Tea Diet

In an effort to be slim for Mexico and the upcoming style show, I have committed this week to the trusty Tea Diet. Because every time I mention it someone asks for details, I thought I'd share it here. This diet is a short term (week max, usually 2-3 days) way to clean out the system and (hopefully) drop a couple pounds for an event or to detox from a weekend or partying or vacation of eating. It's not an official diet or plan, just something I started doing a year or so ago and now John does it too. I originally did it when I stopped drinking during the week, so it helps with that as well. It goes like this...

Breakfast: eat it. I usually have coffee and yogurt and sometimes a handful of almonds or one packet of oatmeal. if I want a mid-morning snack, a handful of almonds. I also take vitamins in the morning with a couple swigs of chocolate soy milk..

Lunch: I pack my lunch every day. I usually bring lettuce with chicken and peas or tomatoes. Sometimes a couple chunks of mozzarella cheese. JJ usually has broccoli and snap peas with brown rice, chicken and some bbq sauce.

Now's when it gets tricky... after lunch, you don't get to eat much more. You can drink tea for the rest of the day. Any flavor, as much as you want. If you need a snack, choose one of the options (and portions) below, or a reasonable comparison (like pizza? no :)). If you are going to work out, you should have a small, healthy snack afterward (I like a scrambled egg with a spoon of salsa and cottage cheese), followed by more tea. I recommend switching to decaf at night if you have had caffeinated tea during the day.

Sadly, you may go to bed feeling hungry.

To avoid giving in to bad choices, I try to stock the house with acceptable snacks. At our house, we love stew (I'll blog my stew recipes one day too) and it makes an acceptable evening snack (about 1 cup's worth). I always have boneless, skinless, baked chicken in the fridge (I use it for our lunches). We also like coleslaw in our house. This isn't a lowfat or low calorie option, but we like it and having food we like helps to not feel like we are totally depriving ourselves from all things good. A small bowl of slaw with a couple bites of chicken and some bbq sauce is a delicious snack and as long as you use a small bowl, and only eat one, it's pretty satisfying. This week, I also have some spaghetti noodles in the fridge to mix with sauce or sometimes I add them to my lunch salad to ensure I can keep up with my workouts. We also always have a giant sack of almonds, but be careful to not overdo it. You should have a small handful, eaten one at a time. Wait 20 mins and if you need more, then another.

I always work out for 20 minutes in the morning and catch 45 mins to an hour later in the day so I have to make sure I have enough food to sustain that. JJ also always gets in an hour per day. We also both drink water throughout the day, independent of the tea.

Why tea? In my opinion, the warmth of tea is comforting and fulfilling, especially at night when you may be prone to overeating because of stress or fatigue or frustration. It fills you up while you are drinking it. I also go to bed early (9ish) so if you stay up later, you may need to have an extra snack. (PS: you might have to pee throughout the night, which is a pain)

It's also helpful to make sure you are busy. I am trying to take a couple extra classes this week and have given myself a few projects to limit my time on the couch, where I love nothing more than to sit with a cup of ice cream and watch SVU.

If this sounds brutal and hard, it is. It's a short term option. It takes a lot of willpower (which I have in spades, I understand not everyone does..) and keeping your eye on the prize.