Article: Do It Yourself Dieting Long(extreme low carb)

I'm not crazy about this one but the author had a whopping good weight
loss and reports:

Not only did I lose 25 pounds in six weeks, but I've kept it off,
despite the customary round of year-end eating, as well as three weeks
on the road in dietary disaster zones like New York, Los Angeles and
(gulp!) New Orleans.


http://www.thestar.com/ Life Page, Health LinK

Welcome to The Riverdale Diet
Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star

What did I want a diet to be? I decided there were three obligatory
features:

Sensible: I didn't want to be told I had to eat foods in certain
combinations or force my system into a state of ketosis. No thanks.

Appealing: I wanted to come up with a plan that I could modify and
stick to after the initial weight-loss period was over.

Adaptable: Anything I did had to take into consideration the realities
of everyday life: family, friends, travel.

So what does it involve?

It's very simple.

For an initial two-week period, here's the drill:

NO STARCH, NO SUGAR

Let that sink in for a second. I'm asking you to forgo bread, pasta,
potatoes and rice as well as cookies, cakes, pies and ice cream.

The purpose of this initial purge is to wean you off the twin
addictions to starch and sugar that cause so many weight problems. Like
any addict, you've got to cleanse your system of the toxins before you
can make a fresh start.

The next step is to get behind this mantra:

CALORIES IN, CALORIES OUT

In other words, if you eat more calories than you burn up during the
day, you're going to gain weight. It doesn't matter if they come from
tofu or hot fudge.

Any diet that tells you that you can eat "all you want" when it comes
to protein or fat is leading you down a dangerous path. As you'll see
further on, portion control is everything.

And a final governing rule:

EAT EARLY, EAT OFTEN

Our system can metabolize food most easily in smaller doses. Three
moderate sized meals a day (and two light snacks) is a surer way to
lose weight than skipping a meal or two and then piling it on at
dinner.

Breakfast is a must. So is lunch. And you should eat dinner as early as
possible. In an ideal world, four hours should pass from the time you
finish your last meal of the day until you go to sleep.

Starving yourself all day, binging at a late meal and then rolling into
bed is a guaranteed way to pack on the pounds. So with all these things
in mind, what kind of food do you actually get to eat?

*Here's a quick overview of what I ate during the first two weeks of
the diet.*

Breakfast: You want to find a way of giving your system a satisfying
mixture of protein and carbohydrates in as pleasing a form as possible.

Here's my solution. Every day, I made a different omelet, using two egg
whites, a cup of assorted chopped vegetables and one ounce of cheese.

If you're not used to cooking in the morning, it may take a bit of
adjustment, but it's worth it. You'll find you're able to keep going
without mid-morning droop.

And if it sounds boring to have the same thing every day, put that
thought out of your mind. The choices are only as limited as your
imagination. How about mushroom and onion and Swiss? Or tomato, green
pepper and mozzarella? Salsa, zucchini and cheddar?

It actually becomes something you look forward to.

Some people feel the need for fruit juice in the morning. Try to
reconsider that. It's always better to eat the actual fruit, but if you
have must have juice, opt for tomato (or a combo like V-8).

Yes, of course, to coffee or tea, but no sugar (artificial sweeteners
are fine) and try to make any milk you use low-fat.
Here's a quick overview of what I ate during the first two weeks of the
diet.

Breakfast: You want to find a way of giving your system a satisfying
mixture of protein and carbohydrates in as pleasing a form as possible.

Here's my solution. Every day, I made a different omelet, using two egg
whites, a cup of assorted chopped vegetables and one ounce of cheese.

If you're not used to cooking in the morning, it may take a bit of
adjustment, but it's worth it. You'll find you're able to keep going
without mid-morning droop.

And if it sounds boring to have the same thing every day, put that
thought out of your mind. The choices are only as limited as your
imagination. How about mushroom and onion and Swiss? Or tomato, green
pepper and mozzarella? Salsa, zucchini and cheddar?

It actually becomes something you look forward to.

Some people feel the need for fruit juice in the morning. Try to
reconsider that. It's always better to eat the actual fruit, but if you
have must have juice, opt for tomato (or a combo like V-8).

Yes, of course, to coffee or tea, but no sugar (artificial sweeteners
are fine) and try to make any milk you use low-fat.

Mid-morning snack: If you find your stomach growling and lunch is still
an hour or more away, then you can contemplate a small piece of fruit,
an assortment of vegetables, or a small portion of cheese. (Those
low-fat cheesesticks are good for this purpose.)

Lunch: You'll start to find yourself planning your dinners to create
enough leftover lean protein to have for lunch the next day. Try to
keep yourself to 2-3 oz. of chicken, beef, pork - whatever is around.

In an emergency, the frozen pre-cooked jumbo shrimp you can buy in most
supermarkets come in handy as well, and there's always that old
reliable: water-packed tuna.

What you want to do is to take your protein portion, cut it into
bite-size pieces, and mix it with at least 3 cups of chopped
vegetables. I know that sounds like a lot of greenery, but it really
isn't.

Try not to concentrate on lettuce. There isn't much of nutritional
value there, and you'll also find it doesn't provide you with much
staying power.

Baby spinach is a good choice, as are celery, carrots, radishes,
tomatoes, peppers, broccoli ... well, you get the picture.

How to dress your mixture becomes the big question. Most diet salad
dressings taste awful and you don't want to start using real oil, not
at 120 calories per tablespoon. I find an interesting solution is to
use either a good quality barbecue sauce, or one of the many "Memories
of..." products put out by Loblaws.

You have to be careful to check the calorie and fat content on anything
you're using (and yes, many have a small amount of sugar) but you'll
generally find that a tablespoon or two of these sauces (which is all
you need) will give you a maximum flavour kick for a minimal caloric
cost.

Mid-afternoon snack: same as for mid-morning, but don't have any fruit
this late in the day.

Dinner: This is where I find this diet really comes into its own,
especially if you have a family. The trick is just to proceed with
business as usual, only when it comes to your plate, leave off the
starch, and add an extra green vegetable.

I'm assuming that dinner is not going to be deep-fried, swimming in
cream sauce, or something from the frozen food section riddled with
trans-fats.

But outside of those caveats, there's no reason the entire household
can't sit down to the same meal. You just won't eat the starch or the
dessert.

And watch the portion size! Four ounces of protein is enough. With
vegetables, on the other hand, go ahead and have as much as you like.

What about alcohol? Remember that ultimately, it's nothing but empty
calories, despite all the talk about the "nutritional" aspects of wine
or beer. (I don't think anyone's ever had the nerve to make a dietary
pitch for Bailey's.) Look, it won't kill you to lay off all forms of
indulgence for a couple of weeks, so give it a try.

This eating strategy also works well in restaurants or at dinner
parties. You don't have to do a big number about "This isn't on my
diet!" Shun the starch, eat the rest and if it looks like your host or
hostess has made a major effort over a dessert, well, it won't kill you
to have a few bites.

That's an important feature of this diet. We're not working on some
complex chemical arrangement where you have to be careful that you
don't have more than x grams of carbohydrate or fat in a day or else
you'll turn into the Michelin Tire Man.

What you're trying to do is teach yourself to eat more sensibly for an
entire lifetime. The initial embargo on starches and sugars is for two
reasons: first, to let you see that you can live without them and
second, to train you into appreciating other foods.

It goes without saying that you shouldn't embark on any diet without
talking to your doctor first. Being healthy should be your primary
goal. If you happen to get more attractive in the process, look on that
as an added bonus.

Once you've gone through the initial two-week period, you may want to
re-introduce some forbidden items back into your eating plan, but do it
gradually and carefully. And always let your bathroom scale be your
guide as to how things are going.

Watch the size of your portions! There are 170 calories in a cup of
cooked pasta and are you aware of how little that actually is? Start
measuring everything!

If you've come to like the way you feel and look after two weeks on
this diet, then you better face up to the fact that the days of a bagel
for breakfast, a sandwich and fries for lunch and a big bowl of
spaghetti in the evening are over.

What about dessert? We all know we'd be better off without it, but why
not wait for the really good ones to come along? In the meantime, if
you make them yourself, try substituting Splenda for sugar. It cuts the
calories down enormously, and works amazingly well.

It's also very true that dieting is only the first step in a new
healthier lifestyle. The importance of exercise is vital, but there's
going to be other people in weeks to come who'll tell you about that.

Right now, I'd like you to try out The Riverdale Diet for 14 days to
give yourself a running start on a New You for 2004.

Just remember the three big mantras:

No starch, no sugar.

Calories in, calories out.

Eat early, eat often.

And may it work for you as well as it has worked (and continues to
work) for me!

--
Diva
*****
The Best Man for the Job May Be A Woman