Douglas - Banting Solution: Your Low-Carb Guide To Permanent Weight Loss

Published by Penguin Books
an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Reg. No. 1953/000441/07
The Estuaries No. 4, Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

www.penguinbooks.co.za

New edition published in 2016

Publication Zebra Press 2016
Text Bernadine Douglas & Bridgette Allan

Cover illustration istockphoto/dvarg

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

PUBLISHER: Marlene Fryer
MANAGING EDITOR: Ronel Richter-Herbert
EDITOR: Bronwen Maynier
PROOFREADER: Angela Voges
COVER DESIGN: Monique Cleghorn
TEXT DESIGN: Ryan Africa
TYPESETTER: Monique van den Berg

ISBN 978 1 77609 098 3 (print)
ISBN 978 1 77609 099 0 (ePub)
ISBN 978 1 77609 100 3 (PDF)

I would like to dedicate this book to my Creator; only He can give one the wisdom and knowledge to write a phenomenal book like The Banting Solution. I would also like to dedicate this book to my mother, who has taught me so many things in life; most importantly, that one should always chase ones dreams and never, ever give up, no matter how hard life can sometimes be.

And lastly, to my two beautiful children: in between school, homework, meals and bath time they knew Mommy had to work on this book to finish it on time, but as young as they are, they understood perfectly.

Bernadine

I would like to dedicate this book to my God and to the people who have loved me unconditionally, who have believed in my capabilities and have been unwavering in their support over the years. My three extraordinary children Ryan, Megan and Quintin. My remarkably patient parents, Ross and Anne, my very loyal siblings Warwick and Belinda, my grandparents Ro, Doug, Lesley and Gwyneth, and to Patsy and John, who saved me from myself so many years ago.

Bridgette

The food you eat can either be the safest and the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.

Ann Wigmore, holistic health educator

Growing up on a smallholding in the heart of the Free State, I never thought that living on freshly grown vegetables, fruit picked straight from the tree, full-fat milk still warm from the cow and freshly laid eggs as big as can be would become the biggest health topic of today and my full-time job and passion. For me growing up, this was normal life. I remember that every time my mom travelled to Bethlehem, she would bring back some KFC for my twin brother Cobus and me. She didnt travel there often, so it was always a big treat to eat KFC. As we lived in a small town surrounded by farms, eating out was also only an occasional thing, and buying eggs and processed meat from the local supermarket was not common either. We had everything on our smallholding that we needed. My mother cooked us real food, and I will be forever grateful to her for teaching us from a young age what it meant to sit down as a family at the kitchen table and eat real, home-cooked meals. Those are the memories I treasure the most. Today, with my own family, the tradition carries on in my house we always eat as a family at the table, and we eat real food that I have cooked for us.

When did the hype over real, fresh foods start? When did Banting, or the low-carb, high-fat diet, hit South Africa so hard that we felt the need to write this book?

In November 2013, Professor Tim Noakes and his team started it all with the launch of their book The Real Meal Revolution. Today Im grateful to him and his revolution not only have thousands of people improved their health and lost a lot of weight, but I have found renewed purpose.

As someone whos been living a more-or-less low-carb lifestyle for almost four years, I was thrilled when Banting began to hit the headlines. Professor Noakess revolutionary book resulted in a lot of questions and pleas for help from Banters who were struggling to really understand how this lifestyle works and what they should and should not be eating. The most common refrain: I have bought the book and I have read all the stories and advice online, but I still dont know what to do. In response, Bridgette and I started offering advice on Facebook support groups, and then started through our Slender Slim 4 U (SS4U) Banting Clinics offering online and face-to-face consultations to Banters. Our reach, however, was limited. As time passed and more people caught on, more questions on Banting started to appear on social media and, as the volume of questions grew, so did the numbers of people giving conflicting advice. Everyone had his or her own opinions and Banters were left in a state of confusion. It was then that Bridgette and I recognised the need for a go-to book on Banting. While The Real Meal Revolution planted the seeds for the low-carb, high-fat lifestyle in South Africa, someone was going to have to water them. This is what The Banting Solution aims to do.

With this book, we want to give the existing Banter, the person who wants to start Banting, the person still thinking about Banting, and the person who doesnt know anything about Banting, the guidelines for low-carb living and achieving effective weight loss. The Banting Solution aims to give you accurate advice and help you lose weight the Banting way.

My motto has always been If your mindset is right, your body will follow. But lets be realistic: how do we get our mindset right? First of all, we need to educate ourselves, then we need to get off our backsides and stop dreaming about being healthy and being a healthy weight, and start doing. Be active, not just proactive. But it is only once we have educated ourselves that we can slowly start to implement what weve learnt, through our daily activities and what we put in our mouths. It takes slow, easy, baby steps. Like a baby, you cant run before you can walk. See The Banting Solution as your baby steps to a healthier and leaner you. There will be days when you feel like you just want to give up and run away, but allowing your mindset to be influenced by these negative thoughts will only result in your body following suit and you will not get a positive end result. You need to hold these at bay, lift your head up high and tell yourself, I can do it; I was created to be successful and Im not going to allow any small setbacks to influence my mind, my body and my health journey.

Our aim with this book is to allow you, the reader, to sit in the comfort of your own space and learn how to Bant for permanent weight loss. See it as a one-on-one consultation with both Bridgette and me.

So where did my Banting journey begin? Before I started my business in 2011, I was working as a rep and my work kept me on the road 90 per cent of the time. This resulted in me living largely off Big Macs, fries and McMuffins. I was obviously doomed to pick up weight. Not to mention the 12 kilograms I had gained during my first pregnancy, which I battled for nearly five years to lose.

At the start of 2012 I decided that enough was enough and began following a low-carb lifestyle, but with the more-than-occasional cheat I was more like a weekly low-carber and weekend loafer. But later that year, when I fell pregnant with child number two, as a low-carb pregnant mommy I gained only 6.5 kilograms! It was in September 2014 that I decided I had to stop playing with my food and commit at least 99 per cent to the Banting lifestyle. Since then I have lost 10 kilograms and dropped 12 per cent body fat, and joined the gym not to lose weight, but to tone. Today I am healthier and thinner than I was in high school. I now sometimes find myself getting frustrated if my underwear and clothes dont fit me because theyre too big! Many Banters say this is an expensive lifestyle, and, yes, it is when you need to shop for new clothes, but when it comes to the food you eat, thats nonsense. In my experience, Banting is quite affordable and much cheaper than a fast-food lifestyle.