28, Stevenage
I used to be a junk-food junkie. I couldn’t walk past a McDonald’s without salivating. I would start the day with breakfast on the run – either a doughnut or almond croissant or something similarly sweet. I always needed a sugar rush. And, of course, I would drink coffee to help wake me up, too. Lunch would normally be McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. By the end of the day I felt faintly sick, but I sort of got used to it, and then I would go out and have lots of wine after work. This way of eating and drinking started when I was 18 and a student. I guess at that age your body can almost handle it, but the older I got the more unhealthy I started to feel. I also, understandably, put on weight. I couldn’t face doing any exercise because I felt so dreadful.
New Year’s last year was a turning point. I tried on every dress in my wardrobe but had the most awful VPL with every one. Then I realised it wasn’t the VPL that was the problem – it was my bum that was the problem. I went out and got drunk, but made one big resolution: to change my eating habits and do some exercise. A friend of mine had been to the Viva Mayr Clinic and told me about the diet, about eating a big breakfast, chewing well, eating organic and avoiding all the things I had been eating.
The first week was the worst. I swear I was in withdrawal. I longed for some stodge, but I had promised myself to totally avoid anything like that. I started with muesli and thought I was going to throw up. I had to chew it about 40 times to be able to swallow it! I ate fruit in the morning, too, which tasted bitter to me, used as I was to sugar-coated doughnuts. For lunch I would buy a salad or something. By mid-afternoon on the second day I had headaches and felt faint, as well as hungry! I kept motivating myself by thinking about how I would soon fit into my clothes and start to feel better. In fact, I started to look better almost straight away. My skin became clearer almost overnight and my eyes sparkled.
On the third day I woke up full of energy and almost (not quite!) looking forward to my muesli. I didn’t feel depressed at the thought of not eating a doughnut on my way to the office. I actually enjoyed eating rocket salad and parmesan with a piece of grilled chicken when I went out for lunch. Actually, I think day three was a turning point. I really was amazed at how quickly it had all happened – how ten years of bad eating had been changed almost overnight. OK, so I wasn’t totally off junk food – I still had enormous cravings for it – but the results I had seen already made me go on and made me strong. It’s true that when I went to the supermarket I practically had to shut my eyes when going past the Pringles, but I made it and was very proud of myself.
Almost like a drug addict, I told myself I had to have a whole month off junk food to really clean out my system. At the end of that month I would allow myself a treat. During those first few days that treat was the only light in a dark tunnel. But, oddly enough, at the end of my month I had totally and utterly lost the craving for junk food. I even went to McDonald’s the day after my month was up and the smell, which used to get my gastric juices going, made me feel sick!
I am not a saint and I am still not quite as healthy as I would like to be, but that excess weight fell off. This all happened four months ago and I am still going strong. I am happier, healthier, thinner and more determined than ever to keep eating the Viva Mayr way.
You are about to discover:
Why you need to eat slowly and chew your food properly
How to chew your food properly
Why chewing is the single most important thing you can do for your digestion and general health
Breakfast
Rosemary tea, spelt bread, vegetable spread and half an avocado (see here)
Lunch
Courgette soup, and grilled chicken on hash-browned potatoes and vegetables with fresh herb oil (see here)
Dinner
Buckwheat blinis with vegetable cubes (see here)
The focus of today’s chapter is chewing; one of the pillars of the Viva Mayr Diet, and possibly its most crucial element. If you take one thing away with you from this book it should be the ability to chew your food properly.
Chewing properly is the key to the Viva Mayr way, and also the key to losing weight quickly, and encouraging overall health and well-being. When you chew more, you eat less because your brain sends signals telling you that you’ve had enough. This means you get thinner faster. It also means you eat less because the nutrients from the food are absorbed more effectively, and your body craves less food to live on. What’s more, chewing efficiently and for the right length of time encourages your body to absorb the nutrients in your food, which means you’ll be getting far more from the food you eat, which enhances your health on all levels.
OK. This is it. This is where the Viva Mayr Diet begins in earnest. This is the morning routine you will follow for today, for the rest of the diet and, hopefully, the rest of your life. Are you ready? You’re going to feel great at the end of today – you’re going to experience a real sense of achievement, a feeling that you are finally doing something positive about your weight and your health.
You will have started your day with a cup of water – hot or at room temperature. Drink this half an hour before breakfast (which will give you the chance to read the rest of the chapter or go for a shower). In the next chapter we’ll introduce you to some stretching exercises, but for now just gently try to touch your toes, then come up, vertebrae by vertebrae. Stretch your arms high up in the air, then stretch back down again.
Learning to chew
Now that you are feeling limber and refreshed, it’s time to get to grips with the art of chewing. Dr Stossier says that if you concentrate it should take you about three weeks to learn to chew properly. It might take even less. Let’s start straight away with breakfast. You may want to get up slightly earlier so that you can take longer over this crucial meal.
Begin with some bread that you prepared yesterday. If you haven’t had a chance to make the famous Viva Mayr spelt bread, then purchase some spelt or rye bread from your local health-food shop, which is rich in fibre and whole grains. These are good for your digestion, and encourage you to chew because they are denser than most commercially prepared breads. If all else fails, get a good-quality wholegrain bread from your supermarket.
Take a small piece of bread and put it in your mouth, and then slowly start chewing it. Focus on keeping it there as long as possible. If you’re anything like me it will disintegrate within about seven chews. Persevere, take another
