The Virgin Diet (5 page)

Answer yes to any of these questions if you are experiencing this symptom on an ongoing basis: for 1 month or longer and at least 2 or 3 times a week.

Okay, so here’s the deal: none of these symptoms are normal, and you shouldn’t experience any of them regularly on a long-term basis. You might have symptoms that occur periodically because of stress, a transient parasite, bad food—some problem that your body handles and you recover from. But if you have any of these problems
chronically,
you need to address them. And you should be aware that the more questions you answered yes to, the more severe your issue is.

Now, here’s the good news: quite often, removing high-FI foods and adding in healing and low-FI foods correct most if not all of the problems. Here’s some more good news: the Improving Your Poops section can tell you how to fix any remaining problems.

Now that you see how important pooping is for getting rid of toxins, let’s talk about things that can help you poop better.

First, make time for it. Everyone has a rhythm. You will find your best time of day. For most people, it is when they get up in the morning or about an hour after they wake up and move. Make sure you have time for that. You may also need to have another bowel movement in the afternoon after lunch. Start to get used to what your body needs so you can set time aside. You need the right place to be able to do this, too.

Second, you need to have one to three bowel movements a day. They shouldn’t be urgent, and you shouldn’t have to run to the bathroom every time you eat. When you eat, it should stimulate some peristalsis in 30–60 minutes. (Peristalsis is the contraction and relaxation of your intestinal muscles to move food through your digestive tract.) But you should not be feeling the urgent need to run to the bathroom as soon as you finish your meal. If you pull all of the top 7 high-FI foods from your diet and your urgency hasn’t cleared up in a couple weeks, see your doctor.

Fiber definitely gives us poops we can be proud of! You need fiber to add the bulk to your stools. Here are the top 10 sources of fabulous fiber, so load up on these:

1. Raspberries (All berries are high-fiber, and these are the highest.)
   
2. Lentils
   
3. Nuts
   
4. Seeds, especially chia seeds and freshly ground flaxseeds
   
5. Kale
   
6. Quinoa
   
7. Avocado
   
8. Apples
   
9. Winter squash
   
10. Broccoli
    

You need to eat optimal amounts of fiber. The average person is getting only 5 to 14 grams of fiber per day, but I want you to get it up to 50 or more. You can’t do it overnight. Add 5 grams each day until you reach your goal—and make sure to drink more water as you do so.

In
Chapter 8
, you’ll find my instructions for drinking water. Water and fiber together make a nice sponge that will give you the bulk you need in your stools.

• Vitamin C:
  Start with 1 gram and increase as needed up to 5 grams each night.
  
• Magnesium:
  Start with 300 milligrams and increase as needed up to 1,000 milligrams each night.
  

If your poops become runny, back off the supplements a bit. Iron and calcium are constipating, so if you are taking either of these, you may need some supplements to offset those effects. I like to take vitamin C and magnesium at night to get things moving in the morning.

• Get things moving with exercise.
  
• Try drinking some hot coffee or tea in the morning.
  
• Sip some peppermint tea throughout the day.
  
• Throw two or three prunes into your shake.
  
• When you move your bowels, consider elevating your feet with a footstool—our toilets are just about the worst possible setup for elimination.
  

If none of this is working, try cascara sagrada, senna, Chinese rhubarb and/or frangula (I prefer to use herbal blends of these) on a short-term basis. These are also great to take along if you happen to get constipated while traveling. You should only use them for a few days—don’t become
dependent on them, as they may irritate the gastrointestinal lining long term with chronic use.

I know it’s hard to believe that the foods you’ve always thought were healthy are actually causing you to gain weight, feel lousy and look at least 10 years older. But trust me, I’ve had thousands of clients—from students to CEOs to top Hollywood stars—lose stubborn extra pounds, look 10 years younger and feel better than they had in years. The Virgin Diet is the key for me, for them and for you.

If you’re feeling skeptical, leaf through this book, read some of my clients’ testimonials and see whether you recognize yourself in them. Most important of all, give the Virgin Diet a try. I’m only asking you for 21 days, and in return, I’m offering you a lifetime of feeling and looking your best.

I’ve had thousands of clients lose extra pounds, look 10 years younger and feel better than they had in years.

Now, at this point, I’m going to give you a choice. If you’re totally on board with my reasoning and just want to get to the weight loss, jump right on over to
Chapter 2
for a full explanation of what you’re going to be doing for the next 21 days and then turn to
Part III
to begin the Virgin Diet.

But if, like me, you don’t like simply following orders and prefer to understand how your body works, read on. In the next chapter, you’ll learn exactly how the Virgin Diet will help heal your body, and in
Part II
, you’ll find out just how the 7 high-FI foods are affecting your weight, your energy and your overall health. In other words, I’m going to give you the most useful chemistry lesson you’ve ever had in your life. This is the chemistry lesson that’s finally going to help you understand why you haven’t been able to lose weight before—and why you’re finally going to be able to lose it now.

I first heard about JJ Virgin through her book
Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy: The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong, and Sculpted Arms.
I started implementing her program immediately—and seeing results—then I signed up for her online newsletter and heard about the concept of the Virgin Diet.

I had never tried eliminating gluten and dairy from my diet, never mind soy, corn, peanuts and eggs. I had been trying to lose a stubborn 5 pounds for years, but I was never able to do it on the traditional “eat less and exercise more” programs. And believe me, I tried them all! I had even tried extreme exercise, getting up at 5 a.m. for a grueling hour of outdoor boot camp. I did that for years!

I also fell prey to “diet” foods that were full of chemicals and artificial sweeteners. I was working out and I thought I was eating right. But the stress on my body kept me from ever getting below that number I hoped to see on the scale.

Now, I am working out less, eating according to JJ and loving it. I weigh less than I have in 10 years. Not only did I lose the elusive 5 pounds, but also another 10 fell off my body for a total of 15 pounds down! My skin is clearer, too. I found that as soon as I tried to add dairy back into my diet, my skin broke out. So dairy has stayed out of my life.

The great thing is, I really don’t miss any of those foods. I have much more energy. My breakfast shake keeps me full until lunchtime. I no longer need to have some sugar after lunch to keep me going, and I don’t feel the need for an afternoon nap anymore. I fit into all the clothes in my closet, although buying more jeans in a smaller size has been fun.

I am just so glad that I found this program. I’ve recommended it to my friends, and I enjoy seeing their successes as well. All I can say is that it has changed my life.

Jenna was a market analyst who routinely worked 12-hour days and rarely took a full day off. She was in her mid-30s, and she was as compulsive about her workout schedule as she was about her diet. She never took a bite she didn’t plan, and she insisted on eating healthy, organic and lean foods. In fact, I would have to say that despite her demanding schedule, Jenna put about as much energy into staying healthy and fit as anybody I’ve ever seen.

Yet, for the past few years, Jenna had been struggling with slow but steady weight gain that didn’t seem to respond to her efforts to step up her workouts or cut back on her occasional treats. By the time I started working with her, she was 30 pounds over her ideal weight—and just about frantic with frustration.

That was nothing, though, to how she reacted when I told her she would have to cut the 7 high-FI foods out of her diet. She didn’t mind losing the sugar because she had pretty much cut it out anyway, and she was fine with giving up peanuts and corn, which she rarely ate. She could even wrap her mind around cutting out yeast and gluten because she was pretty much avoiding bread, pasta and baked goods already. But when she thought about cutting out her soy-laden protein bars, her low-fat Greek yogurt, her fresh-squeezed juice and her veggie omelets, I thought she was going to go ballistic. And when
I told her that diet sodas were off-limits, she was literally speechless for 2 minutes.

When she could finally speak, she said just four words: “JJ, are you
sure?
”

“I am.”

Then she started to bargain with me. “Maybe I could have, like,
one
protein bar during the day? I don’t think they have
much
soy—and I really need a high-protein snack I can eat at my desk. And maybe if I’m really good about the other things, I could have yogurt, like,
twice
a week? Or maybe
three
times? Ever since I gained all this weight, yogurt and berries are just about the only dessert I ever get—and the berries are healthy, right? And maybe as a special treat, I could have, say,
one
omelet on the weekend, if I don’t use any butter and fry it in a nonstick pan? One omelet—that’s only
two
eggs a week. I won’t even use the yolks, just the whites! That’s reasonable, right? I mean, moderation in all things, don’t you agree?”

“Look,” I told Jenna, “I know it’s tough to cut out so much, and after 21 days you might be able to add some of these foods, like eggs or dairy, back into your diet. But if you want this diet to work, it’s got to be 100 percent compliance for the next 21 days. You have to cut out every single one of the top 7 high-FI foods. I’m not talking 99 percent, I’m talking 100 percent.”

“But why?” Jenna asked, almost in tears. For a minute, she sounded more like a distressed little girl than the high-powered financial wizard I knew she was.

I explained to Jenna that if she
wasn’t
struggling with food intolerance, she would certainly have been able to lose her excess weight by now. So I had to assume that she was plagued with leaky gut, inflammation and digestive difficulties and that even small amounts of high-FI foods would make them worse. Jenna’s gastrointestinal tract and her immune
system were not functioning properly, and her stubborn weight gain was the result. To heal her body, we had to heal her leaky gut, cool her inflammation and give her immune system a chance to calm down. Even a single bite of egg or a spoonful of yogurt might be enough to undo all of her efforts.

Jenna reluctantly agreed to follow the Virgin Diet, and for the first 3 or 4 days, it was tough going. Her immune system was used to making antibodies that would zap the dairy, eggs and soy in her system, and now those antibodies were causing her to crave those foods intensely. For those few days, even though she was doing everything right, Jenna actually felt worse.

“Hang in there,” I told her when she called me in despair. “This reaction is a
good
sign. You wouldn’t be having such a hard time giving up these foods if you weren’t sensitive to them. It’s like with an addict; you know how serious the addiction is based on how tough the withdrawal symptoms are. Your cravings are telling us that we are totally on the right track, so just give it a few more days.”

By the end of week 1, Jenna had started to feel better—especially when she realized that she had lost 7 pounds. By the end of week 2, she surprised herself with how clearheaded and focused she felt. By the end of week 3, she was thrilled to discover that she had lost a total of 10 pounds—and looked younger than she had in years.

Drop the top 7 high-FI foods for 21 days, lose up to 10 pounds or perhaps even more and look 10 years younger. It’s easier than it sounds. And the results are soooo worth it.

THE VIRGIN DIET: AN OVERVIEW

Cycle 1: 21 days

• Cut out
  all of the top 7 high-FI foods.
  
• Fuel your system
  with healing foods and healing supplements.
  

Cycle 2: 28 days

• Every week for 4 weeks,
  test one potentially healthy high-FI food: gluten, soy, eggs or dairy. Based on your responses, determine whether each food should stay or go.
  

Cycle 3: Lifetime

• Get moving:
  incorporate the most effective exercise routine.
  
• Avoid
  corn, peanuts and sugar and artificial sweeteners 95 percent of the time.
  
• Rechallenge
  the potentially healthy high-FI foods that you reacted to in Cycle 2 after 3 to 6 months to see if you can now tolerate them.
  
• Every 12 months,
  repeat the program.
  

The Virgin Diet is a 3-cycle plan. In the first cycle, you cut out all of the top 7 high-FI foods. In the second cycle, you rechallenge your system each week with one of the four most reactive high-FI foods: soy, dairy, eggs or gluten. You might be able to tolerate some or all of these once your system has had a chance to heal, or you might have to let them go, at least for now. Finally, for the third cycle, I’ll show you how to experience these benefits for life. Maintaining your weight and losing weight require different strategies, and I’ll set you up to maintain your healthy diet while you also incorporate the exercise routine and lifestyle habits that are most effective for long-term success. You’ll learn how to periodically check in with your body for food intolerances and why it’s important for your health to eliminate the top 7 high-FI foods once a year.

If, like Jenna, you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, that’s a natural reaction. Don’t worry—it’s much easier than it sounds. Although you might be in for a tough few days, you’ll lose the cravings completely in 3 days. And you’re going to feel terrific after your system gets rid of the food that has been making you fat, tired and old before your time. It’s easier to stay motivated if you understand where you’re going and why, so let me talk you through all three cycles of the Virgin Diet.

The great thing about Cycle 1 is that you get to lose weight
fast
. This isn’t a trivial thing. A recent study from the
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
showed that people who lose weight fast are 5 times more likely to keep it off for 18 months than people who lose weight more slowly. To quote the study, “findings indicate both short-and long-term
advantages to fast initial weight loss. Fast weight losers obtained greater weight reduction and long-term maintenance, and were
not
more susceptible to weight regain than gradual weight losers.”
1

One reason I have you cut out all of the top 7 high-FI foods is that I want you to lose weight quickly, and the best way to do that is to pull from your system everything that is potentially causing inflammation and messing with your blood sugar. You have to pull these foods out completely for a 3-week period to get rid of the immune complexes and IgG antibodies that are hanging around. When you pull the foods out, it will give your body a chance to recover from the inflammation and get rid of the immune complexes that are causing you uncomfortable symptoms such as joint pain, headaches, bloating, gas, fatigue and brain fog.

Eventually, the IgG antibodies will begin to dissipate. If you eat even a little bit of one high-FI food during this period, you will trigger the release of these IgG antibodies and create more immune complexes, thus unraveling your healing process.

I liken it to sitting on a chair on four tacks. You think,
This is hurting my butt.
You get up. You pull the tacks out but leave one tack behind. You sit back down. Your butt still hurts. It’s the same thing with food intolerance and inflammation. Even one tack in your butt causes pain. Even one bite of a high-FI food keeps that inflammatory cycle going.

Even one bite of a high-FI food keeps that inflammatory cycle going.

As you pull out the high-FI foods, you’ll learn which foods you should add into your diet and the best ways to eat them to maintain steady blood sugar and improve digestion. I’m going to tell you why clean, lean protein is good for you and can tame your appetite and cravings. I’m going to explain why berries and apples are healthy. I’m going to prod you to eat your green leafies—kale, collards, chard—along with healthy vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower.

But I’m also going to help you become mindful of how much you’re eating and when.
Too much healthy food isn’t healthy.
You’ll learn how to eat the right amounts at the right times so your body can heal and drop fat fast. I promise that after those first 3 days, you’ll get rid of the cravings, and you won’t feel hungry.

I’ve always had trouble with “one size fits all” approach programs for anything. We are all so different. So in Cycle 2, we’ll customize your diet and discover which high-FI foods are really causing
you
trouble. In this cycle, I will show you how to safely test four of the high-FI foods—gluten, soy, dairy and eggs—to see if you can incorporate them back into your diet.

You might be wondering how you’ll know if you are intolerant to one of these foods. After all, you may have been eating them for years, possibly every day, without noticing a problem. Trust me, you’ll know! The beauty of this program is the science behind it. In Cycle 1, we lower your IgG load and get rid of the inflammation in your body. Once you have lowered your IgG load, you will feel even worse if you eat a food you’re sensitive to than you did before. You will have more profound symptoms.

Once you know which foods cause reactions, you can tailor your diet to your personal body chemistry. I’ll show you how to incorporate the right foods back into your diet in
healthy
ways. I’ll explain when it’s important to eat organic; how to tell safe, healthy eggs from unhealthy ones; and how much of these foods to eat on a regular basis.

The good news is that even if you can’t handle one of these foods after 21 days, that won’t necessarily be the case for life. Let’s say that eggs cause you trouble (which they do initially for 70 percent of my clients). You might find that in another 3 to 6 months of healing your gut, you will be fine with them, so you can check back later and retest.

Will you ever put corn, peanuts, sugar or artificial sweeteners back in as mainstays of your diet? I hope not! As I explain in
Part II
, these foods tend to inflame you, aggravate your immune system and potentially drive up your blood sugar and insulin, so you want to avoid them at least 95 percent of the time.

But don’t worry, you won’t even miss them. In fact, most people get to the end of the 3 weeks and say that they don’t want to try putting all the foods back into their diets. You will feel so much different by day 22 that you won’t want to go back either. Trust me.

In Cycle 3, I give you some real specifics about what maintenance looks like. When you look at most weight-loss plans, their whole focus is on those first few weeks. They don’t have any specifics on how to maintain your new weight. Not surprisingly, if you look at diet statistics, you see anywhere from a 50 percent to a 95 percent failure rate.

That’s because the activities you need to do for successful maintenance are different from the activities that you need to do to be successful in fast weight loss. There was an interesting study in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
showing that of the 36 practices associated with successful weight loss, only 8 were associated with weight-loss maintenance. The study concluded that “Successful weight loss and weight-loss maintenance may require two different sets of practices.”
2

Okay, so the problem is that planning for maintenance is just not sexy. I get it. Maintenance isn’t fun. What’s fun is losing 7 pounds in 7 days. What’s fun is dropping a bunch of dress sizes and getting all new clothes. But when your body is just the way you want it to be, and you
still
have to keep working, it just doesn’t seem fair.

The key is to keep things exciting and come up with new rewards and incentives to maintain your new look. In Cycle 3, I’ll teach you ways to help you remember how much you love your new healthy, slender body. I will show you how to keep the Virgin Diet fresh so you keep the weight off for good. I promise!

I’m sure you’ve heard this saying: “Everything in moderation.” That drives me nuts! The truth is that moderation makes people overweight over time. It gives them license to eat things they shouldn’t eat. As far as I’m concerned, moderation is the enemy.

Moderation is the enemy.

If something is not good for you, is a little bit of it okay? Once you know something is not good for you, why would you want any exposure to it at all if you can control it? There is no safe level of trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Avoid them completely not moderately.