Authors: Mary Enig
Eat Fat, Lose Fat (19 page)
Not only the foods in our meal plans but also the beverages you drink are important. Choosing the right beverage can provide essential nourishment, increase satiation, and help digestion. For weight loss, many people desperately need a replacement for sodas, including the sugar-free sodas made with aspartame.
One of the most satisfying, most digestible, and most nourishing beverages is whole raw milk. Since not everyone has access to it, we offer you an alternative in the form of our
Coconut Milk Tonic
(see recipe). Made with coconut milk, a natural sweetener, and dolomite powder, this tonic is formulated to provide the same number of calories and the same amount of calcium as whole milk.
The Quick and Easy Weight Loss menu plans include raw whole milk or Coconut Milk Tonic one or more times a day to provide adequate calcium and medium-chain triglycerides for weight loss.
Here are some other beverages that you can use to accompany your meals:
Spritzer
The easiest beverage to make. Simply add a small pinch of sea salt and the juice of 1 lime, ½ lemon, or ¼ grapefruit to sparkling water. You’ll have a delicious, satisfying soft drink that goes well with food. The sea salt provides important trace minerals, and the sour taste of the citrus fruit helps digestion.
Kombucha
A terrific sparkling fermented beverage from Russia, made by fermenting sweetened tea with a culture from the kombucha mushroom. You’ll find a recipe for
Kombucha
, but you can also purchase it at health food stores or by mail order (see Resources).
Coconut Fruit Shrub
An easy, delicious, sweet-and-sour beverage made with fresh fruit and coconut vinegar. The taste of the vinegar disappears after a few days, leaving only complex fruit flavors.
Kefir Soda
Chapter 10 includes several recipes for sparkling sodas made with a culture of kefir powder or grains, including cream soda, ginger ale, lemonade, and fruit sodas. The fermentation process provides enzymes and beneficial bacteria. We recommend these beverages especially for anyone having trouble giving up the commercial soft drink habit. They’re wonderful and actually very easy (and a lot of fun) to make. You don’t have to deprive yourself—soft drinks actually can be good for you!
A Caution for Pregnant or Nursing Women
We do not recommend that women who are pregnant or nursing follow Quick and Easy Weight Loss. You should not restrict calories at these times. Instead, you can follow the Health Recovery or Everyday Gourmet plan, either of which will provide excellent nutrition for both you and your baby. (In fact, nursing mothers should always include coconut oil in their diets because the lauric acid comes out in breast milk and helps protect the baby against viruses and other pathogens.) Then, when your baby is weaned, you can begin the weight-loss plan.
Start-Up Week for Quick and Easy Weight Loss
Here’s a schedule for advance planning. During this week, you’ll need to order and shop ahead for the necessary ingredients so everything is in place before you start.
Day One: Order Products by Mail, Scout Out Raw Milk
Scout out and order coconut and other products that you may or may not find in stores (see Resources for brand names and sources):
- Coconut milk and coconut oil (also available in many stores)
- Freeze-dried coconut (optional)
- High-vitamin cod-liver oil, liquid, or capsules
- Lacto-fermented condiments, such as sauerkraut and pickles. Be sure that what you buy has not been pasteurized or heated, but is made by the genuine process of lacto-fermentation. Several delicious brands are available.
- Dolomite powder (a calcium source if raw milk is unavailable). If you have access to raw milk, you won’t need dolomite.
- Unrefined sea salt
- Kefir powder or kefir grains (if you want to try some kefir sodas;).
- Raw milk. To find raw milk, visit realmilk.com or contact the nearest local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation (westonaprice.org). Raw milk is available in stores in several states and through direct farm purchase and cow-share programs in many other states.
Day Two: Cupboard Cleanout
Go on a tour of your kitchen cupboards and throw out all processed foods, especially products containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (crackers, cookies, pastries, doughnuts, chips, and snack foods), ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, and sauce mixes and other products likely to contain MSG. Remember that anything containing “spices,” “spice mixes,” “natural flavorings,” and anything “autolyzed” or “hydrolyzed” is likely to contain MSG.
Day Three: Fridge and Freezer Free-Up
Get rid of all processed foods, prepared dinners, and low-fat dairy products in your fridge or freezer.
Day Four: Shop
Take a trip to the market or health food store to purchase ingredients for your first week of meals. Remember that you can use store-bought lacto-fermented condiments, recommended brands of whole-grain crackers, mayonnaise, and frozen broths if you don’t want to make your own. Brand names are provided in the Resources section.
Whenever possible, purchase organic fruits and vegetables and organic or pasture-fed meats and eggs.
Shopping List for Quick and Easy Weight Loss
See Resources for recommended product brands and where to get them.
Coconut Products
These products generally are available at health food stores and specialty markets, which will soon be stocking more of them as demand grows.
- Coconut oil
- Whole canned coconut milk
- Unsweetened desiccated (dried) coconut
Fats and Oils
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Cold-pressed sesame oil
- Cold-pressed flax oil
- Organic (ideally grass-fed) butter
- Ghee (optional)
- High-quality mayonnaise, preferably Delouis Fils brand (unless you make your own)
Dairy
- Organic whole-milk yogurt
- Organic whole-milk raw cheeses (the label should say the cheese is made from unpasteurized milk; available in most high-end markets and specialty stores or on the Internet)
- Organic cream cheese without additives
- Organic cream (preferably raw, but in any case not ultrapasteurized)
Sweeteners
A natural sweetener such as dehydrated cane sugar juice (sold as Rapadura or Sucanat), raw honey and/or maple syrup (Note: You’ll use very few sweeteners on Quick and Easy Weight Loss.)
- Stevia powder
Breads, Cereals, and Legumes
- Rolled oats
- Sourdough and sprouted whole-grain bread
- Brown rice
- Whole-grain crackers
- Wheat berries or whole-wheat flour (if you want to make Coconut Crackers)
Animal Foods
- Eggs (preferably from pastured chickens)
- Fresh beef, lamb, and pork
- Organ meats, if you want to try them, such as calf’s liver, beef heart, and turkey and chicken livers
- Organic chicken, duck, and turkey
- Nitrate-free, additive-free bacon, sausage, and salami
- Fresh paté or liverwurst without additives
Seafood
- Fresh wild fish
- Fresh and frozen shellfish
- Canned wild salmon, tuna without additives, and anchovies
- Salmon caviar (canned or fresh) or canned carp roe
- Smoked wild salmon
Fruits and Vegetables
- Fresh, seasonal produce, preferably organic
- Organic frozen produce
Nuts and Seeds
- Raw pecans, almonds, cashews, peanuts and/or walnuts (Note: You’ll use very few nuts in Phase Two of Quick and Easy Weight Loss.)
- Pine nuts
- Organic natural peanut butter (be sure it does not contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils)
Condiments
- Raw vinegar
- Organic spices (non-irradiated)
- Good-quality Dijon-style mustard
- Arrowroot powder (used as a thickener in stir-fries)
- Thai fish sauce
- Red and green curry paste
- Naturally fermented soy sauce
- Lacto-fermented condiments such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles (brand names provided in the Resource section)
Canned and Frozen Foods
- Canned tomatoes, tomato paste
- Frozen meat stocks (chicken, fish, and beef)
Optional Miscellaneous Items
- Bonito flakes (if you want to make Quick Fish Stock, the base for several of our fish soup recipes)
- Ready-made kombucha
- Macaroons
To estimate quantities, look through the menu plans and recipes to decide which dishes you want to make, then consider how many meals you expect to cook over two weeks, and for how many people.
Day Five: Getting Started
Note: Bolded items are our own recipes, provided in Chapters 9 and 10.
- Make
Mary’s Oil Blend - Make
Coconut Sprinkles - Begin a batch of
Crispy Nuts
Day Six: More Food Basics
- Make
Rich Chicken Stock
. - Optional: Make a
Kefir Soda
(especially recommended for anyone struggling to give up commercial sodas). You may also purchase ready-made kombucha, or simply make spritzers to go with your meals. - Optional: Make a simple lacto-fermented condiment such as
Sauerkraut
) or
Bread and Butter Pickles
. You can also use purchased lacto-fermented condiments.
Day Seven: Final Prep (Optional)
These are all optional, since store-bought alternatives are available.
- Begin another
Kefir Soda
or lacto-fermented beverage. - Make another lacto-fermented condiment.
- Make
Coconut Crackers
. - Make
Mayonnaise
.
Phase One Menu Plans
During this phase, you will eat a regular, balanced diet containing plenty of fat but avoiding an excess of sugars and refined carbohydrates. In addition:
Keys to Weight-Loss Success
Be sure you always:
- Take 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in warm water or herb tea 20 minutes before each meal.
- Consume three servings of calcium-rich food, such as raw milk, raw cheese, bone broth (in soups, sauces, or gravies), or Coconut Milk Tonic, every day. If you work in an office and aren’t able to eat a calcium-rich food for lunch, have an extra cup of raw milk or Coconut Milk Tonic, or 1½ ounces of cheese, in the evening. This amount of cheese provides the same amount of calcium as a glass of raw milk or Coconut
- Milk Tonic. It has about the same amount of calories as well, so there’s no need for calorie adjustment.
- Check out the recipes and plan your cooking or buying in advance so that you have on hand key ingredients such as chicken broth, whole-grain crackers, lacto-fermented condiments, stock, mayonnaise, and healthy beverages.
- Take 1 to 2 tablespoons coconut oil in warm water or herb tea (such as mint or chamomile) 20 minutes before every meal.
- Take 1 teaspoon high-vitamin cod-liver oil (or the equivalent in capsules) before breakfast.
To determine how much coconut oil you need for each dose, use the formula given.
Although you will not be counting calories, the daily calorie level for the first week is about 2500. Be sure to avoid eating excess carbohydrates, though non-starchy vegetables are fine. Take coconut oil as directed to suppress appetite and boost metabolism. Many people report that this relatively liberal diet, with the addition of coconut oil, provides slow, steady weight loss. Phase One also helps you become familiar with a strict three-meal-per-day schedule and the satisfying tastes of traditional foods.
Bolded
items indicate recipes provided in Chapters 9 and 10. Note that although the lunch menus do indicate that a spritzer is acceptable, the best option, should you be so inclined, would be to buy or make a Quick and Easy fermented beverage and take it to work.
Remember to take your dose of coconut oil before each meal (and cod-liver oil before breakfast)!
Tips for Streamlining the Menu Plans
The dishes in the Quick and Easy Weight Loss menus really are simple and easy. Moreover, they are available in restaurants if you don’t have time to cook.
- If the only breakfast you have time to prepare during your work week is a coconut or yogurt smoothie (which can even be made the night before and consumed in the car on the way to work), then use your extra time on weekends to make eggs on Saturday and Sunday.
- If you work in an office, take your lunch to work (soup in a thermos, salads in covered containers, paté, cheese, Crispy Nuts, etc.). Or eat out, following our guidelines as much as possible.
- You may also want to make quantities large enough to provide leftovers to eat several days in a row.
Making Substitutions
The 14 days of menu plans for each phase are meant as guidelines—choose the ones that work for you and your lifestyle (and that you like to eat!). If there are any dishes we suggest that are not to your taste, or that you can’t easily incorporate into your life, feel free to replace them with other selections you prefer from our wide range of recipes. (All recipes come with calorie counts.)
For example, if you prefer not to eat liver, you can substitute another recipe for a liver dish in the menu plans and take four desiccated liver tablets that day (see Resources for recommended brands).
If you are unable to buy raw milk, and don’t have any prepared Coconut Milk Tonic (or don’t have time to make it), you can substitute 1½ ounces of cheese to provide the same amount of calcium as a cup of the tonic.
