The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient for Effortless Weight Loss. Cherie Calbom

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      1 Do you spend more time than you’d like to worrying about your weight?(Score 1 for yes, o for no.)

      2 Do you feel sleepy or fatigued an hour or two after eating?(Score 1 for yes, o for no.)

      3 Do you experience anxiety or panic attacks?(Score 1 for yes, o for no.)

      4 Score 1 point for every symptom you have from the list below:Abnormal triglycerides or cholesterol levelsBinge eating, uncontrollable cravingsBloating or abdominal gasChronic fatigueChronic indigestionsDepression that comes and goesFood/chemical allergiesGastrointestinal (digestive tract) problemsHeart trouble (heart attack, congestive heart failure, etc)Hypertension (high blood pressure)Inability to lose weight on a low fat dietInfertility/irregular menstrual periodsMental confusion or “brain fog”Obesity (20 percent or more, over your ideal weight)

      1 Measure your waist and hips. Divide your waist measurement, by your hip measurement.Women: If the result is .8 or more, score 10 pointsMen: If the result is 1.0 or more, score 10 points

      2 Give yourself one point for every blood relative who has diabetes.

      3 By how many pounds are you over weight?

      4 Give yourself 1 point for every time you’ve gone on a diet.

       Avoid sweets and other simple carbohydrates (refined grains and starches); this is one of the most important steps you can take.

       Avoid artificial sweeteners and nicotine as they cause an increase in insulin. A diet soda or artificial sweetener in your coffee, even though it has no calories, sends confusing signals to your body. Though these artificial sweeteners do not cause blood sugar levels to rise, they can cause insulin levels to increase, which can lead to low blood sugar, weakness, hunger, and ultimately insulin resistance.16 You may think that you are serving your weight loss goals by choosing artificial, non-calorie sweeteners, but in fact, you can be setting yourself up for a life-long struggle with weight management due to insulin resistance and an increased appetite caused by the artificial sweeteners.

       Cut back on coffee. Drinking just two cups of coffee per day has been shown to increase levels of the stress hormone Cortisol. When this hormone is elevated, it can have adverse effects on the immune system, brain cells, sugar metabolism (which includes setting you up for insulin resistance), and weight gain. Coffee drinking has been reported to cause increased body fat, often around the mid-section, due to insulin and Cortisol elevation. (Stress also causes Cortisol to go up.) Research is unclear about why coffee affects weight gain, but clinical studies do show that when coffee intake is reduced, body fat goes down.17 If you just can’t give up that cup of Java, make sure you have no more than one cup a day. The rest of the day, I recommend that you drink tea, either herbal or green tea, water, sparkling mineral water, and some fresh vegetable juice.

       Green tea helps you lose weight. When tea has been substituted for coffee, especially green tea, it had the opposite effect—it helped people lose weight.18 Avoid green tea (and all other sources of caffeine) if you are hypothyroid, have adrenal stress, or are hypoglycemic; green tea does contain caffeine, which should be omitted until these conditions are corrected.

       Increase your intake of essential fatty acids. You can increase cell receptor activity by increasing the fluidity of cell membranes. Omega-3 fatty acids, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) actually make cell membranes more fluid. Essential fatty acids also help to lower levels of “stress chemicals” such as Cortisol and norepinephrine. This may account, in part, for one weight loss study’s success with omega-3S, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that showed the best weight loss results, along with reduction of glucose and insulin, in the group that ate one meal of fish each day.19

       Learn stress reduction techniques and how to manage stress effectively. This can definitely help improve insulin resistance. High levels of stress activate the “fight or flight” response, which stimulates the production of epinephrine. Epinephrine causes the liver and muscles to convert glucose from its reserved state as glycogen to its active sugar form. Insulin rises to control glucose and increased insulin levels signal fat storage. This is one reason why some stressed individuals cannot lose weight regardless of how strict they are with their food choices. Relaxation techniques such as massage, hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, and prayer can improve insulin sensitivity and fat loss.20

      1 Follow the Coconut Diet. The meal plans and recipes in this book are designed to help you improve your blood sugar balance and improve insulin sensitivity.

      2 Eat only healthy fats and oils. Healthful oils help promote insulin sensitivity. This is one more reason we recommend only virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, and essential fatty acids (the omega-3s), which are found in coldwater fish such as salmon and sardines, fish oils such as cod liver oil (rich in EPA and DHA), flaxseeds, and evening primrose oil or blackcurrant oil.

      3 Eat only complex carbohydrates; avoid simple carbs. Vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and fruit are rich in fiber; they release their sugars more slowly into the bloodstream. Simple carbohydrates such as sugar, refined flour products, and starches like white potatoes and white rice, СКАЧАТЬ