usa5

USA Diet Page 5
This page contains:
Ultra-simple Main Meals for 1 person; Desserts, 7-Day Menu.

ULTRA-SIMPLE MAIN MEALS for 1 person

Instructions
Either, choose a Main Meal for 4 from the previous pages and scale down accordingly, or select one of the following ultra simple meals for 1. And don’t forget dessert! Choose one from the Dessert section, below.

• If using one of the meals on this page, please follow instructions carefully.
• Do not skimp on potatoes (rice or pasta) or vegetables.
• Do not add any fats or oils, unless otherwise indicated. For example, do not add any cooking oil, butter, margarine, cream, or mayo.

ULTRA-SIMPLE MEALS
I’ve chosen 6 basic meals: 1. Steaks. 2. Pasta. 3. Rice. 4. Ultra-simple Casserole. 5. Salad.  6. Frozen Meals.

1. STEAKS

• Broil any 3oz Salmon steak, Pork steak, Veal steak, or Beef steak.
• When cooking, place steak on meat rack to allow fat to drain.
• Add 2 medium boiled or roasted potatoes (plain canned potatoes are fine).
• Add 2 cups vegetables. For extra convenience, use canned or frozen vegetables, or use pre-packed or pre-prepared vegetables.
• Don’t forget dessert.

2. PASTA WITH LOW-FAT SAUCE

• Use 1 cup any plain, boiled pasta.
• Use ½ cup any low fat pasta sauce. (i.e. less than 3g fat, per serving – check jar label for details).
• Add 2 cups vegetables, or large vegetable salad with 1 tbsp of fat-free dressing.
• Don’t forget dessert.

3. RICE WITH LOW-FAT SAUCE

• Use ½ cup plain, boiled rice. (Brown rice is 10 times better than white.)
• Use ½ cup any low fat sauce. (i.e. less than 3g fat, per serving – check jar label for details).
• Add 2 cups vegetables, or large vegetable salad with 1 tbsp of fat-free dressing.
• Don’t forget dessert.

4. ULTRA-SIMPLE CASSEROLE FOR 1 PERSON

Ingredients: 1chopped 3oz chicken breast, 2 cups any chopped vegetables (e.g. carrots, onions, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, or any canned /frozen vegetables), 2 medium potatoes cut into thick chunks, 1 cup chicken broth. Method: Put all ingredients into large pan. Add extra water to cover. Cover with lid and boil for 20 mins, stirring occasionally. (The liquid is very healthy, so keep a spoon handy and eat everything!)
Note: Instead of chicken, use 3oz turkey fillet, pork chop or lean beef steak.

5. SALAD

• Make any vegetable salad (easy on the avocados & olives), or fruit (pineapple, mandarins etc.)
• Add 3oz oily fish or lean meat (chicken or turkey breast /ham) or 3oz cheese.
• Add 1 tablespoon low-fat (3%) dressing, like: oil-free dressing, low-calorie Thousand Island, any low-calorie vinaigrette, low-fat yogurt dressing, cocktail sauce, fat-free sour cream, or salsa.
• Don’t forget dessert.
• Avoid all coleslaw, potato salad, mayo, sour cream, butter, margarine.

6. FROZEN MEALS

• Choose any frozen meal with 5 grams of fat per 100 grams or less.
• Your portion should contain a maximum of 10 grams of fat.
• If not included, add 2 medium potatoes and 2 cups vegetables (or large vegetable salad).
• Please do NOT choose this as a regular option. Freshly cooked meals are better.

QUICKTIP No 21 – HAPPINESS MAKES US SLIMMER
Happiness not only helps us to enjoy life, it also – believe it or not – helps us to live longer. According to recent tests, laughter makes our bodies produce extra amounts of a chemical called Immunoglobulin A. This chemical protects us from a range of diseases, including (it is believed) cancer, as well as more minor complaints like colds and ‘flu. Indeed, a growing number of doctors are beginning to believe that our physical health is directly affected by our state of mind: e.g. the less happy we are, the more likely we are to develop illness. The most poignant example of this mind/body connection, that I’ve come across, involved a small group of mice at an animal research laboratory. Apparently, unlike all the other mice in the laboratory, this particular group resisted all attempts to infect them with disease. The researchers were baffled. How were these mice able to stay so healthy? Finally, they found the answer. One of the animal keepers had become so fond of the mice that he used to stroke each one of them, whenever he passed their cage. It seems that a little genuine affection had made them happier and therefore healthier.
Happiness also keeps us slim. Why? Because when we’re happy we need fewer cookies to cheer us up! For example, think how often we reach for a cookie or a piece of cake or a bag of potato chips, not because we’re hungry but because we’re fed up. Result? We don’t get any happier – we just get fat! Which makes us even more miserable! The moral? Concentrate on staying happy. It’s the best way to stay in shape.

QUICKTIP No 22 – DON’T LET OTHER PEOPLE FEED YOU A LOAD OF OLD RUBBISH!
One Saturday lunch-time, Luigi Ravioli, boss of the powerful Ravioli Mafia family, is sitting in his favorite pizza restaurant when he decides to phone home to check on his wife. She has not been showing him enough respect lately, and he is getting suspicious. When he rings, the phone is answered by a strange woman. “Who is this?” asks Luigi. “This is the maid,” says the woman. “We don’t have a maid”, says Luigi. “I was hired this morning by the lady of the house” replies the woman.
“Well, this is her husband. Is she there?” says Luigi. The maid replies, “She is upstairs in the bedroom with someone who I thought was her husband.” When he hears this, Luigi nearly has a fit. Doing his best to control his temper, he says to the maid, “Listen, would you like to make a quick $100,000?” The maid says, “Sure, what do I have to do?” Luigi says “Go into the kitchen and take a carving knife out of the drawer. Then go upstairs and stab both of them to death.”
“But what about the police?” says the maid. Luigi laughs. “Don’t worry about the police! I’ll take care of them.” Reassured, the maid puts down the phone for a few minutes. When she returns she is out of breath and gasping. “OK that’s done, now what do I do with the bodies?”
Luigi smiles. “Throw them in the swimming pool” he replies. Puzzled, the maid answers, “But there isn’t a pool.” There is a long pause while Luigi thinks. Finally he says, “I’m so sorry, I must have the wrong number.”
The moral? Don’t let other people feed you a load of old rubbish (like junk food!).

DESSERTS
Enjoy your dessert anytime: i.e. after your main meal, or any time during the day.

A. INSTANT DESSERTS

• ½ cup any fat-free yogurt
  Yogurt with 0.1g of fat per 100g.
• ½ cup any fat-free frozen yogurt, or sorbet, or equivalent
  Any frozen dessert with 0.1g of fat per 100g.
• Any low-fat ice-cream (use 1 medium scoop)
  Any ice-cream with 2g of fat per 100g.
• Sweet Popcorn
  1 cup of fat-free popcorn, topped with 1 tbsp light syrup
• 1 low-fat frozen fudge bar
• 1 cup mixed fruit with non-fat whipped topping
• 1 cup mixed berries with 1 scoop of sorbet
• Half a melon or large bowl of (any) chopped fruit topped with fat-free yogurt
• ½ cup any fruit canned in juice with a cup of sugar-free jell-o
• 1cup sugar-free jell-o with non-fat whipped topping
• Bowl frozen grapes. Wash and dry selection of black/red/green fresh grapes, put in a bag and freeze overnight. Delicious as a dessert or to snack on during the day. [* All fresh fruit is delicious chopped and frozen – try bananas (peel and chop before freezing), apples, pears, melon.]

B. PREPARED DESSERTS

BAKED APPLE WITH FRUIT
Remove the core from 1 large sweet apple. Sprinkle 1 tbsp raisins with cinnamon and fill the center of the apple. Stand in an oven-proof dish and pour a little water around the apple. Bake in oven 325º for about 30 mins. Serve on its own or topped with fat-free yogurt.
FRUIT WHIP
Put 2 cups of any fruit in a pan with ½ cup water and 1 tbsp sugar. Add grated zest and juice of 1lemon and cook until soft. When cool, blend until smooth and chill for 1 hour. Fold in 2 stiffly beaten egg-whites and serve in a tall glass.
HOT SPICY PINEAPPLE RINGS
Mix 2 tsp brown sugar, ¼ tsp cinnamon, zest and juice of 1 orange. Put 3 canned pineapple rings in an
ovenproof dish, pour mixture over and cook in pre-heated oven, 325º for 20 minutes. Serve with non-fat
whipped topping.
RASPBERRY MERINGUE
Drain 7 oz can raspberries in juice and smooth in blender. Mix with ½ cup vanilla yogurt. Break a small meringue into bits and mix with raspberry and yogurt. Chill before serving.

QUICKTIP No 23 – LOSING WEIGHT MAKES LIFE EASIER
I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you’re 24 years of age, nice and slim, and you’ve lying on a beach, in the sun, on a beautiful tropical island. Why are you lying on this lovely beach? Because you’ve just got married and you’re on honeymoon with your husband who is tall, dark, handsome and very rich! Got the picture? Anyway, that night, he wines and dines you on your balcony, overlooking the sea. The air is warm, the stars are bright, and the mood is magical, when suddenly your husband takes your hand, looks into your eyes, and says ‘I’ve got a present for you. Stay right there and close your eyes, while I get it.’ So you close your eyes and think of all the wonderful things it could be. A diamond necklace? A string of real pearls? The keys to a brand new car? A cheque with a lot of noughts on the end? Before you decide what it can be, your husband tells you to open your eyes, and there it is – sitting on the table in front of you. What is it? A bag. A plain, plastic shoulder bag!
Well, you’re absolutely speechless. You think to yourself: ‘why on earth has he bought me a stupid bag?’ But then he tells you to look inside, and suddenly it dawns on you: ‘Of course!!! He’s hidden the present inside the bag!’ So you tear it open and then you’re even more confused, because all you find is – 15 cans of baked beans! Well what can you say? No one has ever bought you baked beans before. However, you manage to keep a straight face and you say something like: ‘Err…they’re lovely… but what am I supposed to do with them?’ So he tells you that from now on, he wants you to carry the bag – with the 15 cans of beans in it – everywhere you go. And he really means – everywhere. At home, at work, in the car, in the pub. Even in bed!
OK, that’s the story. Now answer this question: if your husband suddenly presented you with a shoulder bag and 15 cans of beans and said that he wanted you to wear it everywhere you went – how would you react? You’d tell him to drop dead, wouldn’t you? Of course you would! And yet the truth is: if you’re 15 pounds overweight, you’re already wearing the beans! (You see, a standard (420g) can of beans weighs almost exactly 1 pound. So, for every 15 pounds we’re overweight, we’re carrying around the equivalent of 15 cans of beans.) The only difference is, you’re not carrying them around in a rucksack. You’re carrying them on your thighs, your stomach, your neck and your butt.
Take my advice: don’t waste any more of your precious time, staggering around with all this weight on your body. Get rid of it, and discover how wonderful life is, WITHOUT IT!

SUGGESTED 7-DAY MENU

Instructions

• Please follow this menu when starting the diet, or after a ‘bad’ week.
• Please pay close attention to Anne’s Rules on page 2.
• If you wish to substitute a different meal from the diet, please do so.
• In addition, as per the Rules on page 2, you must have 1 pint fat-free milk,
  or half a pint 2% milk, plus 2 extra pieces of fruit, per day.

DAY 1
Breakfast: 2 Slices wholemeal toast with preserves + ½ cup yogurt + 1 banana.  (See Breakfasts, p.2)
Lunch: 1½ cups vegetable soup, turkey breast sandwich + side-salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Sweet and sour chicken/pork + rice & vegetables. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert: 1 Cup canned peaches with medium scoop of low-fat ice-cream.

DAY 2
Breakfast: 1½ cups cereal + ½ cup yogurt + 1 cup chopped apple/pear. (See Breakfasts, p.2)
Lunch: 6oz Baked potato with 2oz chicken + salsa + green salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: 3oz Salmon steak with potatoes + vegetables. (See recipe, top of this page)
Dessert: ½ cup Fruit sorbet.

DAY 3
Breakfast: 1 Wake-up smoothie + ½ cup yogurt + slice of pineapple or melon. (See Breakfasts, p.2)
Lunch: Tuna sandwich + vegetable salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Chicken Tortilla with rice + salad. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert: ½ cup Frozen fruit yogurt

DAY 4
Breakfast: Scrambled egg on toast + ½ cup yogurt with chopped banana. (See Breakfasts, p.2)
Lunch: Soup with turkey sandwich + fat-free relish + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Anne’s beef-burgers with rice + green salad. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert: ½ cup Fat-free yogurt with chopped fruit.

DAY 5
Breakfast: 1½ cups cereal + ½ cup yogurt + 1 cup chopped apple/pear. (See Breakfasts, p.2)
Lunch: Baked potato with cottage cheese + mixed vegetable salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Stuffed peppers with pasta + salad. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert:  Half a melon with orange juice.

DAY 6
Breakfast: 5oz can baked beans, 1 slice toast + ½ cup yogurt + 1 cup mixed apple & apricots. (See  p.2)
Lunch: Sardines (in tomato sauce) on toast + green salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Fried Turkey Steak with potatoes + vegetables. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert: ½ cup Fruit sorbet with chopped banana.

DAY 7
Breakfast: Omelet (1 egg-yolk, 2 egg-white), grilled tomato, 1 toast, ½ cup yogurt + 1 orange. (See  p.2)
Lunch: Bowl of soup with shrimp bread roll + green salad + dessert. (see Lunches, p.2)
Dinner: Chicken Fajitas with rice + vegetable salad. (See recipe, p.3)
Dessert: ½ cup Frozen fruit yogurt.

 

QUICKTIP No 24 – IT’S NOT EASY BEING A GIRL
We have a career to worry about. Parents to satisfy. A partner to please. An apartment or house to look after. A sex-life to manage. Hair to control. A body to look after and a figure to keep slim. That’s why, every so often, it’s important to get away from it all. And there’s no better refuge than the beauty salon!
Get slim at the beauty salon
Enjoy a massage, a facial, a manicure, a pedicure or any one of a dozen different treatments. Why? Because it’ll make you happy, which means you’ll find it a lot easier to stay slim. Remember, when we’re happy we need fewer cookies to cheer us up! For example, think how often we reach for a cookie or a piece of cake or a bag of potato chips, not because we’re hungry but because we’re fed up. The moral? Concentrate on staying happy. It’s the best way to stay in shape.

QUICKTIP No 25 – TAKE THINGS ONE STEP AT A TIME
Bella is 33 years old, five feet four inches in height and weighs 210 pounds. Although she knows she is about 70 pounds overweight, the idea of losing all this weight is too much for her. Then, one day, a close friend invites her to a wedding. Bella is panic-stricken! She has three months to get herself into shape, so she starts a crash-diet. But within seven days, she is so irritable that her husband is forced to reassure her that she’s fine the way she is, and takes her out for a meal. Result? End of diet!
Meanwhile, her twin sister Julie, who is the same height and weight, has also started dieting for the wedding, but her approach is different. Instead of trying to solve her weight problem overnight, she takes it one step at a time. Instead of starving herself, she eats proper meals with plenty of good food like chicken, fish, bread, potatoes, vegetables and fruit. She also takes great care to eat less fat. Result? She loses an average of two pounds a week. But that’s not all. She also starts to feel a lot better. Her digestion improves, her energy improves and within a fortnight she feels like a different person! So by the day of the wedding, she is 26 pounds lighter and feels terrific, while Bella is her usual 210 pounds and feels terrible. When they bump into each other, Bella can barely disguise her envy. ‘I hear you’re on a diet’ she says to Julie. ‘Is it worth all the effort?’ ‘Effort?’ replies Julie. ‘It’s no effort, at all. I’m actually eating more than ever! In fact, to be honest, I feel so good that I’m going to stick with it until I get down to a decent weight.’ ‘Really?’ says Bella, who now feels ten times worse. ‘Yes’, replies Julie, ‘I’m fed up of being fat, so I’m going to try and sort myself out once and for all. If I take it a step at a time, I should lose about 8 pounds a month, so by November I should be about 160 pounds – just in time for a bit of Christmas clothes shopping!’ Hearing this, Bella offers up a silent prayer for a thunderbolt to erase her sister from the face of the earth. When it fails to arrive, she excuses herself and scuttles off in search of a stiff drink. OK, it’s only a light-hearted story, but it illustrates two very different approaches to the same problem and it raises the question – what sort of a dieter are you – a Bella or a Julie?