We all have heroes, and on today’s Sophie Chats With … I get to interview one of my heroes.
JJ Virgin is in a league all her own. She’s a four-time New York Times best selling author specializing in helping people feel better by eating better. She’s a board Certified Nutrition Specialist, board certified in Holistic Nutrition, a Certified Nutrition and Fitness Specialist, a mother and an inspiration. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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SU: What inspired you to write your books?
JV: I want to change the lives of one million people, one fork at a time!
More humbly: Years of testing for food intolerances, which often revealed the same 7 foods, led me to write The Virgin Diet. I found when clients pulled those 7 foods, they looked and felt better, their symptoms disappeared, and they finally got fat loss.
And then I started noticing how sneaky sugars in so-called healthy foods were sabotaging people’s weight and health. My Sugar Impact Diet takes a novel, comprehensive approach to gradually tapering off sugar rather than go the crash-and-burn cold turkey route.
SU: How did you take the first steps toward writing your first book?
JV: I looked back at my decades working with clients, determined what worked for them and what would also work for a bigger audience, and began outlining my top strategies.
SU: At what point did you know that your idea was going to succeed?
JV: I’ve seen these strategies – addressing food intolerances, going low-sugar impact – succeed with clients for decades. I watched, for example, how about 90% of my clients, once they went gluten-free, started feeling better and losing weight. (The other 10%, I’m convinced, didn’t fully pull gluten!) I knew the thousands of people who read my books would have similar success.
SU: What makes your books different from others out there?
JV: Rather than look at one criterion, my Sugar Impact Diet looks at a food’s sugar impact through several objectives: fiber, fructose, nutrient density, and glycemic load. No other book that I know of is looking at food this way.
SU: What motivates you to jump out of bed every morning?
JV: Clichéd as it might sound, I want to inspire others to live their healthiest, happiest lives. I want to show you needn’t succumb to disease or become overweight as you grow older. You can be your best, most vibrant self at any age.
SU: What is your morning routine?
JV: One thing I always do besides burst training and having my morning Bulletproof Coffee is intentioning. I focus on big, lofty goals, and then I share them with others to hold myself accountable.
SU: If you could take 2 food itmes to a desert island (that you’re going to be stuck on for a year) what would they be?
JV: That’s tough because practically, I would say wild salmon and maybe spinach or some other kind of leafy green. The less-practical part of me would say almond butter and Bulletproof Coffee. You could live off those for a year, right? ☺
SU: Imagine that money is no object (that you’ve just won billions in the lottery), which charity/cause would you donate to?
JV: I would focus on brain trauma. I would especially help people who have children or adolescents who went through something like my teenage son Grant did – left for dead by a hit-and-run driver – and show them that through perseverance and medically savvy, there is hope.
SU: What do you hope to be doing five years from now?
JV: I always think in big, lofty goals, so it will probably be leading some kind of health revolution involving millions of people! I just saw a new study that said more people are obese than overweight. That’s obviously alarming, and I’m determined to reach these people with my message and help them transform their lives.
SU: What is your all-time favorite quote?
JV: I have many, but two that I often use:
Do one thing every day that scares you! – Eleanor Roosevelt
And
Well-behaved women seldom make history. – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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JJ Virgin has written six amazing books:
- The Virgin Diet
- Sugar Impact Diet
- Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy
- Easy, Low-Sugar, Allergy-Free Smoothies
- The Virgin Diet Cookbook
- Sugar Impact Diet Cookbook
And you can check out JJ on her website!
