Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan that will absolutely Change Your Life - Hardcover

Patrick, Danica; Perrine, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0735216568 ISBN 13: 9780735216563

Publisher: Avery, 2017

Synopsis

America's NASCAR standout offers a 90-day program to sculpt your body, calm your mind, and achieve your greatest goals

Everything Danica Patrick does is Pretty Intense. A top athlete in her field, not to mention a fan favorite and the first woman to rule in her male-dominated sport, Danica approaches every aspect of life with the utmost intensity. Now, she shows you how you can apply her daily principles and transform your life for the better--and have fun while doing it.

Danica's 90-day high-intensity workout, protein-rich, paleo-inspired eating plan, and mental-conditioning program will get you leaner, stronger, and healthier than you've ever been before. By mixing full-body training and stretching exercises, her accessible workouts hit the holy trinity of fitness: strength, endurance, and flexibility. Bolstered by a customized eating plan for all-day energy, her program will also help you cultivate a mindset for limitless success. You will learn to aim your sights high, confront challenges and setbacks with confidence, and cross the finish line every time. Whether your goal is a stronger core, better skills in the kitchen, or a promotion at work, Danica's Pretty Intense plan will help you reach your highest potential.

About this title

About the Author:

Danica Patrick is a groundbreaking race car driver who ranks among the most popular and well-recognized athletes in America, according to a 2014 Harris poll. She has been named one of Time's Most Influential People, twice won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Female Athlete, and is the only major female sports figure who competes primarily among men. She has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated three times (as both an athlete and a swimsuit model), as well as ESPN, Shape, and numerous other sports and lifestyle magazines. Her television appearances range from the Tonight Show to The Simpsons to Chopped to Jay-Z's video for "Show Me What Ya Got." According to the most recent DBI results, Danica is recognized by 75 percent of the American public, outranking stars like Blake Shelton, Stephen Colbert and Ryan Reynolds, and is the most well-known figure in all of NASCAR. 

Stephen Perrine is the Co-creator and Co-producer of Better Man, a nationally syndicated health and wellness television program for men, and Chief Content Officer of bettermanshow.com. He co-authored Serve to Win with tennis champion Novak Djokovic, and the New York Times bestseller Zero Sugar Diet. The former Editor in Chief of Best Life, Perrine has also served as Publisher of Rodale Books, Editorial Creative Director of Men’s Health, and Executive Editor of Maxim and Cosmopolitan. He is currently Special Projects Editor at AARP Publications.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

How “Healthy” Is Healthy?
It’s not easy to figure out the right way to fuel your body. As a teenager, I lived in England for three years, racing Formula cars. Back then I would go to the local bookstore, which also had a coffee shop, and I would order a large latte (which I would not order now) and sit down with a stack of health and fitness books.
 
I have always been interested in the human body and how it works, and I spent hours flipping through the pages learning new ways to take care of myself. It was the beginning of my experimentation with diets: I think the first phase was low-fat, then low-carb, then dairy-free, then whole grain, then a 40/30/30 balance . . . Then I turned my world upside down with a blood test.
 
At the beginning of 2013, I took a test that scanned my blood against the ninety-six most common foods. Before I tell you my results, let me tell you generally what I used to eat so you can understand how shocked I was.
 
BREAKFAST: oatmeal
SNACK: egg whites with goat cheese
LUNCH: whole-grain sandwich with deli meat
SNACK: Greek yogurt with granola and fruit
DINNER: salmon, rice, and veggies
 
Pretty healthy, right? In fact, except perhaps for the deli meat, the average doctor would say I was eating as healthy as possible.
 
So, when the test said I have an “extremely high” reaction to egg whites, egg yolks, gluten, yeast, and all dairy items, I wanted to cry! All that discipline had been doing my body no good at all! I began to wonder if the reason I sometimes felt bloated and fatigued had something to do with my reaction to those foods.
 
That test changed my life. Shortly after I cut those foods out, I realized I had a higher and more consistent energy level day after day. I also did not feel uncomfortable after eating, ever.
 
(If you ever feel bloated after a meal, it’s a sign that your body is reacting to the foods you ate. It’s not necessarily a “food allergy,” but it may be that your body is react­ing to the foods in a way that can cause inflammation and, eventually, weight gain. Try eliminating wheat from your diet entirely for two weeks and see if you feel better. Then do the same with dairy. You’ll be amazed how effective this is—as I’ll explain in the fol­lowing paragraphs.)
 
How My Diet Got Pretty Intense
The exact diet plan outlined in this book started at the beginning of 2016. I had gained about four pounds after doing a hormone treatment to freeze my eggs. I had never experienced the power of hormones on the body, but I was amazed by how different I looked and felt after undergoing estrogen treatment. I didn’t do anything different food wise, and only had to refrain from working out for two weeks, but I gained fat from nowhere! I was super frustrated and decided I needed to do something new and aggres­sive to get it off.
 
I began doing two-a-day workouts as often as I could, and after a few weeks of that, I decided to try eating Paleo. I had heard all about Paleo from doing CrossFit (many CrossFit enthusiasts eat this way), but I always had a pretty harsh judgment against it. To me, a traditional Paleo program just didn’t offer enough food. But like I said, I needed to try something aggressive!
 
Paleo is based on the idea that you only eat foods that were available to ancient man before the invention of agriculture. So no grains, no dairy, no beans or legumes, no added sugars or preservatives. Instead, you focus on naturally raised meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
My intention was to only do it for a week or two to reset my body with less sugar and more veggies. Well . . . I felt so good, and saw such amazing results, that I never quit.
 
It was not that hard to do, and I loved both the change in food and the results I was starting to see. I was starting to actually see upper body muscles and abs! What?! Let me tell you, people, I have worked out hard and I have been really picky with food, but these results were by far my best. Paleo formed the origins of Pretty Intense, which I’ve continued to tweak until I created the most effective plan I’ve ever put myself on.
 
The longer I have eaten like this, the more I have thought about it, and it’s become clear: It’s all about eating real food!!!!!! Sweet potatoes come from the ground, maple syrup comes out of a tree, carrots grow in the dirt, bees make honey, and hopefully we can all find more and more pasture-raised, grain-free, cruelty-free animals for protein. Because what our animals eat becomes what we eat, too.
 
I don’t see ever getting too far from these principles. Real food is medicine, and I like to put the highest quality food into the only body I will ever have.

About this edition

• Publisher: Avery
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0735216568
• ISBN 13: 9780735216563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304