Annie Deadman - The 21 Day Blast Plan - Lose weight, lose inches, gain strength and reboot your body

‘Look at me, Annie, what’s happened? I hate myself. Years ago I could at least run for the train and not pass out. I knew the importance of green veg and I slid into a size 14 like a dream. I wore lipstick every day and I strutted my stuff up and down the office. I knew how to fight my corner and I enjoyed life. Now I’m a size 18 . . . on a good day . . . and I wobble when I walk, let alone run. My trousers dig in, my thighs chafe, my feet are always swollen and I’m hot with a damp top lip all day. I buy outsize clothes and I eat outsize meals but I haven’t been hungry since 2004. Bar amputation I have no idea how to get this weight off.’

She and I, we go way back, so I allowed myself to hoot with laughter. But deep down, I knew my lovely friend was begging to peel back the years and the layers to find her old self again.

Before any of us can do that, we need to understand how important food is when trying to lose fat. No, not necessarily eating less, just eating better.

‘I can feel a double biology lesson coming on . . .’

Yes, but much more fun. Stick with me.

Stand in front of the mirror. Starkers. Go on. Now, when no one’s looking, grab hold of a handful of the spare flesh that lies in places you don’t like.

We’re going to take a brief look at how that got there, how it’s affecting your health, your personal harmony, wellbeing and happiness, and how we can get rid of it. By and large, it gets there through the stuff you put into your mouth, and how your body reacts to it. You may even discover that you have a slight intolerance to the foods you’ve been eating all these years and maybe that has held you back from achieving what you want. The 21 Day Blast plan will give you the tools to make discoveries about not only your own fat-losing potential but also other minor health issues. One woman who took part in a 21 Day Blast plan in early spring was shocked to find that her hay-fever symptoms totally disappeared during the 21-day period.

So, this next bit is the background knowledge you’ll need. It will cement your understanding of why Blast is going to help you lose fat.

In order to stay alive and function properly, our bodies need nutrients. If we’re being pernickety, the true meaning of nutrient is ‘a substance that provides nourishment essential for the maintenance of life and for growth’.

Macronutrientsmake up the bulk of our food. We need big quantities of these and they can be divided up into carbohydrates, proteinsand fats. Alcohol is also classed as a macronutrient but doesn’t actually provide any life-giving nutrition. I know . . . shame.

Micronutrientscome in the shape of vitamins and minerals and we only need small amounts of these. They will be present in a whole range of natural foods. They are not present in processed foods and they are vital for completing the healthy picture. They are the icing on our cake . . . or rather the broccoli on our steak and chips. Let’s take a closer look at both these groups.

THE MACRONUTRIENTS

CARBOHYDRATE

Everyone flinches when you mention carbohydrates.

They’re not bad for you. They’re the petrol in your tank and they give us energy to move and think. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Good natural carbohydrate-rich foods are absolutely vital for our muscles, for energy and for our brain function. They are also essential for our digestive systems. They have received bad press because if we eat too much carb-rich food but don’t actually move that much, then the body stores the surplus as fat.

Carbohydrate covers a whole range of foods: fruit, vegetables, oats, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar. And then there’s processed sugary foods such as cakes, biscuits, buns, chocolate – which I sometimes refer to as drug food – impossible to stop at one!

They are ALL carbohydrates and so they tend to be tarred with the same brush because they are the first food group to be modified in any fat-loss plan. Which is why their reputation in the media has gone from bad to worse.

We at Blast HQ like carbohydrates. A lot. But we like them at the right time. And we like them to be the right sort. The more natural the food, the more vitamins and minerals they will contain, and the better they are for our health, our wellbeing and our body shape.

‘Yawn. Heard it all before. Got to do the whole green, wholefood, wholegrain thing . . . How come those lovely little chocolate biscuit thingies I enjoy each evening don’t do the same job? They’re carbs, too, aren’t they?’

They are. Read on.

Complex carbohydrates from natural sources (oats, potatoes, brown rice) will be converted much more slowly into usable energy (glucose) than simple carbohydrates (sugary products, some fruits, your chocolate thingies). The more processed and sugary the food is, the quicker it will be converted into glucose.

So there you are on the sofa nibbling your family bag of chocolate things creating lots of glucose. But you have no intention of using up that glucose (you’re still on the sofa), so the body has to do something with it.

Yes.

It drives that glucose into the fat cells and locks it up. And what’s worse, it takes a lot of effort for those fat cells to give it up, unless we make some small changes to the way we eat. I talk much more in the next chapter about what happens to that glucose in those fat cells, but for now, let’s have a look at another food group: protein.

PROTEIN

Protein is pretty top dog, in terms of the food on our plate. Every cell in the human body contains protein, so that gives you some idea of how important it is. We need protein not only to build and repair these cells but also (I can feel a list coming on, stay awake) . . .

• For the making of enzymes and chemical reactions in the body (stuff that happens without us noticing)

• In muscle contraction (you’re going to need to do a bit of that)

• In the manufacture of hormones, which send messages around the body

• To make haemoglobin, which carries oxygen around the body

• The repair and strengthening of bones, hair and nails

Protein is made up of building blocks called amino acids, of which there are twenty different types. Twelve of them can be made in the body but the other eight must come from our food. Meat, fish and eggs are known as ‘complete proteins’ because they provide all twenty of the amino acids.

Nodded off yet?

The eight amino acids that we must get from our food are known as ‘essential amino acids’. It’s an odd term since they are no less important than the other twelve. They are – brace yourself – leucine, lysine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, methionine, tryptophan, threonine and valine.

The best sources of these eight essential amino acids are animal products. However, if you’re a vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy, then you will manage to obtain all of them. If you’re vegan and opting for a more plant-based way of eating, then you should focus on foods that contain high levels of lysine. That’s because foods that contain even very small amounts of lysine will also contain substantial amounts of the other essential amino acids, so you will be sure to get enough of the whole package. Examples of lysine-rich foods are tofu and tempeh (also a soya product but more flavourful than tofu). Pistachio nuts, black beans, quinoa, soya milk and pumpkin seeds are also good sources.

Protein repairs our muscle tissue. During the 21 Day Blast plan you will be doing some exercise, and during that exercise your muscles will be challenged and placed under stress, but in a good way. Ensuring that you have enough protein in your meals will help the muscles repair, recover and keep them strong and firm. This also means that the body’s systems are more likely to use your body fat for fuel rather than to start breaking down this muscle. Holding on to our muscle is vital for successful fat loss and I will be droning on about this in Chapter 9. To aid protein awareness, so to speak, I’ve added the grams of protein per portion to each recipe in Chapter 8.