I don’t need to lose weight. In fact, my son needs to gain weight in a healthy way. Can you help?
I get that question often, so I want to address it here.
On The Virgin Diet, I promise fast, lasting fat loss. Many folks lose up to 7 pounds dropping 7 foods in 7 days. But what if you’re at your ideal weight or even need to gain a few pounds? The Virgin Diet can still benefit you in numerous ways.
You see, weight gain isn’t the only symptom of food intolerances. You might also experience bloating, gas, indigestion, fatigue, mental fog, irritability, and moodiness when you eat gluten, soy, or the other highly reactive foods I mentioned in The Virgin Diet.
If you’re eating foods that your body can’t tolerate, you’re likely to gain weight, feel crummy, and look years older than your actual age. Keep in mind too that just because you’re not overweight now doesn’t mean you have the potential for weight gain when you repeatedly eat these foods.
Most people ignore their bodies’ responses to the foods they eat, or maybe they search for ways to mask the symptoms. Weight gain isn’t the only signal you’re not tolerating the foods; bloating and fatigue are also red flags. I discuss a large number of red flags in my book. They are your body’s way of telling you that you’re eating foods that aren’t working for you.
Until you get rid of the foods that your body can’t handle, load up on healing foods and supplements and give your body a chance to recover from what you’ve unknowingly put it through, you are likely to struggle with numerous symptoms, suffer from premature aging, and potentially gain weight. Not a pretty picture.
5 More Reasons The Virgin Diet Can Benefit You (Other than Fat Loss)
- Removing the 7 highly reactive foods greatly reduces inflammation. Time magazine called inflammation “the silent killer,” and it contributes to just about every disease imaginable.
- With The Virgin Diet, you’re eating the perfect foods to balance blood sugar and help balance hormone levels. No more cravings, mood swings, or fatigue like in the past.
- The Virgin Diet can improve your sex life. Guys, eating the right foods can boost testosterone levels.
- The Virgin Diet can also increase libido. You might discover you’re “in the mood” more often than you have been in years!
- Removing the 7 highly reactive foods can improve your skin. I find especially when clients pull dairy, conditions like acne and rosacea disappear. Your skin becomes younger and firmer. I’ve even had clients whose friends asked if they’d “had some work done” when they ate from The Virgin Diet!
- On The Virgin Diet, you’re eating the most nutrient-dense foods possible to support vigor, vitality, and a long healthy life.
Modifying The Virgin Diet for Your Needs
So fast fat loss isn’t your goal, but you still want to eat the healthiest, most nutrient-dense diet on the planet. (That would be The Virgin Diet!) Here are a few ways I recommend you modify the diet for your needs.
“I actually need to gain weight,” people sometimes tell me. “As muscle, of course, not fat. Is The Virgin Diet for me?”
Absolutely! When you eat clean lean protein, good fats, and high-fiber starches, you’re giving your body the right formula to build muscle, burn fat, and stay lean and healthy. A few things I recommend if you want to gain weight:
- Eat every 4 hours. This might mean you have 4 (as opposed to 3) meals every day.
- Bump up your Virgin Shakes with almond butter to boost calories and nutrients. You will probably also want to add more protein powder (maybe an extra scoop), and even do another protein shake as a late-morning or afternoon snack.
- Also step up your lean protein, good fats (such as avocado and coconut), and starchy carbs at your meals.
- Good snacks if you need them include raw nuts and seeds, nitrate-free jerky, celery slices with almond butter, sliced avocado, kale chips and guacamole, and coconut yogurt with raspberries.
How can athletes benefit with The Virgin Diet?
Food intolerances often create inflammation and other symptoms that can seriously derail your game, whether you play sports or hit the weight room. Athletes would want to remove the 7 highly reactive foods I discuss in The Virgin Diet and also consider the strategies I mentioned above, since athletes often demand more calories.
How can endurance athletes benefit from The Virgin Diet?
We are not fans of endurance training because studies show it can make you age faster, increase stress hormones, and break down muscle. To learn more and understand what exercise we do recommend, please visit my website.
That said, if you insist on doing long-distance running or other endurance training, we suggest utilizing slow-release carbs like berries and other low-glycemic fruit, legumes, sweet potatoes, and replenish electrolytes with coconut water. We also suggest increasing your good fats, especially coconut oil and coconut milk, but also avocado, nuts and seeds, and omega 3s including wild-caught fish.
Finally, we encourage that you read Dr. Loren Cordain’s The Paleo Diet for Athletes.
I’m a vegan or vegetarian and I think I have gluten and soy intolerances. Can I do The Virgin Diet?
Yes, you can. And we explain how in our free Vegan/ Vegetarian Guide. Grab it on my website.
How can you feed a family on The Virgin Diet?
With a few minor adjustments, anyone can do The Virgin Diet. People sometimes ask whether an elimination diet is safe for children and adolescents. Elimination diets have long been used with children for weight control and other issues, and are completely safe.
You can incorporate plenty of kid-friendly favorites into The Virgin Diet. Some of mine include:
- Kale chips with guacamole
- Coconut flour-crusted chicken fingers
- Grass-fed bun-less sliders with avocado and nitrate-free bacon
- Roasted nuts with cinnamon, vanilla, and other natural flavorings
- Sweet potato “fries”
- Free-range turkey and sliced avocado wraps
- “Faux-tatoes” – simply steam and mash cauliflower and puree with a little coconut milk, salt, and pepper
I could go on, but you get my point. Even if your children don’t need to lose weight, you’ll introduce them to whole, nutrient-rich, delicious foods on The Virgin Diet.
About the Author
JJ Virgin is one of the nation’s foremost fitness and nutrition experts, an accomplished public speaker and media personality. Her 25 years in the health and fitness industry, the past 10 in holistic nutrition and functional medicine, have earned JJ recognition as the go-to weight loss expert who can unlock the door to lifelong weight management through her sensible, no-fail approach to nutrition and fitness. Visit her website for more information or sign up for the Sugar Impact Diet Program to view JJ’s weight loss program.