Let’s be straight about this shall we? Men DON’T diet, women DO. Why is that? Well it is basically because men don’t really care what they look like and women care a lot. Men are also downright lazy about all things except drinking beer, whereas women are obsessive creatures who get immense pleasure setting themselves an unachievable goal so they can justify getting fat. This is compounded by the fact that normal diets patently don’t work, so that allows men to feel superior and laugh at their females’ feeble attempts to lose weight (while they themselves get rotunder by the second!).

The commercial lot love it all of course. The diet industry makes a killing these days, impoverishing the inflicted, don’t they? It starts with the diet inventors, marketers, and promoters of course, but that is only the tip of the iceberg, isn’t it? That is followed, hot on their heels, by the food companies manufacturing disgustingly unhealthy additive challenged processed foods, blazoned with labels of supposedly beneficial ‘pluses’ or ‘minuses’, depending on the diet they are focusing on (reduced/low fat, low cal, sugar free, low carb, full fruit, five a day, 5&2, and a hundred other useless and meaningless descriptions in reality from a proper health point of view anyway!).

Then of course you as a ‘dieter’ HAVE to be ‘supported’ by some sort of money making weight loss, or slimming club, or similar organisation (like Slimming World or Weight Watchers, or Cambridge Diet, et al), who can talk to you, make you feel inadequate when you didn’t lose any weight, and they can even weight you EVERY week (using scales nearly as good as the ones you have in your own bathroom at home!).

Then of course, you absolutely NEED to have costly special diet recipes or magazines posted to you EVERY week as well, telling you how to cook/destroy a bit of what would have been decent tasting chicken?

Let’s not forget though the essential and costly dance classes to make you feel sick & ill, instead of the social dancing that’s gives you both enjoyment & exercise (you definitely must NOT enjoy ANYTHING IF YOU ARE ON A DIET. You have to feel miserable to BE MISERABLE don’t you?).

We see publicity about the fat celebrities who promote a particular diet, sell DVDs telling you the secret, publish pictures demonstrating their massive weight loss simply to ‘make’ substantial amounts of money – only then to fall by the fatties wayside (sometimes even resorting to a surgical gastric band!).

Diets fail because they rely on excessive WILLPOWER, and most of us cannot sustain that forever (for month after month) – so everybody cracks after a while (and when that fatal slip happens, the depressive comedown channels into comfort eating, and ALL the pounds (and more) pile on, until a different diet will be ‘given a go’ (and the merry-go-round goes on again).

Is there a problem here anyway? YES, there certainly is in Britain (and many other Western societies as well). We are inexorably heading for a situation where fifty percent of us will be significantly overweight or indeed obese – both a costly and health set of disasters surely?

IS THERE ANY HOPE OF AN ANSWER TO ALL THIS THEN?

YES – the brand new, just published, XR7Diet. Read on, try it for a month, and share it with others.

 

XR7Diet

The XR7Diet doesn’t involve calorie counting, carbohydrate control, SPECIAL menus, or expensive foods, or the like. NO, it just has a simple set of 7 RULES.

YOU follow the rules yourself (as best you can) and you can develop an enjoyable healthy eating lifestyle on a never-ending ‘achievable’ diet.

The XR7Diet is NOT just for those who are ready and primed for the ‘next diet’, no it is for all adult men & women alike , and is sustainable for long term use. Just follow the RULES. You need to know these Rules by root learning, and be able to remember some of the associated hints – so a bit of effort & work is required, if YOU are to succeed (nothing is that easy & simple you see, is it?).

RULE 1: EXERCISE

Don’t even think of trying to control your food intake UNTIL you have got your head round the issue of exercise. THAT is the starting gate. Start exercising BEFORE you move on to deal with food (at least a week beforehand). It should be gentle exercise to start with, which you can gradually increase, dependent on your personal condition and health.

Walking is the basic start point. You don’t need special stuff to walk a little (the brisker the better though) – so start with say 10 minutes a day and increase progressively by a minute a time, while you are comfortable to do so. You don’t have to run or even jog, but if you are able to that, it is fine. If you can’t go outside (if it is too cold, icy, or raining for example) just walk around indoors & up/down stairs and things. Swimming is good exercise as well, but it comes at a slight cost (unless you live by the sea!) You don’t need to do press-ups, or go to the gym, but if you can, all to the well & good (and do any other exercise you happen to fancy, and you are capable of, as that will help you). You are not trying to get into the Olympics are you; just attempting to get a bit more physical exercise into your body?

RULE 2: WEIGHT

Do NOT either weigh yourself regularly, or constantly weigh food portions.

Your body weight varies continuously, so a particular snapshot can either give you false good news or a false depressive incentive.

Judge your food portions with your eyes ONLY – the eyes and human brain doesn’t need any mechanical or electronic scale to tell you how much you will be eating. Don’t bother to buy some kitchen scales if you don’t already have them, but perhaps borrow some from your next door neighbour (who is bound to be on a diet), when you start off.

You NEED though to know what 4oz of various foods LOOK like, so that you are a pretty good judge, as you continue your journey into being in control of your food intake. YOUR ‘basic’ food portion size of anything is simply 4oz always (for the metric minded that is 115 g).

RULE 3: FOOD

You are simply not supposed to buy ANY junk, pre-processed or convenience food (however reduced or promoted – BOGOF or whatever).

Please never buy yourself processed bottled or boxed Drinks as they are highly likely to contain excessive amounts of sugar, salt, and additives (bin the Coca-Cola cans!). The best thing you can drink is Water (and that is UK tap water, not expensive bottled stuff). A lovely treat is of course pure fresh Orange Juice and you could even make your own couldn’t you? You don’t actually need a mechanical/electric juicer – just a basic £2 glass hand Juicer and some fresh oranges! Also, enjoy a cup of cold Milk every day if possible.

Using the XR7Diet gives YOU access to a varied diet with enough vitamins to keep you fit & healthy.

RULE 4: AVOIDANCE

You MUST know what foods are going to provide you with too much food energy or dietary imbalance for YOUR particular needs if eaten in excess. When you start XR7Diet, write down some of the things you might want to eat as part of your food intake and make sure you KNOW which box it is in. There are only three boxes you should use – sparingly, carefully, indulgently.

Hints:

Sparingly: mayonnaise, cream, crème fresh, and the like; butter, margarine, lard, oil, meat fat, and similar things; butter, sugar, salt, chocolate & sweets, biscuits & cake, alcohol.

Carefully: meat, fish, bacon & ham, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, milk, canned and dried fruit; bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, tea & coffee, jam & preserves.

Indulgently: fresh ‘local’ vegetables (not flown in from Kenya & the like), salad, fresh ‘home grown’ fruit like apples (at least 1 a week) – imported bananas are particularly good though, as well citrus fruit (oranges & lemons). Frozen peas are an excellent and tasty cheap healthy substitute for fresh vegetables.

RULE 5: COOKING

You cook, simple as that. WHAT you cook of course depends a lot on other factors, like your food budget, your culinary ability, your cooking experience, your time constraints, or sometimes even the needs of others. The rule remains however that you or someone cooks!

There are thousands of simple, tasty to you, quick, easy to follow recipes in all types of cookbooks (or on the net) – you don’t have to filter by low cal or anything else do you? Just consider Rule 4 when deciding what to cook.

Don’t cook bland food or you will get bored – herbs & spices are not simple modern masterchef features, they have been used for thousands of years. Add some wine perhaps to give a nice flavour to the food (the alcohol will evaporate off so you won’t get tipsy!).

If you like a sauce on say your pork chop or other meat, base it on plain Greek yoghurt (not cream, and not thickened with flour), perhaps with a spoonful of mustard to give a nice kick?

DONT EVER GO HUNGRY particularly when you start out – you can always bulk-up on the Indulgently box food like bread & potatoes!

RULE 6: MEALS

You MUST always keep your digestive fire burning and that means eating three meals a day – Breakfast, Lunch. Dinner. They DON’T have always to be major meals of course (say just a bit of fruit for breakfast if that is not your appetite time).

Take time to eat your meals and enjoy them – rushed eating is bad for your digestion and long term health.

Proper bread, wholemeal, freshly baked, is both scrumptious and good for you (in moderation of course) – if you can make your own that is even better so YOU can control what goes in it (and it is in fact really easy – you DON’T have to be a master baker to make a tasty small loaf).

In the West we eat TOO much MEAT and that is ruining our health. Restrict your meat (includes chicken) intake to ONE meal a DAY of ONE 4 oz maximum portion.

You can supplement this over an average WEEK with ONE portion (4 oz) each of fish (hand size?), bacon (2-3 slices depending on thickness?), ham (5 palm sized thin  slices?), cheese (double matchbox size?), and eggs (about 3 small eggs?) – sometimes a ‘little’ more quantity won’t hurt though.

Our salt intake is generally excessive nowadays, so don’t use table salt & resist cooking with it either (use pepper & other spices instead to enhance flavour).

Try to restrict yourself to ONE portion of jam/preserve plus ONE/TWO portions of sugar a WEEK

Try not to eat too much starch (can cause flatulence), but enjoy potatoes in moderation and sometimes chips certainly (a 4 oz portion size will give you about a dozen medium chips).

A very simple way of keeping track of things would be to collect together your intended weekly food portions in your fridge/cupboard at the start, and then use as required during the week – saves keeping a record all the time (but some of us prefer to just take it on the hoof!).

Some menu hints are included below as well, to demonstrate the XR7Diet flexibility & enjoy-ability.

RULE 7: ENJOYMENT

ANY food, any meal, any snack, you eat must be enjoyable to YOU as an individual. Eating is not a punishment; it needs to be ‘pleasurable’ as well as sustaining life. NEVER knowingly put any food in your mouth and eat it, if you don’t like it (spit it out!). We all have particular foods (often coming from our past!) which we love & hanker after (so sometimes we have to curtail ourselves a bit), but there is NO food that you should completely deny yourself – because that only increasingly builds-up mental resentments that divert you from your enjoyable eating plans.

 

[Remember well: if you stick to your weekly ‘rations’ (most of the time anyway!) you will end up healthier and live longer – there is good evidence that proves it!

(In WW2 Britain had enforced food restrictions and widespread unavailability of many foods: the consequence? A dramatic ‘improvement’ in public health, with substantial drops in civilian adult and child mortality rates!)]

MENU HINTS

DAY X

Breakfast

½ cup fresh orange juice followed by 1 portion Bacon (or Ham) with 1 poached egg, a small chunk of wholemeal bread & butter

cup of tea/coffee

Lunch

Cheese pasta: Cook 1 portion of pasta and top with ½ portion of grated cheese. Serve with a slice of hot garlic bread.

Glass of water

Dinner

Pork Escalope/Chop

1 portion pork escallops, or chop, ‘fried’ in a little oil, topped with a sauce made by adding to meat juices, 1 tbsp Greek yogurt, 1 tsp cream cheese, 1 tsp wholegrain mustard, 1 tsp tarragon herbs.

served with 1 portion chips (extra if necessary)  1 portion glazed carrots, and 1 portion frozen peas

Glass of iced water

Desert: 1 portion chopped fresh fruit with 1 tbsp ice cream

DAY Y

Breakfast

1 portion porridge served with ½ portion of blueberries and ½ cup milk

cup of tea/coffee

Lunch

1 portion Sausages (good quality high meat content if possible), served with English mustard and ½ chunk warm wholemeal bread.

Cup of milk

Fish Dinner

1 portion plain fish ‘poached’ in 1 tbsp milk, then made into a light sauce by adding 1 tbsp crème fresh, 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried).

served with 1 portion boiled new potatoes, 1 portion green beans and 1 portion grilled tomatoes.

Small glass of white wine or ½ pint dry cider or soft drink

Desert: Strawberry or Raspberry Smoothie (1 portion strawberries or raspberries, ½ banana, 1 tbsp plain yogurt, ¼ cup milk, all bended).

DAY Z

Breakfast

½ fresh grapefruit sprinkled with 1 tsp brown sugar ‘grilled’

½ slice wholemeal bread, with a scrape of butter & marmalade

cup of tea/coffee

Lunch

Homemade Vegetable Soup: into a saucepan chop ¼ onion, a small garlic clove, and chopped vegetables of choice (say ½ portion of carrots. ¼ portion potatoes, ¼ portion swede or turnip, ¼ potion celery), boiled with ½ pint vegetable or chicken stock, until vegetables are soft. Remove half of contents, blend and return.

cup of tea/coffee

Mince Dinner

Chilli con carne: in a pot add chopped ¼ onion/1 small garlic clove/¼ red pepper/1 portion lean minced beef and heat hot to brown the meat; add a little hot water as necessary to stop it sticking, and cook for 5 minutes; stir in a portion of chopped tomatoes with a ¼ crumbled beef stock cube, ½ tsp chilli powder, a shake of black pepper, squirt of tomato puree; cover & simmer for about twenty minutes until mince is cooked (stir & add hot water as necessary to keep sauce thickish). Add ¼ tin of Red Kidney beans and warm through.

Serve with ½ portion (uncooked weight) boiled long grain rice.

Small glass of red wine or ½ pint beer or soft drink

Desert: Baked Apple (core a medium apple -leaving the flower end on the bottom – & fill with dried fruit like raisins, a shake of cinnamon, a pat of butter or margarine, a pinch of brown sugar and some water; bake in the oven for about 45 minutes adding a little more water as it goes, and serve with a little custard or whipped cream.

 

MEDICAL HINT

If you are a smoker, get some medical help to quit – your taste buds will recover from the bad kicking they have been given , and you will once again be able to enjoy real food & regain a normal appetite.

 

LIFESYLE HINT

Why not get rid of that sad rose bush in your garden and plant a blackcurrant bush in its place to give you your own ‘on-demand’ tasty vitamin rich, black juicy berries for your XR7Diet? [buy a hardy strong growing ‘Ben Lomond’ variety, for less than a fiver, to experience heavy crops of mid to late season large glossy superb black fruits].

Then, you can add also perhaps find a place for a small gooseberry bush as well, and enjoy some wonderful scrumptious green or red fruits, that you probably haven’t seen for donkeys years (not even available in the shops these days!). [A ‘Hinnonmaki Red’ bush will set you back well less than a tenner, and furnish you with easy to grow, heavy cropping bright red juicy sweet & aromatic summer fruits].

And to complete the triage, replace that flower and plant a flourishing rhubarb crown plant (the easiest thing you will ever grow!), to provide you every year with home grown tasty pink stalk stems, at a time when there is nothing else to harvest; then bake yourself some wonderful fruit tarts (much better than shop-bought!), or make a piping hot rhubarb crumble on a cold day (you can even ‘force’ rhubarb to crop early using a decorative clay pot!). [try vigorous ‘Raspberry Red’ (3 crowns for about a tenner) to enjoy high quality, thick, deep red, tender stem stalks with a superb sweet flavour].