Your 'think yourself slim' seven-day eating plan

To kick-start your new healthy eating regime, follow this plan for seven days...

Find out more about the Think Yourself Slim weight-loss plan

Simply choose any of the following breakfast, lunch and dinner options and mix and match them. You must have breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, two or three cleansing drinks (eg hot water with a squeeze of lemon or fresh ginger) and up to two snacks per day.

Breakfast options

 

Booster smoothie

Serves 1. Place 115g (4oz) fresh mixed berries, ½ banana or 1 small pear, 2tsp flaxseed powder or 1tbsp wheatgerm and 1 cup of milk - use almond, rice, oat or goat's milk - in a liquidiser. Blend and drink immediately.

Fruit with baked muesli
Serves 1. Toast 1tbsp organic jumbo oats on a baking tray in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Put them into a bowl with 2tbsp fresh mixed berries or a pear, 2tbsp mixed seeds and 2tbsp organic natural yoghurt. (The toasted oats will keep in an airtight container for two weeks.)

Lunch options

Avocado, tomato and feta cheese pancakes
Makes 8 pancakes; the spares can be frozen for up to a month. Whisk together 100g (3½oz) buckwheat flour (high in calcium and protein as it's a grass rather than a grain) and a large egg, gradually adding 600ml (1pt) goat's or rice milk and 600ml (1pt) filtered or tap water. Cook an eighth of the mixture at a time in a frying pan with olive oil until cooked. Stuff each pancake (two per person) with ¼ sliced avocado, 25g (1oz) feta cheese or cottage cheese, 2 halved cherry tomatoes and a handful of mixed salad leaves. Finish with a drizzle of lemon juice and a sprinkling of black pepper.

 

Carrot, lentil and coriander soup
Serves 4; can be frozen. Put 900ml (1½pt) filtered water, 2 yeast-free, gluten-free, low-salt vegetable stock cubes, 500g (1lb 2oz) chopped organic carrots, 1 large roughly chopped red onion, 115g (4oz) red lentils and a handful of chopped fresh coriander into a pan and simmer for 20 minutes, until the carrots are soft and the lentils are cooked. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, then blend. Serve with a slice of pumpernickel or rye bread and mixed salad.

Satisfying salad with quinoa and feta cheese
Serves 1. Line a bowl with spinach or lettuce leaves. Mix together your choice of grated vegetables such as carrot, radish, green pepper, beetroot, cucumber, sprouted beans, cabbage and broccoli, along
with 50g (2oz) cooked quinoa or brown rice and 50g (2oz) crumbled feta cheese. Pile this on top of the lettuce and drizzle with olive oil or lemon juice and sprinkle with 1tbsp mixed seeds.

 

Egg cooked in a tomato cup
Serves 1. Cut the top off a large tomato and scoop out the insides. Put ½tsp butter into the hollow tomato and crack an egg into it. Bake the tomato in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes until the egg is cooked. Spread the tomato flesh over a slice of pumpernickel bread and top with the baked tomato. Serve with a salad of two large finely chopped carrots, a red, yellow or orange chopped pepper, 2 handfuls of lettuce leaves and 1tbsp flaxseed oil.

Dinner options

Mixed vegetable frittata

Serves 2. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add 1 large chopped onion, ½ chopped yellow or orange pepper and a chopped leek. Cook until soft. Add a large chopped tomato and stir. In a bowl, beat together four eggs, 2tbsp live natural yoghurt, 1tsp mixed dried herbs, 2tbsp water and a sprinkling of black pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and cook gently until the bottom is firm, then brown the top under a medium grill. Serve with a green salad.

 

Tuna steak with cucumber, wild rocket and dill salsa
Serves 1. Brush a tuna steak with a little olive oil and cook on a ridged pan. After removing the fish, add 1tbsp red wine vinegar and 1tbsp olive oil to the pan and sizzle for a few seconds. Top the steak with a handful of salsa made from diced cucumber, chopped wild rocket, 1tbsp chopped fresh dill and black pepper, then pour the oil and vinegar mixture over the cooked fish. Accompany it with a colourful mixed salad.

 

Smoked haddock kedgeree
Serves 1. Steam 150g (5oz) undyed smoked haddock for about 8 minutes. Add it to a bowl with 100g (3½oz) cooked brown basmati rice, a chopped hardboiled egg, three chopped sun-blushed tomatoes. Season with black pepper, drizzle with 1tbsp flaxseed oil and serve with two handfuls of rocket.

 

Roasted red peppers with goat's cheese, herbs and pitta
Serves 2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas 6. Halve 2 large red peppers lengthwise and bake for 30 minutes. Fry 2 chopped courgettes and a chopped garlic clove for 5 minutes, spoon into the pepper halves and bake for 10 minutes. Top each pepper with a 1cm (½in) slice of goat's cheese and sprinkle with black pepper and thyme or rosemary. Bake for a further 10 minutes until the cheese is lightly cooked. Serve with rocket and toasted wholemeal pitta.

Snack options

 

Up to two permitted a day:

(Drink a large glass of water 10 minutes before any snack as you may be thirsty rather than hungry.)

● An apple or pear and 8 almonds
● A rice cake with hummus
● A handful of soft fruit with 1tbsp natural goat's or sheep's yoghurt and 1tsp seeds

● An apple or pear with a slice of goat's cheese
● A hard-boiled egg with sliced raw vegetables

Click here to get all the facts on the Think Yourself Slim diet

 

 

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