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This edition published by Thorsons 2016
FIRST EDITION
Text Alice Liveing 2016
Cover layout design HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2016
Cover photograph Martin Poole
Food styling: Kim Morphew
Prop styling: Wei Tang
Styling: Lucy Denver
Hair and make-up: Tahira Herold and Susanna Mota
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Alice Liveing asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780008167202
Ebook Edition May 2016 ISBN: 9780008167219
Version: 2016-04-19
Contents
Philip Haynes
Philip Haynes
Martin Poole
Philip Haynes
Dear Reader
Firstly, Id like to say thank you for buying my book. Deciding to change your approach to eating and exercise takes huge courage and will require you to completely overhaul your previous concept of what a diet should be. This book is about looking and feeling great inside and out. You will have to be disciplined and dedicated, but I promise: you will get out what you put in.
There are so many books out there at the moment that talk about clean eating. The truth is that it is impossible to define one single meaning that is the same for everyone. For me it is simple: it is about eating nutrient-dense, whole foods to create, nourish and fuel a healthy mind and body.
When I began my journey I knew it wasnt a quick fix that I was after, that what I really needed was permanent change. In a world where everything is so instant and we have been conditioned to believe that a diet should have rapid results, weve lost the concept of understanding how to properly nourish our bodies to achieve long-term and sustainable change.
When I began my journey I knew it wasnt a quick fix that I was after, that what I really needed was permanent change.
Instead we see quick fixes like juice detoxes and stupidly low-calorie diets as the fast-track way to what we perceive to be healthy. This had been the story of my life. Ive done the no carbs after six oclock and the everything low fat, no fat and, quite honestly, they made me feel completely the opposite of healthy. I simply felt, despite my best efforts, unhappy and unable to make any real difference to my physique.
I needed something so much more than that. I needed to be healthy and happy.
Its from this place that I decided that short-term measures just werent going to cut it for me. I knew I needed something so much more than that. I needed to be healthy and happy.
So lets begin with HEALTHY.
Now, everyones definition of healthy is different. As the saying goes: Whats normal for the spider, is chaos for the fly.
On day one, I got out my notepad (Im such a list-maker) and wrote down everything that I wanted to achieve in terms of health. Ill be honest and say abs werent even on my list! Nope, what I wanted was energy, muscular strength and definition, a good relationship with food where I didnt feel guilty for eating certain foods, a clear complexion and a greater understanding of how my body works.
What I wanted was energy, muscular strength and definition, a good relationship with food whereby I didnt feel guilty for eating certain foods, a clear complexion and a greater understanding of how my body works.
HAPPY
This wasnt something that I deliberately set out to discover, but as I started to enjoy food, love the gym and feel energized like never before, I realized that all aspects of my mindset were changing. I began to feel incredibly motivated in every area of my life. At college I found a new confidence in myself and started to really believe that I was good enough. At the gym I pushed myself to gain strength. Overall, I felt calmer in the knowledge that I had taken control of a situation that had spiralled so out of control. It may sound obvious, but I cannot stress how clear it became that what I put into my body affected every single aspect of me, and overhauling my diet was absolutely pivotal in me changing not just physically, but mentally too.
I started to enjoy food, love the gym and feel energized like never before.
HARD WORK
This is where the honest truths are laid bare. I will be the first to admit that my journey wasnt a breeze, as Im sure those of you whove dabbled with diets will know. There were times when all I wanted was to stay in bed and eat ice cream and the idea of even stepping one foot in the gym filled me with dread. But I couldnt allow myself to return to the disordered and unhealthy way of living that I had worked so hard to move away from.
What it required was the understanding that I needed to make change, the commitment and consistency to see it through and the knowledge that this was now my normal, and I wouldnt return to bad habits ever again.
I needed to make change, the commitment and consistency to see it through and the knowledge that this was now my normal.
Alice x
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Being healthy can sound scary and complicated it isnt. It is about being realistic and consistent and this book will show you how.
We all form food-related opinions and patterns from a very young age and they can be hard to break. It is all about educating yourself and the first thing to learn is that there is no such thing as a quick fix that gives you a result for life.
We all have different relationships with nutrition and food and I am happy to share mine here to show you how I got started on this clean eating path. Looking back I can see that my thoughts about food werent always straightforward. From a young age there had always been triggers that would set me off on a period of binge eating that I couldnt control. I was a classic example of someone who struggled every day to overcome my bad eating habits. I would repeatedly fall off the diet wagon, only to climb back on, dispirited by failure and even more desperate to shift the weight. It became a destructive, depressing cycle I was locked into. I now know this is so common. We feel like failures and dont know how to change things in a permanent way; so we just carry on doing the same thing and feeling bad. I had tried every diet out there, particularly the quick-fix goal diets designed to shed the pounds as quickly as possible. The problem was that I would never quite banish the 7lb the diet books promised, and then I would watch as the few pounds I had shifted crept right back on. It felt like a constant war.