The 2 Day Diet: healthy fruit and veg to eat on 'milk days'

● How it works
● The science behind it
● What to eat
● Success stories of women who've tried the 2 Day Diet

You can use most fruit and vegetables, apart from home-made or shop-bought fruit juices, avocado, potatoes, parsnips, sweet potato, plantain, yam, beans, pulses and dried fruit. All are great choices for your non-milk days, but too high in calories for the milk days. Use herbs, spices, chilli, garlic, lemon and lime juice, Worcester sauce, vinegars or a teaspoon of capers to add extra flavour to vegetables. For more diet suggestions, visit www.genesisuk.org/research. Click on Genesis Research Projects and follow the link to the intermittent diet study.

Crunchy Salad

This recipe uses 3 portions of vegetables
3½ slices cooked beetroot
25g (1oz) mangetout
1 handful shredded red cabbage
5 radishes, sliced
4 cherry tomatoes
25g (1oz) baby spinach
For the dressing:
¼ garlic clove, crushed
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
½tbsp balsamic vinegar
2tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1tsp wholegrain mustard

1 Mix the salad ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix together dressing ingredients with a splash of water and some freshly ground black pepper.
2 Pour the dressing over the salad and toss together lightly.

Vegetable Stir-fry

This recipe uses 2 portions of vegetables
2tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2.5cm (1in) fresh root ginger, grated
¼ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
¼ red onion, finely sliced
¼ carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
3 baby sweetcorn
25g (1oz) mangetout
25g (1oz) beansprouts
Small handful fresh coriander, chopped

1 Heat a wok or frying pan. Add the soy sauce, garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for 20sec. Add a splash of water to the pan, followed by the onion, carrot, sweetcorn and mangetout.
2 Stir-fry for 4min. Cook for longer if you prefer your vegetables less crunchy. Toss through the beansprouts and coriander and serve.

Grilled Vegetable Kebabs with a Zesty Sauce

Each kebab contains 1¼ vegetable portions
Cherry tomatoes
Green pepper, cut into chunks
Courgette, cut into large cubes
Button mushrooms
Red onion, cut into chunks
For the sauce:
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
1tsp capers, chopped
1tsp Worcestershire or soy sauce
2tbsp freshly chopped parsley
You'll also need:
Metal or wooden skewers

1 If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 10 minutes so they won’t burn. Preheat grill to medium. On to each skewer, thread 3 cherry tomatoes, 3 chunks of pepper, 2 courgette cubes, 2 button mushrooms and 2 onion chunks. Put the kebabs on a baking tray and grill for 10min until beginning to soften.
2 In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients. Serve with the kebabs.

Mushroom Soup

Each portion uses 2 vegetable portions and ¼ pint of milk from your allowance.
Serves 2
50g (2oz) swede, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
½tsp grated nutmeg
Pinch cayenne pepper
150g (5oz) mushrooms, chopped
300ml (½ pint) milk (from allowance)

1 Put swede, onion, bay leaf, nutmeg and cayenne into a medium pan. Add just enough water to cover, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until vegetables are soft.
2 Add the mushrooms and milk and simmer for 10min. Remove bay leaf and blend until smooth. Season and serve.

Non-diet days

Aim to follow a Mediterranean-style diet that is low in fat and follows the usual healthy-eating rules, keeping to around 1,800 calories a day. Replace saturated and transfats with monounsaturates such as olive or rapeseed oil, make dairy products low fat and go for wholegrain bread, pasta and rice. Get at least five fruit and veg a day, but eat more veg as they are generally lower in calories.

Click on page 1 to read more about the 2 Day Diet, or page 3 to read success stories from women who've tried the 2 Day Diet

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