Monday: pre plan your food for the day (food prep)
Before you go to bed tonight plan your entire day of food. It is very helpful to make mindful decisions with food instead of eating what sounds good. Focus on portion sizes, percentage of vegetables, if you have heavier carbs only have one included for the day, keep sugar under control, etc. Once you look at what you have planned for the day that is it, do not eat more that you are allowing yourself.
Tuesday & Wednesday: Choose a diet to follow below. Do the same one for both days or change to another. 2 days of your diet for the week or more should be vegetarian if not all days.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet: Eliminate meat, fish and poultry but allows eggs and dairy products.
Lacto-vegetarian diet: Eliminate meat, fish, poultry and eggs but allows dairy products.
Ovo-vegetarian diet: Eliminate meat, fish, poultry and dairy products but allows.
Pescetarian diet: Eliminate meat and poultry but allows fish and sometimes eggs and dairy products.
Vegan diet: Eliminate meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products, as well as other animal-derived products, such as honey.
Flexitarian diet: A mostly vegetarian diet that incorporates occasional meat, fish or poultry.
Thursday: How much sugar you are consuming. Download MyFitnessPal and start counting. Look at all of the food you eat including fruits & vegetables then see where your grams end up. Added sugar other than fruits and vegetables is what you really want to look at but take a moment to look at your total intake. Most are only looking at the ice cream, added sugar to their coffee, etc. The recommended is 25 for women and 37.5 for men.
Sugar per cup:
13.9g mashed sweet potatoes
13.5g cooked beets
9.9g cooked onions
9.5g cooked peas
9.1g cooked sweet corn
8.1g canned pumpkin
6.8g butternut squash
6.7g rutabagas
6.1g carrots
6g tomato
5.9g red bell peppers
5.6g shitake mushrooms
4.9 turnips
Lowest sugar content vegetables
0g white button mushrooms
.1g watercress
.1g spinach
.1g red leaf lettuce
.2g beet greens
.4g kale
.4g arugula
.5 soybean sprouts
.9g celery
1.5 broccoli
1.7 cucumber
1.9 swiss chard
2g cauliflower
2.2g radishes
2.3g asparagus
Friday: water and vegetables come first
Every meal you eat drink 20 oz of water first then eat the vegetables on your plate before the rest. This could be steamed, roasted, veggie soup, salad, etc. Get your most nutritious foods in first to promote better satiety. Eating protein and vegetables before carbohydrates leads to lower post-meal glucose and insulin levels. With this challenge also eat until just before you feel completely full.
