A post especially for apple shapes! Dr Mailyn Glenville diet plan

This post is about my latest diet book, Fat Around The Middle by Dr Marilyn Glenville, a hormone specialist.


Apparently my body looks kind of like this - heavy on top and thick around the middle, with Kate Upton as the human model:

Kate's weight has fluctuated over the years, and while she owns it whatever her weight, she does look lovely a little lighter, proving that even a dramatic apple shape can look slim and toned.

(Of course, not all apples have such big boobs and such thin legs. However I am one of the apples that do have these attributes and it gets quite annoying as my body looks so uneven).

I was really happy to find a book especially for apples. There is a lot of scientific information in the first part of the book about why the body clings onto tummy fat - it's largely to do with 'stress' on the body and the hormone cortisol, as well as the importance of stabilising blood sugar.

The book is an interesting read, and it boils down to a few key elements for a 3 month plan. Firstly some diet rules:

• no alcohol
• no caffeine
• no white/processed carbs
• no sugar
• (no fun)
• protein at every meal (to slow digestion)
• snacks between meals to keep blood sugar steady
• avoid milk, red meat and chicken while eating more eggs, fish and nuts

In addition there's

• exercise - we need to build muscle to raise metabolism
• a programme of supplements

I have ordered the supplements formulated by the author from the Natural Pharmacy. Caffeine and alcohol are the hardest thing for me to give up so I'm going to consciously reduce them but can't cut them out for 3 months, nope. One coffee a day surely can't hurt!

Day 1: Dr Perricone 3 day programme

I have very mixed feelings as to how this diet is going. It's easy in that I have found the food very filling and haven't been tempted to eat anything else, and hard in that I haven't been able to eat all the meals on the plan - aaand I have a banging detox headache right now, I often get it when I give up caffeine. I allowed myself some green tea (antioxidants!) but it's still really painful. Of the three meals and two snacks, I've only managed two meals and one snack - partly because I overslept till 11am, and partly because my hunger is totally gone.

Breakfast

Breakfast was an omelette made with one whole egg plus two whites, oatmeal (which I made with water and a splash of almond milk), cantaloupe melon and blueberries. It was kind of bland but yummy. It definitely kept me full and satisfied.

Lunch

I ended up eating lunch at 4pm due to my late breakfast. The romaine lettuce is dressed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. I added a little bit of soy for dipping the salmon, it isn't in the prescribed plan probably because of the salt content, so I used it very minimally. I found the meal with the salad dressing and the fatty salmon very oily; my mouth felt oily towards the end of the meal. Again I felt very full after this meal. I usually like regular snacks but I didn't want anything for hours after this.

Dinner

I wasn't hungry for dinner but it SHOULD have been the same as lunch with the addition of steamed green veg. I've probably committed the ultimate Perricone sin by skipping a serving of salmon, I just can't face it tonight!

Evening Snack

As I couldn't face dinner I merged the two snacks in the diet plan. I had a green apple, 4 hazelnuts, 4 almonds and 100g of quorn (my preferred substitute for chicken). I felt a little nuts (hehe) counting out the tiny servings of nuts, 4 is quite specific. I enjoyed this meal a lot more than the lunch and felt extremely full after. Also pictured is the spearmint green tea I grabbed from Starbucks to combat my splitting headache when I was on the way home.

Exercise

In addition to the diet plan I did about 45 minutes of brisk walking.

If I have any readers yet, or if anyone reading about the Perricone diet finds this page, please say hi! Let me know if you have any questions or anything you'd like to know about the plan, and let me know how it went for you!