The Gillian McKeith "You Are What You Eat" Plan

Gillian McKeith's, "You Are What You Eat", book helps you learn to use your own body as a guide for determining you dietary needs. Follow her prescribed plan of abundance and specific regimens of vitamins, spices and herbs. The Gillian McKeith Plan promises that you will lose weight, have increased energy, and relieve your digestive, hormonal and immunity-related problems.

The Gillian McKeith Plan pledges that you'll have better health and a sustained appetite, and you'll banish your cravings for unhealthy foods. Tactics include combining foods, spacing meals, and exercises that will all lead to a more responsive body.

Some tips to break the cycles of chronic dieting include:

• Eat small and frequent meals (and eat extra fruits and vegetables whenever you are hungry).
• Stay away from caffeine, spicy foods, and fatty foods because they irritate the stomach lining.
• Avoid nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers), if you are prone to arthritis or other bone, muscle, and joint problems. These vegetables weaken the body and slow weight loss.

What makes the Gillian McKeith, "You Are What You Eat" plan different?

This plan teaches you how to listen to your body in order to understand the consequences that poor diets have on your overall health. You can find comfort from fresh ingredients, food combinations, and supplement use. This is not a raw food plan, but guidelines do recommend introducing more raw food preparations into your daily eating.

What is the Gillian McKeith "You Are What You Eat" Plan?

The Gillian McKeith Plan claims that poor diets can lead to heart disease, cancer, infertility, weakened bones, depression, and decreased ability to concentrate. This plan recommends permanent lifestyle adjustments that it promises will benefit the entire family. You can answer quiz questions and review detailed descriptions of physical characteristics to help determine where you should make changes in your daily routines. According to the Gillian McKeith Plan, there are various signs from the body to determine which deficiencies you may be suffering. A sore tongue indicates an iron or vitamin B6 deficiency, and veins on the surface of the face indicate inadequate stomach acid production.

The Abundant Food List features 100 highly recommended foods, including fruits, vegetables, soy, beans, sprouts greens, teas, and fish. The Gillian McKeith Plan also emphasizes eating foods in certain combinations in order to burn fat properly and maximize digestive capacity. The plan recommends, but doesn't require, food-combining tactics. For instance, the order in which you eat certain foods should correspond with the time it takes to digest them. When the digestive system is working at its best, you can avoid gas and have improved energy and stamina.

The Gillian McKeith Plan separates foods into groups and provides tables and charts to explain how these foods should be combined. You should always eat fruit by itself, since it is digested quickly. You should also eat grain with vegetables, beans with vegetables, fish or meat with vegetables, and/or beans and grains together. You should not combine proteins with grains or starchy vegetables, but you can combine proteins with other vegetables (for example, in a salad). The plan recommends that you never combine liquids with food. Save beverages (preferably water or natural fruit juice) for before or after meals.

Vegetarians may have an easier time with combining foods, because combinations such as grain with dairy or meat can yield improper digestion, discomfort, and gas.

This Gillian McKeith Plan also includes shopping tips, label reading instructions, and a week's worth of menus. The seven-day plan consists of a daily dose of three small meals, three snacks, fresh-squeezed juices (make sure to purchase a blender and a juicer to follow this plan), supplements, and teas. Breakfast is usually fruit. Lunch is a salad garnished with nuts, and dinner is fish with salad or grains with vegetables. Snacks are raw vegetables, nuts, vegetable juices, or fruit smoothies. Recipes like Chicken Delight and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie contain flavorful ingredients. Miso soup and sprouts are other staples of this plan.

The ‘You Are What You Eat’ Plan does not recommend alcohol because it weakens the liver, interferes with fat metabolism, and stimulates appetite.

Beer and wine also contain sugars that are not recommended.

Other unusual parts of the plan include a focus detoxification through diet, colonics, and enemas. There are skin care recommendations with recipes for masks and external cleansers. There are also Sexy Food Lists recommending various foods to improve libido.

What are the weight loss expectations?

The Gillian McKeith Plan provides no specific weight loss expectations. Results may vary since you can take on as much of the program as you desire. As soon as you make the plan's dietary changes, the plan promises you will experience positive health benefits.

Is exercise promoted?

The Gillian McKeith Plan recommends exercise as an essential long-term weight management tool and ingredient for a healthy, happy life. Daily recommendations are a 30-minute brisk walk in the morning, 20 minutes of dancing or trampoline jumping (alone or with your kids, if applicable) later in the day, as well as Good Morning and Good Evening meditation rituals to start and end your days.

Are supplements recommended?

This plan recommends numerous vitamin and herbal supplements in the form of pills, teas, and cooking ingredients. There are regimens prescribed for everything from weight loss to constipation, from leg cramps to dandruff. The Gillian McKeith Plan suggests various combinations of herbs and vitamins to increase absorption and metabolism. Some of the recommendations for weight loss include: B vitamins, Coenzyme Q10, digestive enzymes, flax oil, lecithin, and ginseng.