Dr Eva Orsmond's 10lb Diet: A Fast Plan, A Slow Plan, A New You

By Eva Orsmond

What is it that's so magical about 10lbs? If you have a lot of weight to lose, 10lb will really get you on your way to a new you. If you are already slim, 10lbs will take you from 'now' to 'wow'.
Not too little, not too much, 10lbs represents the perfect balance between little effort and amazing results. And with Dr Eva, you know you will get results!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gill Books
• Release date: Dec 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9780717161812

Eva Orsmond

Dr Eva Orsmond, MD MPH, is a medical doctor with a special interest in weight management and the treatment of overweight and obesity in adults and children. She appeared for a number of years on RTÉ’s hugely popular Operation Transformation. Her first book, The Last Diet, was a No.1 bestseller. She is a regular contributor to a number of publications, including the Irish Daily Mail. She lives in Wicklow with her husband, two sons and three dogs.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Diet is the foundation of good health. If you ask your doctor or dietician what you should eat, they usually recommend a ‘balanced diet’. But what is the right balanced diet for you?

People hear so much conflicting information that they are more uncertain than ever before. They are so keen to feel better and they want to find the right diet that will solve their problems – everything from intermittent fasting, alkaline diet, caveman diet, organic diet, dairy-free diet or low-carb diet. They try all the trends but they become confused.

We want to talk about food all of the time, we want to eat all of the time – and yet we do not want to think about food! In our society, we do not think clearly about what we are eating or how much we are eating!

The reality is this: many people have major problems in their diets. Every day, I meet people who are suffering from irritable bowel, bloating, heartburn, thinning hair, cracked nails, itchy skin, stiff joints, headaches, infertility, excess hair, insomnia, mood swings, low energy – the list is endless!

Over the last 12 years, I have helped many people to overcome these problems: to feel better and to look better. All of this has been done by concentrating on people’s diets. I believe that many health problems are preventable. I do not recommend magic pills or quick fixes: I believe in better lifestyle choices.

But before you get to the better lifestyle, you must look at your lifestyle today. You must stop and think about things. Stop here and now. Stop being in denial! Ask yourself the important questions. Do you have health problems? Could you improve your diet? Would you feel better if you lost some weight?

As I know what a difference 4.5kg (10lb) does for me and my patients, I am sharing with you my 10lb Diet. I hope it will give you the ‘wow factor’ to get you to your best place and to motivate you to challenge yourself more. By the time you have read this book, you will know me better and you will know what I think is the secret to a healthier, younger you! I hope from the bottom of my heart that you enjoy what I have planned for you.

With love

Con amore

Rakkaudella

Dr Eva

WHAT 10LB WILL DO FOR YOU

The 10lb Diet is about making a simple commitment that will create huge gains for your health, looks and wellbeing. Of course, 10lb means different things to different people.

Maybe if you are very overweight, you think that 10lb won’t make a difference. But I always say: ‘Any weightloss is better than no weightloss!’ If you have a lot of weight to lose, then losing the first 10lb will teach you how to have a healthier lifestyle. What is more, losing 10lb now will give you all the motivation you need to lose even more weight in the future.

Maybe you are not very overweight – but this can be very hard to judge nowadays. Unfortunately, many people underestimate the amount of weight they are actually carrying. Overweight is the new normal! But even if you do not have much weight to lose, the 10lb Diet will help you to ‘clean up your act’. My patients say to me all the time that losing 10lb really does make a difference. If you lose 10lb, there are many things you can look forward to. You can:

■ Lower your risk of high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and prediabetes, stroke and cancer

■ Improve your digestion: reduce IBS, bloating, cramps and heartburn

■ Boost your brain power and concentration

■ Stabilise your hormones and boost your libido

■ Help your immune system

■ Regulate your appetite: keep the hunger pangs at bay

■ Reduce stress

■ Improve your mood

■ Enjoy restful sleep

■ Age more gracefully

■ Feel slim and comfortable in your clothes

■ Enjoy glowing skin, shiny hair and strong nails

■ Feel more energetic!

ANALYSE YOUR LIFESTYLE

Before you start the 10lb Diet, you will need to analyse your lifestyle. Look at where your lifestyle is right now! Consider the following factors and ask yourself how they have affected your weight.

ALCOHOL

It is very clear that alcohol can cause serious health problems, and we must also look at alcohol from a weightloss point of view. Consider this: 1g alcohol contains 7 kcal. This is second only to fat, which contains 9 kcal/g. Protein and carbohydrates contain only 4 kcal/g. Put these facts into practice and you will find that one small bottle of wine (187ml) has about 20g alcohol. The alcohol alone amounts to 140 kcal. When you add in the sugar and other contents, the calories shoot up even more. And there is little nutritional value: drinking alcohol is simply drinking calories!

Even if we are happy to drink the calories, we must think about the other effects of alcohol. Too much alcohol leads to dehydration and other horrible side effects – it is also the quickest way to derail your diet! I love white wine – Sauvignon Blanc, preferably South African. (Don’t forget I lived there for almost five years!) My favourite bottle has just under 10 units of alcohol in it. Shocking, I know! When I talk about units and healthy limits of alcohol with my patients, they are shocked too! We used to say that 14 units a week is a healthy limit for a woman and 21 for a man – but that has changed with new emerging research showing how alcohol is a poison. I get goose bumps (kananliha in Finnish) when I say this.

SMOKING

Smoking is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer, and if it is added to the risk of carrying extra weight, you are going to be facing the consequences – guaranteed! I can always smell a smoker and I can also spot them in a crowd: lines around the lips, and damaged skin, hair and teeth. I feel so sorry for smokers and their loved ones. Not only are smokers wasting money but they are also stealing years from their lives.

Whatever about alcohol, there is nothing positive about smoking! All of the research agrees that nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes will reduce the absorption of vital nutrients and will weaken your immune system. I don’t want to send you on a guilt trip, but smoking is a drastic threat to your health – and drastic measures are required!

This is a weightloss book. However, if you are a smoker, I am asking you to address that issue first. Stop smoking! If you want to change your life, your appearance and your health … you can. You can do the weightloss plan and stop smoking all in one go. If there is a will, there is a way. You will thank me in the end. And your loved ones will be happy that I am being tough on you. Sometimes you need to be unkind in order to be kind. There is nothing cool or sexy about smoking!

DIABETES

So many people suffer from prediabetes that I have adopted the following opinion in my clinics: everybody suffers from diabetes, unless it can be proven otherwise! Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) has reached such a worldwide epidemic that this opinion does not feel like an exaggeration to me. The worst thing is that the primary cause for 90% of T2DM is actually obesity. This means that the disease is preventable! Why is it that we turn to drugs for this problem, when we should look at weightloss first?

If we reduce carbohydrates and calories in the diet, we will force the body to utilise its own stores of energy. This will bring weightloss, improved glucose levels, improved insulin sensitivity and, most important, lowered levels of produced insulin. Sensible weightloss can achieve all of these things and help to prevent major health problems further down the line.

SLEEP DISORDERS

Sleep helps our bodies to regenerate. Most of us need an average of 8 hours of sleep per night (me included). However, we know that 1 in 10 people suffer from insomnia and 3 in 10 feel sleep-deprived. How is this linked to weightloss?

Sleep disturbance is a sign that something is wrong: in order to sleep well, you need to be well! Lifestyle choices (e.g. caffeine, alcohol and lack of exercise) affect the quality of our sleep. When I ask my patients how excess weight has affected them, without fail they will say ‘low energy levels’. Of course, carrying excess weight is physically tiring – but there is more to the low energy levels. Low energy levels are really bad news for your health: they lead to poor motivation and bad choices. We have a saying in my native Finland: Sleeping is like putting money in the bank. Take some good advice from Finland. Mind your sleep and you will be better able to take care