A '17 Day Diet' Basic Recipe for Everyone!

Most people want to feel happy with their bodies, and becoming healthily slim is one way of achieving this.

The '17 Day Diet' is just one of many possible diets, based on healthy eating, so choose what suits you.

The '17 Day Diet' has been designed by Dr Mike Moreno and is proving to be quite popular.

The idea is attractive, since it allows for variety.

The food is healthy and, if you follow the advice, the pounds melt away.

For the first seventeen days, the diet is at its most limited, but, perfectly 'do-able', since, even here, there is a variety of delicious foods to choose from.

My recipe is a sort of adaptable 'stir fry'. It is a basic main meal, using foods from this first part of the system ~ cycle 1.

It is aimed at people just beginning this diet and also those in cycle two, where food is limited on alternative days.

That said, this dish is so delicious and versatile, that it is perfectly suitable for anyone ~ dieting or not!

Non-dieters can make even more adjustments to the recipe!

Copyright Tricia Mason. All Rights Reserved.

I am not a health expert, a dietitian or a chef.

This is simply a recipe that I use and enjoy.

I cannot guarantee weight loss on the diet, or if eating my recipe.

Please be careful to eat safely and sensibly.

To a large degree, you choose your own ingredients from the list of foods suitable for phase one of the diet ~ the first seventeen days. Dr Moreno calls this 'Cycle One: Accelerate'.

Here is a quote from Chapter 3 of Moreno's book, which describes 'Cycle One':

"On this cycle you can eat unlimited protein ... as well as many vegetables. But you limit your carbohydrate intake ..... Fruits and fats are not banned ... both will add sweetness and flavour to your diet."

So what can we eat in cycle one?

Fish ~ wild rather than farmed.

Chicken or turkey breast meat ~ lean; no skin; good quality ~ preferably organic.

Eggs ~ up to two per day (or four if only whites are eaten); preferably free range, organic

Most vegetables and salad foods ~ except potatoes, corn, legumes ~ preferably organic.

A number of fruits ~ the low sugar ones ~ preferably organic.

Pro-biotics ~ 2 servings of, eg, probiotic yogurt, cottage cheese, Yakult

Fats ~ only healthy ones, eg. olive oil, linseed oil, and no more than two table-spoons per day

Condiments ~ used moderately.

Try to use fresh, local, organic produce, from reputable sellers and growers.

olive oil (from daily allowance)

black pepper

mild chilli pepper

turmeric

mixed herbs

fresh ginger

fresh garlic

fresh herbs - eg coriander, basic, mint

tomato puree

olive puree (not too much, as contains olive oil ~ from allowance )

mushrooms ~ any. Beware of wild ones ~ risk of confusion with toxic varieties!

onions ~ any variety or a mixture

peppers ~ any variety or a mixture

tomatoes ~ any variety

Other options:

chicken or turkey

fish

cabbage and / or courgettes

aubergine and / or portabella mushrooms

egg(s)

Greek live yogurt

You can cook some turkey or chicken breast and add it to the dish.

These meats can be stir-fried, right at the beginning, in small pieces.

Alternatively, they can be cooked in a George Foreman Grill and added to the vegetable pan, later, to absorb some of the delicious flavours.

Make sure that poultry is properly cooked throughout.

Dr Moreno gives this list of fish in his chapter on cycle one:

salmon, sole, plaice, red snapper, tilapia, tuna

Choose one ~ or more ~ fish that you like and that you feel would go well with your mixed vegetables.

I use a steamer-bag, in my microwave oven, to cook my fish. I then break apart the flakes and add it to my stir-fried vegetables, later, where it mixes with the other flavours. If you have your own method of cooking fish, use that.

There are some vegetables that stir-fry better than others.

I find that some are better boiled. These include cabbage, courgettes, leeks, etc.

Sometimes I stir-fry leeks and courgettes and sometimes I boil them ~ but I always boil cabbage.

I add black pepper to the water, but not salt. There is usually too much salt in our diet.

If you need salt, just add a tiny bit of rock salt.

A nice sweetheart cabbage, sliced, boiled, drained and added to the vegetable mix, later, can be delicious.

If you want something meaty and substantial for this dish ~ but don't want actual meat ~ you might opt for aubergine (egg plant) and / or portabella mushrooms.

For the stir fry, I chop my mushrooms or use baby ones, but, to benefit from the meaty texture of portabella mushrooms it is better to serve them whole.

The aubergines need to be sliced.

I use a wide flat pan, to which I add a little olive oil ~ and heat.

Some herbs and spices can be added now.

I then add my sliced aubergines and keep turning, until they soften.

The portabella mushrooms can also be cooked, similarly, in this pan.

When they are cooked, they join the main pan as a late addition, just in time to soak up some flavour and mix in with the other vegetables.

An alternative way of serving this dish is by adding a whisked egg or two.

Depending on the amounts of vegetable used, and the way that the egg cooks in the pan, this could become a flavoured scramble, or omelette ~ or a frittata.

Once you have added all of the main ingredients, and they are cooked through, you could add some Greek yogurt.

This will give the dish added flavour ~ plus a nice creaminess.

Keep stirring and warm it through, before serving.

Yum!!!

I rarely cook, but I wanted to eat fresh organic food ~ the ones on Dr Moreno's list ~ without additives.

Consequently, I developed this very simple, but rewarding, recipe, based on items that I liked. It evolved very informally.

It is extremely versatile, as you can probably tell.

It is also healthy, nutritious ~ and very, very easy!

As long as you keep to the list of allowed foods, you may add, or omit, whatever herbs and spices you wish, whatever vegetables you wish, whatever poultry or fish that you wish.

Try to use good quality, fresh, local, organic food.

Care:

Do not add anything, which might cause allergies in anyone eating it. Check medical history.

Use fresh items, but be very wary of collecting anything growing wild, because of the risk of mis-identification and poisoning. Obtain goods from a reliable shop.

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You choose your own amounts ~ but only eat when you are feeling a little hungry.

Don't eat when you are not hungry, but don't wait until you are ravenous!

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A pasta bowl makes an ideal serving vessel.

I absolutely love tomatoes and potatoes!. Consequently, I tend to eat a lot of them ~ probably too many!

I especially like tiny sweet tomatoes and buttery new potatoes (I am not so keen on the older floury kind).

For cycle one of the '17 day diet', potatoes are not allowed.

They are allowed, though, in moderation, during cycle two.

It is worth remembering that the starch in potatoes turns to sugar, after it has been eaten ~ hence the ban during the first phase of the diet.

At the beginning of cycle one, I had already bought a lovely bag of new potatoes, so I did put them in ~ and they were delicious. So, if you are not on the diet, or are in the second phase, you could add some tiny new potatoes ~ equivalent to one medium potato.

A word of warning, though; I read, recently, that potatoes and tomatoes, are considered bad for inflammation, so best avoided ~ or, at least, checked out ~ if you suffer with any inflammatory health problems.

Raisins and sultanas are rather 'sugary'. but, for those who are not dieting, just a few of these make a delicious addition to the dish ~ I know, because I'm afraid that I have 'cheated' a few times and allowed myself to go slightly off-list.

Alcohol is not allowed on this diet, as your body is eliminating toxins, but, if you are not attempting to lose weight, then you may wish to soak you dried fruit in red wine ~ or add a splash of wine to the recipe.

Non-dieters might wish to grate a little cheddar cheese over the top, and allow it to melt into the dish.

Just to underline the weight-gain dangers of eating dried fruit, I will quote Dr. Mike Moreno:

"Ounce for ounce, dried fruit has tons more calories than the fresh kind.... In the same volume of fresh grapes and raisins, for example, grapes have 60 calories, whilst raisins have 460."

I hope that you will enjoy trying this recipe and experimenting with it.

If you are going to try this, or any other, diet, in an attempt to lose weight, then please stick to healthy eating meal plans rather than crash diets or faddy diets, which don't work.

Good luck!