Work hard, party hard, cleanse, repeat,” said Kat Azanza, co-owner of the all-natural juice fast Juju Cleanse, during the 4th HSBC Coffee Talk.
Good advice from the cleansing guru, who was among the six invited speakers for this year’s HSBC hot topic, “Hot Summer, Hot Diets,” at Makati Shangri-La.
Born out of the idea that good conversation and coffee are inseparable, the HSBC Coffee Talk this year invited an interesting mix of guests.
There’s the advocate of the traditional diet-and-exercise regimen, “Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition” runner-up Art Mendoza and CrossFit devotee Lala Agregado; writer/columnist Jessica Zafra; fad dieter JL Martinez, who has already lost 120 lbs on the HCG diet; “big spender” Rescina Bhagwani, whose big investment in the Cohen diet program (more than P50,000) is already giving her huge returns (lost 65 lbs so far, and counting); and the no-nonsense straight talk from the Juju Cleanse guru Azanza.
“If you have a craving, you have to have it,” said Martinez, who endured 40 days on a highly restrictive, 500-calorie-a-day diet of the controversial HCG diet.
Martinez said the trick is in the portion size. You want chips, you’ll get chips—but not the entire bag, please. The first mouthful, he said, is to tell your brain you’re eating all right; the second is to satisfy the taste buds. Succeeding servings after will merely be stored, useless calories.
Mendoza, who lost 129 lbs during the “Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition” reality show competition, is now a staunch devotee of exercise. While he was able to put in hours of exercise while on the show (up to six hours a day, he confessed), returning to the daily grind of the real world does not allow him that luxury. That’s how the intense CrossFit training came into the picture.
Put out the fire
“Metabolism is like a fire. If you keep on putting small twigs the fire will keep on burning and even gets larger and larger. But if you throw in large logs, you will put out the fire,” Mendoza said.
Keep the fire burning, he continued, by consuming leafy greens and veggies and good sources of protein like fish.
Another CrossFit devotee, Agregado said she has dieted all her life—since high school, in fact. She even tried the once popular Bangkok Pills, and experimented with Xenical. While they all actually worked, the excess weight came back just as quickly, too. What she needed was something manageable and permanent.
“I always bring food even when I travel. Dieting is always a struggle so I should be always prepared,” said Cohen advocate Bhagwani. That’s true even when she travels, here or abroad. Because Cohen is a very precise diet, including weighing and measuring food, she said she seals her food rations in Ziplocks whenever work requires her to travel.
Zafra has long ago sworn off fastfoods, which she describes as high-calorie cardboard deep-fried in lard. You get zero nutrients. Worse, you gain weight.
“You’re better off eating bagnet with rice and bagoong,” she said. Zafra is no fan of any diet. Rather, she believes people must have a healthy body image.
Since we live in a world where giving in to temptation is inevitable, and even essential for you to control your cravings, cleansing has become a regular part of some people’s health regimen.
“You need to find that balance. It’s like tuning up your car. Make it a part of your regimen,” said Azanza.
A Juju Cleanse is a doctor-approved detoxification process. Each drink is packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals your body needs to function. Cleansing your digestive system takes only three to five days.
“Coffee and conversation are an unbeatable combination. This is what the HSBC Coffee Talks are all about, allowing our customers to have great conversations over great coffee—on us,” said Johanna Garcia, SVP for communications of HSBC.
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