This could change your life

[fraggletits]

Anyone doing Zoe Harcombe?

I would never have known about her had I not tried her diet that was serialised in the news of the world magazine 3 months ago.

It appealed to me because it was proper food, no calorie counting - but I was going away on hols so decided to do a kerry katona last blow out and then I'd start it when I got back.

I've bought the book and am so far 5lbs lighter and I am only on day 4 of the 5 day kickstart. Phase 2 looks really good and Phase 3 is a return to completely normal eating and drinking with just a couple of simple rules to follow.

It's brilliant. I can't recommend it highly enough. I thought I was a hopeless big dinner portion fan - a crisp and chocolate addict with alcoholic tendencies. But she has just blown all that apart for me. (It's more than just a diet - it's an explanation of why we crave things and why we feel helpless - phase 1 and 2 eliminate these cravings pretty painlessly so that by phase 3 you can eat all the things you used to but with a couple of simple rules and with a new found awareness and control over food, gained from phase 1 and 2)

She's got a couple of websites - one under zoe harcombe, one under thedietguru I think.

Hope this helps anyone struggling with calorie counting and exercise

I weighed myself again this morning because it was the end of phase 1 for me and I'm really, really pleased with a 6lb loss!

I'm starting phase 2. I can't find the download on her website anymore for phase 2 but could someone please tell me if this is right?

You can snack on fruit
you can have 2 carb meals
you can have a baked potato with low fat cottage cheese as a carb meal
you can have skimmed milk

Hi Squid from what I've read so far the above are all correct, however she does advise 3 hours between a carb snack (fruit) and a fat meal.

Well done on weight loss.

Thanks Rinky.
I've just found the download and am ecstatic to see cheese salad as one of the meal options (I love cheese!). Baked potatoes are making me happy too

Hey Squid - congrats on the loss - 6lbs is brilliant

You can snack on fruit (but if candida was a problem for you she recommends max 2 pieces a day)
You can have 3 carb meals a day if you like
You can have baked potatoes and cottage cheese and you can have skimmed milk
All in unlimited quantities

I had my first cheese salad the other day - it was yum!

I'm planning baked potato and LF cottage cheese too

And my weekly shop was less expensive too - pos due to cheap brown rice instead of alcohol and smoked salmon...

And I'm bouncing around with energy today...

Mega thanks Fraggletits for starting this thread!

Congratulations Squid! That's great news. My scales are playing up so at the moment I don't know whether after five days of phase 1 to be pleased with a good loss or thoroughly disappointed with not much.

I will be continuing phase 1 today in preparation for going to a wedding tomorrow where I'm bound to be eating all the wrong things. My book arrived yesterday so I'm planning on reading up on everything today and trying to work out if I've been doing everything right so far. If I could get the scales to work properly I'd probably have more of an indication of this!

Ah thanks everyone
I've got a friend who's doing this as well and she's lost 5.5lbs. She loves this diet too

Dh wants an Indian take away tonight. I'm going to go for tandoori chicken and a seekh kebab and make a salad at home to go with it.

Squashedfrogs that must be so frustrating for you. You need to get yourself some new scales or just go by how your clothes fit. Enjoy the wedding.

Sorry Rinky, I forgot to congratulate you on your loss! Thats good going.

Yes, mega thanks Fraggle for starting this thread! You're helping me to achieve something that I've been trying all year to achieve and getting nowhere.[mwah, mwah gives Fraggle a kiss on both cheeks]

• no probs!

Hope Becaroo feeling a bit better today.

Hello all and thank you for the support

I still feel a bit horrid but have had a really busy day today which hasnt helped matters - into town for shopping, opticians, then taking ds1 to karate etc etc I could have cried in Tesco...they were selling caramel cake!!! Caramel Cake!!!! Arrgh...didnt get one you will be please to hear.

I think I am eating enough - you be the judge;

Today I had;
A 3 egg omlette with tomatoes for b fast

A HUGE bowl of home made butternut squash soup for lunch

and brown rice and loads of steamed veg for tea - but then couldnt finish it all - I was stuffed!!!!!

I am allergic to yoghurt (and cheese) so they are not an option for me, sadly And I loathe porridge too, so I am finding phase 1 very limiting - but it is only for 5 days.

Have been snacking on the rice puff cereal....how on earth does anyone manage to eat 100g of it????!!!!!

I am determined to see out the 5 days, and then see how I feel. To be honest, once wholemmeal bread and jacket potatoes are allowed, I dont think I will find it too bad (becaroo says in a hopeful tone!)

Some questions - AGAIN!!!

1. How do I get proper wholemeal bread from a supermarket? Id there a specific brand? Just looked at my breadmaker recipe book and you have to add sugar!

1. Having trouble finding meat - i.e. ham to cook that has not got added sugar and preservatives in...can I ask where you are getting yours from?

Thanks!

Anyone know the rules for wine- would love a glass of red with my chicken salad tonight but haven't read that far yet and am toddler-juggling?

ooohh...is that right? Can you have 2 carb meals per day in phase 2? That would be fab as I am a bit worried at the amount of fat if I had 2 fat meals per day....I love omlettes cooked in butter but I guess they arent that good for you if you have them everyday!!! ....

Hi Rinky,

You can have wine, preferably red, preferably organic, with your main meal in Phase 2, but it is counted as a "cheat" and she does say one glass.

Becaroo - you can have three carb meals a day in Phase 2 if you want, but she advises at least one fat meal for variety.

I put on weight last week on Phase 2 with no cheating, and I think it was because I'm a bit of a carb addict - it seems to work best for me to stick to 2 fats, 1 carb.

I can't see how you can possibly have real wholemeal bread, either home-made or from a shop, without there being sugar in it as sugar is needed to activate yeast.

The only type that would be ok if you stuck to the no-sugar rule would be unleavened bread (or can soda bread be made wholemeal and without sugar?). So I would say that the small amount of sugar you need in a breadmaker to make a British-style loaf would be fine. American recipes tend to have a lot more sugar.

Today I've had: brie cheese for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, quite a lot of grapes as a snack just now - I was hungry and they were delicious! We're going to friends later, so I'm hoping to stick to the rules and have a "fat" meal but with a glass of wine as a treat.

Sticking to one or two glasses will be a big challenge though, also passing on any carbs on offer - I don't know what they're cooking.

Hi all and well done on your losses. I was looking in the supermarket at the bread and all seem to have sugar added.

I did bake my own bread and never added sugar and it was fine. Here is the recipe you will just need to alter it as this is for 3 loafs.

Basic wholemeal bread recipe
1 kg bread flour
500g organic wholemeal flour
15g sea salt
30g yeast
1 litre warm water or milk (plus extra if required)

Plus change all flour to wholemeal

This bread you can buy at the super market with no sugar added

here

neither does this one

Or this one

Hope it helps

And also re: the ham/bacon - preservatives are fine as they all have preservatives, it's things like dextrose (sugar), honey, brown sugar that you're looking.

Tesco Finest cooked ham just has preservative. Their normal range ham has dextrose. So depending on where you shop, I think you'll prob have to go up a shopping brand to the finest/organic hams.

Glad you're feeling a bit better Becaroo even with the stress/distractions.

That's great info about the bread Mammyto1, thanks for that

Hi Becaroo. If you don't feel hungry, then I guess you're eating enough .
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm not sure you should be snacking on the puffed rice all day long. I know you can have 100g for breakfast but I'm sure this diet works with insulin levels or something which is why you need to leave a few hrs between proteins and carbs. I don't know the science behind it but it may be couterproductive.
Just a thought (which may be completely wrong!)

I had homemade chips tonight and thought I would just check my bread for sugar. Guess what... it didn't and it was from aldi for 69p.

So I had chip butties with no butter for dinner tonight and it was very yummy!!1

I may have to cave in and have a tiinnyy bit of homemade apple crumble tonight. I feel a bit easily led tonight as its Saturday.

Glad you enjoyed the chip butties
It doesn't seem quite right though, on a diet

Confession time - I had some apple crumble with custard. It was yummy.
I had about 4 spoons of it and then stopped because I really felt like I'd had enough. I actually feel like how I would have felt after about 2 big helpings of it!
Long may this continue

I'm enjoying this food, I had:-

2-egg omolette

tomato soup & wholemeal toast
blackberries and LF yogurt

decaff cappuccino- mid afternoon (no chocolate on top at new found will-power! )

mozerella & tomato salad
chicken salad with roast pepper, spring onions and carrot

YUMMY

and I didn't really want that glass of wine after all

omelette

Thanks for the bread recipe mammyto1.

Is that for a bread machine or by hand? And is the 30g yeast fresh or dried yeast please?

We have a bread machine, but if the oven is on, it's easy enough to make it in the food processor.