The Viva Mayr Diet

Introduction EATING Your Way to a HEALTHIER, Thinner YOU

Congratulations. This is the first step to a healthier, thinner, younger-looking and gorgeous you. I know what you’re thinking: All diet books say that. Some of them even tell you that you’ll get healthier and thinner just by picking up the book and paying for it. ‘Buy this book, it will change your life,’ they boast.

We all know they can’t be telling the truth, but just as when we buy extortionately expensive face creams that claim to take years off our appearance, we want to believe them. We are desperate to believe that our lives can be changed – or, at least, that our hips can be slimmer – by reading a book, smearing on some cream or buying some new knickers.

The bad news is that most of the time it simply isn’t that simple. There is no magic wand to make most of the changes that we want to see. But the good news is that the Viva Mayr Diet is as close as you can get to a miracle cure-all. It is, quite simply, the best diet there is – and the easiest one to follow. There is no calorie-counting, no weighing your food, and no living off cabbage soup for weeks on end. It is simply an approach to eating that will totally transform you. I guarantee that if you follow the Viva Mayr Diet, you will not only lose weight but you will also feel and look better than you have done in years.

This is because the Viva Mayr Diet is not only about what you eat, it is about how you eat and live. It is about making small changes to your everyday habits that will make a huge difference to your well-being. Some changes are so small you won’t notice them. Others are more challenging. But once you have lived the diet for the 14 days outlined in this book, you will be converted, I promise.

Think about what you want to achieve. Why are you buying this book? You want to lose weight? You want to feel better? To look better? Improve your health? I would guess that 99 per cent of you opted for losing weight as your number-one priority. Almost every woman I know thinks she should lose weight. But the fact is, as you will see from the Viva Mayr Diet, that weight loss is inextricably linked with all the other factors I mention. Like health and looks. One thing leads to another. Why not do it all at once and save time? Talk about multi-tasking …

Forget all fads; the raw-food diet, the blood-group diet, the ‘whatever we haven’t tried yet to convince people to part with their money’ diet. Go for the Viva Mayr Diet, which is sustainable, logical, simple and extremely do-able.

Where to begin to be thin

So how to begin? This book is divided into 14 days, with one crucial Viva Mayr point of focus for each day. For example, the focus of Day Three is chewing, one of the most important elements of the Viva Mayr Diet. It’s something we all obviously do – it’s just that most of us don’t do enough of it.

You can either read the whole book in one go and then go back and re-read the points on which you want to concentrate, or you can take it one day at a time for the 14 days, starting with the first chapter on getting prepared, and then progressing to when and how to eat. You’ll also find all of the recipes you need for a new, thinner you at the back of the book, to help support you through your first 14 days and the beginning of your new lifestyle.

The Viva Mayr Diet is not over after 14 days; this programme simply gets you started. In reality, the Viva Mayr lifestyle is something you will want to carry on with for the rest of your life. Once you’ve changed the way you eat, you won’t want to go back to your old habits. Viva Mayr is so different from other diets because it is about totally changing the way you think about food, and making food work for you to help your body reach its optimum state.

What is Viva Mayr?

Ironically, Viva Mayr hails from Austria, the country of Sachertorte – possibly the most fattening cake ever invented. It all began with the Austrian physician Dr Franz Mayr (1875–1965), a medical legend. He was the first person to prove a direct link between digestive health and overall health and attractiveness. He developed the famous Mayr Cure, which thousands of people still follow to this day. Dr Harald Stossier, the man behind Viva Mayr, was head physician at the original Mayr Clinic for ten years before setting up on his own.

Dr Stossier is an extraordinary man. If he ran the world, there wouldn’t be an overweight person in it. This is a man with a mission to change the world. Not through politics or good deeds, but by teaching us how to eat properly. Dr Stossier’s theory is that to live a long, healthy and constantly slim life, all you need to do is make a few changes to the way you eat. He began his career as an electrical engineer, but after four years he understood his true vocation was elsewhere. At his wife’s suggestion, he began to study medicine. However, early on he felt very strongly that traditional medicine was too narrow for him.

‘I quickly realised I wasn’t one of those typical medical students who just read the books and learned by rote. I felt very strongly my place belonged in complementary medicine,’ he tells me, sitting at a table in the afternoon sunshine at the Viva Mayr Clinic on the shores of Lake Wörthersee in Austria – the clinic he has created based upon his philosophy of health and well-being.

‘When I left medical school I had the opportunity to work with Dr Erich Rauch, who had studied under Dr Mayr. Dr Rauch talked about intestinal cleansing as a real health issue. It seemed so perfectly logical to me and I quickly realised how important this message was for everyone.’

I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about intestinal cleansing with someone I hardly know, but apparently it is an issue that is paramount to good health. And a lot of people pay good money to come here to Austria and discuss it in great detail. Are they all slightly weird or should I let my inhibitions go?

Dr Stossier’s clinic is an oasis of calm. Clients lie on sun-loungers watching the boats go by and only need to get up for consultations with Dr Stossier, treatments or meals. It is not the most luxurious or the most expensive clinic in the world, yet while I was there I met several people who could well afford to go anywhere they chose. They have chosen Dr Stossier and his clinic in Austria because they believe that he can change their lives, and for the vast majority of people I met, he has.

I arrived at the Viva Mayr clinic one Thursday afternoon in August, starving hungry. I don’t know what it is about clinics or diet places – or, indeed, just the thought of a diet – that makes me hungry. I can have just eaten Christmas lunch and start thinking about that diet I’m going to begin on New Year’s Day and before I know what’s going on, I find myself grabbing another roast potato to add to the 17 I’ve just eaten.

I shared a taxi from the airport with a lady called Brenda, from London. She had come to lose weight.

‘I just need to stop eating,’ she told me, as we sped through the Austrian countryside.

‘Can’t you do that in London?’ I asked.

‘No, I need to be forced to. I practically need a straitjacket and a cell. This is the only thing that works for me.’

‘Well, if you get desperate, I’ve got some organic shortbread biscuits with me,’ I smiled conspiratorially.

Brenda went pale. ‘Please promise you won’t give me any,’ she pleaded, grabbing my hand.

I promised I wouldn’t. Goody, all the more for me.

It was four o’clock when we arrived, and I was relieved to see from the timetable I was handed that dinner was at six o’clock. Not long to wait before I got some scoff. I said goodbye to my new friend and headed off to explore the place. My room overlooked the lake; it was a balmy afternoon, and there were people sunbathing. In the distance there was someone water-skiing.

The furniture in my room was modern and comfortable. There was a reclining chair that I could see myself becoming very familiar with, as I ploughed through all the books that Dr Stossier had given me to read as background research. I leafed through my welcome pack. Here I found a full of explanation of when and how to take Epsom salts (something about that made me feel rather nervous; aren’t they a substance your grandmother used to punish you with?), something called base powder, and a list of my various consultations. My first one was in half an hour, with the ‘friendly werewolf’ – as Dr Stossier has been called by various journalists because of his prominent molars. I slipped into my bathrobe and flannel slippers in preparation. Such a good look. Still, I was there for a reason, and I was going to embrace it.

The clinic is possibly the cleanest and most pristine place I have ever stayed in. It is on the shores of a beautiful lake in southern Austria. The rooms are all large with balconies, the staff super-smiley and friendly. Dr Stossier will not be drawn on the famous people who go there, but I get the impression from him and his wife, who also works there, that there are many.

‘We have to respect their privacy,’ he says. His wife is responsible for some of the treatments offered there, such as personality tests based on colours, and stomach massages. She is one of the warmest, most welcoming people you could ever hope to meet; she positively radiates good health and happiness.

If only we all lived the Viva Mayr way …

I had first met Dr Stossier in London, at a meeting to discuss writing this book. The publisher had chosen me for the job because I have written two books in a similar vein – that is, with a mission to appeal predominantly to women. One was called Two Lipsticks and a Lover, which is all about how to get in touch with your inner Frenchwoman, and the other, To Hell in High Heels, is all about how not to age – from which staying thin, healthy, young and gorgeous is, of course, a natural progression. I also write a lot about beauty, health, women and diets in international magazines and newspapers, so I am a seasoned expert when it comes to knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Dr Stossier and I bonded immediately in the canteen at HarperCollins HQ in London, where we discussed the central theme of the book. For years I have been convinced about the profound link between digestion and just about everything else – from how well we feel to how good our skin looks. I have suffered from digestive problems since I was a little girl, and have never really managed to cure them. In Dr Stossier and this project, I saw a way of finally understanding the whole process and changing the way I live to become thinner and healthier. I think he was happy to find a writer who was so in tune with the sorts of issues he has been working so hard to convey to people for so many years.

I first arrived at Viva Mayr with an open mind, ready to take everything on board. One of the great perks of my job is that I get to test everything for the reader. When I wrote my book about ageing, I travelled around the world testing anti-ageing techniques. At Viva Mayr, I was ready to test my own personal theory that if I started digesting properly, a whole myriad of problems, such as insomnia and bloating, would vanish. They did, and what was most incredible was the speed at which they vanished. What’s more, I was not alone in being impressed with the results.

One man had been suffering from chronic diabetes for 15 years before he came to the clinic; since his first visit, he has suffered no symptoms at all. A lady I met had tried every weight-loss programme from Atkins to that well-known ‘eat nothing until you are practically hospitalised’ diet. The Viva Mayr method is the only thing that has worked for her. She had planned to stay for two weeks, and went on to book in for another three. In fact, everyone I met under Dr Stossier’s care raved about his method and how good they looked and felt. These were people with a wide range of ailments, including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. But, according to the doctor, they all have one thing in common: irritated intestines. Dr Stossier estimates that around 90 per cent of us are wandering around with irritated intestines, which, if left to develop, can result in any number of chronic health conditions and diseases. In fact, he believes that almost every chronic illness we suffer from is related to problems in our intestines.

So how come everyone isn’t hot-footing it over to Austria? Could it be that most people try to avoid thinking about their intestines too much?

‘The reason people don’t believe that diseases are caused by problems in our gut is that they live perfectly happily for, say, 20 years doing the same thing. And then suddenly they are taken ill with, say, diabetes. They assume this is something new but it’s not; it’s a slow process that has been building up for years and years, and which culminates in the disease, even though they seemed healthy before. If you look at a tree, for example, its health and strength does not come from its leaves; these are only a reflection of its health and strength. This comes from its roots, and you can’t see if the roots are sick. Our intestines are our roots; they are not visible, but crucial to our health and strength. If they are weakened, so is the rest of the organism.’

Rather like a house that has a fault in its foundations, we go on for years thinking we’re fine until one day we collapse. The point is you are not either healthy or unwell. The road from health to disease is long and full of small imbalances that do not yet constitute real illness. We don’t often think about the impact of our behaviour on our health, or how we either undermine or support our natural desire to be healthy. Staying healthy requires a certain mind-set and a certain attitude, as well as a certain lifestyle. In practice this means having your own health in mind as a priority when you make all those small, everyday decisions.

Dr Stossier’s theory is that we can avoid almost every disease and live a healthy, slim and happy life if we just learn to eat properly.

‘We don’t really think about eating,’ he says. ‘We just throw some food in and carry on with our busy lives. We have to re-learn this most basic human action.’

It is true that until I met Dr Stossier, I just ate. It didn’t really matter to me what I ate, although I did avoid deep-fried Mars bars and other things that were guaranteed to make me fat. In fact, that was my one criterion for food – that it didn’t make me fat. Apart from that, I didn’t really care what I ate or when. And yet, I considered myself quite a healthy person. I exercised regularly, I didn’t get drunk too often, I ate well (or so I thought) and I never drank caffeine. Surely that was enough to secure me a slot as a good person who looks after herself well? Apparently not.

There is something much more crucial than all of that put together, something that I had been neglecting: how I eat.

The right way to eat

To stay alive, we need to eat. Humans take in food, process it and then get rid of the end product. However sophisticated we are, the fact remains that the human species is part of a natural order. The types of food we eat and how we eat needs to reflect this. In other words, our eating habits need to reflect our biological roots and needs, and not just whatever happens to be convenient as we rush from home to work to the pub or the gym. There is a right way to eat and a wrong way, and, according to Dr Stossier, the vast majority of us are eating the wrong way.

Just what is the ‘right way’ to eat? There are endless books, arguments and theses on this subject. But the one thing we all agree on is that nutrition has a huge impact on our health and well-being. Most would agree that eating well plays a major part, if not the major part, in disease prevention. We were all told to eat our greens as children, and we all know why. Doctors are forever telling us to cut down on cholesterol and saturated fats. But Dr Stossier argues that it’s not quite that simple. As well as eating those greens and avoiding saturated fats, you need to be aware of how and at what time of day to eat them, in order to help them to support your body to stay slim and healthy in the most effective way.

Nutrition influences our bodies in a number of ways. To live, we need a certain amount of energy, which we get from our food. We generally measure the type and quantity of food in the number of calories. But most people know from bitter experience that counting calories alone does not lead either to good health or even optimum weight. Whether we are calorie-counting or not, the vast majority of us manage to nourish ourselves more or less successfully throughout our lives. Most of us think that the majority of eating choices we make are good for us. Obviously we know when we’re being ‘naughty’, but we let it pass and promise to be better tomorrow.

If we don’t manage to be better tomorrow, we end up fat, and then go on a diet. I have read almost 100 diet books – not only in an effort to lose weight, but also to try and sort out digestive problems like IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), from which I am convinced I have suffered since childhood. I haven’t found a single one that gave me a solution that was sustainable, logical and do-able.

What is missing from all the diet books I have read is logic, clearly defined guidelines and tangible results. In addition, I have yet to come across one diet book that is based on real medical and scientific knowledge. Most of them drone on about what to avoid, but they don’t actually tell you how to optimise your health and lose weight at the same time. They just tell you about all the things you can’t eat, which makes for pretty dull reading.

We all know that if we cut out dairy, sugar and wheat from our diets we lose weight. But is this actually good for our health, and how sustainable is it? How many times can you go out for lunch with your friends and eat nothing but a lettuce leaf before they stop asking you to join them? How many times have you struggled to lose weight by denying yourself just about everything you want to eat, only to put on every painfully lost pound within a few weeks? The Viva Mayr Diet is not about cutting things out of your diet and starving yourself. The Viva Mayr Diet is about changing the way you view food and eating, changing bad habits for good ones, thus ensuring weight loss and good health as well. Better still, it is also about ensuring that those pounds don’t just pile back on again. It is a life-long way of eating, and if you follow the Viva Mayr philosophy, you will never be overweight again; it is simply physically impossible.

The Viva Mayr philosophy embraces good nutrition, and good nutrition is the best form of preventive healthcare there is. Luckily, we alone are responsible for our nutritional choices – put simply, we are responsible for what we put into our mouths. Good health is an ongoing daily aim and every day is the right day to start.

Taking responsibility

Health is created by our own actions and efforts, and we are solely responsible for it. Of course, accidents happen for which we cannot be blamed, but on an everyday level, you choose how well you’re going to feel or how healthy you’re going to be. You know, for example, that drinking 14 Tequila Slammers is not going to make you feel good. But it’s your choice. Sometimes you just need those 14 Tequila Slammers (OK, maybe just a couple …).

The Greek philosopher Hippocrates noted that ‘health arises when we actively seek it’, and this premise is an important feature of the Viva Mayr philosophy, which defines the search for health as a positive thing. Health is quality of life in all its dimensions, which may vary from one individual to the next. We need to look at health as a natural and positive force that we each carry within us, and understand that it is within our own power to nurture. Quality of life as a parameter is attracting growing interest among scientists. There are even ‘how to be happy’ classes at Harvard University.

The word ‘diet’ comes from the ancient Greek term diaita. But, interestingly, this word didn’t mean to the Greeks what it does today; rather, it meant ‘way of life’ or ‘lifestyle’. In antiquity, living a health-conscious life was the obvious thing to do. This meant a disciplined approach to eating, including regular periods of fasting. Physical exercise and spirituality were also considered an important part of a healthy life. Diaita was far more than just a way to help people shed a few pounds, which is what the term ‘diet’ tends to mean now. This is also in keeping with the Viva Mayr approach to dieting. It is not a quick-fix to help you shed pounds (although it will do that), but an approach to adopt for life, to ensure that you not only stay thin, but also – more importantly – healthy.