The Comfort Food Diet
The Rules
All
of the recipes are in the order that you will use them. If you want to
substitute a recipe, consult the Dinner
Menu Index for an equivalent item. For instance, you could have Grilled
Broccoli or Candied Carrots with your Creamy Mac and Cheese instead of
the Pan Grilled Asparagus. Or you could trade Oven Fried Chicken for the
Crab Louis.
Shopping
lists are provided for you to print out, with all the ingredients needed
for each week's menus. The plan is designed to run Sunday through Saturday
so that you can shop on Saturday, although you can start any day you wish
and adjust the menu days accordingly.
Take
some time to read through the recipes and the plan on Saturday before
going to the store. There may be ingredients or techniques that you are
not familiar with, or you may need to marinate a recipe the night before
it is to be served. Likewise, there are equipment lists for each week
that can help you to make sure that you have all the gear needed.
The
plan does call for making some food on Sunday afternoon or evening to
eat during the week (those are usually recipes that take more than 30
minutes).
Breakfast
and lunch, when not specified in the weekly menu, are outlined in the Breakfast and Lunch Guidelines
with options for menus for both meals.
There
are meals scheduled for eating out. The rule is that you can order any
entree on the menu and eat half of it. The other half is eaten
the following day for lunch.
Lastly,
there is no between meal snacking. Patients have told me that the
first week or two can be a little more difficult, so you can have a piece
of fruit for a snack if you really need one.
A word or two about what to drink:
For the first six weeks I recommend that you don’t drink any alcohol that is not on the diet. You will find that I feel alcohol can be good for you but at first you should avoid it primarily due to the calories in wine, beer or mixed drinks. There are a few meals that call for a beer or margarita and this is part of the plan. After you have reached your maintenance weight, drink in moderation, remembering that all alcohol has calories.
Coffee and tea are not bad for you, in my opinion, but many of us do drink too much and cutting back may be something you want to think about. If you use sugar, change to Splenda® or another non-calorie product. If you use cream or half and half, switch to 2% milk.
As far as other liquids go, you may drink pretty much anything that doesn’t have calories. I am not much of a fan of sodas (diet or regular) but if you are going to have them, drink only calorie free products. I do feel that you would be better off to eliminate them from your life and drink water.
Water is great for you and you almost can’t drink too much. The idea that it can fill you up and help you eat less may actually be true. Either way, this is good stuff. For many of us it is an acquired taste after having been saturated with so many sodas and sugary drinks. Work on drinking less soda and more water.