The Women's Health Diet 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves & a Sexier, Healthier You

307 Pages·2011·2.24 MB·English

by  Stephen Perrine

For Jennifer
CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY MICHELE PROMAULAYKO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF WOMEN’S HEALTH
MAGAZINE
INTRODUCTION
WIN THE WAR ON FAT
It’s time to gain control of your weight with the Women’s Health Secrets of the Slim.
CHAPTER 1
LEANER. STRONGER. SEXIER.
Make all three of those words describe you with the help of the Women’s Health Diet.
CHAPTER 2
HOW FIT ARE YOU?
Take the Women’s Health Fitness Assessment and discover your body’s strengths—and its weaknesses.
CHAPTER 3
THE FEMALE BODY AT 20, 30, 40 AND BEYOND!
Everything you need to know about your body—right now and for the future.
SPECIAL REPORT:
A MATTER OF FAT
Five reasons that belly won’t budge.
CHAPTER 4
WHY THE SMARTEST DIET IS NO DIET AT ALL
How to lose weight without giving up anything, ever.
CHAPTER 5
HOW TO TRICK YOUR BODY INTO BURNING FAT
Meet your body’s best defense against weight gain: lean muscle.
CHAPTER 6
THE WOMEN’S HEALTH DIET SECRETS OF THE SLIM
Seven simple rules that will reshape your body for life.
CHAPTER 7
GET LEAN FAST!
Discover the eight superfood groups that make up the Women’s Health Nutrition System and how they will
turbocharge your weight-loss plans!
SPECIAL REPORT:
24 SMART FOOD FIXES THAT WILL SMOOTH OVER EVERYTHING
FROM BIG-MEETING JITTERS TO BIG-DATE ANGST.
CHAPTER 8
THE WOMEN’S HEALTH FAST-TRACK TONE-UP PLAN
The greatest workout you’ll ever get—inside a gym or out.
CHAPTER 9
IF YOU’RE NOT HAVING FUN, YOU’RE DOING SOMETHING
WRONG
How to adapt the Women’s Health Fast-Track Tone-Up Plan to meet your own needs and make sure you
never, ever, get sore, tired, or bored!
BONUS CHAPTER
YOUR WORKOUT AND DIET PLAN FOR MINDBLwOWING SEX
A torrid turbo charge for bedroom bliss with great food, great exercises, and great advice for total
mind/body enjoyment.
CHAPTER 10
THE 250 ABSOLUTE BEST FOODS FOR WOMEN. PERIOD.
The ultimate guide to eating the very best, no matter where you are or what you are craving!
CHAPTER 11
THE WOMEN’S HEALTH DIET RECIPES
Mouthwatering concoctions to keep you full and to fight fat.
INDEX
FOREWORD
If you’re a reader of Women’s Health, then you already know that my team of
editors and I are obsessed with helping women reach their fitness, weight loss,
and nutrition goals. Every month, we scour the latest studies in prestigious
journals, interview dozens of the country’s top experts, and, most important, we
actually practice what the experts preach—in the gym, in the kitchen, even in the
office—so that we can serve as guinea pigs before passing their tips on to you.
Our task—no, our mission—is to deliver the most authoritative, evidence-based
advice on how to look and feel your best. We’re not interested in fads and
gimmicks that might work in the short term but set you up for failure in the long
run. We’re interested in results. And over the last decade, we’ve learned a thing
or two about what works and what doesn’t when you want to lose weight and
feel great.
We’ve learned that starvation only backfires, that you need enough of the
right foods—and at the right times—to turn your body into a lean, flab-fighting
machine. (And instead of counting calories, you can simply follow seven simple
rules for eating that we call the Secrets of the Slim.) We’ve learned that grueling
workouts can discourage rather than motivate, and that you only need to exercise
three times a week for 30 minutes a day to shed fat and sculpt and tone your
body. And we’ve learned that limiting yourself to bland, boring foods just isn’t
necessary—you can eat at your favorite restaurants, from Red Lobster to White
Castle, and still stay slim (provided you pick from our list of the 250 Best Foods
for Women.)
The Women’s Health Diet takes all our research and experience and distills it
into one simple program. Because here’s what else we’ve learned: Women are
incredibly industrious and busy creatures. Between demanding jobs and family
and significant others, we can barely get to the grocery store much less embark
on an all-consuming new fitness regime. Above all other considerations, the
Women’s Health Diet was designed to be pragmatic—to give you real results
instead of pie-in-the-sky hypotheticals. That’s why we put the Women’s Health
Diet to the test first with a group of women with a variety of goals. Some wanted
to lose weight, some wanted to firm up, some wanted a flat belly—but the fact
that they were all able to reach their targets speaks to the reliability and
versatility of this program. (You’ll read their compelling stories in the following
pages.)
I’m pleased and proud to introduce you to the Women’s Health Diet. Consider
it your ultimate guide to getting the body you’ve always wanted. Because after
all, it’s good to be you.
Michele Promaulayko
Editor-in-Chief
Women’s Health
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One summer’s day in 1991, while taking out the recycling, I glanced down at the newspaper and saw an
advertisement for a junior-level job at a new magazine called Men’s Health, the brother publication of a
future publishing powerhouse called Women’s Health. I drove my family out to Emmaus, Pennsylvania, to
apply.
I didn’t get that job.
Luckily, another position opened up at the magazine soon after, and from that moment on, I’ve been
fortunate to work with the greatest team of journalists, publishers, and health-care professionals ever
assembled. In particular: Maria Rodale and the Rodale family, who have been fighting to awaken us to the
connection between our health and our environment for more than 60 years. I hope this book brings readers
one step closer to realizing a healthier future.
David Zinczenko, whose support, encouragement, and grace under pressure have made possible my
endeavors, and those of many others, at Rodale Inc.
Michele Promaulayko, under whose leadership Women’s Health has blossomed into an extraordinary
magazine adventure.
My brilliant co-author, Leah Flickinger.
George Karabotsos, Debbie McHugh, Laura White, Mark Michaelson, Mike Smith, Theresa Dougherty,
Ruth Davis Konigsberg, Ursula Cary, Mike Zimmerman, and the team at Men’s Health Books.
The editors of Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines, especially Adam Bornstein and Adam
Campbell, for their exercise expertise; Clint Carter, for his nutrition insights; Bill Phillips and Steve
Borkowski for their Web and marketing support; and Lisa Bain and Peter Moore, for their inspiring calm
and professionalism.
The staff of Best Life magazine, especially Heather Hurlock, whose contribution to this book was
invaluable.
Chris Krogermeier, Beth Lamb, Erin Williams, and the team at Rodale Books.
Fotoulla Euripidou, Meridith Lampert, and Philavong Chanda for their dedication to getting just the
facts, ma’am. Allison Falkenberry, Agnes Hansdorfer, Brett LeVecchio, Erin Clinton, and Allison Keane,
who have helped us to spread the word about the Women’s Health Diet.
Elaine Kaufman, for her heaping plates of wisdom and encouragement.
And my daughters Dominique, Anaïs, and Zoë, without whom I would have a lot more money—and a
lot less joy.
INTRODUCTION
WIN THE WAR ON FAT
It’s time to gain control of your weight with the Women’s Health
Secrets of the Slim.
Inside your body, at this very moment, there’s a war going on: a battle between
the cells that make up muscle and those that make up fat.
On one side (the good side) is Muscle. Think of Muscle as your closest BFF,
one who loans you her most flattering going-out top because she knows that the
better you look, the more you both outshine all the other girls and the more you
both get noticed.
Contrary to what you might think, Muscle does not want to make you look big
and bulky. That’s what Fat does. Fat is like that passive-aggressive frenemy who
always says “no” even when those pants do make your butt look big. Muscle, on
the other hand, keeps your belly flat, your backside firm, and your body burning
calories.
Fat hates Muscle, and the feeling is mutual. Fat wants to get rid of Muscle so
it can make room for more of its muffin-top-making, energy-sucking friends
inside your body. Muscle wants to do away with Fat so it can torch all incoming
calories and keep you looking slim and fab.
You know which side you’re rooting for. But here’s the problem: In this war,
Fat will always have an unfair advantage. The only way Muscle can win is with
your help.
The Women’s Health Diet will show you how to win that battle. It will help
you build muscle and burn away fat while eating the very best food on the planet
and never, ever feeling hungry. It will make you stronger, sexier, leaner, and
healthier than you’ve ever been before. And it will start to take effect, well,
pretty much from your very first bite.
Ready to dig in?
A Better You, Fast
When you first picked up this book and took a glance at the flawless body of that
woman on the cover, your first thought might have been, “This is going to be