Why I Wrote the ONE-TWO PUNCH!

Finally!!! My first book, ONE-TWO PUNCH^TM (OTP), has been released! I won’t lie, it was a process that took much longer than expected. The road to get the book where it is today was very long. It was important for me to write the ONE-TWO PUNCH^TM because I’ve seen how the OTP plan has helped countless of my clients in my more than 20 years working with people on their nutrition.

I’ve worked hard to help clients understand their bodies and their behaviors around food, particularly the sensations of hunger and fullness. It’s a difficult skill to teach with many abstract components. One-Two Punch^TM was initially a metaphor created for clients to visualize what was happening in their body. In the beginning One-Two Punch^TM was called the Incinerator Concept to encourage clients to feed their internal incinerator (their stomach) when it was open.

In addition, I knew scientifically, that putting food into the stomach in a particular way would prolong fullness and stabilize blood sugar, but I didn’t want it to require following a diet plan, counting calories or tracking food intake. I knew there had to be a better, easier way to achieve balance. I wanted clients to have a tangible guideline and parameter without needing any tool outside of themselves.

Sure, you can intuitively and mindfully eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full, but my clients were begging for more resources to guide them. I knew a plan would not be sustainable if it didn’t have a strong aspect of permission – permission to eat what you love and enjoy, while still being balanced.

That’s when I developed the idea of a fist-size portion of carb and a fist-size portion of protein eaten within the context of the incinerator being open, when the stomach is most likely to burn the food. It worked! Clients were able to more easily recognize hunger with the incinerator analogy and better able to control portions by using the size of their fists as a guide.

I began teaching the method over and over in my office. I found it applicable to a large population of clients, regardless of their nutritional issues. I developed handouts as visual aids and reference lists for clients to access.  I realized I wanted clients to have even more information at their fingertips and also wanted to reach a larger audience. The idea of putting it all in a book was hatched!!!

Now, as the ONE-TWO PUNCH^TM is making its way to people’s homes, I am excited to see the ways in which it helps people. It’s easy to get discouraged when trying to improve your health and my hope is that the ONE-TWO PUNCH^TM makes the process less frustrating and encourages readers to stay on the path to a healthier lifestyle!