Hormones:
Jackie contends that out of balance hormones are the reason most of us who are fat, have a hard time getting thin. "Control the hormones, control the fat", she says. What hormones need balancing?
- HGH Human growth hormone - cut nighttime carbs, sleep enough, train hard to increase levels of HGH
- Testosterone - eat good food, watch fat intake, limit caffeine and alcohol
- Progesterone - eat plenty of foods with vitamin B6 and magnesium
Hormones that make you fat
- Insulin - in itself is not bad, but spikes from eating simple carbs are bad
- Estrogen - needed as well, but with the American diet, Estrogen dominance is reeking havoc, stay away from processed foods and caffeine. Also can be released into food through the plastic we use in the microwave
- Leptin - ease back on MSG laden food, sleep enough, chew slowly, eat fish
She has an entire chapter on sugar. Sugar is evil according to Jackie, in almost all forms. She would have you use stevia instead of sugar if you need anything to be sweet.
Diet:
This is where the book took a twist, that I haven't read before. While most diets want to take tons of stuff away during the first two weeks, Jackie want you to add stuff in. Her approach is to balance your hormones with healthy food, so you don't feel as hungry when you start to take stuff away. Eat what you would normally but make sure you eat 2 eggs a day, 1 cup of oatmeal, 2-3 cups of veggies, 2 whole fruits, water with some lemon juice, a whey protein shake a day, and herbal tea to help any oral fixations you have.
After two weeks, her plan switches into a portion plan. You would have 4 proteins, 3 veggies, 2 fruits, 2 grains, and 1 fat. She calls her program 5+2. It means that you eat 'clean' for 5 days and on the weekend you can choose 2 meals, or times that you can eat whatever you want. Have drinks, eat tacos, whatever. The cheat meals cannot be over 1500 at a sitting. 1500 calories is a lot.
Workout:
This is the part of the book that I paid money for, the workout.
Cardio: She doesn't want you to become a gym rat and workout all day like a hamster on a wheel. She wants you to do 20 minutes interval training. The key to getting the most out of your 20 minutes is intensity. "Intensity is pushing yourself hard for a shorter period of time". If you are new to working out, or haven't done it for a long time, she recommends that the first two weeks, you just focus on the cardio. 5 days a week, 20 minutes a day. She has interval programs for treadmill, elliptal, stair climber, walking/hiking, indoor bike and swimming.
Weights: Jackie loves circuit training. Circuit training is where you do a group of exercises without rest, usually alternating upper and lower body exercises. Her power circuits are two exersices that hit the same muscle group before going to a different body part. She want perfect form, till fatigue with heavy enough weights, that you can barely eak out the last 5 reps. She wants these weight workouts short as well, no more than 30 minutes. She has sample programs for you to follow.
Three circuits in each routine, pick one circuit. Do it three times, in order, with as little rest as possible between sets and different exercises. Skipping the 'rest' will elevate your HGH levels. Monday hits your chest quads, triceps, and core. Wednesdays are for back hamstring, biceps and core. Fridays, glutes shoulders and core. Two exercises for each body part, 3 times around. She doesn't care if you switch out an exercise for anouther as long as it hits the same muscles.
Pros
- Gives clear information about hormones in your body and why it is important that they balance
- Gives examples of foods that screw up that balance
- "Induction" is easy enough for anyone to follow. Add food INTO your diet? Who does that? Jackie
- Protion plan is very helpful and relavant
- Cardio , short and intense, which is what I like.
- Weights short intence split program that hits all of your muscles
Cons
- It was hard for me to understand how the weight program worked. The way it reads, you whould do all three circuits in each routine. I started to do that but it takes too long. If you add in the presricbed warm up and cool down, one circuit is about 25-30 minutes I searched the internet looking to weather I should do all three on Monday, to no avail. Having experience with weight training, one circuit is enough, and it fits into the 30 minutes time frame she wants you to work.
- I wanted to do the elliptical program but there are terms she uses for setting it up that I am not familiar with. It may be that she has experience with the professional machines features that my home machine doesn't have.
- Sugar - I don't believe that sugar itself is bad. I do like my sugar as unprocessed as possible, usually a shade of brown rather than the chemically bleached stuff we find everywhere. (I use it sparingly)
