The 21day plan
Three weeks is all it takes to transform your eating habits There are three stages to Dr Hyman’s plan, and while the diet doesn’t focus on a specific weight-loss goal, if you follow the guidelines outlined you can expect to shed pounds, reduce cravings and be a healthier version of yourself. STAGE ONE: This is the preparation stage, which should be started two days prior to beginning the plan. This stage involves un-junking the kitchen – getting rid of all processed foods, refined oils and sugary ingredients – and preparing for the 21 days ahead by stocking up on healthy ingredients like grass-fed butter, anti-inflammatory spices like ginger and turmeric, nuts, seeds, unsweetened hemp milk and good quality coconut and olive oil.
STAGE TWO: You begin the 21-day programme, which encompasses a low-gi, whole-food diet featuring plenty of healthy fats and supplements that support blood sugar, a healthy gut, energy levels and much more.
Each day you’ll eat three meals and two snacks that satisfy your tummy and your tastebuds and it’s also recommended that you exercise regularly. Stress management is an important part of the 21-day plan as suffering chronic stress can sabotage get-healthy efforts.
As a rule, breakfast should combine only fat and protein, lunch should consist of 75 per cent non-starchy veggies and 25 per cent protein, with fat included in dressings, and dinner should be the same as lunch in terms of macronutrients. For this 21-day period you should avoid gluten products, all grains, all dairy products (apart from grass-fed butter, clarified butter and ghee) along with beans, since they contain inflammatory compounds called lectins, most fruit, refined vegetable oils, alcohol and all processed foods.
In their place, you should include four to five servings of fat per day. These include one tablespoon of coconut oil, half an avocado, 100-175g of fatty fish like wild salmon and two to three handfuls of nuts.
Protein should be divided up throughout the day because the body can only use around 30-40g at any one time for muscle synthesis. Just like fat, protein helps to fire up your metabolism so it’s an important part of a balanced diet. STAGE THREE: If you want to continue to shift the pounds at the same rate as you have been for the past 21 days, you can continue sticking to the plan outlined above or alternatively you can adopt a Pegan diet (a combination of a vegan and Paleo eating plan), which Dr Hyman cites as the optimal long-term diet.
Transitioning to the Pegan diet happens in two stages: first you’ll follow a basic version (which involves continuing to eliminate all gluten, sugar and processed products, including one serving of starchy veg at dinner and 100-175g protein per meal, plus four to five servings of healthy fats per day) to keep weight loss ticking over. After three months of eating in this way you’ll move on to the next stage, which offers more versatility by allowing small amounts of gluten, dairy and treats. In this stage, you should still avoid all artificial sweeteners, and minimise sugar and processed foods, but you are allowed a small amount of alcohol, as many non-starchy vegetables as you want and 100g of glutenfree grains per day. You are also allowed up to 150g of low-gi fruits like apples and berries and a small amount of beans and legumes. You should continue with exercise, supplement-taking and de-stressing.
Stay energised What’s not to love about exercise? It improves energy levels, revs up your metabolism, increases mental clarity and can boost weight-loss. Find something you enjoy and, to get started, aim for a 30-minute brisk walk every day. For free workout programmes and resources, visit eatfatgetthin. com. To give yourself the energy you need, fuel yourself up with good fats – they work way better than sports drinks to give you the vitality boost you need to push yourself to a happier lifestyle.