The diet Diaries
Four ultra-healthy women reveal their day on a plate
“It’s simply eating how our grandparents used to eat. It’s about eating more fat, more protein, and more wholefoods. Basically, no processed foods.
“I started eating like this a few years ago when I was writing a weekly column for Sunday Life. I would have to come up with something new storywise every issue, so one week I decided to quit sugar. There’s nothing like a deadline to spur you on. And I knew it would do me good. For years I’d suffered from an autoimmune disease and doctors had been advising me to cut out sugar, yet, like most people with food addictions, I didn’t want to. But my body knew I had to. When you have an autoimmune disease, or any kind of health issue, you’re more sensitive to all the bad stuff you do to yourself on a daily basis: The smells, the additives, and the noise. You’re like a canary down a mine shaft and you can nag immediately what’s not good for you.
“So I talked to as many experts as I could and read every piece of scientific research I could get my hands on, to figure out the easiest way to get off sugar. That’s how my eight-week program was formulated: According to most studies, two months is the time frame you need to break either a physical or emotional addiction.
“Eating sugar and processed food is like throwing kindling on your metabolic fire. You get the initial spark but it dies out straightaway and you have to keep feeding it, hence the blood sugar roller coaster and need to snack every few hours. But when you eat whole foods and good fats, it’s like throwing a log on the fire. That energy is a long-sustained burn and you can get on with doing other stuff.
“In the morning, I first drink a lot of water with lemon juice to up my alkaline intake—this prepares the gut for food.
“For breakfast, I have scrambled eggs made with cream or full-fat milk, plus a side serve of spinach. I’ll whip up a vegetable smoothie in my Vitamix: Cucumber, kale, coconut water, half a lemon or grapefruit, ginger, whatever herbs or other greens I have in my fridge, and some Vital Greens powder. Occasionally, I’ll pop in half an apple or carrot. I prefer these kind of pureed smoothies over juices because you’re retaining the fibre and avoiding that intense sugar hit that comes with juices.
“The I Quit Sugar program involves cutting out all fruit for about six weeks, which freaks people out at first. But this is to remove all fructose from the body, so our systems can recalibrate. Then, you can reintroduce a few pieces of whole fruit a day— not dried or juiced—depending on what your body feels is right. Our bodies can only handle six to nine teaspoons of sugar a day, which is equivalent to the amount found in two-three pieces of low-fructose whole fruit. Fruit should be seen as a treat—that’s how our parents and grandparents ate it. I now eat a lot more vegetables than I ever did, and eat berries or kiwi fruit every other day or so. But to be honest, I prefer to get my ‘sugar count’ from a little bit of dark chocolate instead.
“If I want a coffee, I’ll have it with full-cream milk—never skim. When you strip the fat from milk, it removes the enzymes necessary to break down the lactose, which your body finds tricky to digest. Most people who have problems with dairy discover that when they swap back to full-cream dairy they have no problems.
“When I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is drink a lot of water with lemon juice to up my alkaline intake—this helps to prepare the gut for food”
“My next meal is lunch, which is steamed vegetables with maybe a couple of eggs or chicken tossed through it. I call these ‘mishmash meals’— maybe I’ll add some bacon or a little cheese and always plenty of fresh herbs, which I grow on my windowsill. I’ll also add some olive oil or butter. I’m a big fat fan. Vitamins A, E, D, and K are fatsoluble only, so if you skimp on fat, you won’t get the full nutritional kick from your meal. Fat also triggers appetite mechanisms and balances the metabolism. This is how the French, Italians, and our grandparents have eaten for generations. After about two months of eating this way, my appetite changed completely—I no longer snacked and ate three times a day. And I lost weight.”
who come to me eating heavy protein in the morning tend to crave more caffeine and/or snacks by mid-morning because they don’t have much energy. With a GGS you’re still getting protein, because the amino acids create proteins in the body. They’re not complex protein chains that suck up all your energy.
“I consume about 680 millilitres to a litre of GGS, but I recommend starting off with about 500 millilitres and building up. I have clients who are male actors bulking up for movies—they’ll have nearly two litres. If you’re still hungry afterwards, wait 30 minutes, then have something gluten-free like oatmeal or buckwheat granola. And no dairy. Period. No other species on the planet, except for humans, drinks milk past the infancy stage. The main protein in cow’s milk is casein and studies have shown a strong correlation between casein intake and the promotion of cancer-cell growth when exposed to carcinogens. “It’s best to start light and move on to heavier foods later in the day. Think of your body like a waterfall versus a stagnant pond. A waterfall has speed. To be our most beautiful, there has to be movement, otherwise toxicity builds up. If you eat heavy foods at breakfast and lunch, everything keeps piling up as it takes so long to digest.
“If I need to eat mid-morning, I eat fruit. Pineapple has an enzyme called bromelain that helps your body digest protein and clean the blood. I also eat a lot of bananas. Lunch includes a huge green salad. I’ve cut oil completely from my diet, so I make a dressing from lemon, nutritional yeast that adds a cheesy flavour, and herbs. Besides the salad, sometimes I’ll make an avocado wrap, or eat a big soup, brown rice, and veggie sushi rolls or quinoa with some vegetables.
“Last November, I opened an organic smoothie and juice shop in Los Angeles called Glow BIO (Balance Inside Out), so if I’m there in the afternoon I’ll have a Power Protein smoothie, made from raw almond milk, chia seeds, a vegan sprout, and pea protein powder. “Most of my clients eat meat, so I’m happy for them to have organic chicken or fish for dinner with cooked vegetables, but for me, it’s another big green salad, cooked veggies, and more high protein plant foods such as quinoa, millet, or a nut pate. Seafood is great, but the toxicity that comes from consuming a large amount of fish is worrying. Baking is better than frying or pan-searing—the fat is cooked effectively and that’s where a lot of the toxicity is stored. You don’t need as much animal protein as you think. Three or four serves a week is plenty. Any more than that is too acidic for your body and an acidic body tends to age faster. I worked on the film set of
The Avengers— we’re talking big muscly clients—and this worked for them.
“I used to run marathons and work out a lot, but my body looks more toned now, because I’m eating closer to nature and not worrying about numbers. Three hundred calories from squash compared to 300 calories from chips? They’re worlds apart.”
STEPHANIE RICE Olympian swimmer turned Today Show health and fitness reporter
“I always start my morning with a massive glass of water to flush out the toxins, then I’ll have breakfast within half an hour of waking. Lately that’s been a banana smoothie. I don’t eat dairy, so I get six frozen bananas and blend them up with cold water. Breakfast is sometimes at 6 a.m., other times at 7 a.m., or even at 9.30 a.m. Timing isn’t important to me, but I’ll always eat every three hours.
“I’d call myself a vegan, but I occasionally eat meat if I’m in a situation where I have to, and I’ll have fish once a week when I’m at a restaurant. I’ve never liked red meat—I got my protein from fish and chicken when I was training. You don’t need large quantities of meat— your body can’t break down that much protein.
“Lunch may be three peaches and six nuts. I only eat almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts—they aren’t as high in saturated fats as others. I’ll usually have one coffee on busy days when I need it—a long black with a dash of soy. I can’t process dairy, it makes me feel sick. About 3.30 p.m., I’ll have three mangoes and a handful of grapes. Then for dinner at 7 p.m., I eat a family-sized bowl of salad: Baby spinach, capsicum, cucumber, and maybe I’ll throw in some sunflower seeds and different fruit from what I’ve eaten that day, like two oranges. My favourite dressing is two tablespoons of oil, two tablespoons of tahini to give it a peanut-buttery flavour, a tablespoon of honey, and the juice of half an orange.
“The funny thing is when I was training, my diet was less carb-based than it is now. It’s just that now the carbs are from a more natural source—my body seems to digest them better. Having been involved in sport intensely since age 14, and I’ve worked with five or six nutritionists who ‘get’ me. I was often sick when I was training seven hours a day and was constantly being told different things: What to do, what not to do. But then I found a book,
“You don’t need large quantities of meat—your body can’t break down that much protein”
The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr Douglas N Graham, on a raw vegan-based diet, so now I try not to cook anything. My skin has more colour and glow to it—and I’ve always had really nice hair—but now I have more energy and I’m eating more than ever before.
“After last year’s Olympics, I was doing an hour of gym work and an hour of cardio every day. It has been hard for me to get to a point where I feel it’s OK just to do 30 minutes a day, or even skip a session. And I put on weight after my shoulder operation. But now I exercise purely because it makes me feel great. My aim is to put in an hour’s session five times a week.
“When I was swimming, I wouldn’t drink—I had to be focused. But once every four months, when I had the chance to have it, I’d go to the opposite end of the spectrum. I didn’t find consistency until four months ago. I didn’t have an alcohol problem—it just took me a while to figure it out.”
jessica ainscough Health entrepreneur and editor of thewellnesswarrior.com.au
“I’m a who lefood lover. That’s the only label I’d give myself. I’m not into strict titles like ‘vegan’. They only lead to guilt if you stray. I follow a plant-based diet, nothing processed, all organic, natural stuff. Our bodies aren’t designed to consume chemicals.
“The catalyst for this was getting cancer in 2008, when I was 22 and Dolly magazine’s online editor. Before that, my idea of health was forcing myself to go to the gym to counteract all the Krispy Kremes I’d eaten. Breakfast was a bacon-and-egg roll and dinner came in the form of canapés.
“But then small bumps began to appear in my arm and I was told it was riddled with epithelioid sarcoma. I had high doses of chemo, but it was back within a year and specialists said they’d have to amputate the arm. I started researching other ways to heal and a world of wellness opened up. Gerson Therapy (Gerson Institute is a Californiabased health centre) played the biggest part in my healing, with a strict diet which I’ve now moderated.
“The first thing I do every morning at 5.30 a.m. is drink clay: A teaspoon of mont-morillonite (edible clay) in a glass of water and down the hatch! It has a negative charge and toxins in your body have a positive charge, so they bind together and you just poop it out. I’ll then drink a heap of water to flush it through, then do my oil pulling. This is an ayurvedic ritual where you swish a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth for 20 minutes, then spit it out and brush your teeth; I use a herbal toothpaste.
“Next, I exercise, which usually involves climbing Mount Coolum nearby. After that, I do dry body- two years you’re on it. I’ve recently cut back to six a day, so I’ll have one an hour until midday. The juices are mostly green: Kale, cos lettuce, green apple, red cabbage, green capsicum, and Swiss chard. Juices flood your body with nutrients, without your body having to digest them, but smoothies are awesome too because you can add superfoods like maca powder and spirulina.
“Lunch, is a (Gerson’s) Hippocrates soup—a vegetable concoction you need to eat twice a day to flush out the system and strengthen your immune system— plus a big salad with lots of colours, a baked potato, and vegetables cooked without water to not dilute the nutrients. Yes, I get sick of it, and today I skipped the soup. Every now and then I’ll stray and have quinoa or a curry, and I’ve now added nuts, spices, and avocados to my diet. After lunch I work, do yoga,
“When you’re overhauling your body like this, the toxins need extra help to come out. I was doing up to five enemas a day; now I do two.”
brushing, shower, meditate, then breakfast: Rolled oats with honey and fruit, followed by a fresh green juice.
“After this, I’ll do a coffee enema, which clears toxins from your liver. When you’re overhauling your body like this, the toxins need extra help to come out. I was doing up to five enemas a day; now I do two. They make you feel so clean. Gerson Therapy stipulates you also drink a fresh juice every hour (that you’re awake)—13 a day—for the first another coffee enema, have juice, and dinner at seven. Dinner is the same as lunch. My family are behind me. My mother, has breast cancer so she’s doing Gerson Therapy too.
“I used to avoid social situations because I resented not being able to drink, but now I just go out with my old friends and don’t drink. I’m also friends with health entrepreneurs who think like me, so it’s not that hard. It’s actually opened up my world.”