Lose The Fat

In a magazine I found irresistible in the check-out line of the grocery store a few days ago, Dr. Oz’s January/February issue of “The Good Life” has an article on losing ten pounds in 21 days.  I don’t usually subscribe to fad diets, but this one is worth mentioning because some of the recipes I’ve tried so far from this article are really quite delicious.

One premise of the article is that prepping food ahead of time leads to less of the temptation style of eating.  Prepping also lends itself to avoiding the versions of eating where you “grab something quick” (usually the kind of food that falls into the realm of unhealthy or fattening) because you don’t want to make something from scratch at the end of a day.  The article also suggests storage in square containers, which I find are so much more efficient when it comes to space in the refrigerator.  Note:  Zip Lock has some nice square containers that hold about four cups.  I supplemented my stash of multi-sized and multi-shaped containers with about a dozen of these for storing the article’s “prep day” recipes.  Having about three more would have worked even better.

So far we have tried and liked the “bean chili”, “berries to go” and “container salad” while strictly following the regime for the first two days of the diet.  Indeed, I have lost a pound and Jim has dropped two, already!  Personally, I really liked all three of these recipes.  Jim is tolerating the “diet”, but I suspect the anti-inflammatory and weight loss features of this choice of foods is more to his liking than the abundance of veggies and lack of potato chips!

The recipes are filling, satisfying and sustain us until the next meal, although they are served in smaller proportions than we usually consume.  I don’t know if we will lose the ten pounds, nor if we will be able to maintain the regime, but it is tempting.

If you do try this, know that some of the items are a tiny challenge to find in the grocery store.  One item, called tempeh, required a stop at my local organic health food/co-op grocery store’s freezer department.  Stocking up on some of the staples ran up the cost a bit, but aside from that we are off and running (figuratively speaking) with the diet.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.