How to Start the Diet Plan

How to Start the Plan

Welcome to the Healthy Weight Loss Eating Plan—a 28-day guide to help you lose weight. I believe that everyone can lead a healthy life and be slim, and that eating healthier affects how you feel, how much energy you have, and how healthy you are. I have created a complete Plan to help you lose weight, gain more control of your health, supercharge your immune system, and help rejuvenate your entire body. In this Plan you will discover some of the most nutri- tious foods around—The World's Healthiest Foods.

While you will likely feel the benefits during the first few days, know that it takes about 4 weeks for a habit to settle in. So give your- self this time and be patient with yourself as you embark on this

Healthiest Way of Eating journey.

The Plan is not a diet nor an expensive, time-consuming program. It is a way to begin a lifestyle change to the Healthiest Way of Eating. And I’ve done all the work for you so it’s easy! I provide you with recipes that not only taste great but take only minutes to prepare— most take 7 minutes or less and you can make an entire meal in just 15 minutes! You just have to do the shopping and you don't have to break the bank to buy the foods called for in these recipes.

The Benefits of the Healthy Weight Loss Eating Plan

The Plan consists of 28 days’ worth of daily menus that embrace the Healthiest Way of Eating. Since each of the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks for the week have a similar level of calories and nutrients, the Plan features a flexible approach that allows you to swap meals from one day to the next, if you would like. This will allow you to make the Plan work for your individual needs.

Healthier Lifestyle Tea

The Plan features Healthier Lifestyle Tea, which you drink before each meal. This tea is made from green tea and lemon juice. Green tea is not only delicious but is renowned for its health-promoting properties. These have been linked to a high concentration of catechin phytonutrients, which have a wide variety of protective benefits, many related to their potent ability to cleanse free radicals. Adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice per cup of green tea not only gives it a refreshing taste but additional benefits. There have been studies that have found that participants received weight loss benefits drinking green tea; for example in one study, participants reduced their body weight and waist circumference by 5% in three months. If you’re sensitive to or want to limit your caffeine intake, drink decaffeinated green tea.

High-Energy Breakfast

Breakfasts feature good carbohydrates—primarily from fruits and

whole grains—and delicious foods rich in protein—primarily from nuts, seeds, and eggs—to provide you with the energy you need to make it through the morning feeling satisfied, curbing your appetite until lunch. They offer you a supply of omega-3 fatty acids from walnuts and flaxseeds. Their appetite-satisfying qualities also come from the concentrations of dietary fiber that they provide.

Energizing Snack

Each day you’ll enjoy energizing snacks that provide you with delicious tastes. Sweet fruits will curb a sweet tooth while giving you vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and other nutrients. Nuts and seeds will offer you protein and other nutrients that may help reduce blood sugar dips. Studies have found that people who snack on nuts and seeds (in moderation) tend to be slimmer than those who don’t consume these delicious foods.

Power Lunch

The Plan’s lunches are delicious while keeping your appetite satisfied. They are a good mixture of protein, carbohydrates and good fats.

Most lunches feature a delicious salad, a great facet of a healthy weight loss approach. For example, one study found that women who ate a large low-calorie salad ate 12% less pasta even when they were offered as much as they wanted. Not only will your appetite be more satisfied but you’ll also greatly benefit from all of the important nutrients it has to offer. Studies have shown that people who ate one large salad a day with dressing also had high levels of vitamin C and E, folic acid, lycopene and other carotenoids than those who did not add salad as part of their daily menu. All this without having to consume that many calories; for example, you could have as a base of a salad, 2 cups of romaine lettuce. This salad green features great taste and satisfying crunch, let alone a multitude of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants and fiber. And it only contains 16 calories. Eating salads will curb your appetite allowing you

to consume less calories over an entire meal.

In some of the lunches, you’ll also find legumes and beans high- lighted. These foods are so slow to digest that many people find them to be natural appetite suppressants. With their low glycemic index (GI) they keep blood sugar on an even keel and stave off hunger.

Good fats—like omega-3s from seafood and monounsaturated fats from extra virgin olive oil—are important to health on many levels including helping with the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and phytonutrients. As a concentrated source of monounsaturated fats, you’ll find extra virgin olive oil, which has antioxidant nutrients and also helps enhance the flavor of the dishes to which you apply it. Some studies have found that extra virgin olive oil can lead to small, but significant, loss of both body weight and mass.

Slimming Dinner

Before the entrée, each dinner features an Appetizer Satisfier of crudite vegetables. This will help you to not overeat and to feel satisfied. And keep you from starving when you are preparing dinner.

Let me tell you I prepare one of my favorite quick-and-easy Appetizer Satisfier. I tear off a few leaves from a head of romaine lettuce, wash them, shake the water off them, and sprinkle with salt and enjoy. (When using the outer big leaves, I cut off the tips because they can be bitter and dry). Ancient Romans were known for eating this salted lettuce; in fact, our word for salad is derived from their their name for this salted lettuce—salata.

The foods featured are also rich in fiber, which helps to curb the ap- petite as well as enhance digestion. You’ll notice the inclusion of many herbs and spices—like ginger, cayenne, turmeric, mustard, and garlic—in the dinner recipes. Not only do they lend great flavor but they are rich in unique nutrients including those that help to promote beneficial digestion. As the dinners are satisfying yet not too heavy, they may also help you with a better night’s sleep.

Each dinner includes a Green Power Side Dish. These easy-to- prepare foods are at the cornerstone of the Healthiest Way of Eating. These foods are so rich in chlorophyll and contain so many nutrients (including flavonoid and carotenoid antioxidants) but yet they have so few calories that they are essential to healthy weight loss. These nutrients will help support optimal metabolism because it provides your body systems with the nutrients it needs; if you don’t have enough nutrients to support your metabolism, you won’t be able to optimize your weight loss.

Green Power Side Dishes can be so important for healthy weight loss. Just think if you ate two cups of green vegetables in place of a baked potato with butter or margarine, you’ll save over 300 calo- ries. These foods are also low in GI so they help balance blood sugar.

Sweet Desserts

While desserts are optional in the Plan, if you want dessert, I think that fresh fruit makes a great one as it can curb a sweet tooth while at the same time providing you with a storehouse of health-promot- ing nutrients. These nutrients include antioxidants that help to quench free radicals in the body. Choosing a healthy sweet dessert can really make a difference when it comes to weight loss; for ex- ample, a parfait made with low-fat yogurt and berries will save you 200 calories compared with eating one cup of ice cream.