The Fade Away Diet Plan

PART ONE - THE DIET AND HOW IT WORKS

Have you ever wondered why some people put on weight and others

don't?  Why some people seem to be able to eat everything you

would like to, but don't seem to put on an ounce?  Are you fed up

with expensive "specialist" diets that leave you feeling hungry

all day, or craving for a big cream bun to sink your nose into?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then you have not

tried the unique Fade Away Diet.

Modern living leaves little time for food preparation, so we tend

to rely very heavily on convenience foods in cans, packs and

freezer containers.  This is largely responsible for the weight

problems that are the scourge of the Western world.

Man evolved to fill an ecological niche as a hunter-gatherer.  He

does not have the speed of a cheetah, nor the strength of a lion. 

He cannot climb trees as well as a chimpanzee, neither can he

smell out underground roots and tubers like a pig.  He cannot swim

or dive a well as a seal, neither does he have a gut designed to

extract the last calorie from sparse grasses like a rabbit.  In

fact, on the surface of it, Man is not really equipped for

survival at all.  He has no insulating layer of hair or fur to

protect him in the winter, no natural weapons such as claws or

fangs to protect himself, nor enough speed to catch most "food"

animals, and is not strong enough to take prey from most

predators.

What does this have to do with losing weight?  Well, let me

explain.  The sources of energy available to the human being are

very varied and diverse.  A sheep or deer would starve to death if

offered nothing but meat.  A lion or a cheetah would starve to

death if offered only vegetables.  Man can live on both,

individually or together.  His system is designed to be able to

extract energy from meat as easily as it does vegetables.  What it

does not need for everyday use, it converts into fat and stores

around the body, which brings us back to the problem of being

overweight.  As I said earlier, Man evolved as a hunter-gatherer. 

He would need to walk or trot miles each day to find food.  If no

meat was available, he would eat nuts, berries, fruit and seeds,

and sustain himself this way.  If he wanted to have hot food, he

would have to gather wood, make a fire and tend it constantly,

make utensils to cook with and so on.  This required him to use a

large amount of energy just in the collecting of food.  Just as

much, if not more, energy is used in the collection of food these

days, but very little of it comes from human effort.  Agricultural

machines are used to plough, sow, harvest and store most vegetable

produce.  It is often put into tins or frozen to make it easily

available.  Meat is intensively farmed rather than hunted, and the

small amount that is hunted is done using firearms which have been

bought rather than the weapons of our forebears which required

much effort to make.  The point I am trying to make is that very

few of us, in our daily lives, use up the energy gained from the

food we take for granted.

I am not suggesting that we should abandon civilisation and go

back to being small bands of Nomadic hunter-gatherers, but we

should look at what we eat in terms of the effort required in our

daily lives.

By following the plan in part two, you may easily find that you

can literally eat yourself slimmer, not by limiting what you eat,

but by merely altering the proportions it is eaten in!

If we compare what is available to us, it can easily be seen that

by eating a lot more of certain foods and less of others, a new

balance will be struck, by which we will gradually lose weight,

without feeling hungry, without special foods, and largely without

limiting what we enjoy eating.

A recent experiment showed that a group of overweight young men

could lose an average of 18 pounds over a three month period by

doing nothing more than eating an EXTRA 12 SLICES OF BREAD PER

DAY, in ADDITION to what they normally ate!  This may seem to be a

little puzzling.  How can eating more of what is traditionally

thought of as a "fattening" food in extra quantities help you to

lose weight?  To explain this, I will go back to what I said at

the beginning.  Man's gut is not designed to extract every last

calorie from vegetable matter - and bread is all vegetable!  In

order to break down the complex starches in bread to a form that

can be used by the body, energy must be expended - you don't get

anything for nothing.  Generally, the more complex the starch, the

greater the energy requirement for digestion.  Refined

carbohydrates, such as ordinary white or brown sugar, glucose

requires none at all!  Think now of all the foods that applying

this method leaves available to you in UNRESTRICTED amounts.  Here

is a short-list:

Bread - white, brown, wholemeal, granary or whatever  Potatoes -

boiled or baked  Carrots, swede, turnip, Kohl Rabi, salsify etc

Oatmeal Cornflakes, Weetabix, Porridge Rice - polished, brown or

wholegrain All leaf vegetables Fresh fruit Dried fruit Pulses

(peas, beans, lentils etc) Tinned fruit in fruit juice Any tinned

vegetables

As you can see from the above list, there is absolutely nothing in

regard to vegetables that is restricted with this diet.  No more

tiresome weighing out your daily allowance of this, that, or the

other, just to be seen not to be cheating.

As I have said before, you don't get anything for nothing, and

although there is no rigid formula for this diet, I would

recommend that you try to restrict your animal protein to around 2

ounces (50 grams) per day.  This may not sound much, but believe

me, once you start experimenting with different foods you will

find something that you don't use this allowance.  For instance,

prawns may seem an expensive luxury, but if you use 2 ounces of

prawns in, for example, a stir-fry with rice, carrot, cabbage,

peas, sweetcorn, beansprouts, alfalfa, and perhaps even some

apple, you will find those 2 ounces of prawns will provide a meal

for 3 or 4 people, and because of the mixed nature of the

vegetables, you will not feel hungry half an hour later, as is

often the case with high fiber diets.

As with animal protein, you should also try to keep your

consumption of fat to a minimum.  As a guide, 1 ounce (25 grams)

of animal fat and 2 ounces (50 grams) of vegetable fat per day

should be more than enough.  Again, this does not sound a lot, but

with practice and experimentation you will find that it is more

than adequate.  For example, the stir-fry used as an illustration

earlier will only need about 1 ounce of vegetable oil!

There are two items that it is best to avoid if possible, but

again, if this is not possible, moderating their use will still

enable you to make this diet a success.  One is refined

carbohydrate - sugar particularly, and products containing a large

amount of sugar, such as jams and tinned fruit in syrup.  The

other is alcohol, and while I don't recommend you avoid it

entirely, you should try to keep within the guidelines of a half

pint of beer, or a glass of wine, or a small tot of spirits per

day.  Don't try to save your daily amount for a binge at the

weekend either - this will be counterproductive.

Apart from the items mentioned above, you can eat more or less

what you please.  You can eat any amount you wish, as often as you

wish and still lose weight.  It will not be the dramatic weight

loss offered by more stringent regimes, but it will be sustained

and sustainable weight loss.  The problem with many diets is that

a large weight loss occurs within the first week to ten days, then

it becomes much more difficult.  This is because the body goes

into a 'starvation' response - again linked to our evolutionary

heritage.  What happens is that the metabolism of the body - the

way in which it handles food - becomes much more efficient.  It

streamlines it's activities to such an extent that it may be able

to get as much as 60% more 'work' out of each calorie!  This means

that something that previously took 100 calories to accomplish can

now be done with only 40!  This mechanism enabled early man to go

for longer periods without food in time of shortage, and then

build up his reserves quickly in plenty of time, before speeding

up again to help take care of any excess!

Many modern diets try to circumvent this process by telling you to

have one 'sin' day per week, or to diet for only two or three

weeks then have a rest for a month.  The problem with these

methods is that by having 'time out', you never really get around

to educating your stomach to accept a change in eating habits. 

Your 'sin' day becomes two or three days, your month off becomes

two or three months and so on, and the only thing that is pounds

lighter is your purse!  The diets that promise massive weight loss

very quickly can be even worse.  Unless you follow the initial

'crash' diet with a very strict calorie-controlled regime for a

prolonged period, you will find you quickly put weight back on. 

You are eating less than you were at first and now weigh more!

This diet offers a fresh approach to these problems by fooling the

body into thinking it is not losing mass.  As weight loss is very

gradual, often only a pound or two per week or even less, the

starvation response will not 'kick in' until you are well below

your 'proper' weight, and if followed, this diet will not allow

that to happen, because as your weight decreases, your energy

requirement to do your everyday things will diminish, until once

again you are back in 'balance', with energy taken in the form of

food matching closely that which you need to carry out your daily

activities.

One subject I have not yet touched is exercise.  Again, it is up

to the individual how much or how little exercise is taken as part

of the regime.  Those who take no exercise at all will still

continue to lose weight, but not as quickly as those who take

exercise.  Exercise need not be hard work and drudgery either - if

you have a dog, take him for a longer walk, if you commute to work

by bus, walk to the next stop or get off a stop earlier.  If you

go by car, park further away from your work place and walk - it

all helps.  As you lose weight you will find that you have more

energy and will want to take more exercise.  Treat this urge with

caution, particularly if you have been inactive for a long period

of time - you will do yourself no good by straining a muscle and

having to be made inactive for a while, or by giving yourself a

heart attack by trying to do too much too soon.  If you are one of

those unfortunates who have already suffered a heart attack, a

little GENTLE exercise, gradually building up over several weeks

will probably do you no harm at all, particularly if you are

losing weight at the same time, but please, consult your family

doctor or hospital specialist first.

By keeping within the very lose framework provided by this diet,

you can eat yourself to a new and healthier lifestyle.  There are

other benefits too!  As vegetables are far cheaper than meat, you

will find that your shopping bill is less.  Arable farming

(growing crops) is much less land intensive than animal husbandry,

so you will be doing your bit for the environment!  If you are

suffering from piles, this diet will help relieve your suffering. 

Also it can help reduce high blood pressure, and combat colds and

flu because of increased vitamin intake - the benefits go on and

on.  However, you must not try to lose weight too quickly, and if

you are currently consulting your doctor for any reason, get his

advice before starting on this or any other diet.

PART TWO - THE PLAN

To take advantage of this diet, you need to be in the right frame

of mind - losing weight is a bit like giving up smoking, you put

it on slowly so you need to take it off slowly.

I would suggest that you give yourself two or three weeks notice

of starting.  Write the date in your diary or calendar, and remind

yourself every day that on this day you will begin the diet.  This

may sound a bit like "Diets always start tomorrow", but if you

look at yourself critically in the mirror at the same time, it

will all help to strengthen your resolve to lose weight.  Look

around your local health food shops for books on Vegetarian and

Chinese cookery - remember, vegetables are totally unrestricted,

so you can always make yourself a "Vege" snack anytime you feel

peckish.  Get in some things for the freezer like vegeburgers -

they may taste like sawdust at first, but you will soon learn how

to prepare them to your liking - a touch of ketchup or some

Worcester sauce can make all the difference!  Don't be afraid to

put them in a bap or bun with some relish either!

Stock up also on basic items like rice (I really like the brown

Surinam rice from my local health food store), potatoes, fruit and

nuts, frozen vegetables, etc.  I would also suggest that you get

some dried pulses - chick peas, kidney beans and the like.  They

are very high in protein and can be used instead of meat in many

dishes.

On the day before your diet begins, get up five or ten minutes

earlier than usual - this is important.  Have your morning wash at

a leisurely pace, then take a few minutes to think about your day. 

When do you normally take a snack?  How many snacks during the

morning and the afternoon?  Write down those you can think of and

keep your note with you all day.  Tick off each one as you arrive

at it, and add any others you might have forgotten about.  In the

evening, prepare your 'snacks' in advance, remembering the

guidelines about fat and animal protein.  I would suggest that at

least two or three of them could be replaced with fresh fruit, and

most of the others with a slice or two of bread with, say, a low

fat spread and some Marmite or Bovril, or other to your liking.

On the day your diet begins, again get up a little earlier - this

is a good habit to get into.  You eat your breakfast at a more

leisurely pace and it will keep you satisfied for longer.  Make

sure you take all your prepared snacks to work with you and eat

them.  Don't worry if you still find yourself taking an extra

snack or two at this time, old habits die hard.  Just write down

each extra one and then make up another to fill the gap the

following day.  I said earlier "eat your breakfast at a leisurely

pace".  By this I mean eat your breakfast.  If you have gotten

into the habit of not having breakfast, get back into the habit of

having something, even if it is just a bowl of cereal or a piece

of toast.  I would recommend that you have both, and some fruit or

fruit juice - and a second helping of all three if you fancy it!

(Go easy on the milk though!)

To start with, it is probably better to take a packed lunch - a

pasty or some sandwiches, plus some fruit, or, if you have access

to something to heat it up with, prepare something like a

vegetable curry, or even a meat curry provided you remember to try

to keep within the guidelines.  After a while, you will be more

used to your new eating regime, and you can then rely more heavily

on your judgement as to what to eat from the works canteen - curry

is usually low in both fat and animal protein, for example.  Pasta

is nearly all vegetable, so can be eaten in any quantity you wish,

as long as the sauce is not over the top with fat, animal protein

or refined carbohydrates.

If, for any reason, this is not practical, or you have business

lunches you have to attend, below is a list of some foods you can

still enjoy whilst on this diet.  You will find it makes for very

interesting reading indeed.

Pasties - meat or vegetables - one per day (standard size)

Fish and chips - one portion per week

Beefburgers (standard) - two per day (if no other animal protein)

Bacon - two rashers per day (if no other animal protein)

Eggs - one per day (if no other animal protein)

Cheese - 2 ounces = 1 ounce fat + 1 ounce protein

Meat and poultry - 2 ounces cooked

Bread, rice, potatoes- as much as you like

Vegetables - cabbage, pulses, root vegetables - unrestricted

Beer, wine and spirits - moderation recommended

Refined carbohydrates- avoid altogether if possible.  (Try

Candarel or Hermesetas (saccharin)).

The essence of this diet is flexibility.  Experiment all you wish,

and have fun!

Try to get a smaller portion of meat and extra vegetables - they

should be happy to oblige in most quality restaurants - and stick

to dry wines in moderation if having a tipple.  Have fresh fruit

or some nuts in preference to a pudding or cheese and biscuits,

but don't be afraid to 'sin' a bit, particularly if you have

already shed a few pounds - you won't put them back on at one meal

or with one cream bun!

As you get lighter, do remember to remind yourself each day that

you have lost X pounds rather than you still have Y pounds to lose

- your resolve will strengthen by concentrating on the positive

rather than the negative, and as the success of this diet depends

on you altering the content rather than the amount of your food

intake, it will help to remind you of the need to examine what you

eat daily until your new, healthy way of life becomes normal for

you.

I would recommend that you have at least one portion of oily fish

(mackerel, herring, tuna, sprats, etc) per week.  These fish oils

contain substances that are proven to help in the reduction of

coronary heart disease, which leads to angina and heart attacks.

Remember that although all quantities and foods in this plan are

recommendations which may be tailored to your individual tastes or

requirements, the closer you manage to get to them, the better the

diet will be for you.  Try to follow the plan, but don't give up

if you stray for a while.  Go back to it when you feel like it,

and each time try to last a little longer.  If this does not work,

try altering your eating habits gradually, say by replacing one

meal a week with a low animal protein/low fat meal, then two meals

after a month or so, and so on until your entire eating pattern

has changed.  This really is the only way to a slimmer life

without constant restrictive dieting.  Take as long as you like,

but stick with it.

A final word of encouragement.  I myself followed this diet, and

lost over two stones without once ever feeling hungry.  This

weight has not gone back on, although I have not consciously

followed the plan for over two months!