Has anyone read anything about The Abs Diet? I looked it over, and it looks pretty much like Ph2 to, to me. On it, you're supposed to eat 6 times a day. The only difference is that it tells you to take 1 meal a week to throw the rules out and indulge so you don't get burned out and binge. Here are the "super foods" that they tell you to eat:
Almonds and other nuts
Beans and legumes
Spinach and other green vegetables
Dairy products (fat-free or low-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt)
Instant oatmeal (unsweetened, unflavored)
Eggs
Turkey and other lean meats
Peanut butter (natural)
Olive oil
Whole-grain breads and cereals
Extra-protein whey powder
Raspberries and other berries
If I got sugar-free protein powder, or just skipped that altogether, this is good, right? What are your thoughts? I'm trying to be as healthy as possible, and this seemed like a really natural way of eating.
Here's the link to the article in Women's Health Magazine that turned me on to it.
Most good quality protein powders are going to be very low in sugar - you're looking for a good ratio of protein to sugars. Most will be sweetened with Ace K, Aspartame or Sucralose. Try to avoid those sweetened with sucrose, as that is just a fancy word for white table sugar.
The list looks good, though, I would replace less processed oats for the instant oatmeal. Instant oatmeal isn't bad, per say, it just is better "bang for your nutritional buck" to use regular rolled oats or something similar.
If you're trying hard to be healthy, I wouldn't use that one day to indulge to eat crappy, highly processed foods.....maybe just a little dark chocolate and wine...two more superfoods that are "indulgent"
Yeah, I hadn't planned on going off the deep end for a meal (unless a super special occasion) but was just looking at the overall "diet." It just looks like a modified Ph2 to me. I do love some dark chocolate and red wine....
The protein powder I was looking at getting at the health food store is sweetened with fructose. That's relatively safe, isn't it? I hope so because it looks good, and it's chocolate flavored. Mmmmm. Chocolate. I think I could drink a chocolate shake every morning.
It just looks like a high-protein, "good carb" diet full of anti-oxidant rich foods, to me. I already bought the natural peanut butter. I'd forgotten how much I like that!
This diet seems very similar to (but less complicated than) the SuperFoods diets, and who can go wrong with so many antioxidants and unprocessed foods? I think SuperFoods adds pumpkin and green tea. I'll have to see if I remember any other food groups. And I think that they would have put whole rolled oats, but then it would have spelled ABS DOET POWER, so they just said "Instant" oats. Rolled oats are so quick to cook, that they might as well be instant. I also put them in shakes raw, and just blend them up.
It does seem very similar to Phase 2--almost interchangeable.
I'm sure you know this, but fructose is just fruit sugar, so if you are able to eat fruit without triggering cravings, then that protein powder should work for you. If you are counting fruit servings, I would use it in place of a fruit. I realized that I've been gravitating toward a shake for breakfast--I used to love eggs, but not anymore. I use EAS powder that I get at Costco, and it is sweetened with splenda. I add some yogurt and flax seed or flax seed oil. If I'm making chocolate, I add some extra chocolate powder and sometimes a banana and oats (not on PhI), and if I'm making vanilla, I add blueberries. And I always add a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Let us know how it works if you try it!
Last edited by fireballgirl; 11-15-2008 at 09:08 PM.