Most cyclists, myself included, ride to eat. There's really nothing that feels better than getting to spend your summer months riding your bicycle, all weekend, then going out to lunch with friends and asking if they are going to finish that bread, or those nachos, or even waving the waiter down for that third margarita.
This year, however, winter came a little early to our household, and when it came time to put the bikes away, those cravings did not subside. Couple that with the stress of buying a new home and moving. Throwing a large Christmas party, and the result was that by the end of January, we could barely even fit into our fat pants. I knew something had to change.
About that same time, I had a day off and was watching Doctor Oz. He was unveiling his new 2 week rapid weight loss plan. The plan which is here, boasts that one can lose an average of 9 pounds in two weeks by simply eliminating a few items from one's diet. Those items are gluten, dairy, caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars and fun (just kidding about the last one). The only exception to the dairy rule being greek yogurt. I already knew for a while we needed to start a diet, but had hesitation starting because giving up that after work beer or glass of wine was so challenging. Then Dan had to go on a round of antibiotics due to an ear infection. We figured that we may as well seize the opportunity and try the diet out.
The diet starts every morning with a berry smoothie, recipe here. Which in my opinion wasn't half bad. Locating the ingredients can be a little bit of a challenge, but if you're local to Colorado, you'll be happy to know that King Soopers carries both the brown rice protein powder, and ground flax seeds. I didn't really believe them when they said the smoothie would keep me full until lunch, but it did do the trick for 3 hours.
The rest of the day, you plan your own recipes, making note to exclude the danger items (dairy, gluten, etc) and capping your grains at 1/2 cup of brown rice, and 6 oz of lean protein daily. As a bonus, you can include as many low GI vegetables as you want. And the doctor encourages you to snack on things with healthy oils in moderation. Really it's that last part that kept me from having hunger pangs at all. I love avocados, hummus, and pistachios, so having those as a go to for a quick snack was a huge help.
The first 3 days, I stepped on the scale and I had lost a total of one pound. This is when I thought, "Well this is kind of stupid." I actually almost gave up, my brother was going to have an outing at a Belgian brewery, and that definitely tasted better than this version of thin felt. But Dan came along for support. Knowing that he couldn't drink either was a big help, and we ordered veggies and hummus along with some mussels for lunch. In the days to follow, the diet became easier to follow, and the weight began to pour off. By day 9, each of us were down 9 pounds. I also noticed a lot of auxiliary benefits to the plan. I was able to stop a heartburn medication I'd been taking for 5 months, as the symptoms went away. I was able to wake up at 5:30 am for work, instead of hitting the snooze bar multiple times.
The hardest part I think for people online is finding recipes. I'll help you by giving you a couple of recipes I found, along with a couple of my own:
Turkey/Lettuce Wrap Tacos
6 oz Ground Turkey Meat
1/2 cup water, divided into 1/4ths
1 tbsp Taco Meat Seasoning recipe here
1/4 Chopped Jalapeño (optional)
1 Medium Tomato
2 tbsp Prepared Salsa
2 tbsp Guacamole (recipe follows)
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 oz Daiya non-dairy cheese (optional, but I liked the added texture)
3 Romaine or Bibb Lettuce leaves
In a frying pan, add turkey and 1/4 cup water, brown turkey meat until water evaporates. Drain any excess grease. To the pan, add your chopped jalapeño, taco meat seasoning and 1/4 cup water to the cooked turkey meat, remove from stove when meat is fully cooked and seasonings are well mixed.
From there, use your lettuce leaves as a taco shell, and build the tacos, with meat, salsa, tomato, guacamole, greek yogurt and non-dairy cheese.
Guacamole recipe
3 large avocados
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp finely chopped white onion
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp finely chopped jalapeño
Juice from 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp kosher salt (or more to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper
Mash avocados, until they are to the consistency you prefer, then add in all the ingredients and stir. Once all the ingredients are well-mixed, you may want to let the guacamole sit for a couple of minutes before serving, to ensure the flavors meld together.
Another recipe I enjoyed making was Chicken Tikka Masala Kebabs (a slight adaptation on the recipe given here)
2 bamboo skewers
6 oz of chicken cubed into squares
3/4 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp sweet hungarian paprika
4 oz greek yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 lemon - half cut into round slices, the other half for juicing.
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp mild curry powder
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp garam masala
In a bowl, first combine your red pepper, and paprika with a tbsp of warm water. Once the spices absorb the water into a paste, mix in the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, tomato paste, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, lemon juice garlic, curry power and turmeric until you have a well combined marinade. Stir in the chicken and cover the chicken with sauce. Cover and refrigerate the mixture for one hour.
After marinade has set for an hour, preheat oven to 400 (or use a grill for summer cooking). While oven is heating, put chicken pieces on skewer. Garnish each end of the skewer with lemon slices.
Grill chicken for 30 minutes in oven (or until done on grill).
Serve with cardamom, vegetable broth rice.
Cardamom-Vegetable Broth Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Place brown rice in a sauce pan over medium, tossing the rice frequently for 2 minutes to allow the rice to release an aroma. Slowly add 2 1/4 cups vegetable broth (do this slowly, as the pan will be hot, and you will have some sizzle/steam release into the pan!). Stir in ground cardamom and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce to medium low heat, and cover. Cook approximately 30 minutes.
Here are some other recipes I enjoyed:
Spaghetti Squash with Paleo Meat Sauce
Very Green Lentil Soup
Best wishes for health to you!
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