We haven’t talked about the Rotation Diet here on The UnDiet – I’ll do that in an upcoming post, but I did want to give you a taste of how easy it can be to do what most people would think is impossible and that’s to have only 300 calories in a day and not be hungry.
On 300 calorie days you’ll want to use salad dressings and sauces that are 25 calories per tablespoon (or less) so that you don’t use up the majority of your calorie allotment on jazzing up your salads and veggies . I’ve included a recipe in this post, but for those of you who are crunched for time most health food stores carry these in the produce section by the lettuce or on the shelf in salad dressings section, or you can whip up your own by combining yogurt and herbs seasoned with sea salt and black pepper – my Yogurt Dill Dressing recipe will show you how it’s done and you can create endless variations from there.
Oh and if you’re checking my math and wondering why it doesn’t add up, when doing the Rotation Diet you don’t count the calories in fruits or veggies, so they’re freebies. Eat as many fruits and veggies as you want. That’s the secret to staying out of the “gorilla hunger” zone.
Breakfast
40 calories
- apple slices dusted with cinnamon
- coffee with 2 tablespoons half & half
Lunch
50 calories
- green salad tossed with 2 tablespoons Yogurt Dill Dressing
- artichoke cut in half, hairy choke removed and cooked with cut side down until tender in a broth made of white wine, vegetable broth, garlic and balsamic vinegar, allowing the broth to boil down so that the cut side of artichoke is carmelized.
Quick version: use frozen artichoke hearts instead of whole artichokes. Don’t use canned artichokes, they’re a whole different animal – a bit tough and vinegary. If you use canned artichokes you’ll not be satisfied with your lunch salad. If you’re not satisfied with your lunch salad you’ll start to think that eating healthy doesn’t really work. If you start thinking that eating healthy doesn’t work then you’ll start eating junk food. If you start eating junk food then you’ll start gaining weight and feeling lousy. If you start gaining weight and feeling lousy, you’ll get really really grumpy. If you get really really grumpy then … well you get the picture – don’t use canned artichokes.
Dinner
50 calories
- celery sticks with 2 tablespoons any 25 calorie/tablespoon dressing
- Imagine Foods Butternut Squash Soup thickened or vegetable broth with pureed roasted onion and/or cauliflower.
- 1/2 whole wheat roll
Snack
120 calories
- 2 cups lite popcorn (if no cream in your coffee you can melt 1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon honey, drizzle over popcorn, toss until well mixed – m-m-m, who needs caramel corn?!)
- sliced apples
Yogurt Dill Dressing
1 serving = 2 tablespoons
Per serving: 19 calories, 1.5 net carb, 2.3 grams protein, .5 grams fat,
Since I use this recipe in my Rotation Diet menus (and another version in my low carb menus) I’m using low calorie ingredients and including the calorie count as well as the carb count for any low carbers using this.
Even if you’re going for the low calorie bang, be sure to use real mayo, not the light stuff which contains added sugar and other ingredients to make up for the loss of fat.
Stir together:
1 cube dill pesto or 2 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 cube parsley pesto or 2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
At the end of the day, you’ll have lost around a pound – maybe a little more, maybe a little less. That’s a nice way to recover from a day or two (or a lifetime) of unhealthy eating. Rinse and repeat.