If you have watched the TV show The Biggest Loser, you
already know Kim Lyons. She is a fitness guru and author of numerous books and
DVDs on diet and exercise. Her latest plan has four steps to better health in
only ten days.
Kim Lyons believes that weight loss is a mental as well
as physical challenge. Most diets fail because people don’t believe that they
can successfully lose weight and find reasons to quit. She counters that
behavior by instituting small, step-by-step changes to daily life. Before
you know it, you’re losing weight!
Kim’s 10-day plan is broken down into 4 steps. Step 1 is
called “Flush Fat.” This is done by drinking a glass of fat flush water before
each meal. The water can be made daily with ingredients found in most
refrigerators. Just fill a pitcher with water and add a slice of grapefruit, 2
peppermint leaves, half of a cucumber (sliced thinly) and a tangerine
(sectioned). Each of these ingredients has a special purpose. The tangerine is
to stabilize your blood sugar, the grapefruit is loaded with vitamin C to help
burn fat. The cucumber reduces bloating and the peppermint helps sooth your
stomach.
Step 2 shifts your diet away from “brown” carbs to green
vegetables. This is simply a change from bread and pasta to spinach and
broccoli; choosing zucchini instead of semolina when making that lasagna. These
choices move your meals down the glycemic index scale. This further reduces
spikes in your blood sugar, reducing fat creation and curbing your hunger pangs.
Step 3 directs your attention to spices for weight loss. Kim Lyons recommends cooking with chili powder, turmeric and mustard seed. Just adding these delicious flavors to your recipes can spice up the dish
(sorry!) while it helps slim you down. Chili powder contains capsaicin, famous
for its role in pepper spray and hot sauce. It turns out that capsaicin burns fat! Turmeric also suppresses fat cell creation and mustard seed
helps jump-start your metabolism so that you burn more calories.
Step 4 changes your approach to snacking. Face it, we all
snack. Any diet that doesn’t include a strategy for snacking is doomed to
failure. Kim suggests a new take on popcorn. In this case, popcorn is
actually roasted cauliflower. Spice it
up with a dusting of hemp seeds and black pepper and those moments when you
can’t wait for your next meal can have a healthy answer.
These four steps can gradually redirect your eating
habits to a healthier place. By layering each healthy change on top of the
previous step, you build confidence in your ability to succeed. Before you know
it, you have burned the fat, slimmed down, and learned a new way to eat for the
rest of your life!
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