The Deadline Diet - Womens Health

Months 2 and 3: Mix It Up and Meet Your Goal
You’ve made it a
month! If you have two
more to go before your
deadline, it’ll be a piece
of cake. Stick to the basic
plan for weeks two to four
but use the substitution
lists below to keep things
interesting. If you get sick
of strawberries in your
cereal, top with a sliced
banana instead. Or skip the
salmon and sauté mussels.
We provide the serving-size
equivalents, so all you have
to do is pick your faves
from the list, swap them
with similar foods in the
meal plan, and dig in!
For the
recipes
featured in
this story,
go to www.
Womens
HealthSA.
co.za/
Fitness/
deadline-diet
The Home Stretch
When your deadline’s a few
days away, use these four
tricks to look even svelter
in your two-piece.
3 days before: Cut the carbs
(except fruits and non-starchy
veggies) You’ll shed any extra water
you may have been holding onto, which
can knock the scale down a notch or
two. Skip excess salt too (it has the
same water-retaining effect). Limit your
daily sodium intake to 2 300mg.
Swap List
Months
2 to 4
Fruit Swap
• 1 cup blackberries,
raspberries or strawberries
• ¾ cup blueberries
• 2 tbsp dried fruit, like
cranberries or raisins
• 1 cup melon, pawpaw,
pineapple or watermelon
• ½ cup mango
• 2 small apricots
or clementines
• 1 kiwi fruit
• ½ grapefruit
• 1 cup green or red grapes
• 1 medium apple, banana,
nectarine, orange, peach
or plum
Vegetable Swap
• 3 cups rocket, mixed
greens, spinach, or any
type of lettuce
• 5 or 6 asparagus spears
• 1 medium artichoke
• 1 cup raw or ½ cup
cooked vegetables, like
bell peppers, broccoli,
carrots, cauliflower, celery,
green beans, mangetout,
tomatoes or baby marrow
(most veggies except
starchy ones like corn,
potatoes and squash,
which count as carbs)
Carb Swap
• ½ cup cooked basmati,
brown, jasmine or wild rice
• ½ cup cooked barley,
bulgur (cracked wheat),
couscous, polenta,
or quinoa
• 1 cup cooked oats,
oatbran or other
wholegrain hot cereal
• ½ cup cooked pasta
(wholewheat is always
best), like tagliatelle,
bow-tie, fettuccine,
penne or spaghetti
• 1 cup wholegrain,
high-fibre cold cereal
• 1 small (85g) sweet
potato or regular potato
• ½ cup mashed potato
or sweet potato
Protein Swap
• 110g seafood, like
calamari, dorado, hake
(SA trawled), crayfish,
angelfish, mussels,
yellowtail, snoek, or
tuna steak (not bluefin)
• 110g skinless chicken
or turkey breast, or ground
chicken or turkey
• 85-90g beef, ham, pork
or extra-lean red meat
• 110g tofu or other
vegetable-based protein
• ½ cup beans, like black,
cannellini, haricot or kidney
• 2 eggs or 1 whole egg
plus 2 egg whites
Fat Swap
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp canola, flaxseed,
grapeseed or olive oil
• 10 (about ¼ cup) raw
almonds, cashews,
pecans or walnuts
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
or ¼ small avocado
Dairy Swap
• 230ml skim milk or low-fat
soya or rice milk
• 30g low-fat or reducedfat
cheese, like Cheddar,
feta or goat’s cheese
• 180ml low-fat or fat-free
yoghurt (aim for plain to
cut down on added sugar)
• 2 wedges (2 tbsp)
of spreadable cheese
(like Laughing Cow)
• ½ cup low-fat cottage
cheese
Treat Swap
If there’s something you
love that’s not on this
list, eat it! Just make sure
to keep the kilojoules to
545 or less.
• 2 small squares (30g)
dark chocolate or 2 mini
Toblerone triangles
• ½ cup low-fat frozen
yoghurt, low-fat ice
cream or sorbet
• 1 single-serve low-fat
pudding
• 3 to 4 cups light popcorn
• 2 small biscuits
• 15 baked tortilla chips
with 1 ⁄3 cup salsa
• 3 or 4 bites of your
favourite dessert
when eating out
• 150ml red or white wine
• 340ml light beer
• 40ml hard liquor
2 days before: Hit snooze
The amount of sleep you get affects
the function of ghrelin and leptin –
hormones that regulate your appetite
and metabolism. Skimping on shuteye
can cause the hormone levels
to fluctuate, which makes you hungry
(especially for sugary, carb-heavy
foods) and less able to tell when you’re
full. Aim for at least seven hours of
sleep a night and you won’t be as likely
to give in to that hot-dog hankering.
Pass on the gas Steer clear of
cruciferous vegetables like broccoli,
cabbage and Brussels sprouts –
they’re high in fibre and hard to digest,
which means they make you bloated
and, well, flatulent. They also contain
sulphur, so when you let one rip, it’s
bad. Really bad.
1 day before: Say cheers to fizzy
drinks When you drink carbonated
beverages, you consume extra air,
which makes your paunch puff up right
after you’ve finished that Coke Lite. So
ditch the fizz and down water instead.
online
Go to www.WomensHealthSA.
co.za/Fitness/deadline-diet
to get the moves for the workouts.
October 2010 / W O M E N ’ S H E A LT H 127