I have been very busy preparing all sorts of “healthful” foods for my first week of the Fat Smash Diet.

This helps me get motivated, and really psyche myself out for the long haul ahead.

I am all set for the next three days, with Carrot Soup,  Brown Rice , Chickpeas Vinaigrette, Fruit Smoothie, chopped raw veggies, and Veggie Burgers.

Since my husband is not willing to join me on this venture, I prepared some regular meals for him, so I can stay out of the kitchen for few days to avoid any unnecessary temptations.

Today I will share the Carrot Soup recipe, which yields 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 10 carrots, chopped
• 1 tsp. butter (I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 5 cups (40 oz), vegetable broth (I prepared my own)
• 3 Tbs. curry powder
• 1 Tbs. minced ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 Tbs of chopped parsley
• Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup brown rice (I used cooked brown rice)

Directions:

1. Fill a 6 quarts pot with water (5 cups), and prepare your own veggie broth, or use ready-made broth.
2. I prepared my own broth by boiling 2 stalks celery, 1/2 onion, 2 bay leaves, parsley root (or parsnip), 1/2 cup of chopped broccoli, 2 tsp. kosher salt.
3. While the veggie broth is cooking, heat a medium saucepan with 1 tsp of olive oil.
4. Add chopped onion, and saute until translucent.
5. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
6. Add chopped carrots and saute additional 10-15 minutes.
7. Combine the sautéed veggies with the veggie broth, and ginger and curry powder.
8. Bring to boil and simmer 30-40 minutes.
9. Remove bay leaves, chopped parsley, black pepper and salt, as needed to taste.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Pour soup into blender, in batches, and puree.
12. Add cooked brown rice.
13. Serve hot, or store in the fridge for future use.

Enjoy.

TIP: I also purred all the other vegetables which I used for the veggie broth, and added them to the soup.  I could not just waste them by tossing them away.

New Year Resolutions do not usually make it to the top of my list, but I am keeping some ideas on the back of my mind.

For a while now, I have been contemplating  getting back in shape, and improving my energy level.

I am also having a guilty feeling about not sticking to my healthy eating habits, and really miss the great feeling I experienced three years ago, after completing Phase I of The Fat Smash Diet.

I finally decided to follow The Fat Smash Diet once again, so this Monday, January 9th, I am starting Phase I  – Detox.

It would be great to have some company, so please join me, and you will LOVE yourself for it.

If you never tried this diet before, please read my post about The Fat Smash Diet, to get an overview of what to expect.

This is the easiest diet for me to follow, since during Phase I, the Detox period, I am not overly concerned about giving up coffee or alcohol;  I do not care much for either one of them anyway.

This past weekend I ventured out to get my special food shopping done.  I stocked up on a lot of fruits, raw vegetables, veggie burgers, brown rice, oatmeal, plain yogurt, and new Brita filters for my tap water.

I used to purchase bottled water, but after finding out that bottled water is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, yet tap water MUST meet certain standards, I decided to go back to my Brita filter system.

The Fat Smash Diet regimen requires a lot of water consumption.  Probably as much as I normally should be drinking, so now I will be much more conscientious about it, and actually do it right.

What I love about this particular diet, is that all the ALLOWED foods, are my favorite any way, and even though I still love all the BAD ones, it is good for me to get away from them for a while, and cleanse my system.

It is an easy way to lose weight, and most of all, feel so much better.

I am hoping to lose at least 7 pounds, but 10 would be even better.

I know I can do it, since last time I lost 15 pounds without too much effort, and only gained back 7 lbs.

Please wish me luck, and tell me that you are joining me!

If you think your mom and grandma were the only ones preaching that soup was good for you, especially during illness, some scientists agree with this theory as well.

Homemade chicken soup, also referred to by many as “Jewish Penicillin”, has been known for its “healing” powers for colds.  It is believed to inhibit inflammation, and break up congestion.

I am convinced that hot soup, hot tea with lemon and honey, and fresh garlic bread, are my best remedies for getting well from such recurring ailments as the common cold.

Soup is a winter staple that no one should be without, as it warms you up from inside out, and boosts your immunity.

Homemade soups made with organic veggies, are the best.

If you must depend on the manufactured soups, please watch out for the amount of sodium and fat,  they contain.

I will share some excerpts from an article I read in a post by Dr.Maoshing Ni.

The therapeutic value of soup comes from the ease with which your body can assimilate the nutrients from the ingredients, which have been broken down by simmering.

1. Lose weight with soup.

It has been found that people who eat one serving of soup per day lose more weight than those who eat the same amount of calories, but don’t eat soup.

2.  Build your immunity.

When you slowly simmer foods over low heat, you gently leach out the energetic and therapeutic properties of the foods, preserving the nutritional value of the foods.  Keep in mind that boiling can destroy half of the vitamins found in vegetables, so cook soup over low heat.

3.  Detoxify your body.

As a liquid, soup is already helping you flush waste from your body.  When you choose detoxifying ingredients, you are really treating your body to an internal cleanse.

4.  Warm up with a hearty soup.

Soups provide something the body craves in a cold weather. The Chinese nutrition would call this the “warming energy”.

5.  Get well faster.

When you are sick, there is no better healing food than soup.  The reason for this is that soups and stews don’t require as much energy to digest, freeing your body up to fight the infection.

Are you convinced yet of the health benefits your body is able to obtain from adding soup to your daily diet?

Preparing homemade soups might sound complicated and intimidating, but it is really very simple.

You can check out the soup recipes I already posted, but there are more coming up, so please stay tuned.

Wow….it seems like I was just working on my first post about The Fat Smash Diet, introducing you to the whole routine, and now we have completed all the most important steps, learned lots of great lessons about food and portion control, got into our daily exercise routine, and posses some great lessons for life.

That is a sure thing.

Don’t you agree?

These are our accomplishments:

• We have Detoxed our body
• Laid a super Foundation
• Constructed a routine
• Built a Temple for Life

All is left to do now is to “Practice what we Preached“, and if we slip and fall occasionally, we know that is fine and totally fixable.

We have the tools we need, the willpower to do it, and the determination to keep it up.  We already know the rewards.

Enjoy the New You!

Happy trails!

Stay happy and healthy!

Share all you have learned, with your family and friends!

As I mentioned to you in my previous post about the Fat Smash Diet, there are 4 different Phases you go through during this program, and each phase has a list of suggested and excluded foods.

Some of the excluded foods in one phase are being introduced back into your diet in the next phase, so for ideal success, you need to follow these food suggestions, eat 3-4 smaller meals per day, follow the same eating schedule, and continue to  exercise.

Just think, this phase is only 9 days long….you can do it!!

It is so worth it.

Phase One –Detox

Suggested Foods:

( in daily maximum quantities)

• All fruits in any quantity.
• All vegetables in any quantity, except:
• No white potatoes
• No Avocados
• Good sources of protein:
• Chickpeas
• Beans
• Tofu
• Lentils
• Brown Rice -  2 cups of cooked rice
• Low-Fat or Skim milk, or Soy Milk – 2 cups
• Water – as much as you like
• Oatmeal – 1 cup
• All herbs and spices
• Low-fat Yogurt (no fruit on bottom) – 2, 6-oz cups per day
• Egg whites – 4
• Herbal tea – 2 cups
• Freshly squeezed fruit or vegetable juice – 1 cup
• Low-fat cheese – 1 ½ slice, or 1 Veggie Burger without bread
• Sugarless chewing gum
• Low-fat Mayo – 1 tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Butter – 1 tsp
• Mustard or Ketchup – 1Tbs
• Soy Sauce – 2Tbs
• Teriyaki Sauce – 2Tbs
• Sugar substitute – 1 tsp

Snacks:

(Choose one snack for the allotted snack period in your eating schedule)

• Low-fat yogurt dip  - 1/3 cup, and  2 cups raw vegetables
• Cashews – 10 pieces
• Low-fat Granola bar – 1
• Grapes – 15 pieces, and ½ cup of low-fat milk
• Plain Low-fat Yogurt – ½ cup
• Baby carrots – 1 ½ cup
• Almonds – 10-14 pieces
• Jell-O Smoothie snacks – 1 snack
• Popcorn, air popped – 3 cups- NO butter
• Saltine crackers – 7
• Medium banana – 1 frozen
• Sunflower seeds – 2 Tbs

EXCLUDED FOODS:

• Peanut butter/jelly
• White Rice
• Meat
• Fish
• Full-fat cheese
• Bread – all types
• Raisins
• Dried or preserved fruits
• Candy
• Ice cream
• Alcohol
• Soda – regular or diet
• Coffee and all coffee drinks
• Sports drinks
• Milkshakes
• Whole eggs or yolks
• Fried foods
• Fast food

All the holiday parties are over, all the cookies and chocolates are gone, but unfortunately what stayed with me, and perhaps with you, are a few extra pounds (according to that darn bathroom scale), and a few inches in the waist line.

Oh well, at least we all had fun, and got carried away a bit, but it is all fixable with some determination and will power.  Here comes the dirty word…Diet…, and I am about to introduce you to a very relaxed way of getting back into shape, by learning to eat healthier and to keep your body moving.

Personally I don’t even like to think about being on a “diet”, since I am not one to count points, weigh my food, live on pre-measured and pre-packaged meals, or stick to high fat foods without any carbs, or indulge on some sort of a cabbage soup, etc.  I have heard about all of these from my family and friends, who experienced all of the above, and yes, some were quite successful, but it’s just not for me. I also am not a “gym rat”, but I do enjoy swimming and walking (mostly walking, since it is the easiest thing to do anywhere ,even at the mall while shopping…).  Does lifting and carrying around my 25 lbs. granddaughter count as “weight lifting”??..if so then I do that on a very regular basis, with love I must add.

A couple of years ago, a co-worker told me about the Fat Smash Diet book, written by Dr. Ian K. Smith.   I looked through her copy, and liked what I learned, so I bought my own copy (it was only $12.95, unless you select the newer version which offers a larger selection of recipes), and decided to give it a try.

The Fat Smash Diet is about smashing the bad habits, and learning the principles of healthy eating, plus physical activity to maintain a healthy life.

This program consists of 4 phases, and there is a list of suggested foods for each phase, as well as a list of foods to avoid during a particular phase.  Each phase continues with the same foods from the original list, plus a gradual introduction of additional foods.

I am beginning my Phase One, on Monday, February 1st (after a weekend, of course), and if you would like to get this book and familiarize yourself with it, and join me (misery loves company…it’s not really misery… it’s actually fun, but more fun with a fan club), that would be great.

Either way, I will post the list of suggested and excluded foods for each phase, so you can be creative with incorporating these into your menu planning.  Believe me, there are lots of choices, many more that I normally would need to stay satisfied.

It is suggested to have 4-5 meals per day, in moderate portions of course, and at least two snacks.  So wouldn’t you agree that there is no way to be overly hungry, and better yet, you eat the foods you are use to.

However, as with any changes you plan to make to your system, you might want to consult with your physician, and do not give up those daily vitamins.

These are the Four Phases:

Phase One – Detox -  9 days.  It cleanses your body of all the toxins you filled it up with, until now.  It is
much more pleasant than it sounds.  I love the fruit and yogurt smoothies!

Phase Two – Foundation – 3 weeks.  You still continue with the foods in phase one, plus
you begin to add few additional ones.   Most of these foods were already part of your
diet, but now you are learning how to make healthier choices.

Phase Three – Construction – 4 weeks.  Here again you continue with foods from previous phases
and introduce some additional ones.

Phase Four – The Temple – lesson for LIFE.  Now that you have learned all the basics, all you have to do
is to apply your knowledge , enjoy your food in moderation, and keep your body moving.

Throughout all the phases, you are required to stay physically active, and the book lists several  exercise suggestions for you, but all I was doing daily, was walking briskly 10 minutes during my lunch time, plus at least 45 minutes after work, plus making 3-4 rounds of stair climbing at home in the evening…no biggie, and quite doable.  If you already have your own daily exercise routine, that might work for you as well.

During the 90 day period, my body felt so much better, I lost 15 pounds, and brown rice and I became best friends for life.

I have slacked off during the past year, so of course, I gained back few of those pounds, but am still ahead, so it’s time again to practice what I preach.  If your goal is greater than mine, have no fear, you can easily achieve it by increasing your daily exercise routine, and sticking to your routine and schedule.

I would love to know how many of you plan to join me on this mission.  The more the merrier!!

In my next post I will provide you with the food list for Phase One, in case you did not get a chance to buy the book, or you are not ready to join me at this time.

Tip: On my first day of this program, I weigh myself very early in the morning, just before jumping in the shower.  It gives me a good start, and it’s a motivating factor for me. After that, I try to check my weight every Monday morning.