself at the top of the list, things shift.

You can be better now than you’ve ever been in your life.

I’ve seen this kind of powerful transformation all the time in my clients. It’s the kind of change that I want to see for you.

I want you to get inspired to stick with this for life, so here is my shot at inspiring you: I believe you can be better now than you’ve ever been in your life. We are so much smarter. We have great science now to back us up. I know I look better now than I did in high school, in college, in my 20s or in my 30s. I’m almost 50, and I think it’s been a journey of continual improvement. Yes, I faced some bumps along the road, but in the end, all my setbacks made me stronger. The same can be true for you. So please, don’t limit yourself. Don’t believe it when people say, “You’re gaining weight. That’s the way it is. You will always look that way. That’s aging.” Don’t accept that because it’s simply not true.

At the same time, you need to be prepared for some bumps along the road because they eventually happen to everybody in some form or other, and I don’t want you to be discouraged by them. You might be under stress. You may go through andropause or menopause. You can go through those difficult times and come out stronger and better than when you went in. The important thing is to figure out your own definition of personal best and not let anyone else impose their limitations on you.

Making this kind of change will change everything. When you are your best self emotionally, physically and spiritually, you can achieve your life’s purpose. There is nothing more important.

Whether our purpose is giving to charity, doing some type of work or raising kids, there are messages that we are supposed to pass on to the world in some way. If you’re not fulfilling your purpose, you’re denying your best self—and that’s never a good thing to do.

In his book
Lead the Field,
inspirational author and speaker Earl Nightingale says that we’re never better than when we’re facing a challenge. After we achieve our goal, we’re a bit depressed, so we need to go on to set the next one. Well, now you’ve created this amazing achievement for yourself: you’ve finished the first three cycles of the Virgin Diet. That’s awesome! I’m proud of you. So now, what’s your next challenge? I want you to say to yourself,
If I could do that, what can I do now? Can I ramp up my exercise to the next level? Do I share my newfound love of health with others?

Make sure that you are the person who makes other people say, “I want to have what she’s having!” Make sure that you are making better choices, taking care of your body, putting yourself first, getting enough sleep and having balance in your life that is not all work and no play. So, what is your new identity? Now it’s up to you!

Now it’s time to put it all together! I don’t want you to stress out in the kitchen, so I’m focusing on quick and easy-to-fix choices. In the following pages, you will find some sample meal assemblies. As you can see, each one is based on assembling items from a number of categories: clean, lean proteins; high-fiber, low-glycemic carbs; healthy fats; and nonstarchy vegetables. You can assemble any of these choices for any meal. Just remember that you are also including one or two Virgin Diet Shakes in your daily diet and don’t forget to follow the Golden Rules of Meal Timing.

I’ve also included some of my favorite recipes in
Chapter 12
. And to make grocery shopping easier, turn for The Virgin Diet Shopping List.

Assemble your meals from clean, lean protein; high-fiber, low-glycemic carbs; healthy fats; and nonstarchy vegetables. Here is a list of some acceptable choices that you can use in meal assembly, followed by some suggestions for how to put your meals together:

CLEAN, LEAN PROTEIN

Chicken breast

Grass-fed beef tenderloin

King crab

Pasture-fed pork loin

Pea-rice protein powder

Roast beef slices

Sole

Turkey slices

Wild salmon

Wild scallops

HIGH-FIBER, LOW-GLYCEMIC CARBS

Apples and other moderate GI fruit

Beets

Berries

Black beans

Brown rice

Butternut squash

Hummus

Kabocha squash

Lentils

Quinoa

Quinoa pasta

Rice noodles

Sweet potato

Tomatoes

HEALTHY FATS

Avocado

Coconut milk

Coconut oil

Cold-water fish

Extra-virgin olive oil

Grass-fed beef

Nut butter

Nuts

Palm fruit oil

Seeds

NONSTARCHY VEGETABLES

Arugula

Asparagus

Broccoli

Broccolini

Brussels sprouts

Chopped veggies

Cripsy kale chips

Grilled veggie medley

Mixed greens

Mushrooms

Red onions

Red peppers

Roasted cauliflower

Romaine

Sautéed green beans, mushrooms and garlic

Sautéed kale

Sautéed red, rainbow or Swiss chard

Sautéed spinach and garlic

Summer squash

THE BOWL

CHOOSE BROWN RICE, QUINOA OR LEGUMES AS BASE

	Add stir-fried, steamed, roasted or sautéed vegetables.
	Add your protein.
	Add your healthy fat.
	Top with your sauce or seasoning.

I’ve made it super simple to restock your kitchen with the staples you need to succeed on the Virgin Diet. You can download my list at www.thevirgindiet.com/shoppinglist and take it with you to the grocery store.

MY FAVORITE BOWL

• Quinoa (steam in chicken or veggie broth)
  
• Roasted Brussels sprouts, asparagus, red peppers (roast in palm fruit or coconut oil)
  
• Grilled salmon
  
• Lemon and sea salt
  

SAUCES AND SEASONINGS

Great spices and seasoning blends can make you forget all about the 7 high-FI foods. The challenge is that spice blends can also be a source of hidden gluten, sugar, soy and dairy, so you must make sure you read the labels carefully.

I know I’m asking you to eat in a whole new way, and I’d like to make your decisions as simple as possible. I’d also like to retool your palate to appreciate the fresh and subtle flavors of clean, lean proteins; high-fiber, low-glycemic carbs; healthy fats; and nonstarchy veggies. So for Cycles 1 and 2 of the zero tolerance diet, you will ideally make your own sauces and seasonings using your favorite vinegars, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon and lime juice, coconut milk and spices. Not only will you save money by not buying a lot of canned and bottled sauces, but you will also unleash your creativity and know exactly what you are getting!

It’s harder than you might think to find prepared sauces and seasonings that don’t contain hidden traps. A lot of spice blends contain MSG, which is a highly reactive food for many people. Many sauces contain gluten, egg, dairy, peanuts or soy, which are sometimes listed on the label but sometimes hidden (rules vary about what kinds of ingredients have to be listed). So for these first two phases, stick to the specific sauce that I’ve recommended in the shopping list on page 294 and to single-ingredient spices rather than blends—ideally, nonirradiated and organic. You can make an exception for salsas, marinara sauce and guacamole, which are usually fine, but watch for corn in the salsa, and sugar and cheese in the marinara. By the way, ketchups are always made with sugar, so use marinara or salsa instead.