Two and a half years ago, I was having lunch with my friend, Neris. Between
us, we weighed more than 30st. Somewhere between cocktails and pudding, we
decided we’d had enough.
I had never attempted to diet before; Neris is a champion dieter, but she was
battle-weary. “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it,” she said. “But I
can’t read another diet book.” So I went off and read dozens, spoke to my GP
and a nutritionist, and concluded that cutting out carbohydrates and sugar
ought to do the trick.
I reported back to Neris and we started dieting together, tweaking as we went.
(We wanted to keep having the cocktails, within reason, and figured the odd
bit of chocolate wouldn’t go amiss, either.)
Over 12 months, we lost 10st between us. More to the point, nearly three years
on, we haven’t put any of it back on. I can’t tell you what a nice feeling
it is to finally, aged 42, know how to manage my weight.
We just went on a diet: it was never our intention to write a book about it.
But as the pounds started falling off – we were literally shrinking by the
day – it occurred to us that, having found a weight-loss method that
actually worked and, crucially, was liveable with and compatible with
everyday life, it might be handy to write it down. I’d also observed, from
trawling through endless diet books, that they are often written by
middle-aged men lacking in empathy, or failing that, they are written by
women who have never actually been that fat. In any case, none of the books
I came across addressed what, to us, was central to the whole issue –
namely, why we overeat. What goes on in your head as you reach for that iced
bun is as responsible for fatness as the actual act of eating it.
So, the book was published last January and, gratifyingly, went into the top
10 (the paperback version came out on Thursday.) We started a little blog to
go with it, but when that began to get tens of thousands of hits a day, we
realised what was needed was an online forum (which you can find at www.pig2twig.co.uk).
This was when the whole thing really hit home: the flood of posts was
graphic evidence of how profoundly miserable being fat makes women, even
women who pretend they’re fat by choice; of how brilliant women are at
supporting each other; and of how well the diet works: said women have lost
a collective 2.5 tonnes and counting.
Now, obviously, if you are on a diet, you become slightly obsessed about what
you will and won’t put in your mouth. Neris and I were both fairly obsessive
about food anyway – we just really like eating delicious things, which is
how we got to be so fat in the first place. Our diet book contained some
recipes, which were delicious but not fattening, but not enough, obviously,
for the hundreds of meals we all eat in a year. Enter Bee Rawlinson, who
started posting recipes onto our website. When I actually started cooking
them, I practically levitated with delight – especially when my family, none
of whom have a weight problem – started asking me to make them again and
again.
I don’t make any miraculous claims for our diet – it just works – but Bee’s
recipes are another kettle of fish altogether: they are simply brilliant
recipes, diet or no diet. One of the things Neris and I were keen to avoid
was having to go to the palaver of cooking ourselves one thing and our
families another – it is so dispiriting to be sitting there gnawing on
celery, while everybody else has roast potatoes. Our cookery book, to my
mind, isn’t just a “diet” cookery book – it’s a cookbook tout
court, and one that happens to cause you to lose weight if you use it in
conjunction with our diet.
There’s just space for a quick reality check. We’re not saying you can eat
onion bhajis or low-carb cheese toasties (yes, really) three times a day and
drop a couple of dress sizes in a month. The first phase of our diet is
hardcore, and based on eating protein, leafy green vegetables and good fat,
mostly in the form of butter or olive oil. It feels pretty weird for the
first few days, but after that most people find it the easiest diet they’ve
ever been on. There is no great hardship in fillet steak, creamed spinach
and side of béarnaise. If you’re devoted to your white wine, you’ll miss it
at first, but stock up on Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut champagne is my advice
– practically carb-free (only 65 calories per glass), though not cheap. So,
use your brain – the aforementioned toasties, for instance, should be a
treat rather than a daily staple. Nevertheless, you can eat them, and the
bhajis, and the thai beef salad, and the paella, and lose as much weight as
you like. We did. If that isn’t a result, I don’t know what is.
HOW IT WORKS
This diet just does – follow it properly, no cheating, and you will see. For
the full details, we strongly advise you to buy the original diet book. And
yes, we would say that.
Basically, this is a high-protein, low-carb diet. Eating like this means your
body uses its own stores of fat for fuel. Our diet is unashamedly similar to
the initial stages of Atkins, South Beach and other high-protein diets. So,
in the first phase, as laid out this week, which lasts 14 days, you are
eating very few carbs. When you start, it will be tough to break the
addictions you have to stodgy carbs, sugar, alcohol and caffeine. But if we
can do it, you can, too. In Phase 2, you introduce low-GI carbs and,
carefully, chocolate and alcohol. Throughout, you can eat meat, fish, eggs
and seafood in unlimited amounts, plenty of nuts and generous portions of
green vegetables.
A word of warning – and this is important. If you eat the recipes in this book
with a side of carbs, you will get fat. As for portion sizes, you need to
use common sense. If you eat a block of cheese a day, you’re not going to
lose weight. Other than meat and fish, everything – including green
vegetables – has a carb content. Eat off a normal dinner plate, not off a
tray. Base your meal on protein and leafy green veg. Have a handful of nuts
a day and a couple of pieces of cheese, each roughly half the size of your
palm. Cream is absolutely fine used as a condiment, ditto with butter. It’s
all pretty obvious. Eat until you are full, not until you’re absolutely
stuffed. Think about what you’re putting in your mouth. Don’t confuse thirst
with hunger. And don’t eat like a fat person, cramming everything you can
lay your hands on down your gullet, even if it’s all low-carb.
Finally, I can’t say this enough – if you’re going to drink, train yourself to
drink clear spirits. If you must have wine, understand that you’re trading
faster weight loss for a night in with a bottle of white. Half of that
bottle is sugar, so it’s going to have an impact. Whatever you do, do not
skip meals, not even breakfast.
These recipes cater to families, single people, or just knackered ones, who
don’t have the time or energy to make themselves a supper that involves 45
minutes’ work and three different pans.
FOODS ALLOWED IN PHASE ONE
Organic free-range eggs
Any meat you like, but ideally good quality and not too much of processed pork
products such as salami
Fish – any kind you like, from fresh sea bass to canned tuna
Olive oil and groundnut oil
Vinegar – any kind except balsamic
Sea salt and black pepper
Butter
Double cream
Herbs and spices
Organic peanut butter (sugar free)
Any vegetables you like, except potatoes, carrots, peas and sweetcorn (too
much carb for phase one – the first fortnight). The best vegetables for this
diet, in general, are green, so spinach, cabbage, spring greens and so on
Avocados
Lemons and limes
Tomatoes
Unseasoned nuts and seeds
Olives
All sorts of cheese
Tofu
Herbal teas
Unsweetened organic soya milk
