Interview with Creator of The Reverse Diet, Tricia Cunningham

Most people who’ve experienced a significant life change can tell you their exact “ah-ha” moment. That single moment where an event or something within you determines that it’s time to do what’s necessary to better your life. Tricia Cunningham had one of those, but she calls it her “reverse moment.” Tricia was overweight, weighing 292 pounds at her last doctor’s appointment, but she guesses at one point she had to have crossed over into the 300s. She’d been in a lifelong weight battle, and was only in her 20s. As a child she was a victim of abuse, as well as what she calls “second-hand ignorance,” in which families pass on unhealthy food choices and dietary patterns to younger generations.

One morning nearly ten years ago this mother of two had her “reverse moment” and decided to flip everything she knew about eating. Dinner became breakfast, breakfast became dinner, and for lunch she had a small sensible meal. The weight started coming off. Tricia says she didn’t incorporate much exercise, maybe some light walking. For the past eight years she’s maintained her 170 pound weight loss.

Her success was so remarkable that she shares her plan in the book The Reverse Diet. She teaches people how to reverse the second-hand ignorance that she feels is responsible for much of the obesity in our country and introduces her “no excuses, solutions only” way of thinking.

What about those over-worked moms who already struggle to have dinner on the table after work? She says it’s about planning ahead. She often does prep work at night, wakes up a little earlier in the morning and enjoys a healthy, sensible breakfast of say, parmesan herbed chicken. Tricia’s taken to heart the adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. She consumes her heaviest calories up front, that way she’s burning all day long and by evening, she’s able to eat a small breakfast of eggs and fruit or oatmeal, and has plenty of time to digest those smaller calories before bed. Tricia also says her two-minute meals will beat those Rachael Ray 30 minute meals!

Tricia also takes pride in that this personal journey to lose weight and regain her health has allowed her to break the cycle with her children. Her two teenage daughters read food labels, know the daily requirements for nutrients and even share with friends at school smarter food choices.

Learn more about The Reverse Diet, and see if “eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper” is the weight loss solution you’ve been searching for.