RECIPE: YOU – On a Diet a.k.a The Dr. Oz diet

Planning & Preparation

A co-worker of mine is HUGE into fad diets. Does she do them? Yes. Does she ever complete them? NO! lol. The other day, she mentioned a very simple eating plan she saw on Dr. Oz’s (made famous on the Oprah show) tv show. It was based on his book “YOU: On a Diet”.

Of course.. I could just go pick up the book at the library, but queen procrastination is my name, and I have yet to get the book. She offered to write the simple plan down for me.

Breakfat: steel cut oats, juice

Lunch: spinach salad, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery, protein

Dinner: whole grain (brown rice, couscus, or quinoa), broccoli, colorful vegetables, protein

Snacks: popcorn (no salt or butter), apples (to and from work), walnuts & seeds

Exercise

The menu is very repetative, so it is NOT for everyone. I’m the type of person that could literally eat the same thing over and over and over again and not get sick of it, so this may work well for me.

I am also the type of person that does not like to come home everyday and cook lunch and dinner for the next day.. that irritates me so much. I like to cook everything in 1 day.. or once every 3 to 4 days. I feel more prepared when I can just grab and go and not think so much; I don’t have time to make a bad decision, there’s no prep time – so I don’t snack on bad things, I know how many calories – fat – protein – etc I am eating without even thinking about it.

Also, saves me a ton of money. All the fresh ingredients I purchased for $30 at a farmer’s market.. That’s Lunch AND Dinner, for a week, for almost $30! I purchased chicken as my lunch protein for the week; $7. Steel cut oats; $3. I had 7 days worth of tilapia in the freezer; Orange Juice & apples were the only other things I already had.

Breakfast

I cooked 8 servings (8 cups of boiling water, 2 cups of oats) and stored them in a container in my fridge. A serving is 3/4 cups hot.. so.. in the morning, I grab approx 1/2 CUP of the cold cooked oats, put them in a bowl with a smidge of soy milk, a tease of ‘i cant believe its not butter’, and a jiggle of craisins.

I eat that on the way to work, so I don’t have time for an “apple on the way”. So…

Snack

10.30am – As my snack I have 1 honeycrisp apple and 1/4 cup of pepita seeds. I LOVE these apples and I LOVE these seeds. The pepitas are so addictive and the best part? It’s hard to eat more than one at a time, which is great for people like me that like to munch and munch and munch.