The 6 meal per day diet is listed in a series of posts on the main page, but I thought it would be good to consolidate them here so you would have a quick reference to the whole diet. I’ll be posting new food suggestions and updates too, so keep your eye out for them.

Meal 1- Breakfast

You’ve probably heard it all your life and ignored it most of the time, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, most people skip breakfast and either get something unhealthy from a drive-through or just wait until lunch to eat. The solution is really easy and simple- instant oatmeal and fruit. You can get the instant oatmeal in a whole variety of flavors and it even comes in low sugar form. Quaker has a whole line of oatmeal and most supermarket chains have their own house brands which are jsut as good and a lot cheaper. Make it with lowfat milk and then have some fruit with it and you have an excellent 90 second breakfast. Really, no excuses! this is a 90 second solution and it even has the added benefit of lowering cholesterol in most people.

Stay away from the giant muffins and other “fast” breakfast alternatives since they have virtually no nutritional value and are loaded with fat and sugar. Also, stay away from the high sugar and fat coffee drinks at places like Starbucks since they can easily have 400-500 calories and no real nutritional value (In other word, they make you fat). Drinking stuff like that wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels and gives you a bad start to the day.

Meal 2- Mid-morning

Usually if you go all morning without eating anything significant you are starved by lunch. That is not a good thing since you will always overeat when you are that hungry. So what we are doing by putting a mid morning snack/meal in your diet is alleviating the starvation reflex and also helping to keep your energy level up by keeping you blood sugar fairly level. This makes you feel better and boosts your metabolism.
Depending on how hungry you are at this point in the day, you can eat a variety of things. For instance, if you are not very hungry, eat a small apple and drink a glass of water with it. If you are more hungry or you have a job where you are expending a lot of energy, eat an apple and 1/2 a bagel with some natural peanut butter on it. Same deal with the water- a glass of water really helps you from over eating since you need it and it helps you feel full. You want to try to keep the calories to around 200, so if you want to eat a protein bar- like a Balance Bar, that’s OK but make a habit of looking at the nutrition label so you know what and how much you are eating.

Meal 3- Lunch

Eating a good lunch will have a big impact on how you feel the rest of the day. If you eat a huge lunch because you skipped breakfast and a mid-morning meal, you will have that sluggish tired feeling during the afternoon. So skip the crappy fast food or large lunch at a restaurant and try this- get a grilled chicken salad (skip the croûtons) and add some fruit on the side. If you are thinking “where am I going to get fruit?”, remember that almost all grocery stores have a deli where you can get almost anything you want. So get a salad and some fruit or get a turkey sandwich on a croissant. Skip the cheese and mayo if you can and get spicy mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Add some pickles- they are almost calorie free. Iced tea, water, coffee or low calorie drink is best. Skip the sodas.

Nice lunch and I promise you will feel better during the afternoon. The key here is to be moderate. Remember, you are going to get to eat again in a couple of hours!

Meal 4- Mid-afternoon

Hopefully, you are getting the hang of eating less, more often. This meal is important because if you skip it, you will be really hungry by dinner and that is likely to cause you to overeat. So try this: If you had a sandwich for lunch, and only ate 1/2 of it, eat the other half now with some fruit or even chips. As always, you need to check the nutrition label on the chips, but generally, Sun Chips and other reduced fat chips are OK. Get the prepackaged 100 calorie bags so you don’t eat more than you should. You can definitely substitute fruit or some sort of vegetable for the chips if you want. I really like the peeled mini-carrots that come in a bag. They are easy to pack and carry, and are really low in calories- about 100 calories for 1/2 lb. So you can eat a lot of carrots! Plus, they are really good for you. But, the idea of this diet is not to torture yourself, it is to change your eating habits so that you are healthier, can lose weight and feel better. So if you want to eat some chips or even chocolate (get the 100 calories packs of dark chocolate) enjoy!
Other possibilities are a half bagel with peanut butter (I love bagels so this is a common snack for me) or a salad with lite dressing.

Meal 5- Dinner

Well, if you have been following the diet so far, you are ready for dinner! For most people, dinner is a really big meal but if you are on this diet, it shouldn’t be huge because you just ate a couple of hours ago, and you will eat again in a few more. Try this- Start with a salad with a light dressing. If the dressing is “creamy” that means it has a lot of fat. Just read the labels, and you will get a pretty good idea of which is which.

For your meat use 4 ounces (1/4 lb) of a lean meat like chicken, fish, or even beef grilled or pan seared.  Add some vegetables (Stir fry is also a great way to cook meat and vegetables together) like brocolli, carrots, green beans or whatever you like. Steam them and use low calorie butter flavored spray with seasoning like Mrs. Dash (tons of recipes at their website). You can also use some grated cheese like Parmesan or Romano to add flavor. Skip the potatoes or bread or at least skip them every other night. Brown rice is a better choice and you can flavor it with things like salsa or seasonings to make it really good. Drink water with lemon, iced tea, or some other low calorie drink. Instead of something like cake or pie for dessert, try some fresh fruit in a bowl with a little low calorie cool whip. Your body will love you for it, and you will feel a lot better through the evening.

Meal 6- Evening

One of the worst feelings is going to bed hungry, so there is one more meal to keep that from happening. If you have been following the plan so far, you should have had a light dinner and be ready to eat a little more about 9pm assuming you ate dinner at about 6. Here is what you do- skip the usual late night junk like ice cream, cookies, or other high sugar snacks and eat a handful of nuts (almonds are really good) and some fruit (cherries are excellent). The nuts will satisfy your hunger and the fruit is a good substitute for sugary snacks. Try not to eat a lot since you don’t want to go to bed with a full stomach, you just don’t want to be hungry. Other foods you can eat are some leftover meat from dinner with fruit, a half bagel with low sugar jam or fruit spread or a protein bar. Try to keep the calories under 200. If you eat to much before bed, you might not sleep well, and you certainly won’t be burning those calories off while you sleep. So keep it light and you will feel better in the morning.