The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient for Effortless Weight Loss. Cherie Calbom

virgin coconut oil each and every day. The only other oil we recommend is extra virgin olive oil.

      You’ll eat lean protein—fish, chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, eggs, nuts, and cheese.

      You’ll eat plenty of vegetables, especially the brightly colored veggies that are highest in antioxidants.

      You’ll drink eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water each day and herbal tea. You’ll learn why it’s best to avoid coffee as much as possible.

      Now does that sound difficult? Of course not!

      There’s even a One-Day Vegetable Juice Cleanse for those who want to accelerate their weight loss by incorporating a day of vegetable juicing. This is an optional day. You can include this day for one, two, or all three weeks. Not only will you speed up your weight loss, you’ll feel incredibly energized and cleansed.

      With the Coconut Diet, you should start looking younger and trimmer—and feeling better—in no time at all.

       Phase II: The Cleansing Programs

      The Coconut Diet is the only low-carb diet I know of that offers four weeks of cleansing for weight loss and revitalization. This part of the weight loss program is not mandatory, but if you are interested in reshaping and rejuvenating your body, the cleansing programs will get results that nothing else ever could—like getting rid of a protruding tummy or cellulite (that lumpy, bumpy, orange-peel looking skin).

      Before you decide to skip over the cleansing programs, I suggest you read a little about what each program can do for you and how it can affect your weight loss. Then, you just might decide to try a week or two of cleansing. I think you’ll be happily surprised with how you feel and with your weight loss success.

      If your weight loss seems slow, I recommend that you cleanse your colon, liver, and gallbladder early on in your program. A congested liver and gallbladder could prevent you from losing weight, and nothing may help you shed pounds until you cleanse toxins from your body and especially the organs of elimination.

       Phases III: Introducing Healthy Carbs

      Phase III slowly adds back healthy carbs. With a one-week menu plan and recipes that include whole grains, potatoes, squash, fruit, and healthy desserts, you will have more variety, but you’ll eat these foods sparingly until you reach your weight loss goal.

      Typically, in this phase, you’ll lose one to two pounds per week. When you reach your goal weight, you’ll be able to enjoy a few more of these foods each week.

      If you really splurge for holidays, vacations, or special occasions, I’ll show you a trick to quickly lose weight and cleanse away the junk—the One-Day Vegetable Juice Cleanse.

       Phase IV: Maintenance Plan

      Phase IV signals the achievement of your weight loss goals. Now you can eat more healthy carbohydrates, and by this time, you’ll be in the habit of choosing the right ones. To continue your program, there’s a one-week menu plan and recipes that introduce a full complement of healthy carbs. If you eat too many of them occasionally and put on a few pounds, you can go back to Phase I, II, or III until you’ve lost the extra weight. If you binge on junk food during a stressful time, you can schedule a vegetable juice cleanse day. This is the plan you will maintain for the rest of your life.

       A New Eating Style for a Healthier Life

      When you complete this program, you should have changed your internal chemistry and established new food-choice habits. The cravings and urges that once lured you to the refrigerator for foods you didn’t even want should be gone. And that could be forever—if you make this style of eating a way of life.

      Best of all—you will become healthier. Just like many of the dieters whose stories you’ll read in this book, you too may feel better than you’ve ever felt. You’ll have more energy to enjoy each and every day. And, you’ll stand the greatest chance of preventing serious diseases like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.

      You should feel the healthiest after completing this program that you’ve felt in years—maybe in your life. This is the diet you’ll want to maintain because feeling healthy, happy, and energetic is something you’ll never want to lose, no matter how alluring some foods might be. Feeling and looking fabulous is what you’ll want to preserve for each and every day you’re alive.

part 1

chapter 1

       weight loss secrets of the tropics

      Healthy, trim, energetic, and alive! That’s what you can be when you make the Coconut Diet your weight loss secret. With coconut oil, you can watch the pounds melt away. This secret ingredient has promoted great weight-loss success for many, many people. You’ll learn what makes coconut oil a fasting-burning fat and how that increases metabolism and promotes weight loss. You’ll hear from scores of people who have lost weight—for many, lots of weight—and health problems too. Most importantly, you’ll experience a diet that works.

      Coconut oil received very bad press several decades ago. You’ll learn why that was completely unfounded. But first I’d like to tell you how people have eaten in tropical, coconut-growing countries for centuries. You may be surprised to learn that a high, saturated fat diet is the reason why most tropical islanders remain trim and healthy all their lives when they stick to eating their traditional foods rich in coconut oil.

       Coconut: A Dietary Staple in the Tropics

      In tropical cultures where coconut is often a staple in the diet and traditional foods the local fare, we find a preponderance of healthy, trim people, even though their diet is high in calories and fat—particularly saturated fat from coconut oil.

      Prior to World War II (and for several decades after), people who ate traditional foods in countries such as the Philippines were rarely sick or overweight. In most communities the diet consisted mainly of rice, coconuts, vegetables, root crops (especially garlic and ginger), herbs, and meat that was raised locally. Many people ground their own rice by hand, leaving intact most of the bran and nutrients.

      Food processing changed after World War II. Rice mills started popping up making it easier to mill rice. The first mills used were “crude” and did not polish the rice; people still ate healthy grains, which were high in fiber. Later, the mills became more sophisticated and polished the rice, making it bright white, stripped of the bran and most of the nutrients.

      All the food consumed back then would be considered “organic” by today’s standards. People had no access to chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The animals, such as chickens, cows, and goats, all grazed on natural green vegetation.

      Coconut and coconut oil were used daily. The usual diet was quite high in fat—the saturated fat from the coconut. Many people made their coconut oil by hand using either the traditional boiling or fermentation method. For many Filipinos and other populace of the tropics, the traditional method of making coconut oil fell out of vogue after World War II. Coconut plants and coconut oil mills were established for the booming baking industry in the U.S. Refined coconut oil made its way into the local economy. While some people still made coconut oil the “old fashioned” way, many people chose to buy the cheaper, odorless, refined coconut oil, which was readily available in the markets. But even the refined coconut oil made from copra (dried coconut meat) was done through a mechanical pressing that did not use solvent extracts (chemicals).

      While pharmaceuticals were introduced in the Philippines and other tropical countries after World War II, people in many rural communities could not afford them. They had their own traditions of dealing with sicknesses using local herbs and coconut oil. When people did visit the doctor, which was rare, it was usually not for the ailments that plague Westerners today such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or thyroid problems. These illnesses were virtually unknown prior to the 1980s, when