I’ve been working with weight loss and food intolerance for more than 20 years. I’ve helped hundreds of physicians expand their knowledge of nutrition and weight loss, and I’ve helped thousands of men and women lose weight. Some of my greatest success stories can be found throughout this book. Clients who have struggled with their weight for years suddenly begin losing weight almost without effort – as long as they leave high-FI foods out of their diets. People who have suffered from acne, arthritis, joint pain, mental fog, fatigue and a dozen other complaints suddenly lose their symptoms. Their skin clears up, their hair looks shiny and full of life and they appear 10 years younger. That is their success story – and it can be yours.
It was certainly Melanie’s. After 21 days on the Virgin Diet, she lost 10 of her target 20 pounds without any reduction in calories or change to her exercise routine. A few weeks later, she lost the other 10 pounds and was feeling stronger and more energized than she had in years. She no longer had to stress over calorie-counting or obsess over the scale. She just had to leave out of her diet the foods that her body couldn’t tolerate.
“You know, it’s funny, JJ,” she said the last time we talked, “now my friends all want to know what I’m eating to look so terrific.”
“That’s great,” I answered. “What do you tell them?”
Melanie laughed. “I tell them it’s what I’m not eating that’s made all the difference!”
Kathy Miller
Age 56
Lakewood,
Colorado
Height: 1.7m
Starting Weight: 21 stone
Waist: 126cm Hips: 150cm
Current Weight: 19 stone 7 pounds
Waist: 104cm Hips: 140cm
Lost: 1 stone 11 pounds
My problems with weight go back to when I was about 6 or 7 years old, thinking I was fat. I started dieting when I was about 13 years old. My mum took me to the doctor for diet pills when I was 16 years old.
Over the years, I’ve tried just about every diet known to man, but the weight kept creeping on. Every time, it was the same: I would lose a few pounds and gain it all back plus some. At 40, I weighed more than 22½ stone. I knew I had to change my life, but I wasn’t happy, and I found comfort in food. And I had a lot of medical problems. First, I suffered from a pinched ulnar nerve. Then at age 42, I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, or ADD. A couple years later, I was diagnosed with asthma. After years of being hospitalized for asthma attacks and gaining almost 6 stone, thanks to medication and depression, I was told by my pulmonary doctor that I had gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, or GORD, which was exacerbating my asthma. This was the first time I realized that the foods that were causing me to be fat might also be the foods causing these other serious illnesses and disorders.
By this time I was back up to just over 21 stone and housebound. I was so fat! I was embarrassed to be seen. I felt like a complete failure. I was on three daily medicines for asthma, a nightly antacid, an ointment for eczema and bottles of ibuprofen for joint pains. I had to wrap an elastic bandage around my knee every day to manage the pain.
When I tried to diet, the results were frustrating until I read about JJ’s Virgin Diet. Her explanation of food intolerances described everything I was feeling. I took the symptoms test and marked almost everything with the highest score. Right then, I committed to the plan. After just 3 weeks, I lost 11 pounds, including a couple inches off my waist and hips. I cleaned up my shopping, my kitchen and my health. As it turns out, I am gluten- and dairy-intolerant. And much of the food I thought was healthy really wasn’t.
I learned how much I have poisoned my body over the years. Now I don’t have cravings for sweets; fast foods; or fatty, starchy, high-carb foods. I am satisfied with whole, clean, natural foods. My asthma symptoms are so much less than before that I almost don’t need the medicine at all. My eczema spots are all but gone now. I can take walks without pain. I don’t have headaches. I have not had any indigestion since my second day on the plan. My ADD seems to be non-existent. No more brain fog. No depression. I have energy that I haven’t had in years. Most of all, I have hope.
I have learned for the first time what to eat, why to eat and when to eat. I feel so much better! This programme saved my life!
Leslie was at the end of her rope. She’d been to every doctor in the Los Angeles area, and nobody could help her. As it happens, her stepmother is Suzanne Somers, an expert in health, beauty and fitness. Suzanne knows all the gurus, besides being one herself. But none of them could fix Leslie’s problem. Leslie was nearly 3 stone overweight. It didn’t seem to matter whether she ate or not. She had this chronic bloating thing going on – in fact, she got more and more bloated as the day continued, no matter how little she ate.
I loved Leslie on the spot. She’s adorable. And I was struck by how much she was already doing the right things – and how little any of them were helping her.
“What’s going on, JJ?” Leslie asked me. At this point, she was beyond frustrated. “You’ve got to help me out, because nobody else has ever been able to.”
I felt a lot of sympathy for Leslie, who was working so hard to lose weight – and with so little result. She exercised and was very careful about counting calories and controlling portions. But as I tell all of my clients, your body isn’t a savings bank or a calorimeter. It’s a chemistry lab. Counting calories and measuring portions just isn’t enough. You have to know how your body is responding to the foods you eat. And Leslie’s body was telling her that she wasn’t eating right.
I suspected that Leslie’s problems stemmed from food intolerance. She had been eating a high-FI diet for years, including all the supposedly healthy choices: eggs, tofu, whole-wheat bread, whey protein shakes. She lived on fizzy diet drinks and caffé lattes with skimmed milk. Sometimes she’d treat herself to some corn chips and salsa. That made at least 6 of the 7 high-FI foods right there: eggs, soy, gluten, dairy, artificial sweeteners and corn. All she was missing was sugar and peanuts, and when she occasionally ate desserts or processed foods (which are often made with peanut oil), she was consuming those, too.
“Look,” I told Leslie, as gently as I could, “you can be doing all the right things – exercise, careful eating,
