One self-designed diet that was really effective for me is my "No-Rice Diet" which, is simply, staying away from rice. I did this diet a few months before my wedding in 2009 and it was really effective! Well, I didn't lose as much weight as the "Biggest Loser" contestants but I did lose weight every week (everytime I go to my gown fittings, they had to adjust to make the gown smaller), and it's also something that I know I can do easily even after the wedding. Why did I stop, well, I got cocky. ^_^ After finding out the formula for my own weight-loss program, and finding out how semi-easy it is to do, I figured I can just go back to doing it if I find that I'm gaining some lbs. Well, I'm gaining a "few" pounds back, so it's time to steer clear of the rice section and on to the meats, wheat breads and many more.
Reasons why it worked for me:
1) There's only 1 rule to remember
2) I can still eat the viands that I love without limiting myself
Challenges:
The biggest challenge really is how to not eat rice if you've been eating rice for as long as you can remember. Staple food in the Philippines and for most Filipinos even abroad is rice. It's always rice + viand, or even rice + anything at all (yes, some eat rice and ketchup - that's it... XD ) Not to mention, I'm a real rice eater. I eat more rice than viand (compared to most people). For example, Jollibee's 2pc. burger steak, I can consume 3 orders of rice (or 4 if I want to). So how did I overcome not eating rice? Here are the things that I think helped me transition to a NO-RICE diet:
1) Wheat Bread
This is the ultimate savior. I am not a bread person but, it turns out, I like wheat bread a lot! It really does a good job in making you feel full with just 1 sandwich. It satisfies your hunger really well, and what I do is, I convert some of my favorite viands into a sandwich spread (sisig, liver steak, tuna, etc). How do I do this? Well, sisig, no problem with that. You can use it as is, and just stuff it in your sandwich. You can also put some honey barbecue sauce or any barbecue sauce to add a little sweetness, just like Subway's sweet onion sauce. Make your own variations by adding veggies (the leafy ones and onions, etc) and/or hot sauce!
For the liver steak, you can grind or mash it (the liver) and add some tomato paste, chili, and some onions. For tuna, I use the canned tuna and turn that into my version of tuna sisig (cook the canned tuna in a pan and add onions, pepper, mayo, hot sauce, and egg). Then store it in the fridge and use it whenever you want to! Keep it in the fridge for about a week. Longer than that, I'm not sure if it's still safe to eat.2) Wheat Pasta
Umm... Yes, wheat noodles for spaghetti. We tried it, it works for me, but not for Mario. He said that he can't enjoy the "spaghetti experience" because of the wheat pasta's different taste. Oh well, still the same effect as wheat bread. It makes you full a lot faster than regular noodles. It's because of all the fiber in it. Do I use the same sauce? Yes, the same spaghetti sauce recipe without change (and lots of cheese). I told you, the reason why this diet was easy for me is because there's only 1 rule, and that's no rice. ^_^ But still, I lost weight! Because if wheat pasta makes you full faster than regular noodles, you won't get another serving, thus also lesser sauce... I guess... ^_^;
3) 2 Viands - No Rice
In the office, at lunch, I order 2 viands (no rice) and eat them by themselves. ^_^; (Umm... I can already sense violent reaction from some readers...) Yes, it's possible. But you'd have to choose the type of viands that have a lot of meat, big chunks of veggies, or viands that are soup-based and the other viand which is dry or a little saucy so they balance out. Viands that are meaty and also with lots of veggies like kare-kare, caldereta, liver steak (yes, I love liver dishes), and sweet and sour pork/fish. Soup-based viands that can be eaten alone or with bread or another viand are sinigang, tinola, and nilagang baka.4) Water
Lots of water! Our bodies need that anyway. It's to make you feel full if you really have that urge to eat.
5) Meat
Eating a lot of meat with veggie side dish is what Mario really enjoyed when he joined me in my diet. He particularly loved grilled fish, grilled beef steak, and grilled chicken. So all things grilled plus corn on the side or something else.
6) Weekends are the only exception... ^_^
I'm a food blogger and I just can't resist going to restaurants and tasting their dishes (with rice). I mean, come on, there's gotta be 1 (or 2) days of reward after 5 days of successfully (assuming) not eating rice, right?
7) Fruits!
That's a no-brainer, right? Lots of this, and you can switch them up (different fruit everyday).
* I coupled my diet with green tea, as it helps increase your body's metabolism by a certain percentage, thus burns more calories than usual. Some folks recommend 4 cups of green tea, I only took 1 or 2 during the time I was doing the no-rice diet. I'm still drinking green tea occasionally.I really had fun with that diet but it can also be a little more expensive than the usual rice+viand meal. For starters, wheat anything is more expensive than regular anything (wheat bread vs regular bread, and wheat pasta vs regular pasta). Next is buying a serving of rice is a lot cheaper than buying an extra viand. Rice is 10-15php in most restaurants, but viand (in an office cafeteria) is around 50-60php. So if other people have 70php lunches, you spend 120php for your no-rice lunch.
After reading those transitioning tips, do you think it will still be difficult for you to do this diet? I'm not a doctor or a scientist so I don't know the other implications to the body of this diet. Best is to always consult your doctor before doing a drastic change to your diet. But the most important thing is to love yourself, your body, your face, the whole you no matter the size, weight, color, shape.
Love yourself and everyone else around you will feel how much you respect and value yourself so they will treat you with the same respect you treat yourself. - from Anne in Red.
