There are five basic steps to Quickstart:
1. Completely remove from your diet all multi-ingredient carbohydrates con- taining yeast and sugar, such as cake, cookies, breads, bagels, and muffins. 2. Remove all starchy carbohydrates, such as potatoes, rice, yams, sweet potatoes, corn, and pasta, from the evening meal. Evening is a time when you do not need carbs for energy. Consume only vegetables (fibrous car- bohydrates) and fish for dinner, unless you are allergic to fish (see below). 3. Stabilize your caloric intake with the correct food program, according to
gender (see below).
4. Elevate your water intake to the amount that is appropriate to your weight—1 ounce of water to 1 pound of body weight. Even if your food choices aren’t perfect the first week, the increased water alone will cause you to lose approximately 5 pounds in the first week.
5. Maintain your current exercise program at a level that is comfortable for you. Don’t attempt to overdo the exercise. Since you are dropping starchy and complex carbohydrates from your food plan, you will be consuming very restricted amounts of energy-source foods. Therefore, you won’t have the energy for a challenging workout regimen.
The Quickstart plan is the same for everyone, regardless of your metabolic type. Below are three weeks of Quickstart meal plans (with some suggestions for food choices) for both females and males. You can use the Turn Up the Heat Allowable Food Exchange List in ap-
pendix B for appropriate exchanges. Keep in mind that all meats or fish should be grilled or broiled, not fried, and prepared without oil or butter. Peanut butter should be “all natural” (peanuts only), and preferably organic, since peanut crops are heavily sprayed with pes- ticides and fungicides. In the menus where fish is listed for the evening meal, do not substitute other exchanges, unless, of course, you are allergic to fish. In that case you should substitute a boneless chicken breast or white meat turkey—never red meat.
Fish has the least fat of any other protein source, so eating it for your evening meal will help support your Quickstart program weight loss. Regardless of the type of fish you choose (some are listed as 1 ounce per exchange and others are listed as 2 ounces per exchange, depending on fat and caloric content), for the Quickstart program eat only 4 ounces of fish at lunch and dinner if you are female and 8
ounces (at dinner only, 4 ounces at lunch) if you are male.
Avoid eating vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli. These are the most difficult vegetables to digest—more so if you suf- fer from any form of irritable bowel disorder or colitis—and they are likely to cause bloating, digestive discomfort, and constipation. The best choice of vegetables to enhance digestion are steamed spinach, asparagus, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes. Salads (raw) should never be eaten alone, only as an accompaniment to other veg- etables, which should be eaten steamed. The food choices listed in parenthesis are only suggestions. For variety, use the food exchange list found in appendix B, keeping in mind the food-choice restrictions outlined above.
Avoid food shopping when hungry. Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. This has become the waterloo of more clients than I can list.
Possible Side Effects and What to Do About Them
Since Quickstart is a strict food-management program that demands your complete attention, there are some potential side effects or emo- tional states that might pop up for you during your fourteen to twenty-one days on the program. Many of these suggestions are sim- ply common sense and require only that you take care of yourself and be aware of your emotional and physical states.
Lack of energy.If you find yourself feeling tired in the afternoon, try to schedule a break or some downtime. If you have a choice about when to begin the Quickstart program, choose a two- or three-week period where you do not have a lot of stressful demands placed upon you or a lot of activities scheduled. If you need to begin Quickstart immediately to get ready for a wedding or family event two or three weeks from the present, don’t overload yourself with unnecessary re- sponsibilities. As much as possible, try to kick back and give yourself a break.
Sugar cravings. Whenever you remove carbohydrates from a food plan, you might possibly experience some kind of sugar craving. I al- ways tell my clients, “You can overcome the urge for sugar by eating a few grapes or a couple of pieces of frozen pineapple or banana. An- other good strategy is to make flavored ice by filling an ice cube tray with Kool-Aid sweetened with NutraSweet.” One client of mine told
QUICKSTART PROGRAM FOR FEMALES
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Meal 1 B2 (1 cup oatmeal) B2 (1 cup oatmeal) B2 (1 cup oatmeal) F1 (orange or banana) F1 (orange or banana)
Meal 2 F1 (apple) F1 (apple) V1 (2 cups raw
celery)
Meal 3 B 11⁄2(1⁄2cup rice) M4 (4 oz. chicken M4 (4 oz. chicken
M4 (4 oz. chicken breast or 4 oz. fish) breast or 4 breast or 4 oz. fish) V2 (1 cup steamed oz. fish)
V1 (2 cups steamed tomato and 1 cup V2 (2 cups summer spinach) summer squash) squash and 3 cups
salad with 1 tblsp. low- calorie dressing)
Meal 4 F1 (orange) V1 (2 cups raw V1 (tomato)
celery)
PB1 (1 T peanut butter)
Meal 5 M4 (4 oz. fish only) M4 (4 oz. fish only) M4 (4 oz. fish only)
V3 (1 cup zucchini, 1 V3 (1 cup asparagus, V3 (1 cup zucchini, cup asparagus, 1 cup 1 cup steamed tomato, 2 cups steamed salad) 3 cups salad) spinach, 3 cups salad)
Meal 6 F1 (mixed berries) 0 0 B = Bread List, M = Meat List, F = Fruit List,V = Vegetable List
me she made a cup of Good Earth Tea when she craved something sweet. It has absolutely no sugar in it, but contains stevia, an herb with a very sweet taste.
Anxiety and being quick-tempered.When a person goes on a low- calorie food plan, he or she often experiences heightened levels of anxiety and quick-temperedness. Part of this is because of the lower levels of sugar in your blood stream from eating fewer carbohydrates and calories and from the stress of having to pay more attention to your foods than you ever have before.
There are several things I can suggest to alleviate anxiety and QUICKSTART PROGRAM FOR MALES
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Meal 1 B3 (11
⁄2cups oatmeal) B3 (11⁄2cups oatmeal) B3 (11⁄2cups oatmeal)
F1 (orange or banana) F1 (orange or banana)
Meal 2 F1 (apple) V1 (2 cups raw celery) V1 (2 cups raw
PB1 (1 tblsp. peanut celery) butter)
Meal 3 B3 (1 cup rice) B11⁄2(1⁄2potato) M4 (4 oz. chicken
M4 (4 oz. chicken M4 (4 oz. chicken breast or 4 oz. fish) breast or 4 oz. fish) breast or 4 oz. fish) V3 (1 cup summer V1 (1 cup summer V (2 cups steamed squash, 1 cup squash) spinach) asparagus, and 3 cups
salad with 1 tblsp. low- calorie dressing)
Meal 4 V1 (2 cups raw celery) V1 (2 cups raw celery) V1 (2 cups raw PB1 (1 tblsp. peanut PB1 (1 tblsp. peanut celery)
butter) butter) PB1 (1 tblsp. peanut
butter)
Meal 5 M8 (8 oz. fish only) M8 (8 oz. fish only) M1 (1 hard-boiled
V3 (1 cup zucchini, 1 V3 (1 cup asparagus, 1 egg) cup asparagus, 3 cups cup zucchini, 3 cups
salad) salad)
Meal 6 F1 (mixed berries) 0 M4 (8 oz. fish only)
V3 (1 cup zucchini, 1 cup steamed tomato, 3 cups salad) B = Bread List, M = Meat List, F = Fruit List,V = Vegetable List
feeling quick-tempered. First, when you know you are about to say something angry or sarcastic, take a few deep breaths, count to ten, and think before you speak. Make sure that you get at least seven, preferably eight, hours of sleep every night—lack of sleep will make you less able to handle your emotions. Sometimes a person will feel anxious when everything around them seems to be moving too fast. Close your office door for five minutes and take a breather, or find a quiet place to settle down for a few minutes so that you can find your mental balance again.
When you feel on edge, take a moment to tell yourself that this food plan is your choice and that you are doing the very best you can. No one is forcing you to do it. You have chosen this aggressive type of food plan because you know the rewards will be great. Also re- member that this won’t last forever. It’s just for two or three weeks. Then you can begin the food program for your metabolic type and your anxiety levels and irritability will subside.
Increased muscle soreness.You may notice that your muscles feel a bit sorer than usual after exercising because you don’t have as much food as you usually do to repair them. Again, realize that this is only temporary and that you have the option of pulling back your level of exercise for a couple of weeks if you want to.