Mike Moreno - The 17 Day Kickstart Diet: A Doctors Plan for Dropping Pounds, Toxins, and Bad Habits

A Doctors Plan for Dropping Pounds, Toxins, and Bad Habits

The 17 Day Kickstart Diet

Eat Foods that Fuel You, Not Fool You

Lose Up to 10% of Your Body Weight

Put an End to Chronic Pain

Mike Moreno, MD

#1 New York Times bestselling author of The 17 Day Diet

The 17 Day Diet

The 17 Day Diet Workbook

The 17 Day Diet Cookbook

The 17 Day Plan to Stop Aging

The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition

Host of the podcast Wellness, Inc.

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First Atria Books hardcover edition December 2021

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Jacket design by James Iacobelli

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-6062-3

ISBN 978-1-9821-6064-7 (ebook)

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

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This book is dedicated to my family and friends who have supported me in my life efforts and dreams, to my sister and my dear mother, and to my girlfriend who continuously supports me and reminds me to believe in myself. It is so exhilarating to see this project come to completion. I hope everyone who picks up this book enjoys what they read. I humbly and hopefully request that anyone who reads this tries to use it as a template and guide for their own life. My hope is that it serves as an opportunity to reflect on the things in your life that have molded you into who you are today. I truly believe this is a fantastic plan for creating a better body, inside and out.

Hello there! Its been a while. In fact, its been over a decade since you and I first talked about how you could lose weight rapidly in The 17 Day Diet. Im sure a lot has happened in your life since then, and a lot has certainly happened in mine. In fact, Ive lived through some of my highest highs and many of my lowest lows in these last ten years.

But here we are, you and I, still chugging along on this journey called life. We decide our destination and how were going to get there, and our bodies are really just along for the ride. As a doctor, Im constantly amazed at what the body is capable of, especially when we give it what it needs. I have witnessed patients make incredible transformations, ones in which their bodies go from busted up and broken down to bouncing with life and brimming with energy. If we want our bodies to carry us through lifes adventures, weve got to take care of them. But we dont do that with an all or nothing mentality, where we deprive ourselves of things we enjoy. What Ive come to understand, both in my own life and through those of thousands of patients, is that our bodies respond best to a simple philosophy: more of the good, less of the bad.

I know, that sounds so simple. And thats because it is. Ive just seen so many people swing on that pendulum between the starvation diet and the all-you-can-eat buffet mentality, and neither extreme ever leads to optimal health. But if we can strive to live each day choosing more of the good and less of the bad, then we can know what it is to live a fulfilling, healthy life. And Im referring not only to good or bad food. Im referring to the multitude of lifestyle choices that affect us.

Heres the deal: we can never anticipate what life is going to dish up. Too many factors are outside of our control. But we can choose to approach each day as a fresh start. I know this from firsthand experience. In 2011, I was forty-four years old and a lifelong bachelor. I had pretty much decided I was never going to get married. And then fate intervened and I met the woman who would become my wife. We bought a beautiful home and built a life with our two cats and dog. I was the happiest I had ever been. Everything just felt so stable, so secure, and as a result, I started packing on the pounds. Of course, I didnt realize it when it was happening (do we ever?), but when we were staying at a hotel one Thanksgiving, I hopped on the scale just to see, and sure enough, I had gained 35 pounds. Thirty-five! I had gone from the 175-pound weight Id been for as long as I could remember all the way up to 210 pounds. Sure, Id been swimming five days a week just like always, but I had also been eating anything I wanted, and plenty of it. I had become what Ive often referred to as fit fat. Id forgotten the 90/10 rule that I tell all my patientsweight management is 90 percent food intake and 10 percent exercise.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

I snapped a photo of the reading on the scale and sent it to my brother with the caption, Uh-oh! He couldnt believe it either. Whose weight is that? he asked. Mine! I replied. We had a good laugh, and I joked that I better read my own book again. But truth be told, I didnt really care. I was married, I was happy, and, yeah, I was a little overweight. So what?

When my wife and I decided to start a family, our state of bliss was suddenly disrupted. We experienced fertility issues. Both she and I got checked out, and it appeared that everything was in working order, but even so, she lost several pregnancies. I cant even explain how painful it was watching her go through miscarriages over and over. After some time, we made the mutual decision that we werent meant to have kids. And we were totally okay with it. Or so I thought.