Amelia Freer - The 10-Day Plan

[KingstonWood]

Hi, I've bought the book and made a lengthy shopping list - has anyone done the 10 day plan? Is it good, does it work as a kick start/lifestyle change? I have 2 stone to lose and want something (not juicing - i've tried that) that will help me change my relationship with food and not crave sweets, chocolate, biscuits and cake 24 x 7 :-) :-)
I can't find anything anywhere apart from 'celebs' who say it's great. OH is going to hate it and have to eat something else as I know he'll not take part so I'll have to deal with food still as well as for my 3 year old. Would love to hear from someone who has had a go.....

Don't be so hard on yourself Kingston. It's not about being weak or failing it's about making the best choices we can under the circumstances. I've ordered the cook book too as I'm fancying going long term with this as the food is lovely :-)
Thanks for the tip with the quinoa breakfast as I didn't fancy that. The think my favourite breakfast was the frittata but the overnight oats is defibateky the easiest and still very tasty. What do you think it is calories wise? Xx

I've just done a week so far and I really like how healthy it seems.

My observations so far are that I have spent hours a day chopping and further hours visiting the supermarket for further veg supplies. I'm doing it for DH and me and sort of for the 16 year old to ensure he actually consumes some vitamins while revising and getting through a loaf of toast a day! I don't know if I will be able to sustain so much vegetable preparation on an ongoing basis.

I think most of the recipes are pretty good. The chia seed breakfast is vastly better for leaving out the spices except cinnamon. The cardomom and turmeric make it taste a bit medicinal.

I also am including a modest amount of dairy in the form of natural yoghurt, feta and kefir because I feel I will benefit from the calcium being perimenopausal.

I will add that my daughters have turned their noses up at most of the food and so are needing their own meals just to add a bit more prep!

Hi, slightly caved over BH, wine has been consumed and one bread roll! However I'm ok with that, I managed 8 days religiously and am back on it now and this week. Dh is away so the structure will help me ensure I eat properly. We've realised as a family we dont like sweet potato so the last 2 days eve meals we ditched and did some variations on things. At the moment I feel confident that I can sustain a more healthy diet longer term thanks to what I've learned so far. As a family we just had a lovely lunch of the mackerel pate and crudités etc. Girls really enjoyed picking at bits on the table (they had cheese too!) and it was nice to not our usual sandwich and crisps!

I don't know about calories, I had been wondering the same - I know her principle isn't to worry about calories and everything will work out. However I am not shifting weight or stomach size and feel I am eating too much. I mostly finish the meals but not feeling remotely hungry before starting the next meal I think means my intake is just too great. I'm not putting on, so I will carry on until the end but then i think I do need to cut back. The frittata would be great for brunch I didn't really need any lunch at all afterwards, I could probably try doing a 10 day stint on 2 meals per day which might help with weight as well as being healthy still. I'll see how I feel. Good luck back in the working week everyone xx

....and MrsD couldn't agree with you more, I have never chopped so much in my life!!!

Kingston
This is so normal. Excuse me for interrupting your converstaion but i have strugled for years before realising it's not the food thats so hard about dieting, it's what food and when. Don;t make it hard on yourself. So I looked at when are the times to lose weight and when are the times not to try, And I lost 4 and a half stone. I think it's a kind of diet groove. And ther are a few of us that are findng that this really, properly works. good luck!! try it.

Last DAY!!! Can't believe it's actually Day 10. I'll weigh in tomorrow but quite fancy keeping the thread going to discuss all thinks Amelie Freer etc. Anyone else up for it? Xx

I will come back daily when I do my shopping. Even few days of eating healthy food made me sleep better and feel better. I am off my coffee since last week so that is already good as my dry skin heals itself!

How is everyone feeling in general? Is your sleep deeper and your mood calmer?

Hey Octopus and a-m, I'd love for people to carry on updating. With progress, thoughts and what recipes they've tried that are good. What's working and what''s not. I've not quite made it, I have relied on the principles and eaten salads with seeds and avocado and houmous and oatcakes a couple of evenings. Tonight had egg salad on toast so late back from work I knew it was quick. However i am not stopping, I am going to do full days I missed next week and try some vegan days too. xx

Does anyone know if there's more of her recipes anyway? Have really enjoyed 90% of everything but could do with some more recipes to add in

P.S. Just to say I'm not really losing weight - in total I am down 3lbs but was hoping for something more spectacular and exciting :-) i have been so good for longer than I have for YEARS!
However I definitely think my skin is better, I am really sleep deprived but haven't resorted to carbs and chocolate which is my go to. This has actually massively helped me, so I do believe the nutrition has given me more energy to survive the whole day with less sleep.

I can't say bad habits won't creep back in but i do feel very enthused and positive and as long as I can and as much as possible I will continue to focus on eating mindfully and in as natural state as possible. I do have to figure out how to feed my husband successfully though which I hope the cook book will give me more ideas.....

I'm waiting for the book: Cook Nourish Glow, hoping that will give some ideas Jenster x

There's a number of the recipes from her other 2 books available online. I found Pinterest quite helpful in finding them.

Also, have any of you looked at your local library? My library has ebooks which you can download to a tablet, I got the other 2 Amelia Freer books on there.

I don't have a tablet which is a shame as I think she has done seasonal books just as ebooks or something? I have her first book on loan now, I was waiting for cook book but got fed up waiting so ordered it. Her site has a few: Yellow Courgette, Herb & Feta Salad is on my list along with Warm Spring Medley. Just googling there's a few out there here and there. x

Morning everyone. I lost 5lb in total over the 10 days which I am very pleased without as I went off plan for a day or 2 too.
I agree with you Kingston in terms of the general way of eating has made me feel loads better.
Overnight oats for breakfast today, beetroot humour and salad lunch and then the stuffed peppers for tea. Really looking forward to it all :-) xx

WELL DONE! That's absolutely brilliant :-)

I'm just roasting beetroot for my next batch of houmous, I'm doing loads as it did freeze well and I gave a pot to my mother who loved it too. I didn't like the soup so best to do all houmous and make something I like and allows for really quick meal in the freezer.

Still not tried the Peppers, I'm going to do Day 6 - 10 next Monday to Friday as I did fail on evening meals and had salads instead rather a lot. I am determined to keep going it's clearly going to be slow weight loss but I've not stuck to 10 days of proper eating/dieting for 3.5 years, not sure I've gone 10 days without wine for in that time either!!

Anyway fabulous news Octopus bon appetit xx

I got the 10 day plan book from the library today, need to go through it and tweak a bit (as I don't like fish, but looks like i can just swap out the fish meals for the vegan meals, and the advance prep works the same).

I also managed to get the Cook one as an ebook from the library (but annoyingly I can only read it on the computer as it's not kindle compatible . Her website also has a load of recipes, not had enough of a look to see if they're just duplicated, or if there are different ones.

Not sure how much the family will join in when I start next week - DD has newly got fixed braces which is limiting her diet-wise atm, plus she's got a bit fussy recently (hates aubergines, courgettes, most pulses). DH will eat anything I put in front of him, but has a dreadful habit of raiding the fridge late at night, so I need to make sure that's cleared out in advance .

Not liking the sound of the chia pot to be honest, it doesn't seem like the most enticing start to the meal plan. Most of the rest of it looks good though, and enough different recipes I can incorporate into our general meal plans after the 10 days is up.

The food pyramid is quite inspired, I've not seen that before, and I think it could be very helpful.

Just need to see when's best to actually start, I've got two long work days tomorrow and Monday, so might be Tuesday as prep day, and Wednesday to start properly.

making shopping list is crucial MyVisions that's why wasn't able to commit, my local Sainsbury's didn't have all ingredients (ground spices), I had to drive to Waitrose and will do it again tomorrow I think

Prep days - notes:
I made beetroot hummus from p 136.
I don't like tahini and replaced it with extra v olive oil (3-4 tbsps).
I used 250g pack of cooked beetroot, you can buy it at Sainsbury's, is without vinegar. I always grate them wearing rubber gloves or your skin turns pinkish for few days.
and didn't change anything in the rest of ingredients are the same bar dill (forgot to put it on my list).
is yummy!
even my son liked it and he is very picky

So another winner :)

Spiced seeds sprinkle from p.140
I cba to go elsewhere to get seeds (this was the only missing ingredient for the 3 days of meals I planned my shopping for) so found a pack of Munchy Seeds (purple label) which I believe are already toasted. I grinded them and they taste fine. Didn't add chilli though. I am sure I'll manage to buy raw seeds and make it properly next time.

I also found frozen fruit which can stand for "sesonal fruit" IMHO.

Also discovered by googling that lentilles vertes are the same as puy lentils! Thanks Sainsbury's for enhancing my knowledge of pulses!

The refined Puy Lentils - also known as "Lentilles Vertes du Puy" have been produced in the area of Le Puy en Velay, in the Auvergne region of France

I am jealous that you could get the new book from your library, MyVisions - my library don't have it in hard copy or as an ebook. Had a slightly (massive) fall from the wagon over the last few days as I was catering a children's birthday party... we still have cake & I'm utterly sick of looking at it. So I suppose that's a good thing! But I'm starting again today. One of my favourite very easy meals is quinoa & vegetable bake. It's just a lot of Mediterranean type vegetables chopped up, mixed with some quinoa, harissa & chopped garlic, with a little water, & baked in a lidded oven dish for about 40 mins.

Anna Jones is a similar type of cook IMHO. A lot of her recipes on guardian website but I like her books too.

Thanks 'awesome I've checked out some Anna Jones recipes and they look great - have saved a couple to try this week. I agree the houmous is fab a-m I hope you get on really well this week, keep posting.
I was terrible Friday with dinner party lots of wine and awful hangover to follow then DH ordered pizza on saturday and I couldn't resist. HOWEVER I have actually managed to keep to principles all other meals and grabbing salads, seeds etc out of the fridge whilst cooking for rest of family and not feeling I'm missing out. Even Friday's supper I cooked and loaded up with more veg that I would ever have done before and had tiny amount of pudding. So with moderation I am going to eat 'normally' at weekends making better choices than before and focus hard on ensuring every week day is wholly nutritious and following the pyramid.

My weight is back to starting weight though (I did only lose 3 lbs in the 10 days) so although I think I look better, my skin is definitely better and my eyes whiter and brighter, and I feel better I haven't really lost weight; so that does have to be the main goal now, i think the 10 day plan had too much food for me personally which was great but I didn't once feel remotely hungry often really still quite satiated even when sitting down to the next meal and AF does say there is nothing wrong with a rumbling stomach!

Good luck to everyone starting this week and do report back, I'm going to do some of the vegan recipes I think this week too. x

Hi all,

Just read through your posts. I'm on day 4 of the plan - sort of. Not actually using many of the recipes yet as struggling to get ingredients abroad. I'm following the pyramid religiously though and haven't had a single snack.
I'll hopefully be able to get some more ingredients at the weekend.

How are you all doing?