 DThien 12 years ago | HI Everyone! I’m new to this program. I’m finding that selecting the “few recipes” in the menu plan works great for a person on the go. That way I just have to eat the right amount of the chosen food groups, I don’t have to cook or prepare a meal. I Have a big family and I have to pack lunches every night….so I take my measured portions of each of the food groups in baggies or small containers. Then through the day all I have to do is grab the right containers.
It’s FAST! and I’m getting all the right stuff!! |
 anna74 12 years ago | Thank you, Ossie, I will give it a go. |
 Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | You can use the 14-day Express Plan (in My Downloads above) as a framework for how to build your meals, and the food lists to be sure you are swapping out the right food groups. If you can do this, it is a great step in adopting a new lifestyle.
The Menu Planner is just one feature of the program – please do make use of the progress meter, recipes, and articles, and of course the forum for support and exchanging ideas. |
| anna74 12 years ago | It takes long enough to fill out the menu planner without having to tick boxes and choose alternatives for everything! I have given up and, as someone else commented, am using the basic guidelines. These are not rocket science, so what am I paying for exactly? |
| Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | Hi, Anna. I have forwarded your input to the tech support team. Do feel free to substitute other proteins for the excess tuna days. With animal proteins, an ounce = an ounce. |
| anna74 12 years ago | I have problems with the menu planner similar to those expressed here. I simply cannot eat as much of everything as suggested, so I’m not trying to do so. The menu planner came up with some fairly bizarre ideas (egg, peach and almonds for one breakfast for example) and suggested tuna canned in water every day for lunch!
I do have physical problems which affect my ability to exercise and I am also sensitive to both wheat and milk. I have used soya milk since 1982 and do not wish to change that. I have not really started on the diet yet since the food selections are somewhat confusing.
Would it be a good idea to translate the primarily American recipes into British English and the temperatures into Celsius for your UK members? |
| Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | Hi, RParsons. Note in the Menu Planner the many options for sandwich fixings. You can prepare items the evening before as you are making dinner (i.e. meat or salads for the sandwiches, cutting vegetables, rinsing fruit, packing a yogurt & spoon) then take them with you on the road. Nuts are also a nutrient-rich, highly portable food – you also don’t need much to make for a good snake. |
| Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | Hi, Lindy. The idea of checking the boxes is to ensure variety. If you wish to post your height and weight, I would be happy to give you a general numbers summary of your meal plan. |
| Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | Hi, Brian and Andy. The program will be working on options for recipes for 1-2 people. Having said that, those of you living with your family, but only doing the diet for yourself – note that this healthy diet is suitable for everyone, and is really the whole point. It is best if you can get the whole family involved – it is more support for you and healthy for them. You don’t have to use the unusual ingredients if others don’t like them or if they are expensive or difficult to obtain. Just use fresh, whole, unprocessed foods, and upgrade what you would have prepared anyway. THAT is really the point of all this – a lifestyle upgrade, not a trip to a parallel universe, from which you will eventually need to return because it is unreasonable 🙂
Andy, if multiple meals per day is not working for you – do get at least three. Perhaps you can work in just a piece of fruit, glass of milk, or handful of nuts here and there between those – for something small, sometimes 30-45 minutes is enough before physical activity. |
 RParsons 12 years ago | I am in total agreement with the views expressed here. I am on the program; my husband will follow along, but it’s just the two of us. I travel during the day for work. I arise at 5 am, leave the house by 7 am. Not alot of time to prepare 2 meals and 2 snacks before leaving.I am a sales rep, and I travel during the week. Having a hot lunch is not really an option for me. I need salad and cold suggestions. I’m also wheat-free. We live in a small town, without access to things like SWG English muffins and tortillas. As a pre-diabetic, I’m avoiding so much grain. This has never been part of my life (amaranth, quinoa, bulgar, etc). Don’t know if this is going to work for me either. Suggestions? |
 Brianh 12 years ago | I realise you can just divide up the ingredients to make smaller amounts but my point is that the majority of people on here are either doing the diet just for them or as a couple so why put out recipes for so many people and not all the recipes can be made smaller. I have just done a shop for some of the things to follow my menu and there is such a lot I cannot buy from our supermarkets and health food shops and to send away for it makes it so expensive that the only pounds I am losing is from my wallet |
 andy197519 12 years ago | hello i have just joined in the uk a few days ago and im finding it really hard to eat as many meals as this per day,also the portions are for 4-6 people in some cases more and i live alone so dont really want to throw out food but theres no way it will last until the next time i have it say 5 days later, and how do you get time to excercise or do your job or sports if you have to eat every 2-3 hours, not sure this is for me but will try and give it a go. is there a away to do this by not eating all the time and just eating more healthy normal meals?. |
 mattcole 12 years ago | Hi – just joined this morning, and trying to figure out a few basic meal plans to get me started. A little confused b a few things…. Am trying first of all to nail down only 3 or 4 variations on breakfast, lunch and snacks. I will not need to have much variety here as our energy goes into the evening meal (which I can addess later), and I tend to be a bit of a robot concerning imaginitive food before then. All help much appreciated! So I’m getting ideas from the Express Meal Plan….a couple of questions: Measures – how much is a cup? Cooked Oatmeal – does this mean porridge? Can I cook my 1/2 cup oatmeal in the 1/2 cup skimmed milk recommended? Or do they have to be prepared in water? Is all fruit interchangeable? Ie if it says peach, I cd just as easily have apple, pear, organge….? What can I replace SWG bread with? Just wholemeal? I assume in theory I need to have all the elements for each meal to get the carb /protein / fat ratio right to have the desired effect? |
| Ossie-Sharon 12 years ago | Hi, Brian. You can always special order SWG products or just use 100% whole meal. As for the recipes, they work just fine if you reduce them – if it makes 4 servings, use 1/4 of the ingredients with the exception of oil (if you need to stir-fry something, the bottom limit is usually 1 tsp). |
| Brianh 12 years ago | I’ve just joined in the UK and am finding it difficult to find most of the foods on here eg swg breads wraps etc, also on the recipes they are mostly for 6-12 people, 4-8 people even the breafast pizza is 4 -8 and I am to have 1 slice other than having it for every meal til its gone what do you do I am alone on this diet and so far have found it unworkable but I’m trying to persevere |
