Bibliography
How much do you want to know?
1. Ready to start the plan today? Go to Quick Start.
2. Want to learn just the basics? Read only the Key Points at the end of parts I–V (Key Points from Part I, Key Points from Part II, Key Points from Part III, and Key Points from Part IV).
3. Want to know the science behind the plan? Read this book from cover to cover.
Ideas to jump-start your motivation
• Take pictures of yourself in a swimsuit (two-piece), front and back, and decide if you want to make a change.
• Train for a marathon.
• Take your doctor’s advice to shape up.
• Train to climb Mt Everest.
• Create a get-fit contest in your office.
• Train like an athlete.
• Enrol your family in a “Fit Family Group” and get healthy together.
• Buy an expensive swimsuit in a smaller size and plan a trip to Hawaii.
• Go to your twentieth high-school reunion and check out an old flame or, better yet, the prom queen who snubbed you because you used to be fat!
The 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet is not about eating apples because they are healthy, even though it’s a proven fact that they are. It’s about shedding unhealthy fat layers, building strength, keeping lean muscle, and transforming yourself—body and mind—into a fit, self-confident, full-of-life person.
The plan came about by accident as part of the “Get-Lean” Diet I designed for a fitness contest at our gym. In an effort to include more fibre in the diet, in the form of fruits and vegetables, I added an apple before each meal. The results were absolutely astonishing! Who would have guessed that 346 people would lose 6,000 pounds of fat in 12 weeks? Since then, the “accident” has been repeated countless times all over America—with the same amazing fat-loss and body-sculpting results. Read some of the personal success stories in Part V.
If you’re tired of diets, pills, and gimmicks and tired of being a human rubbish bin for all kinds of “convenience” foods (which are insidiously turning us into the fattest, unhealthiest people on earth) start the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet today for good health, good nutrition, and permanent fat loss.
One more thing—be prepared to look and feel fabulous!
How and why it works
The 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet offers a variety of meals and over 100 recipes custom designed to feed your muscle, not your fat. Each meal is calculated to provide your body with a balance of lean (low-fat) proteins, low-GI (based on the Glycaemic Index), high-fibre carbohydrates, and essential fats. This balance will keep your blood sugar and insulin levels stable, which is necessary for your body to get into a “fat-burning” mode. This balance also helps control your appetite, so you are less tempted by unhealthy foods. The recommended intake of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat is based on your current weight so you can maintain lean muscle tissue while shedding the fat.
The 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet with its moderately high protein level is similar to some of the popular high-protein diets—at first glance. Protein provides calories that do not raise blood sugar, stabilizes blood sugar levels when eaten with carbohydrates, and provides necessary building blocks for maintaining muscle tissue.
Why this diet is different
This plan differs from those popular high-protein diets in two major ways:
1. The focus of the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet is not on weight loss alone but primarily fat loss and muscle retention. Many popular diets are based strictly on weight loss, regardless of whether the weight loss is from muscle tissue or fat. When muscle tissue is lost, our metabolism decreases, making it difficult to maintain permanent weight loss.
2. Other high-protein diets are very low in carbohydrates and high in fat, which induces ketosis (a high accumulation of ketones; see Chapter 7 for more on ketosis). People do lose weight quickly with these plans, but, again, they may lose valuable muscle tissue, making it more difficult to keep the weight off. With low carbohydrate consumption comes some unpleasant side-effects, too, such as constipation (due to lack of fibre or bulking carbohydrates), low energy or fatigue during exercise, not to mention mental confusion and moodiness. As if we weren’t moody enough already!
In my professional experience, consuming a diet too low in carbohydrates and/or eating in such a way as to induce ketosis is not an optimum way to retain muscle tissue and achieve permanent fat loss. The key to healthy carbohydrate intake is to consume enough for normal bodily functions (bowel elimination, fuel for the brain and red blood cells), but not in excess.
In the following chapters, you’ll find out how, by consuming the right combinations of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and fibre, you can be successful at permanent fat loss. You’ll also find out why thousands of successful “losers” call the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet the “terminator” of all diets!
The Creation of the 3-Apple-a-Day GI Diet
The beginning
It all started when the American Cancer Society’s daily recommendation of five to nine daily servings of fruits and vegetables (in general, a serving is 4 ounces raw or 2 ounces cooked) was proving difficult for one of my personal training clients. She was adamant about getting in her daily requirements but was struggling because she was extremely busy and
