Our relationship with food is probably one of the most complex in our lives. What woman (and men too I’m sure) doesn’t have issues with her shape, her size or feel she’s failed when she indulges in calorie laden foods? Every January resolutions are made around the world that this time, this year we will be thinner, better, more disciplined. And the cycle begins again. So how fortunate are we that nutritionist Jeannette Jackson has used her scientific knowledge to come to the rescue? And that as a woman she understands what we are all going through?
This may sound like yet another crash diet, but the wonderful fact is that it is NOT! This is a healthy, life changing look at how we eat. And it works!
Thank you Jeannette and thank you Penguin for giving us these excerpts of this JUST published book!
You thought you were simply buying a diet book – an extreme diet book that will help you to lose 14 pounds in 14 days. And you have bought a book that will do exactly that, but The Drop Zone Diet will also offer something quite different along-side. This book will help you to transform your health and wellbeing in the long term to such an extent that this will be the last time you ever have to diet again! You are now the proud owner of a ‘triple-whammy’ book that will help you to lose weight, feed your brain and boost your energy, all at the same time.
The Drop Zone Diet is an extreme diet for people who are in despair about their weight – who feel they have nowhere else to turn, and whose desire to lose weight quickly is making them feel panicky and anxious.
Physically…This diet is for people who, over the years, have taken drastic measures in a bid to shift excess weight. These include skipping meals, taking weight-loss tablets, or existing on just lettuce leaves or a single food type for days. The Drop Zone Diet is perfect for you if you tend to feel dizzy or lack concentration because you are so hungry; if you starve and then binge; if you are enticed by diets such as the ‘water-only’ diet, the ‘tape-worm’ diet or the ‘cabbage- soup’ diet, which promise instant results; or even if you try to shorten the day by going to bed early in order to reduce the number of hours during which you can be tempted by food!
Psychologically…This diet is for people who are ashamed of their bodies, embarrassed by being fat, and so dismayed when they go into a changing room that they leave the clothes store empty-handed.
Does this sound like you? Do you wear all-black or voluminous clothing to disguise your shape? Do you reject social invitations because you can’t find anything to wear? Has your size contributed to feelings of depression and anxiety? If any of these scenarios apply to you, the Drop Zone Diet will provide the tools you need to get straight back on track and feeling good about yourself again.
Designed by a scientist and a leading UK chef, the Drop Zone Diet is not only satisfying and delicious, but it brings hope to millions of people who want to get their weight and health on a level playing field quickly and efficiently. You can lose up to 14 pounds in 14 days because this diet gives you the mental strength and confidence to stick to a plan and achieve results. Your improved confidence (not to mention your weight loss) will act as a springboard to put you back in charge of the food you eat, and as you start to look and feel the way you’ve always wanted, your confidence and self-esteem will soar, helping you to feel good about yourself. People who feel good about themselves look after themselves – a big part of that is eating healthily and well, and sustaining a healthy weight.
Whatever the reasons for your weight gain, there is a solution. Together, you and I will work out the things that have knocked you off track when you’ve dieted in the past. We’ll explore why you climb back on the horse, only to fall off again; what exactly it is that causes you to fail over and over again. We’ll look at your strengths and weaknesses, and establish how to align the two to ignite a passion and a desire so big that you’ll power right through to your ultimate goal and lose all the weight you want. This time it’s different. This time you will succeed.
Not a Crash Diet
The Drop Zone Diet is not a crash diet. By definition, crash diets cause the body to do just that: crash. They do not support the body’s basic metabolic functions, leaving it depleted, lacking nutrients and exhausted. This is the reason for the chronic fatigue and cravings you will often experience when you choose to diet this way.
Metabolism is a process that takes place in all living organ- isms. It’s rather like a complex production line on which literally thousands of chemical reactions take place within every single cell. These reactions keep our bodies functioning and alive. There are two types of metabolism that are worth knowing about. The first is ‘catabolism’, a process that breaks down the molecules from the food we eat (such as fats and sugars) into even smaller molecules that can be used to provide little units of energy when we need them. The second type of metabolism is ‘anabolism’, which then takes these little units of energy to build up our bodies (allowing us to grow taller, for example, or our bones to be made stronger).
In a nutshell, your metabolism converts food into energy that is then used by the body. In order to run smoothly, your hormones need to function properly, your blood sugar needs to be balanced, and macronutrients (fats, carbs and pro- teins) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals, and other trace elements) need to be present in sufficient quantities. As simplistic as it may seem, our bodies need food in order to function, and for our metabolisms to do their job. Crash diets and slimming pills rob the body of the very basic things your metabolism needs. With no energy going in, there will be none coming out! You will feel exhausted on these diets; you will crave foods because your body is calling out for instant refuelling, and you will put on any weight you’ve lost straight after your diet because your body will be desperate to restock its energy supplies with full-fat foods and sugars. What’s more, because you’ve been starving yourself, your metabolism will have slowed itself down, to make the most of what food there is on offer. It can take some time to readjust, so when you do start eating normally after a diet, your food isn’t used as quickly or efficiently as it was before, causing more fat stores to be laid down.
Why This Diet is Different
The Drop Zone Diet is unique because it is nutritionally balanced. Every single food is chosen for its nutritional impact and its ability to boost your health, while working with your body to support smooth, easy weight loss. Underpinning the programme are supplements, which help to keep your energy levels steady and prevent cravings. These supplements also support your body between meals, when you may normally experience an energy dip (i.e., around 11am, 3pm and 8pm). We’ll look at these a little later.
The Drop Zone Diet is effectively nutrition in motion. Even the soups are not just nourishing stand-alone meals, but a combination of energy-boosting carbohydrate super- foods and power proteins to build muscle and encourage beautiful skin and hair. The diet contains vibrant foods that are prepared and served in a natural state to enable you to achieve health and wellbeing on all levels. By feeding your body and brain everything it needs to function at optimum level, you will feel alert, energized and satisfied. Energy is manufactured via a chain of chemical reactions, and if you get the elements right you will experience a true alignment that will not only ensure the success of this diet, but allow you to get in touch with the thinner, inner you!
A Little About Me
I designed the Drop Zone Diet as a scientist. I wrote it as a woman.
Before embarking on a career as a scientist, I began my working life as an assistant in costume and make-up for theatre and television. I witnessed first hand the anxiety people experience when they are in view of others – especially in front of an audience or camera, but even sometimes just within a group. I was perplexed to see beautiful, hugely successful people suffering panic attacks in the privacy of their dressing rooms – wracked with insecurities about their looks, their bodies and everything else. I remember being transfixed when they were able to switch themselves ‘on’ to shine for the public. You’d never know that they were actually riddled with deep insecurities. In particular, I remember working with Ruby Wax. Her public persona is that of a brash, loud-mouthed American; in reality, she was nervous and almost shy off-camera. It has recently transpired that Ruby suffered from years of depression, and that doesn’t surprise me. Trying to put on a face for the public is exhausting and demoralizing; eventually it all catches up with you.
Being privy to this backstage world helped me to understand the battle between ‘private’ and ‘public’ personae. Perhaps there is a ‘you’ who feels lost and insecure in the privacy of your own home, but paints on the lipstick and sucks it all in to go out into the world every day with a smile on your face.
We do this because society dictates that this is the norm. What needs to change is how we feel about ourselves when we aren’t playing the role of someone else, the ‘public’ you. A lot of my work helps people to become content and happy in their bodies, no matter what their size. Balancing our private and public selves and unifying them is a recipe for positive emotional health and, ultimately, the type of self-esteem that will drive you to look after yourself properly.
Having fulfilled my dream of working in television, I eventually decided to pursue my other main interest: nutrition. I went on to complete a two-year nutritional therapy course and began to help people establish healthy eating plans to boost health and wellbeing. I discovered that people came to me not just to lose weight and change their diets, but to get some emo- tional support as well. Years of poor nutrition had impacted upon their self-confidence and self-esteem to the point that many of them couldn’t even remember feeling good about themselves. Behind closed doors, my clients didn’t need to pretend any more, and they were able to open up about their insecurities and worries. With a little guidance, they were able to see the emotional impact that poor nutrition was having on their lives. Failing to provide the body with adequate fuel had not just caused problems with their weight, but it had affected their health on every level – including emotionally.
It quickly became obvious that many people knew what to eat (fresh fruit and vegetables, for example), but they gravitated towards unhealthy choices because their bodies craved sugar, fat, alcohol and any other number of quick-fix, instant-energy foods that caused their blood sugar to soar and then dip alarmingly, not to mention causing them to pile on weight. These types of diets left people tired, hungry, deflated and, in many cases, fat!
I was intrigued by the chemical changes within the body that drive us to eat the wrong foods, even when we do know how to eat well. I decided to go beneath the nutrition to the science, to better understand the role that food has on the brain and the body. I completed a three-year, full-time degree in biochemistry and the missing pieces of the puzzle fell into place. With the knowledge I gained, I could go further to help people, and that’s when the Drop Zone Diet was born.
When designing this diet, I set out to create a supremely healthy, quick weight-loss diet that would offer all-day sup- port to the body, thus preventing energy dips which often cause people to struggle and then succumb to cravings. I produced a diet that would be ideal for busy people who don’t have time to cook elaborate meals, with quick, simple foods that would offer energy, health and, above all, weight loss in the easiest, most straightforward way possible.
At the outset, I passed the diet to existing clients who worked in television and the media, so that I could monitor the results. They were, quite honestly, staggering. I had a designed a formula that actually worked:
The world’s healthiest foods
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minimal calories
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quick, easy weight loss
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improved confidence and self-esteem
