Liz Vaccariello - The Digest Diet: The Best Foods for Fast, Lasting Weight Loss

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR:

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR:

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PHOTO DIRECTOR:

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DESIGN CONSULTANTS:

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MANAGING EDITOR:

Lorraine Burton

SENIOR EDITOR:

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EDITORIAL ASSISTANT:

Elizabeth Kelly

RECIPE DEVELOPERS:

Kate Slate, Sandra Gluck,
Ruth Cousineau

FITNESS TRAINER:

Matt Schwartz

COPY EDITOR:

Lisa Andruscavage

INDEXER:

Nan Badgett

CREDITS

TEST TEAM PORTRAITS

Erin Patrice O'Brien

PHOTOGRAPHY (Chapter 4) :

Lisa Shin

PHOTOGRAPHY (Chapter 6) :

Francesco Tonelli

FITNESS ILLUSTRATIONS

Josh McKibble

VIDEO :

Nicolas Montalvo

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READER'S DIGEST ASSOCIATION, INC.

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Dan Lagani

PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER, BOOKS:

Harold Clarke

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, BOOKS:

Rosanne McManus

CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, NORTH AMERICA:

Liz Vaccariello

A READER'S DIGEST BOOK

Copyright 2012 The Reader's Digest Association

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

Reader's Digest is a registered trademark of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vaccariello, Liz.

The digest diet : the fast, effective, 21-day fat release plan/Liz Vaccariello and Heather Jackson.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-60652-543-2 (trade pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-60652-544-9 (enhanced e pub) -- ISBN 978-1-60652-545-6 (e pub) -- ISBN 978-1-60652-543-2 (direct mail)

1. Reducing diets. 2. Reducing diets--Recipes. 3. Reducing diets--Menus. 4. Reducing exercises. I. Jackson, Heather. II. Title.

RM222.2.V254 2012

613.25--dc23

2011053111

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This publication is designed to provide useful information to the reader on the subjects of weight loss, healthy eating, and exercise. It should not be substituted for the advice of a physician or used to alter any medical therapy or programs prescribed to you by your doctor. Be sure to consult your doctor before proceeding with any weight-loss or exercise regimen. The use of specific products in this book does not constitute an endorsement by the author or the publisher.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Thank you doesn't begin to cover my gratitude for the vision, stamina, and creativity of Heather Jackson and Courtenay Smith, whose partnership and dedication (and early mornings and late nights) made excellence possible. (A wink and hug to Ashley Sandberg for the introduction that brought the dream team together.) I am also indebted to creative director Robert Newman for the simple beauty of the final product.

To the hardworking editors and designers who played roles large and small in supporting our test panel and researching portions of the booknot to mention keeping us on track to meet our deadlines! In particular: Elizabeth Kelly, Lorraine Burton, George McKeon, Andrea Au Levitt, Beth Dreher, Lauren Gniazdowski, Ann DiCesare, Lisa Andruscavage, Rich Kershner, and Jen Tokarski. Also, a fist bump to certified trainer Matt Schwartz, who designed the quick burst fat releasing workout and triple-checked it for accuracy, efficiency, and efficacy, and to registered nurse Wendy Horn, who measured and remeasured our test team members.

To a fantastic team of digital editors who brought the Digest Diet to life online and in social media: Diane Dragan, Jamele Polk, Lauren Gelman, Perri O. Blumberg.

For the wonderful photographs throughout this book: our photo director Bill Black and his team (I'm talking to you, Emilie Harjes and Rachel Hatch!). Also, to Erin Patrice OBrien (for making our test panelists look and feel like rock stars), Lisa Shin (who made the newly discovered fat releasing foods look truly heroic), and Francesco Tonelli (the chef-photographer who made every recipe look its delicious best), and their hardworking teams of assistants and stylists.

For delicious recipes that had our test panel raving: Kate Slate, Sandra Gluck, and Ruth Cousineau.

To an incredible marketing and public relations team: Jacqueline Lachman, Gary Davis, Brian Carnahan, Tim Farrow, Wayne Nobes, Kathi Ramsdell, Debbie Duren, Joe Rinaldi, Caitlin OHare.

To Jill Armus, who was in the room at moment one. To Reader's Digest North America president Dan Lagani for your belief, support, and leadership. To Harold Clarke for thinking big from the get-go. To Marilynn Jacobs for shepherding it along its way.

My loudest shout-out I save for my executive assistant Adrienne Farr, who leapt up to be one of the first to try the Digest Dietand went on to lose more than 50 pounds and counting (all while keeping me organized and sane as her day job)! I always knew you were a superstar, and now so does the whole world!

Finally, to Steve, Olivia, Sophia. For this. For everything.

Introduction

If I could lose weight and be the healthiest I can be, my self-esteem would be better.

DANA MIELE,
LOST 8 POUNDS

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who walks around feeling more grateful than I do. Every day, I get to be a mom, a wife, a friend. I'm a sister and a daughter. An employee, a manager, a colleague. A runner and a reader. A writer, editor, and an occasional television personality. Just like you, I'm passionate about each of my roles and put my heart into all that I do.

A few years ago, when I was the editor-in-chief of Prevention magazine, I'd just come home from the road promoting my first book, Flat Belly Diet! At the time, my twin girls were about to turn four. They'd overheard me talk about my weight-loss plan quite a bit.

Now, I've always believed that food is a blessing. Not only is it our bodies key supplier of health-promoting nutrients and energy, but it's the cornerstone of memory-filled holidays, nightly family dinners, and some of the finest moments with friends. As the mother of daughters, I've wanted to model for them only a healthy relationship with food, ever so watchful that Mommy writes about weight loss not translate into body-image issues. Determined to protect them from that type of self-defeating, navel-gazing anxiety, I have never uttered the too-common refrain of women everywhere: Ugh, I feel fat. So naturally my antennae sprang up when I heard my girls in the backseat of our car.

It began as a simple request for pen and paper. Happy to keep them busy, I told them where they could grab it from a bag I'd packed earlier. Then one asked me, Mommy, how do you spell olive? Followed by, What about chocolate? Mommy, can you spell nuts? I asked them what they were doing, and Sophia replied, We're making a diet list!

My blood went cold. I tried to remain calm when I asked them, For what, girls?

Because we're going to go on the Flat Belly Diet! Olivia announced.