I really appreciate these chapter summaries. I own the first book, but I read the new book from the library and had to return it. These posts are very helpful in remembering.
Really glad you're finding them useful, Tabbycat! I'm actually finding I refer back to them myself during the day, when I'm at work and don't have the book handy.
I like those chocolate-covered almonds. Almonds and dark chocolate are both allowed separately (from Wave 2 in the case of the chocolate), so I can't see why you shouldn't have them together. You'd just need to work out what would be a reasonable quantity. You're allowed 11 almonds at a time, and one square of dark chocolate three times a week, so you'd need to estimate how much of the chocolate coating would be equivalent to one square.
I'm actually going to need to do a similar exercise, because I'm planning to eat my chocolate allowance in the form of dark chocolate-covered Brazil nuts - the selenium in the Brazil nuts seems to help me ward off the depression I used to suffer from. So I need to figure out how many Brazil nuts are in 1 oz and how much chocolate coating there is on one of them.
New Sonoma Diet summaries: Fast-Track Your Weight Loss
In this chapter, the author addresses some of the things that make dieting can hard - a slower weight loss than we were hoping for, finding the guidelines difficult to follow, losing enthusiasm over time, cravings etc. I really liked this - the tips are a lot more clear and practical than I've seen in most diet books, and she acknowledges more clearly what the problems are. I've seen similar tips on other diet forums, but not usually from the actual creator of the diet. I feel it shows she's been listening to dieters rather than just trying to sell them a product (though that is clearly part of it, but she does have to make a living!)
For slow weight loss, her tips are:
Choose more Tier 1 fruit and veg
Eat more slowly
Eat more fish
Don't load the plate up to the edge
Snack only on Tier 1 veg
Have a cup of tea or glass of water instead of a snack - you may actually be thirsty rather than hungry
Buy fresh food rather than packages
If you haven't been exercising, start; if you have, bump up the intensity.
For cravings and other problems, she suggests:
Keep a food journal, including emotional issues like what you felt when you were eating, whether you liked the food, what your cravings were, etc - this may help you pin down patterns or find solutions
Meet a craving halfway by having a healthier version of what you're craving
Take your mind off the craving by thinking of something else, going for a walk, brushing your teeth, etc
Shift one of your snacks to the time when you have most of your cravings
Find ways to manage your stress, as it's one of the major triggers for poor eating for most people
Make sure you're sleeping well (p.130 has some tips for what to do if you're not)
She also addresses how to deal with the dreaded plateau. These are her recommendations:
Wait a week in case it's just water retention or similar (especially when switching from Wave 1 to Wave 2)
Check that you're following the guidelines correctly, using your food journal if you have one
If you're definitely following all the guidelines, consider repeating Wave 1
Also consider repeating Wave 1 if you think the reason for your plateau is cravings for white bread or white sugar
Increase your physical activity
The chapter ends with some specific exercise recommendations, which I believe are expanded compared to the original edition. These are:
Exercise for an hour a day, five days a week (but build up to this if it's been a long time since you were physically active)
Start off with something easy - the important thing is to create a habit.
Do something you enjoy, otherwise you won't stick to it.
Approach exercise as something fun.
Do all three pillars of exercise (cardiovascular, strength and flexibility; the flexibility part can include meditation and relaxation).
She suggests some specific stretching exercises for the upper body, back and lower body. Although she doesn't say so, these look to me to be yoga-based - I have done versions of all of them in yoga classes. I have done some of them elsewhere as well, but yoga is the only place I have done them all. They look like they would only take 5-10 mins to do, so they may be a good starting-point for people who are not used to doing any kind of flexibility work.
New Sonoma Diet summaries: Wave 3 - The New Sonoma Diet Lifestyle
This chapter is about how to maintain. She starts with a bit of a pep talk about your success up to this point and some encouragement to keep eating a varied diet, enjoy your food, etc. Then she makes the following recommendations:
Use Wave 3 to work on turning all your meals into slow eating experiences
Either eat more fruit and vegetables so that you don't continue to lose, or else occasionally allow yourself a "nontypical" food (one that is not on the Sonoma lists). The first strategy is better.
Continue to do your regular exercise, but also look for new opportunities to challenge yourself physically (e.g. long hikes or new activities that you haven't tried before)
Keep using the same plate proportions as in Wave 2
Continue to eat more fruit and veg from Tier 1 than from Tiers 2 and 3
Continue to avoid fatty meats, potatoes, full-fat dairy, hydrogenated fats, refined grains, and sugared sweets
She also has some tips if you find your weight creeping up again:
First of all, cut back on the things you added when you changed from Wave 2 to Wave 3.
If that doesn't bring your weight down, go back to Wave 2 until you get back to your goal.
If you are not just gaining weight, but also starting to eat large amounts of sugar and white flour again, then repeat Wave 1 for 10 days. If you're back to your target weight after that, go straight back to Wave 3; otherwise, go to Wave 2 until you reach your target.
She ends with some tips on mindful eating and eating organic.
I like this better than the WW maintenance plan, which is the only one I have experience with. The WW plan was too different from the earlier phases of WW, so I didn't adjust well. This is so similar to Wave 2 that I would feel more confident about it, I think. We'll find out when I get there!
New Sonoma Diet summaries: Eating Out on the New Sonoma Diet
This chapter sets out Connie Guttersen's recommendations for eating out in restaurants:
Order according to the food guidelines and plate percentages
Ask for brown rice or wholegrain bread
Skip white rice, potatoes and white bread
Research restaurants online beforehand or phone ahead
Ask for EVOO vinaigrette or a low-fat dressing, and order it on the side
Have plenty of water
Watch your portion sizes - take the excess home or share it
Ask if vegetables can be substituted for white rice or potato
Eat slowly and mindfully
Avoid butter, refined bread, and high-calorie drinks
Don't add salt
She also makes recommendations for specific types of restaurant and gives some tips on reading menus.
I was a bit disappointed in this chapter, as it seems to rely quite heavily on making special requests in the restaurant, which I don't like doing (this is a cultural difference between Britain and the US, I think.) I've also never heard of a British restaurant offering brown rice, other than a wholefood restaurant, of which we don't have very many. So I'm not sure how useful these tips will be for me. I will probably mostly just try to avoid eating starchy carbs in restaurants and just supplement with snacks later in the day, I think.
New Sonoma Diet summaries: FAQs about the New Sonoma Diet
This is quite a useful chapter, I think, with some good clear summaries of a few of the areas that people might find difficult. I don't think there's much that's completely new, but a recap helps to fix it in your mind. She covers various "crisis situations" (e.g. what to do if you have cravings or if your weight loss stalls) and clarifies a few points about what is and isn't allowed. She also gives some tips about dealing with family members who aren't on the diet.
I think the tip I found most useful was how to deal with dishes that mix protein, grains and vegetables all together. She says to estimate how much of each food type is in the dish and then fill your plate accordingly. For instance, if you think it consists of equal quantities of protein, grain and vegetable, then fill three quarters of your plate with that dish and leave the last quarter for fruit. If you think it's mostly protein with a bit of veg added, then use it to fill slightly more than a quarter of your plate and add more vegetables to make up the "missing" vegetables (these examples seem to assume you're on Wave 2, but you can do something similar for Wave 1). I think this could be very useful for eating out.
Another thing that I don't think is covered elsewhere is what to do about vegetables that aren't on any of the lists. She says that if it's watery, you treat it as Tier 1; if it's starchy, treat it as Tier 3; and if it's somewhere inbetween, treat it as Tier 2.
I'm going to cover all of the Meal Plans and Recipes section in one post, so this will be the last summary in the series
The author starts off with "Sonoma Express" guidelines for making wraps, salads or protein dishes using whatever you have on hand. There is also a brand list suggesting foods which go particularly well with this diet, although inevitably this is a bit US-specific (only about 25% of the brands exist in the UK, and probably even fewer in other non-US countries).
The rest is all recipes. They are divided into three sections: Seasonings, Wave 1 and Wave 2. The seasoning section includes marinades, salad dressings, rubs, dips and spreads. The Wave 1 section starts with a suggested ten-day meal plan, followed by the recipes you need to use that plan. The Wave 2 section has a fourteen-day meal plan plus the recipes. I prefer to make up my own meal plans, but I have already used some of the recipes, and they're pretty good. Everything I have tried so far has tasted great, and the instructions are very clear. Sometimes I would do things in a slightly different order than she suggests, but that's a matter of individual cooking styles, I think - her way will certainly work, it's just sometimes a bit fussier and less efficient than my style. For instance, in the recipe for White Bean Ratatouille she tells you to combine various liquid ingredients in a separate bowl before adding them to the dish - I just stirred them in directly, which worked fine and saved washing up an extra bowl. I cook a lot, though. If you're an inexperienced cook, just stick to her instructions and you'll be fine.
Many of the recipes include a lot of suggested variations, which will help you to add variety to your dishes if you're sticking to her meal plans. I'm also intending to adapt my own favourite recipes to the Sonoma guidelines - I've been cooking mainly from unprocessed foods for years, so for me it's mainly a matter of adjusting the proportions a little, replacing white flour and rice with wholegrains, and reducing the sugar and dairy content.
So there we are, that's the series of chapter summaries completed! Happy dieting, everyone!
Happy dieting, everyone! 
