Cut the CRAP: Get the body you want!

Admit it, we’ve all looked at Elle Macpherson and wished we had a body like hers. Well, we can. According to her personal trainer James Duigan, we just have to cut all the CRAP – caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed food. James uses the acronym with all his clients, including Elle and Hugh Grant, and now it’s outlined in his new book Clean & Lean Diet.

James stands by the book’s tagline, ‘14 days to your best-ever body’, saying his philosophy is you get out of your body what you put in.
‘In terms of time it is amazing how quickly the body responds when you start treating it right because it is constantly battling to stay healthy and balance up all the stuff we put it through,’ he says. ‘So if you start eating foods and meals that are designed to support your immune system and getting rid of the toxins, it responds unbelievably fast.’

Rather than a quick fix, James says his diet lays down a foundation for healthy living.
‘It’s basically the blueprint that I have been using with Elle, Hugh and the Victoria’s Secret girls to get them looking and feeling as good as they do,’ James says.

Just as everyday stress, such as work, family life and deadlines, bears down on our bodies, so too do stressful foods like all that CRAP mentioned earlier.
‘I love sugar but it’s an addiction and anyone who wants to argue needs to try to give it up. It’s tough unless you have good strategies and alternatives to replace it with,’ he says. ‘It’s basically a toxin… which really messes with your blood sugar levels. It puts on fat like nothing else.’

James thinks organic wholefoods are best.
‘It is a real investment in your health,’ he says. ‘We’re lucky in Australia because we have good produce and good vegetables anyway, and if you can afford that little bit more I’d do it.
‘So many people really try hard with the best intention and they are just not getting it right. They waste their time and their health on low-fat snacks that are pumped full of sugar or salt or sweeteners and are just really damaging themselves.’
James says good fat can help you get that lean body you’ve always wanted.

Why (good) fat makes you slim

How fat phobia is ruining your diet
Growing up, it’s drummed into us that fat makes us, well, fat. It was – and still is – seen as the big bad baddie of food, standing between us and our dream body. Its name alone gives it a bad reputation because it’s associated with the fat sitting around our waist and thighs we’re desperately trying to shift.

Why (good) fat is so good
When I refer to fat, I’m talking about the good type, which is found in foods such as nuts, seeds, oils, meat, fish, seafood and avocados. Good fat prevents you from overeating by telling your brain when to stop. You literally cannot binge on good fat because it fills you up so much.

You need to know the difference between good (clean) fat and bad (toxic) fat. Good fat is monounsaturated fat (MUFA), and it’s found mainly in nuts, avocados and olive oil. It helps to lower bad cholesterol and reduces overall body fat by revving up your metabolism. Then there’s polyunsaturated fat, which also lowers bad cholesterol levels, and is found mainly in fish and seafood.

Guide to fat

• Cooking fats – even olive oil, which breaks down easily at high temperatures, making fat rancid

• Tinned salmon

• Margarine

• Chips/crisps – the thinner they are, the fewer nutrients and more bad fats they contain

• Sausage rolls – poor-quality meat wrapped in buttery pastry

• Rapeseed oil

• Farmed smoked salmon

• Regular butter

• Salted, unroasted nuts – a better alternative to satisfying hunger. One small handful, maximum

• Lamb or chicken kebab with salad

• Organic extra-virgin coconut oil – this doesn’t break down at high temperatures

• Organic smoked salmon

• Unsalted raw butter

• Raw, organic, unsalted nuts – protein in a clean, raw form. One handful only

• Lamb or chicken with salad

Top tip
If it couldn’t swim, fly or run or it didn’t grow off the land – don’t eat it!