The 10 Years Younger Diet

For many of us, the prospect of looking our age (or, God forbid, even older) is a paralizing thought; however, this diet, formulated by Dr Christine Lydon, a well-known nutritionist, and recently featured in She magazine, getting the energy, body and looks you had ten years ago is a much stronger possibility than it ever was before.

Instead of a structured diet plan, this diet contains a set of rules and guidelines, as well as a set of exercises, to be completed at least five times a week; this means that the diet is, theoretically, much easier to follow than the more structured variety - it promotes a sense of choice within the dieting world, and its fierce promises make it a diet chosen by many middle-aged women, all hoping to regain the looks they enjoyed in their youth.

However, a word of warning, before you embark on this plan; it is, for lack of a better word, strict.

So strict, in fact, it will be a brutal struggle for those of you who aren't used to an ultimately healthy life style - this diet is what you might call 'cold turkey', so you're going to need an iron will!

So, now that that's over, lets get to the rules, shall we?

The first two rules are probably the most important; the first being that you should eat frequently, roughly three meals, and two snacks a day, and you're also going to need to drink about two liters (or eight glasses) of water per day. However, green tea, or herbal tea, work just as well on the diet, but all other drinks are banned.

The next rule is that each meal must have a portion of lean protein (try fish for extra health benefits!), and every snack should contain about a handful of nuts or seeds; both of these will aid the metabolism, and the burning of fat throughout the day. You'll also need to include one portion of fruit, and one portion of vegetables with each meal and snack - this may be a little hard, to begin with, but you'll become more adapted to it, as the weeks go on.

Soy and dairy foods are banned for the first two weeks, and chocolate, sugar and sweets are banned for the entire six weeks of the plan (I did try and warn you!)

The diet should last for about six weeks, and you'll need to use daily vitamins, including magnesium, multivitamins, calcium, and omega three, otherwise your body will begin to save all nutrition as fat - not something you want it to do.

Now, for the most important part of the plan; the exercises!

You'll need to do these about five times a week, and if it's too hard to do the requested amount, to begin with, just work your way up slowly; pulling a muscle isn't going to help anyone.

Lunge Curls: Lunge one foot forward at a time, with a dumbbell in each hand; lift each weight as you go, doing a bicep curl. You should be aiming for 10 sets on each leg.
Push Ups: You should be aiming to do about 30 lots of push ups.
Step Ups: Step up and down a stair about 10 times, for each leg.
Bench Dips: Sit on a steady chair, or hard surface, hands on either side of your body. Lower your bum down to the floor, keeping level as you go. Try for about 30 sets.

Source: She Magazine