The 17 Day Diet


The 17 day diet is broken up into four 17 day cycles. You work your way through each of the first 3 cycles for as long as you need to lose weight. The 4th cycle is 'Arrive' which is basically your maintain cycle or your new permanent lifestyle change. The first 3 cycles can be repeated continuously by returning to cycle 1 after you complete cycle 3 and working your way through them again. Or you can go from 3 back to 2 or remain on 3. For the most part we have remained on 3, except about every 3 months we go back to 1 and work back to 3 again. Since cycle 1 has such a limited food list you typically lose more weight during it than the other cycles.

Cycle 1 'Accelerate' consists of....
LEAN PROTEINS: fish (salmon, flounder, tuna, tilapia, etc) and poultry (chicken and turkey breast, lean ground turkey and eggs.
CLEANSING VEGETABLES: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, green leafy veggies like kale, spinach, collards; green beans, cucumbers, celery, onions, peppers, lettuce, okra, eggplant, tomatoes.
LOW-SUGAR FRUIT: apples, berries, citrus, peaches, pears, red grapes, plums.
PROBIOTIC FOODS: yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese with added probiotics.
DRINKS: warm lemon water (morning), green tea (each meal) and lots and lots of water.

There are some other lists in the cycle for friendly fats, condiments and things that you need to eat in moderation.

A typical meal plan for cycle 1 will look like this.
1st thing in the morning drink 8oz of hot water with 1/2 a lemon squeezed into it. (this takes some getting used to)
Breakfast
2 eggs or 4 egg whites or 1 serving of a probiotic
1 fruit serving
1 cup green tea

Lunch
Liberal amounts of protein
unlimited amounts of cleansing vegetables or 1 probiotic 
1 cup green tea

Supper
Liberal amounts of protein
unlimited vegetables
1 cup green tea

Snacks
2nd fruit serving (no fruit after 2pm on the diet)
2nd probiotic (we prefer Chobani Greek yogurt, mainly because it does not have sugar in the ingredient list)

In Cycle 1 you are pretty much cleansing your body by removing the fats, sugars and high carbs from your diet. I lost almost 20 lbs on my first time through cycle 1.


Cycle 2 'Activate'
You still eat all the same foods you did in cycle 1 but now you get to add some things to it.
PROTEINS: shellfish (shrimp, scallops, clams, crab, etc.), lean cuts of meats (sirloin, flank steak, top round, pork tenderloin, pork loin roast, etc.)
NATURAL STARCHES: Grains (barley, brown rice, Bulgar, couscous, grits, basmati, oats, quinoa)
Legumes (black beans, peas, Lima, lentils, butter peas, kidney, navy, pintos, etc.), starchy vegetables (corn, potato, sweet potato, winter squash).

A typical meal for cycle 2 now looks like this...
1st thing in the morning drink 8oz of hot water with 1/2 a lemon squeezed into it. (this takes some getting used to)
Breakfast
1/2 cup hot whole grain cereal (oat meal, grits, cream of wheat) or 2 eggs or 4 egg whites and 1 serving of a probiotic
1 fruit serving
1 cup green tea

Lunch
Liberal amounts of protein from your new list
1 serving natural starch
unlimited amounts of cleansing vegetables 
1 cup green tea

Supper
Liberal amounts of protein from new list
unlimited vegetables
1 cup green tea

Snacks
2nd fruit serving (no fruit after 2pm on the diet)
2nd probiotic (we prefer Chobani Greek yogurt, mainly because it does not have sugar in the ingredient list)


Cycle 3 'Acheive'
Again you eat the same foods as the previous 2 cycles, you just add more to your list of foods you can eat.
PROTEINS: Fish, shellfish, poultry, lean meats....and now add Cornish hen, turkey bacon or sausage, Canadian bacon (yes finally some meat for breakfast), reduced fat/lean lunch meats.
NATURAL STARCHES: Breads (you want high fiber breads that are low in calories and sugars), high fiber cereals (I love Kashi cereals), pasta (sigh! about time) whole wheat, high fiber, gluten free, anything but white starchy pastas.
VEGETABLES: all the cleansing veggies as before, summer squashes, yellow wax beans (look like yellow green beans so not sure why you couldn't have them in cycle 1)...there is a whole list of new veggies, but I don't eat about 90% of them)...now you can have pretty much any fresh veggie.
FRUITS: same as before, but now add...apricots, banana, cherries, figs, kiwi, melons, mango, pineapples...now you can have pretty much any fresh fruit.

You also get a alternate snack group...this is where the best news comes in...
Babybell low fat cheese, frozen fruit bars (I love Edy's pineapple fruit bars YUM), 100 calorie fudgesicle, light microwave popcorn (single serve bags), sugar free pudding, string cheese, laughing cow wedges (love these on Kashi TLC crackers)...and I saved the best for last skinny cow ice cream sandwiches.


Typical menu for cycle 3 goes like this...
1st thing in the morning drink 8oz of hot water with 1/2 a lemon squeezed into it. (this takes some getting used to)
Breakfast
1/2 cup hot whole grain cereal (oat meal, grits, cream of wheat) or 2 eggs or 4 egg whites and 1 serving of a probiotic
1 fruit serving
1 cup green tea

Lunch
controlled portion of protein from your new list
1 serving natural starch
unlimited amounts of cleansing vegetables
1 probiotic or dairy or dairy substitute
1 cup green tea

Supper
controlled portion of protein from new list
unlimited vegetables
1 cup green tea

Snacks
2nd fruit serving (no fruit after 2pm on the diet)
2nd probiotic (we prefer Chobani Greek yogurt, mainly because it does not have sugar in the ingredient list)
food from optional snack list

I won't really go into Cycle 4 'Arrive' yet. I will save the details for it until I have finally arrived to my goal weight and am ready to maintain my new lifestyle.




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