Drop a Size in Two Weeks Flat!

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THE 14-DAY PLAN BASICS

Over the next few pages, you’ll learn about the structure of the diet plan and how to use it. This is followed by each day of the plan clearly laid out with details of what to eat and when. You’ll also find suggested “activity zones” in which to fit your walking or home exercises. You don’t have to exercise at these times but it certainly helps to have some idea of when you’re going to, rather than just leaving it to chance.

DAILY MUST-HAVES

Each day consists of breakfast, lunch and dinner; an energy-boosting “spruce juice”; a pre-dinner nutrient-packed “satisfying” soup, which you should aim to eat at least half an hour before you sit down for your main meal; and a snack.

The plan also includes the following “must-haves,” which you should make sure you get each day:

The plan has been developed to provide a balanced intake of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. The breakfast for each day is listed in the plan, while you will find the lunch options and the selection of Starch Curfew dinners. There are lunch and dinner options for vegetarians, fish and meat eaters – try to include as much variety as possible rather than sticking with the same thing every day. If you aren’t vegetarian, try to consume three portions of oily fish each week.

SPRUCE JUICES

Your mid-morning spruce juice is specifically designed to boost energy levels, stabilize blood sugar until lunch, and pack a powerful nutrient punch for your body. The specific combination of vegetables and fruits has been selected to help cleanse your body and eliminate excess fluid and toxins from your body. Each juice is enough for two servings. You can either drink half in the morning and save the remaining half for your afternoon snack, or you can just make half of the recipe – whatever fits in with your day. If you don’t have a juicer or blender, you can opt for store-bought juices or go to a juice bar and have one made up for you.

Celery, Beetroot, and Ginger Juice

You will need a juicer for this recipe.

½ bunch celery

¼ raw beetroot

1 cherry-sized piece fresh root ginger, peeled

Juice half the celery. Add the beetroot and ginger. Follow with the remaining celery.

Tomato, Parsley, and Pepper Juice

You can use a blender to make this juice.

14-oz can chopped tomatoes

large handful coarsely chopped parsley with stems

1 pepper, seeded and stem removed

Place the ingredients in a blender. Blend and enjoy.

Carrot, Apple, and Ginger Juice

You will need a juicer for this recipe.

4 carrots

2 apples

½-inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled

Combine the ingredients in a juicer.

Peach and Grape Nectar

Use a blender for this recipe.

1 large peach, pitted and coarsely chopped

2 good handfuls seedless green grapes

Blend and enjoy.

Summer Fruit Smoothie

Make this smoothie in a blender.

1 small banana, broken into chunks

1 peach, pitted and coarsely chopped

4 strawberries, washed and hulled, or use frozen strawberries

6 ice cubes

4¼-oz bottle raspberry drinking yogurt

¼ cup frozen low-fat vanilla yogurt

Blend the fruit in a blender with the ice cubes until smooth. Pour in the drinking yogurt and blend well. Pour into long glasses and add a scoop of vanilla yogurt to each glass.

Shop-bought alternatives:

SNACKS

When it comes to your mid-afternoon snack, we’ve left it up to you to choose from the list below, depending on how hungry you are and what you fancy. Each snack is approximately 100 calories.

SATISFYING SOUPS

Both these soups are filling and tasty and they’ll provide your body with some of the essential nutrients it requires. Your daily soup should be taken pre-dinner, as this will fill you up and help stabilize blood sugar levels specifically when they may be starting to wane. This means you should feel more energized, less hungry, and less likely to overeat at your evening meal.

Full of Goodness (FOG) Soup

Makes 1 week’s worth

Choose at least five of the vegetables listed below – the more the merrier! The initial preparation and cooking takes a little while but you then have a convenient soup that will last a week in the fridge – it freezes well too.

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 zucchini, coarsely chopped

handful of green beans, cut into ½-inch lengths

1 carrot, diced

3 sticks celery, peeled with a potato peeler to remove the ridged strands and then coarsely chopped

1 leek, coarsely chopped

¼ cauliflower, cut into small bite-size pieces

4–5 green cabbage or spring green leaves, sliced into strips

1 small bunch broccoli, washed and cut into small bite-size pieces

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces

14-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

handful of frozen peas

handful of snowpeas, diced

4–5 dried mushrooms, softened in 1¼ cups boiling water (the water can be added to the soup)

4 chicken or vegetable stock cubes

good handful of fresh chopped flat-leaf or curly parsley

Put all the vegetables, beans, and peas into a big stock pan together with the stock cubes and a gallon of cold water. Bring to a boil and then simmer on a very low heat, covered, for about 2 hours. Season well, halfway through cooking time.

Blend half of the soup in a blender or liquidizer and return it to the pot. Throw in the chopped parsley and serve.

Immune-boosting Soup

Makes enough for 1 week

This is a great detoxifying soup. It will cleanse your digestive system and is packed with antioxidants to boost your immune system.

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 red peppers, seeded and chopped

1 pinch ground allspice

1 tablespoon tomato purée

3 × 14-oz cans chopped tomatoes

1 chicken or vegetable stock cube dissolved in 1¾ cups boiling water

2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a pan, add the carrot and onion and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper, and ground allspice and cook for a further 3–4 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, and stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and add the orange juice and chopped basil. Season well and serve.

A WORD ABOUT TEA, COFFEE, AND ALCOHOL

Finally, try to restrict coffee and tea intake to 2 cups a day. Herbal tea or green tea may be taken in any amount. In fact, one study from the University of Geneva found that green tea could boost metabolic rate by 4 percent. If you are a caffeine drinker, try to have your first cup of the day before you walk, and on an empty stomach, as studies have shown that caffeine enhances the utilization of fatty acids from the bloodstream, helping your body burn fat. Alcohol is not included in the 14-day plan. Not only is it calorie-rich and nutritionally poor, it also weakens your resolve and is likely to result in cheating, snacking, or going off the rails completely.

THE ABDOMINAL/CORE STABILITY EXERCISES

There are only four exercises in this home-based program – you could always do a lot more, but these exercises are designed to help you improve your posture and streamline your abdominals in minimum time. The idea is not to give you so many exercises that it stops you getting out and achieving your daily walking targets. For best results, I’d love you to do these six days a week – a day off gives your body a chance to rest and benefit from your efforts. If at all possible, do them in the morning. Research shows that people who exercise in the morning are more likely to stick with regular activity long term.

Do remember to warm up before you complete your exercises. In just 3–5 minutes you can mobilize your major joints and get rid of tension with brisk marching on the spot and running up and down stairs to increase your body temperature, shoulder rolls, some side bends, full-body stretches, a few squats, and knee lifts to your chest.

THE RIB – HIP CONNECTION

Master this technique to see great results in your abdominal/core stability exercises. When you lie on the floor, before you begin your abdominal work, make sure you have what is known as a “rib – hip connection”. This will help you contract your abdominals before you lift and make sure your spine is in the correct anatomical position. Here is what to do: place your thumb on your bottom ribs and your fingers on the top of your hip bone and draw these two points together with a small contraction of your abdominal muscles. Your spine should be in a neutral position. This neutral position will vary from person to person dependent upon the shape of your spine. However, there should be a small space between the floor and your back. Keep the rib – hip connection so you maintain your neutral position. You are now ready to start your abdominal work.

Exercise: The Bridge

What it does: Tightens your buttock muscles, flattens your abdominals, and strengthens your back.

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, arms at your sides. Establish your rib – hip connection and use the hips, thigh, and trunk muscles to lift your pelvis off the floor until the body forms a diagonal line from your shoulders to your knees. Hold for 10 seconds. To make this exercise more challenging, extend one leg straight, hold for 4 counts, and lower to the ground. Now lift the other leg, hold for 4 counts, and lower to the ground. Now lower your whole body to the floor, still maintaining the rib – hip connection.

How many: Repeat 10 times

Joanna’s top tip: Visualizing pressing your knees away from your hips helps to stabilize your torso and tone your thighs.

Exercise: Toe Touches

What it does: Flattens lower abdominal wall, especially the deep transverse muscle, which is crucial to getting that flatter tummy.

Lie on your back with knees over hips and lower legs parallel to the floor. Establish your rib – hip connection. Slowly lower one leg down to the floor, dropping your heel to the floor. Keep your spine in neutral as you lift your leg back over your chest. Repeat on the other side. The trick with this exercise is to go slowly and focus on technique. To make the exercise easier, bend your leg more and lower to the floor closer to your butt.

How many: Build up to 16 on each leg

Joanna’s top tip: This is a challenging exercise. Start out trying to do a few reps with really good technique. Remember the rib – hip connection.

Exercise: Abdominal Curl Using a Towel

What it does: Tightens upper abdominals, especially around rib and upper waist area.

Lie on the floor, knees bent. Place a rolled towel between your butt and your feet, slightly in front of your extended fingers. Slide your feet away from your butt until you feel your toes start to come off the floor. Slowly curl up from your breastbone and lift your fingers over the top of the towel to touch the floor on the other side. The emphasis should be on tucking your ribs under rather than lifting up.

How many: 16–20 reps

Joanna’s top tip: This is especially good post-pregnancy, when the rib cage has often extended due to the growing baby. Imagine you are wearing a tight corset to help you draw down through your rib cage with each lift, but do remember to breathe.

Exercise: Abdominal Pillow Rolls

What it does: Develops trunk stability and tones waist muscles.

Lie on the floor, knees bent and feet flat. Place a pillow or small cushion between your knees. Lightly squeeze the pillow between your knees as you lower your knees to one side. As you draw your knees back to a central position, focus on contracting your abdominals down to the floor and tightening your waist. To make the exercise more challenging, start with your legs lifted off the floor with your knees over your chest. Slowly lower your knees to one side but do not drop them to the floor, keep the rib – hip connection as you draw your abdominals back in, and focus on tightening around your waist muscles as you come back to a flat position.

How many: 16 in total, alternating to each side

Joanna’s top tip: As you draw your legs back to a central position imagine you are wearing a belt and you need to flatten each section of the back of the belt to the floor as your knees move back over your body.

See the Bonus Info Panels throughout the 14-day plan for troubleshooting tips on walking and the abdominal exercises.

GO!

Measure and weigh yourself at the start of day 1, in the morning before you eat or drink anything. Make a note of your measurements on the table below. See the guidelines on the following page for how to take your measurements precisely.

HOW TO MEASURE

Chest – measure with the tape flat across the nipple line

Waist – measure around the narrowest part of your midriff (for men, pull your tummy in for the first reading and let it go for the second)

Navel – measure around the midriff directly over the bellybutton

Hips – measure across the top of the buttock cheeks

Thighs – standing with feet together, measure 20cm up from the top of your kneecap and take a circumference measurement of your thighs.

DAY 1

Today’s mantra: This is about me taking the first steps to a healthier life.

Today’s step target: 7000

Tip/testimony from volunteer: For years I tried different dieters’ classes and quick-fix programs but what I really needed was education. By developing an understanding of the foods I should be avoiding and those I should be increasing, and learning to fit structured exercise around my family, I feel like I can achieve my goal at last. Vickie, 29

TOP FRUIT

Not all fruit are created equal when it comes to cutting calories and boosting nutrients. The list below features the top water-dense fruits and what constitutes a serving of each.