The Sugar Smart Diet: Stop Cravings and Lose Weight While Still Enjoying the Sweets You Love (19 page)

Pick one per day.

Wrap a 1-ounce piece of turkey breast (1 deli slice) around 1 part-skim string cheese.

Nutrition per serving:
106 calories, 11 g protein, 2 g carbs, <1 g fiber, <1 g total sugar, 6 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 343 mg sodium

Dip ½ cup sliced cucumber and 5 grape tomatoes in 3 tablespoons hummus.

Nutrition per serving:
98 calories, 5 g protein, 12 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 3 g total sugar, 5 g fat, <1 g saturated fat, 176 mg sodium

Pick one per day.

Mix together 2 tablespoons rolled oats, 1 tablespoon chopped cashews, 1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut,
1
⁄
8
teaspoon ground ginger, and
1
⁄
8
teaspoon ground cinnamon. Add ¼ cup fat-free milk and stir to combine.

Nutrition per serving:
155 calories, 5 g protein, 14 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 4 g total sugar, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 30 mg sodium

Toss 1 cup air-popped popcorn with 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut, and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice and/or ground cinnamon.

Nutrition per serving:
153 calories, 6 g protein, 10 g carbs, 3 g fiber, <1 g total sugar, 11 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 6 mg sodium

Order with soy milk or fat-free cow’s milk and pair with 7 almonds.

Nutrition per serving:
161 calories, 12 g protein, 17 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 15 g total sugar, 4 g fat, <1 g saturated fat, 140 mg sodium

Toss 1 cup air-popped popcorn sprinkled with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Have with 16 almonds.

Nutrition per serving:
162 calories, 7 g protein, 11 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 1 g total sugar, 11 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 77 mg sodium

2 ounces low-sodium deli turkey, 1 cup red bell pepper slices*, 1 part-skim string cheese, regular or jalapeño flavored

Nutrition per serving:
159 calories, 20 g protein, 7 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 4 g total sugar, 6 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 511 mg sodium

*Can substitute 7 baby carrots or 1 cup whole cherry tomatoes for the red bell pepper; the calories and sugar content are approximately the same.

1 tablespoon natural peanut or almond butter spread on 4 small stalks celery and ½ cup fat-free milk

Nutrition per serving:
146 calories, 9 g protein, 11 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 9 g total sugar, 7 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 109 mg sodium

1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced and topped with the following: fresh basil (or the fresh or dried herb of your choice), pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper to taste, and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Serve with 1 ounce fresh mozzarella (or 1 part-skim string cheese).

Nutrition per serving:
195 calories, 9 g protein, 8 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 5 g total sugar, 7 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 185 mg sodium

Date:

Today’s intention:

Place an X next to the meals and snacks you ate today. An asterisk denotes a recipe that can be found in
Chapter 11
.

Hunger level
____

__ Cashew-Coconut Muesli Yogurt

__ Crunchy Almond Yogurt

__ Crustless Mini Broccoli and Cheese Quiche*

__ Loaded Breakfast Potato

__ Mediterranean Scramble

__ Microwave Peanut Butter Oats

__ Mushroom-Quinoa Frittata*

__ On-the-Go Breakfast

__ Sausage-Potato Hash and Eggs*

Hunger level
____

__ Barley Risotto with Chicken and Asparagus*

__ Blue Cheese, Walnut, Chicken, and Quinoa Salad

__ Broiled Mustard Salmon with Roasted Broccoli and Quinoa

__ Build-Your-Own Meal

__ Cool Cucumber, Tomato, Black Bean, and Barley Salad

__ Crunchy Sesame Chicken and Bulgur Bowl

__ Fast, Hearty Turkey Chili*

__ Fiesta Egg Salad

__ Grilled Shrimp Salad with Potato, Sunflower Seeds, and Goat Cheese

__ Hearty Lentil Sauté with Bulgur

__ Outback Steakhouse Victoria’s 6-oz Filet

__ Potato, Pepper, and Chicken Sausage Sauté

__ Roasted Veggie, Bulgur, and Chickpea Salad with Feta Dressing*

__ Starbucks Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice Salad Bowl

__ Steak and Roasted Baby Potatoes and Carrots

__ Sugar Smart Marinara Sauce*

__ Tangy Mediterranean Tuna Salad

__ Vegetarian Stuffed Portobello*

Hunger Level
____

__ Turkey and Cheese Wrap

__ Crudités and Hummus

Hunger Level
____

__ 16-Ounce Fat-Free Latte

__ Caprese

__ Cashew-Ginger Coconut Muesli

__ Cheesy Popcorn with Almonds

__ Crunchy Roasted Rosemary Chickpeas*

__ PB Celery and Milk

__ Pumpkin Pie Trail Mix Popcorn

__ Tuna-Potato Wrap*

__ Turkey, Cheese, and Veggies

Additional Foods:

Notes:

MYRA NEVER SAW HERSELF
as a person with a lot of willpower until she tried the Sugar Smart Diet. Phase 1 of the plan coincided with a family beach vacation—it was a scary proposition, but Myra was prepared. She studied the meal plans and stocked up on the healthy, sugar-free foods she could eat.

“Every day I took a can of nuts in my beach bag to snack on while my husband ate licorice,” she says. She was able to resist the temptations of the boardwalk—like pizza and soda—and was satisfied sipping unsweetened iced tea and feasting on a freshly grilled chicken sandwich loaded with crispy lettuce and a thick slice of tomato, minus the bun. “I was so proud of myself.” She was rewarded for all her hard work when she stepped on the scale 10 days into the plan. “I lost 6 pounds—on vacation, no less!”

So what gave her this infusion of determination? “I’m in my fifties and was feeling like it was the last chance to change my life,” she says. “My father has diabetes, and I saw that as the path mapped out for me. Doing this plan gave me an opportunity to change.” Not only did Myra lose weight, she improved her cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels, thereby reducing her risk of heart disease.

And the changes she experienced went beyond the physical. “The most amazing part is that you really can conquer the cravings that you think have control over you,” she says. “I used to know where to find chocolate anywhere and couldn’t imagine how I’d exist without it. Now I don’t need chocolate. I feel more in control and care about the kind of fuel that I put into my body.”

That success gave Myra the confidence to become more physically active. “I never thought the exercise world was for me,” says Myra. But the Sugar Smart Workout didn’t feel intimidating, and soon she found that she was waking up looking forward to exercise. “There’s no better feeling than getting out for a walk in the morning. It’s spiritual. It’s me out there saying, ‘I can do this! It’s not impossible! I’m sticking with this!’ I’d still like to lose more weight, and for once I feel like I might just do it for good!”

•
Have breakfast every morning.
Just as you did in Phase 1, you’ll be eating a protein-packed breakfast to keep appetite and blood sugar on an even keel. In this phase, you’ll find some terrific fruit options. When fruit is paired with protein and fat, it’s even more satisfying.

•
Mix and match the lunch and dinner options.
You can keep eating any of the Phase 1 meals, but we have eight new quick and easy meals and four new recipes to put into rotation. Just like the Phase 1 meals, these are centered on fresh, whole foods—grains, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and lean protein.

•
Have one serving of a processed whole grain product, if you like.
Ideally, all of your grain intake would be from whole unprocessed grains. I can’t stress enough that even whole grains—once they’re pulverized into flour and restructured into cereal, bread, or noodles—are digested nearly as quickly as sugar. But we all live in the real world, when a bowl of cold cereal makes for a quick breakfast, a bowl of pasta is calling your name, or you want the convenience of a sandwich. That’s why we’ve brought back processed whole grain products in this phase, but just once a day. A note about bread: It can be tough to find a commercial one that doesn’t contain added sugar, so the bread we use on this phase comes in the form of tortillas and pitas, which tend to have about 1 gram or less. If you choose to eat one of our wrap or burrito options, you’d be taking in a minuscule amount of added sugar. If you opt for cereal, pick one with 0 gram of sugar and 3 or more grams of fiber per serving.

•
Have fruit up to three times a day.
For all its nutritious goodness, fruit’s sugar content means it’s higher in calories than vegetables. So to keep your weight in check, you don’t want to go overboard on the fruit. Whether you snack on it, serve it for dessert, or eat it as part of a meal, you can have fruit as long as you don’t eat more than three servings a day. (A serving is a cup of sliced fruit or one medium piece of whole fruit.) If strong sugar cravings have been an issue in the past, you may want to choose low-sugar fruits more often. The list on
this page
gives you the sugar content of different fruits.

•
Don’t forget to snack!
Eating every few hours is just as important in this phase as it was in the last one. You’ll still be eating one 100-calorie and one 150-calorie snack per day at the times of your choosing. And while you can have a juicy piece of fruit, I suggest that you pair it with protein or a fat in order to control your blood sugar response and satisfy your appetite even more. See the list on
this page
for some ideas.

•
Avoid the following foods:
White flour and products made with it, white rice, fruit juice, and sugar in any of its many forms (including the table sugar you might add to foods, honey, and maple syrup).

•
Set your daily intention.
You may be feeling more in control of your cravings and your diet during this phase, but reminding yourself every morning of your wish to live Sugar Smart and announcing to yourself how you’ll do that in a small way each day helps ensure you’ll reach your goal.