The Bikini Chef Diet

a new shirt at the gym. Begin by waking up each morning saying something, out loud, that you are thankful for. Something that you love about yourself. Whatever that is, say it out loud, and then smile. The act of smiling is positive. When you smile, others want to smile. Smiling puts instant happiness into your mind, on your face, in your heart and into the hearts of others. To achieve true, real, lasting positive change, you have to believe you CAN do it. Only then can you take the next fundamental steps to positive change. Change begins in your mind. Decide right now to make healthier choices in the areas of food and fitness. Today. With The Bikini Chef Diet, you will *Learn how to stop playing the diet game *Discover the foods that make you fat no matter your age *Experience the 3 easy stages to a healthy bikini body *Re-train your palate to enjoy pure, wholesome foods *Have the bikini body you deserve, whether you wear a bikini or not *Learn specific, short, effective exercises to tighten and tone the body 7

Positivity is a Warm, Fuzzy, Blanket Positivity is a warm, fuzzy, blanket to wrap yourself up in. Positive people promote a positive lifestyle. To think you can lose weight on your own is setting yourself up for failure. Even the most fit people have a supportive community that has similar beliefs on exercise and what to eat and drink daily. If you are constantly filled with negative emotions and surrounded by negative people, you are destined to live a life of doom. You will become depressed, suppressed, despondent, and will most likely become or remain overweight, out of shape, and possibly addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, or other substance. It is not necessary. It is so much easier and much more fun to be positive. Scientific studies have proven that positive thinking breeds positive health. Doctor Daniel Amen specializes in brain health and attests to success story after success story of people reversing disease, depression, and other health related issues through the power of positive thinking. When I recommend to you to “surround yourself with positive, like-minded people” that does not mean that everyone must agree with everything you say. The goal is to be surrounded by people who are interested in and excited about living a healthy lifestyle. Hang out with people who enjoy exercise, the outdoors, eating healthier foods, and are a pleasure to be around. You don’t have to inhale protein powder and do intense muscle workouts to be fit and healthy. A regular, consistent routine of moderate exercise and consistently eating freshly prepared foods flavored with healing spices, herbs, and citrus flavors will do the trick. Conversely, if you are living in a household where everyone is eating high fat foods that come in fancy packages, frequently dine at buffets or the drive-thru, and you are trying to exercise regularly in an atmosphere of couch potatoes, you are setting yourself up for failure. And note, family and close friends are often the most critical of your success and the ones who are first to engage in sabotage attempts. Know that is coming. I can almost guarantee they will be your worst critics. 8

Change what you can change, and enlist the support of healthy-minded, positive friends. Make new healthy minded friends by signing up for a pilates class, joining a walking group, or participating in a beginner’s boot camp. Set a healthy example to your non-supporters who just may come around to your side of thinking when they see your results and notice your improved, positive attitude, and when they notice the menu at home has changed. When you have positive like-minded people consistently around you, you will each motivate the other and can share support when the other is feeling down, having a rough day, or just needs a friend to vent to, someone who understands and appreciates their healthy lifestyle goals. Surround yourself with positive, healthy, like-minded people who can empower and at the same time are comforting, encouraging, and nurturing – just like a warm, fuzzy, blanket of coziness. It is essential to be prepared, be strong, and be positive. YOU can do this! Susan Irby Refreshing Change is Healthy Now that you’ve made the decision to start feeling better – you probably feel better already! The hardest first step is making the mental commitment to get out of your comfort zone. So, bravo!!! It’s time to start cheering. Time to really get excited about the new changes you are making. When you venture into the new territory of a healthy lifestyle, you’ll be making new, healthy minded friends and trying new foods, spices, and flavors that you may have never had before. All of these changes will be fun for you when you approach them with an adventurous spirit. Make a game of learning to prepare foods differently. Think of trying fresh, new dishes as part of an exotic adventure that will take you to new lands. Relish in the excitement that the same burrito you used to eat is going to be a new recipe that just may taste BETTER to you! Once you begin to implement new spices, fresh herbs, and fresh 9

ingredients you may not have tried before, it may come as a surprise to you that love this new way of eating. And, don’t be surprised when you start preferring the produce and spice aisles at the grocery store to the meal-in-a-box aisles you used to relish. Who knows, you just may find yourself at the local farmer’s market each weekend. Refreshing change is healthy and will open up new, positive life experiences. Living a healthy bikini lifestyle is an exciting time! Embrace the change and remember positivity is a warm, fuzzy blanket. Wrap yourself up in it; surround yourself with positive, like-minded, supportive people. Share your stories within The Bikini Chef Diet community – your experience could empower someone else to grow and change as you are. “You Look Fantastic!” Perception is that everyone loves a compliment. And they do, to a certain degree. When you begin putting your lifestyle change into action and the pounds begin to shed away, people are going to begin complimenting you. “Have you lost weight?!” “You look fantastic!” “What did you do, how did you do it?!” will just be a few of the compliments you receive. This is super positive and reinforces your hard work, but for some, this much attention can also be frightening. Suddenly people are noticing your appearance out loud and often. Everywhere you go someone is paying you a compliment. On the one hand compliments are motivating. On the other hand, they can bring up fears of failure, disappointment if you don’t succeed, and self-consciousness because now everyone is looking at YOU. Positivity is a warm, fuzzy blanket so remember those supportive, like-minded friends who will keep you feeling motivated and cared for. Talk through any fears with them. Talk about the scariness of all the new attention. Write down your feelings in your Bikini Tracker or in a private journal. Expressing your feelings helps process them and will help you come to terms with and embrace change. Pretty soon, you will be able to respond with a confident “Thank you!” and know that you are beautiful inside and out, whether others notice or not. Numbers and Inches When it comes to the scale, there are two schools of thought: one suggests to weigh every single morning right when you get out of bed. The other suggests to throw the scale away and base your progress solely on how your clothes fit. My suggestion falls somewhere in the middle. I feel weighing regularly is important and I don’t really want to throw away my scale. I enjoy getting to know how my body works relative to its natural fluctuations and the foods I eat. 10

The scale is like a recipe. It’s a guideline. The scale is there to help guide you through your healthy lifestyle journey. It’s part of your healthy lifestyle toolbox. When you’ve overindulged on vacation and need to adjust your diet here and there, the scale is your reminder tool that the cheese plate with crostini and extra helping of mashed potatoes at your favorite steakhouse was perhaps not the best idea in staying true to your bikini body goals. Weigh a couple of times per week, ideally at the same time of day. Write down the results in your tracker. This will help you learn your body’s natural fluctuations, recognize when you have hit a plateau, and see when your body has let go of the plateau and released some more fat. Weighing one or two times a week is healthy. It helps you stay on track and can help you stay motivated. Part I. Playing The Dieting Game Chapter 1: The Non-Diet “Diet” Foods Non-diet “diet” foods are the ones that are perceived to be healthy and lower fat, lower calorie but really, they are bikini body killers. They can often be classified as junk food. Doctor Mark Hyman recently spoke at a health rally I attended. He so eloquently put it that there is no junk food. “There is junk and there is food. Period.” Food is information to the body. Think before you eat what message is what I am eating right now going to send to my body? One of healing and good health? Or, one of pain and indigestion. Junk (food) can be described in a vast variety of ways. One, as anything with a label primarily of ingredients you don't understand. Junk (food) is one of those products that if you put it into a time capsule and dig it up fifty years later it looks pretty much the same and is still edible. Junk food is not fresh food. Junk food ingredients include lots of big words that you cannot pronounce and have no idea what they are. Junk foods typically come in some form of plastic bag or container or can be bought at the drive-thru. Does that mean you can't buy anything in a package? No, that would be silly. It does mean, however, that it is to your benefit to become educated and informed about the foods you are eating, especially if they come in a package off the shelf in the center aisles at the grocery store where most junk (foods) thrive. Here are some key words – trigger words - and phrases to look for on packages and labels that give the appearance of looking like they are low-fat, low-calorie and therefore healthy for you but really, they are filled with a lot of junk: Trigger words: “light” or “lite”, reduced calorie, low fat. Some of these products may be lower fat but still contain high amounts of sugar, additives and preservatives. 11

Types of foods that commonly use the words listed above: Bottled dressings Most boxed cake mixes and pre-made frostings Packaged desserts Fake butters and butter substitutes Snack crackers Most store-bought frozen appetizers, meals, and Packaged breakfast foods snacks Packaged meats with added artificial coloring High sugar cereals (which also contain nitrates) Most bottled sugary sauces Certain canned good meals such as spaghetti Many baked goods – fresh and packaged and soups These foods are only going to get in your way of weight loss. Not only do they prevent weight loss, they create food cravings by spiking blood sugar levels and are void of stimulus and satisfaction to the tastebuds. Better to make your own homemade vinaigrettes and change your palate to naturally sweet foods that can be enjoyed as desserts and snacks than to continue to consume loads of empty calories. What are empty calories? Those calories that have little to no nutritional value and actually cause the body to hold on to fat. When grocery shopping, a Bikini Chef Diet rule to live by is to not bring the non-diet “diet” foods home with you. Don’t eat them in the store either . Shop mainly on the outer aisles at the store where the fresh produce, seafood, and poultry items are. Eat a healthy snack such as an apple, pear, or Cleanse Drink before you go to the store. Shopping on an empty stomach is practically a guarantee for buying the wrong kinds of foods and lots of them. Remember, if you bring the food home with you, you are guaranteed to eat it. So, just don’t even tempt yourself by bringing it into your house. Instead, understand labels on packaged goods, look for those that are naturally low sugar, low sodium, and low fat. A bit later, I will give you a whole list of delicious, healthy options. You will love them and soon will wonder how you used to eat the preservative, sugar-filled foods before. Chapter 2: How The Bikini Chef Diet Can Work For You 12

The Bikini Chef Diet is not about food deprivation. On The Bikini Chef Diet, you will be eating plentiful foods filled with nutrients and flavor that will help you feel great, give you higher energy levels, and help you finally drop those unwanted pounds. The Bikini Chef Diet is based on your new BFFs (best friends forever), the PFFs (lean proteins, high fiber, healthy fats). You will meet your new BFFs – the PFFs - in Chapter 10. The PFFs are designed to give you structure, focus, and balance in body, mind, and spirit. Your PFFs will empower you to stop yo-yo dieting, stop binging on the wrong foods, and develop a healthy approach to food. Most people have a love-hate relationship with food. They want to eat “healthier” but they love the pizza, ice cream, cookies more. “I’ll start eating healthier tomorrow” is a phrase I hear often. Tomorrow turns in to next month which turns in to next year and the year after that. In working with numerous clients, I have found that much of the resistance to change lies in the perception of “healthy” foods and a lack of understanding of our food “triggers”. “Healthy” foods are perceived as being tasteless, bland, boring, and downright disgusting. But, that is just not true. Healthy foods – healing foods - are anything but tasteless, bland, boring, and they are certainly not disgusting. Once you begin to experience the flavors of what we call “healthier” foods and you learn how to cook them at home and how to order them on a menu at restaurants, your perception of “healthy” foods will change. Your tastebuds will be awakened and surprised by what true healthy foods are all about and how they really do taste good. The other part of having structure, focus, and balance in your diet is understanding what your food “triggers” are. Stress, alcohol, boredom, elation, sadness, and even foods can create food triggers that cause you to eat the wrong foods. This, in turn, causes you to crave more of the wrong foods leaving you feeling depressed, frustrated, and unable to lose excess pounds. With the help of your PFFs, you will know what to do when your food triggers strike. No longer will you be a slave to the foods that are keeping you fat and frustrated. Once you put your PFFs to work for you, you will know the right foods to eat, when to eat them, how to prepare them, and how to order them when dining out. You will feel satisfied and be able to handle temptations with ease. Your skin will look more refreshed, you will feel better, have more energy, and enjoy permanent, lasting weight loss, feeling empowered to live the healthy life you deserve. The Bikini Chef Diet is your key to feeling better, having more energy and enjoying permanent, lasting weight loss. You’ve earned it! Ready to meet your PFFs and get started? 13

Part II. Foods That Make You Fat At Any Age If you’ve ever been on a diet, there are foods that may have been suggested that will help you lose weight but in fact, they are only making you fat. This section covers popular foods and where they fit – or don’t – with The Bikini Chef Diet. Chapter 3: Go Nuts About Nuts well, Some of Them You’ve probably heard that nuts are good for you. All nuts are pretty much loaded with fat. But some nuts contain healthier fats than others. The nuts with the healthier fats also contain other essential nutrients that help burn fat and aid in promoting a healthy heart, good brain health, and other health benefits. Here are the main nuts to avoid and the best nuts to eat to maximize a healthy bikini body. Avoid: *Peanuts, especially boiled (they are filled with the toxic mold, aflatoxin) *Macadamia nuts *Pine nuts *Nuts packaged in oil *Candied, salted and flavored nuts such as BBQ, sugar coated *Nut butters that have added oil, sugar and / or salt Best nuts for a bikini body: The top 3 nuts are considered “super foods” – foods that pack powerful nutritional value in relation to their caloric and fat values. Research shows they help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and help burn fat. *Almonds *Cashews *Walnuts Other healthy nut options: *Brazil nuts – especially for men AVOID peanuts *Pistachios *Raw or dry roasted *Unsalted *Nut butters with no additives *70% cocoa dusted nuts make for great snacks! 14

Chapter 4: Sweet Temptations Hidden sugars are everywhere. Sugar, whether you know it or not, is even found in natural foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. The biggest problem with overconsumption of sugar is all of the added sugar in packaged foods. If we just cut out the added sugar alone, we would be a long way towards winning the battle against sugar and weight gain. Yes, eliminating all of the added sugar would be fantastic but it is also important to recognize natural foods that are high in sugar. First, let’s begin with what sugar does in the body. To understand what sugar does in the body, let’s get a picture of what sugar does to foods. Sugar is used in baking as a stabilizer, in marinades for flavor and to give a crisp texture to cooked foods, as a preservative, and of course, to sweeten foods. Sugar is a very powerful, active ingredient that when processed in the body, can lead to an increase in the production of fat stimulating hormones, can strain liver function, increase risk for cardiovascular disease and many other health negatives including weight gain. Sugar is a carb (carbohydrate). While not all carbs are bad, a simple carbohydrate, sugar may be the deadliest carb of all. It tastes sweet no matter what the form. Our bodies fall in love with it. Other foods such as white, high-glycemic carbs metabolize as if they are sugar – quickly, that is – which leads to craving more high GI carbs and sugar. Sugar is addicting. Many, many books have been written on sugar and its addicting properties. I have interviewed numerous best-selling authors and experts on sugar addiction. It is impossible to avoid all sugar. Fruit contains natural sugar, honey is sugar, sugar is everywhere. But, it IS possible to choose the foods that satisfy the tastebuds and still promote good health and help you obtain and maintain a healthy weight. Does this mean you will never eat your favorite Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownie a la Mode again? No. But it does mean you will make healthier decisions when it comes to which desserts to enjoy and which to avoid. For example, you may decide to have 72% cocoa dark chocolate in smaller portions, skip the heavy whipping crème with grand marnier on your favorite soufflé, and start

The Bikini Chef Diet Feel Great. Boost Energy. Lose Weight! A Bikini Body - Easy as 1, 2, 3! Table of Contents Introduction - Everyone Can Be A Bikini Chef page 4 Part I. Playing The Dieting Game Chapter 1. The Non-Diet "Diet" Foods page 10 Chapter 2. How The Bikini Chef Diet Can Work For You page 12 Part II.