It has now been a week since I completed the “New Year New You” eating challenge. As a reminder for those who may not have followed along last week, the “New Year New You” was a 7-day eating plan, designed to help kick those nasty food cravings that some of us inadvertently seem to acquire after the holidays. I certainly get them every year!
7 Day “New Year New You” Body Cleanse!
The Guideline:
Day 1 Parameters: Fruit Day - Eat all the fruits you want, except bananas. The lowest calorie fruits are watermelon and cantaloupe, so if you eat mostly melons you will lose more weight.
Day 2 Parameters: Vegetable Day – Eat lots of vegetables – fresh, raw, or cooked. Stay away from starchy vegetables such as peas, corn and beans. SURPRISE! You also get a baked potato with butter today.
Day 3 Parameters: Fruits and Veggies – Same as day one and day two, except no potato today
Day 4 Parameters: Bananas and Yogurt – Eat as many as eight bananas, and 8 glasses of skim milk or Weight Watchers yogurt if you aren’t a milk drinker, since it’s basically artificially flavoured skim milk. Yes, bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates, but on this day your body will need the essential calcium and carbs and protein that will lessen your craving for sweets.
Day 5 Parameters: Fowl and Tomatoes – Chicken, Turkey and 6 tomatoes throughout the day. Make sure you drink a glass of water for each tomato you eat to wash the uric acid out of your body.
Day 6 Parameters: Fowl and Veggies – Don’t be shy, eat to your heart’s content filling up with Chicken, Turkey and Vegetables – no potatoes today!
Day 7 Parameters: Miracle Soup! Miracle Soup Recipe: 2-3 Large Onions Chopped, 1 head of Cabbage chopped, 1 green pepper chopped, 5-6 celery stalks chopped, 2 large cans of diced tomatoes, and 2 packages of Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix. Put the chopped vegetables in a pan and pour the tomatoes (that have been slightly blended in a blender) over top. Add 4-6 cups of water, enough to barely cover the vegetables. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the Beefy Onion Soup Mix and cook until all the vegetables are tender.
At the end of the 7 days, I had lost a total of 8.7 pounds, felt much better and more than anything was really happy the week was over!
It has now been a week later, and I’ve really noticed that I no longer have cravings for sweets, which is huge because I wanted to eat all sweets in sight before I did the week. For a week I’ve been back to my normal eating habits, and I only gained back 1.8 pounds total… so it did provide me with a longer-term weight loss, which I was happy to see!
The week was very difficult… no doubt about it… but I still feel it was worth it! I’ve completed this eating plan for five years now… I can’t honestly say if I would try for 6. What I would like to do is find a way to eat healthy, manage my portions, and tread myself occasionally without over-treating, and still be able to maintain my weight and health. If I was going to set a resolution for 2019, this would be my resolution!
Image by silviarita from Pixabay