A delightfully romantic film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn provides a great look-back at the wonderfully vintage style of the early 60’s in New York City. Adapted from the novel of the same name, written by Truman Capote, it’s a story of a young woman, Holly Golightly, who exudes confidence and charm. Fun-loving and full of mischief, she longs to live in Tiffany’s because she believes nothing bad could ever happen there.

I welcome you to Breakfast at Karen’s. A week’s worth of planned meals to help you kick start your diet into gear. In true Holly Golightly fashion, I hope these meals will be fun and enjoyable while providing a real sustenance for your life. {+}

To make your eating choices simpler, I’ve designed some sample meals that I have found to be tasty, nutritionally balanced, sustaining and low in saturated fat. If you design your diet around foods like these, you won’t have to worry about counting calories.

Remember your diet principles and don’t skip meals. For best results, eat five meals instead of three. Limit your portion size and resist going back for seconds.

Breakfast–7:00a.m.
Let’s start with breakfast. The sooner you start eating, the sooner you get your metabolism going and burning calories. I try to eat as soon as possible—usually within thirty minutes of waking up. Unless you’re occupied by working out or engaging in some form of exercise—even going for a walk—you shouldn’t delay your breakfast.

Here are seven delicious Breakfast choices, one for every day of the week:

Monday: Start the week foods that will help to cleanse your system. Dining out and social outings sometimes throw our diets off. We are subjected to foods higher in sodium, sugar and fats than when we prepare our own food. We need to rid our bodies of these toxins as quickly and safely as possible.

A fresh fruit salad is ideal for cleansing your system. One advantage of starting the day with a fresh fruit salad is to top the USDA food guidelines of five to seven servings per day of fruits and vegetables—something that most Americans fail to do. If you start the day with a fruit salad of at least three or four fruits, you’re well on your way. Adding wheat germ or flaxseed to the fruit salad is an excellent way to add a dose of protein and healthful fats to the mix.

Drink a full glass of water with your fruit salad. This will aid in your digestion. Remember that fluids combined with insoluble fiber provide the bulk needed to move the waste through your intestines.

Tuesday: Hot cereal is a great way to start the day. Try a half cup of oatmeal, with a half cup of blueberries or strawberries. Add one tablespoon of ground flaxseed to get some healthy omega fats or liven it up with these healthy additions: bee pollen, wheat germ, or egg whites (or Egg Beaters).

Alternating with oatmeal, try cream of rye, or other cereals based on buckwheat, rye, barley, rice, or other grains, this way you are getting a variety of whole grains, necessary for optimum health.

Do you want a quick and tasty way to reduce your waistline? Add whole grains to your diet to lower your weight and benefit your heart as well.

A good hot cereal grain to try is Teff, it’s gluten-free and about the size of a poppy seed. A
quarter-cup of this cooked grain will provide over 20 percent of your daily requirements of
iron, magnesium and copper. Simmer with low fat milk for a tasty cereal or make pancakes from the flour, they’ll be naturally sweet and won’t require extra sugar or syrup.

Wednesday: Cold cereal: Choose a whole grain cereal low in sugar—preferably 4 grams or less. You can add your choice of berries or a banana.

You’re better off using rice milk, soymilk, or almond milk than cow milk, but if you use cow milk, choose a low-fat version.

Ordinary grocery stores are chock-full of breakfast cereals that have been sweetened to the max, and often have fifteen or twenty grams of sugar in a serving. You will have to search the shelves and read the ingredient lists on the boxes vigilantly to find the low-sugar brands. The low-sugar cereals are easier to find in health food stores. The crime is that the cereals aimed at kids tend to be the highest in sugar content.

Thursday: Oatmeal pancakes are very tasty. For lower fat and cholesterol, make with three egg whites and one-half banana, a handful of raisins, a dash of cinnamon, a teaspoon of ground flaxseed and a teaspoon of wheat germ. The cinnamon, banana and raisins will naturally sweeten the pancakes so you won’t have to use refined sweeteners.

Friday: Three egg whites scrambled with spinach, tomato, and onions cooked in one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Serve with a toasted slice of Ezekiel multi-grain bread. This bread made with sprouted organic whole grains, is completely flourless. High in protein, and bursting with nutrients and natural fiber, this bread has a nice nutty flavor.

Saturday: Indulge yourself with something sweet. A fruit and protein smoothie is a great weekend treat. Whip it up with three-quarters of a cup of plain, low-fat yogurt (choose dairy or soy), one half banana, one-half cup of strawberries, one-half cup of blueberries, one-quarter cup of orange juice, one scoop of protein powder, one teaspoon of flaxseed and one teaspoon of wheat germ.

Sunday: Yogurt makes an excellent breakfast choice. Choose a low-fat yogurt, or a non-dairy yogurt. Most non-dairy yogurts are made from soy, and a few are made from rice. . Add a banana, berries, or other fruit, and/or a handful of nuts and raisins or granola.

If you want to have a slice of bread with your breakfast, choose a whole-grain bread or a bread made from sprouted grains. Instead of butter or margarine, choose a jam that isn’t loaded with sugar. The best jams are made just from fruit, fruit juices, and perhaps fruit pectin (a plant-derived gelling agent). If you want peanut butter on your bread, choose a brand that is pure peanut butter with no additives, preferably organic.

All of these sample meals provide you with the necessary nutrients for a healthy diet. If you eat like this every day, you will never have to worry about your weight again.

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Congratulations, you are sliding into home base in the third and final report of Explaining the Diet Principles.

In Parts 1 and 2 of Explaining the Diet Principles, we discussed portion control, skipping meals, adding fiber, protein, fruits and veggies and reasons to avoid or reduce carbs, salt and fats.{+}

8. Reduce your intake of salt.
Your body needs sodium to help it to retain fluids. If you are in an environment where hydration is an issue, then your body will begin to conserve your sodium levels. Low sodium levels may make it hard for you to exercise as sodium influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles. Hence, when you are dehydrated, your muscles will ache and become stiff.

More often than not, we have an excess amount of sodium in our bodies. This extra sodium is excreted through our urine. When the kidneys can’t flush it out, it stays in the bloodstream and causes the heart to work harder.

Most Americans eat way too much salt. Most of us have heard of the link between high sodium intake and high blood pressure, which presents risk for stroke and heart disease. But the high salt diet has also been linked to cancer, osteoporosis, and even cataracts.

Check nutritional labels to keep sodium intake low. Most of the sodium that is in our diet comes from processed foods. Amazingly, the average American consumes about twenty times as much salt as the body needs!

To lower your salt intake, eat fresh foods as much as possible and avoid processed foods. Instead of using salt, season your food with spices and lemon juice.

9. Avoid alcohol.
Alcohol is calorie-rich and slows metabolism. It’s true that red wine, taken in moderate amounts, has a protective effect on your heart (as do red grapes and grape juice), so if you are more concerned with your heart than your weight, a glass of red wine per day is fine.

Avoid hard alcohol, excessive drinking is especially damaging to the female body. Because our bodies contain more fat and less water, we metabolize alcohol much slower than men.

Brain damage, liver disease, pancreatic disease and breast cancer have all been associated with drinking too much alcohol.

10. Drink plenty of water.
Eight glasses per day is the goal. Water is great for you; it flushes toxins from the body and helps fill you up without calories. It provides great benefits for the heart.

If you don’t like to drink water or find it boring and tasteless, unsweetened tea is of course a healthy substitute. A squeeze of lemon to your water or to your tea, will add flavor without additional calories, too. Lemon is an alkalizing food, and thus could help you avoid acid reflux.

It is important, especially when you exercise to keep your body well hydrated. Drinking water while exercising helps to regulate the body’s temperature through the sweat glands. As we sweat our body cools down. By keeping ourselves properly hydrated, we keep this vital process working at its best.

You can usually tell if you have been drinking enough water by the color of your urine. Unless you are taking vitamins that are high in iron, your urine should be lightly colored. Iron tends to make the urine darker. When you are properly hydrated, the water leaving your body in the way of urine should be almost clear.

Drinking enough water each day will improve the function of your kidneys, too. By aiding in digestion, and speeding up the way your body processes food, an ample amount of water will actually speed up the metabolism, making weight loss easier and longer lasting.

Water stimulates the circulation of blood and regulates your skin’s natural balance. It helps to revitalize, detoxify and oxygenate the skin. Drinking plenty of water will help replace the moisture that your face loses through free radicals and other forms of stress in our everyday lives.

If you get your liquids from water and tea instead of soda and fruit juice, you’ll be cutting hundreds of unnecessary calories out of your diet per day.

11. Take a good multivitamin.
A good multi-vitamin covers us for the days when we don’t get proper nutrition. As much as possible, I prefer getting my vitamins and nutrients from healthy, great tasting foods. A vitamin supplement, whether your diet is balanced or not, can add a significant advantage to your way of life.

Women can benefit from taking a good multi-vitamin with iron, particularly those of childbearing age who are slightly anemic. Having a low red blood count will cause you to become anemic. This condition sometimes occurs during the menstrual cycle when iron levels may dip lower. By taking a multi-vitamin supplement with iron, you can raise your red blood count and the added iron may help you feel more energized.

Many women find vitamin E supplements helpful in easing the discomfort of tender breasts. Women who take 400 IU (international units) per day, report significant relief from breast discomfort without the side effects of irritability, bloating and oily skin.

If you are over the age of thirty-five, you need to take extra calcium every day. Women, aged 35 need 1,000 mg of calcium every day until menopause. 1,500 mg per day is needed after menopause. Women who take estrogen after menopause only need 1,000 mg per day because of the effects of estrogen on their bodies they will not require the extra calcium.

Be careful, though, as excessive amounts of vitamins should not be taken. Overdoses of vitamins A, D, E, and K can be dangerous. Disease may result if the vitamins are absorbed in the body’s fat and accumulated in large amounts.

12. Counting calories … for those who must.
Although the Fitness4her diet does not require that you count every calorie, many people feel the need to keep a tab on the calories that they consume each day.

Our bodies require calories each day in order to thrive. 3500 calories of unused energy equals one pound of fat stored in the body. This means for every pound you want to lose, you will need to create a deficit of 3500 calories.

However, many other factors figure in, besides just reducing your caloric intake. The amount of exercise and its effects on your body play a major part in weight reduction.

Remember, your daily intake should not fall below 1200 calories, unless under a doctor’s supervision. When you lose weight too fast, you cause your metabolism to slow down as your body begins to protect its resources. Once you return to a regular diet, your weight will escalate and this is what causes the dreaded yo-yo weight loss/gain syndrome.

By participating fully in the Fitness4Her Diet and 30 Minutes To A New You Exercise Program, it will be easy to reduce your caloric intake and shed those unwanted pounds without going hungry. Best of all it takes only 30 minutes a day. Leaving you extra time for all of those other important things in your schedule.

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Part 1
Part 2

You have examined your present way of eating and have decided to make healthy changes in your food choices. But do you know that diet is more than just about the food you eat? It’s also about your eating habits, as we talked about earlier in Part 1 of the Fitness4Her Diet. {+}

1. Eat often, but eat in small portions.
I try to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. My meal schedule works best this way: 7 am: breakfast. 10 am: snack. 1 pm: lunch. 4 pm: snack 7pm: dinner. I’ve eaten this way my whole life, and never had a weight problem or a significant health problem. If your daily exigencies don’t accommodate this exact schedule of eating, try to create a similar one, with five small meals instead of three large ones. Remember that when it comes to a women’s fitness, eating frequent, small meals will help keep you from overeating and from making unhealthy food choices.

Going for long periods of time without eating causes your metabolism to all but shut down to conserve fat and energy. A slower metabolism burns fewer calories.

Try eating an apple about a half hour or an hour before mealtime to ensure that you don’t overeat. This is an especially valuable tool if you’re going to be dining out. If you eat an apple shortly before going to a restaurant, you won’t eat all the bread in the breadbasket while waiting for your food.

When you prepare a meal, keep the portions small—each serving about the size of the palm of your hand. Larger portions tend to make us feel as if we need to eat all the food on our plate, that’s why I stress preparing small portions. However, if you need to cook a big pot of food, for the family or to eat throughout the week, you can still practice portion control.

Serve yourself a reasonable but small portion in a nice dish and don’t go back for seconds. Make it difficult to dish up extras, by tossing the spoon into the sink, closing the pot and putting it out of mind. If you feel the need for an additional serving, wait at least 10 minutes after your first portion before going back, this will give your stomach enough time to send a signal to the brain that it is full.

The key to portion control is to stop eating when you are full. Learn the language your body is speaking. Don’t take another bite past that satisfied feeling. Remember: your next meal is only a few hours away.

2. Don’t skip meals.
A mistake that dieters often make is skipping meals to cut calories in an effort to lose weight. But did you know that forgoing just one meal a week for a year can do major damage to your health, including your metabolism. When we deprive ourselves of regular meals, the levels of the feel good serotonin get thrown out of kilter, leaving us feeling cranky and craving starches or sugars. Our metabolism slows down, as our body struggles to conserve energy. We must keep our body fueled with food in order for it to work efficiently.

So enjoy your meals, people who eat regularly are more likely to keep off unnecessary pounds. Don’t feel guilty about eating. Negative thoughts like guilt, produce negative results and reactions. Plus, it goes back to diet as a way of life. This has absolutely got to be a way of eating that you can live with. Thus, skipping meals is not the solution.

Remember to always plan ahead to your next meal and try to keep a healthy snack on the ready. This way you will be less likely to skip a meal or leave yourself open to calorie laden temptations.

3. Don’t forget your fiber.
Fiber is important because it reduces body weight and body fat. It’s rich in vitamins and minerals. For optimum colon health, 25-35 grams of fiber is recommended each day.

Soluble fiber comes from foods that are easily dissolved in water. This type of fiber helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels while helping you control your hunger and cravings. It tends to give you a nice full feeling, which keeps you from over eating. Foods containing soluble fiber include strawberries, apples, pears, chickpeas, beans and oatmeal. These foods are particularly good for lowering cholesterol. 10 grams of soluble fiber will help to lower your LDL, which is also known as the “bad cholesterol.”

Insoluble fiber comes from foods that can’t be dissolved in water. This type of fiber adds volume to food without adding a lot of calories. Eating foods that contain insoluble fiber will help your digestive system stay regular. Foods rich in insoluble fiber include high fiber cereal, whole wheat bread, wheat bran, fruits and vegetables.

Increasing fiber can help decrease the risks of colon and rectal cancers. It helps to control blood sugar levels and has been proven to decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes. Diets high in fiber have been associated with lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels, making it a positive force in decreasing the risk of heart disease.

Adding more fiber to your diet has relieved intestinal conditions such as constipation and diverticulitis. Fiber helps to increase the size and bulk of your stool and softens it, making it easier to pass. An increase in fiber may help to alleviate conditions such as hemorrhoids and irritable bowel syndrome.

It’s very easy to increase the amount of fiber you get everyday. Adding a cup of raspberries to your breakfast can provide you with 8 grams of fiber. A cup of split peas adds a whopping 16 grams to your daily intake. For a mid-day snack, 3 cups of air-popped popcorn supplies your body with over 3 grams of fiber.

Try this healthy hint: Instead of weighing your salad down with cheese, add a handful of nuts instead. This will give you protein and fiber in one serving. Nuts are high in saturated fats, so a few nuts will do.

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Part 2
Part 3

In part one, we talked about how your diet was your way of life. It is everything that sustains you and makes you whole. If you make changes to your diet, then you are making changes to your way of life.

{+}

We then discussed your current eating habits, how often you eat, where you get your food, and what type of foods you consume. Because in order to make changes for life, you need to know what your starting point is. It’s the only practical way of formulating a plan to reach your goal. If your present diet is not working for you, then you must determine why it isn’t.

We also talked about the results of eating foods that were high in sugar and fat and how an excessive amount of either of these could cause health problems. We even mentioned the high caloric value of many foods, because many of you depend on counting calories as a way to lose or even gain weight.

Now, unlike many of the other diets, my Fitness4Her diet is not primarily about calorie counting, but more what you eat and how much you consume. I believe portion control is a major factor in any women’s fitness plan and controlling your weight.

There are two problems with basing your diet on strict calorie-counting: 1) some find it difficult or dull, and dieters with the best of intentions often give up on calorie-counting after a few days; 2) it’s almost impossible to do with any great degree of accuracy.

For example, let’s say you decide to have a bowl of cold cereal for breakfast. The box of cereal says that it contains 110 calories per serving. But how much is a serving? You check the box and find that three quarters of a cup equals a serving. How many of you pour your cereal into a measuring cup before pouring it into the bowl?

You would need to go through the same procedure with the milk that you pour over the cereal, in order to calculate how many calories the milk is adding. If you decide to add a handful of raisins or a few strawberries or a banana to the cereal, you would need to get the calorie count on them, too. So in order to calculate our calories adequately, you would need to bring a calculator, measuring cups and spoons to the table along with your food.

You can see how this could get frustrating to say the least. By the time you come to an accurate, definitive calculation on your caloric intake for breakfast, it may be lunchtime. Then you’ll be doing it all over again.

For most of us, there isn’t enough time in the day to go through all these calculations. The only way we can do it is to make fairly broad estimates.

What we need to concentrate on is the type of foods that we eat. So much of what we put into our body is just junk food. Very little nutritional value and many times way too high in fats, sugar and salt.

Don’t think of yourself as having a weight problem or an eating problem. Think of the world of food as a field that you just haven’t mastered yet because, like most of us in America, you’ve been misled on the subject.

The standard American diet is a recipe for disaster. It’s high in processed foods, high in fat, high in saturated fat, high in sugar, high in sodium, high in simple carbohydrates (white flour, sweeteners), high in synthetic chemicals and preservatives, low in fiber, low in fresh and raw foods, low in nutrients.

In short, the standard diet is high in everything that should be low, and low in everything that should be high. It’s no wonder we have accelerating epidemics of obesity and diabetes in this country.

While the ingredients in processed foods tend to be inexpensive for their profit-oriented manufacturers, they can be extraordinarily costly for your health. That’s not the manufacturer’s problem, of course. It’s your problem — today and tomorrow, when the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle can sometimes catch up with you.

Do yourself a favor, save your health and money.

Ignore the advertising and the pervasive pressure to eat the wrong foods, and make a decision to eat the right ones. Healthy, wholesome, natural foods prepared in healthy ways are so much better for you and can change the way you look and feel. Maybe you’ll even try a few selections from our mouth-watering sample meals that you’ve never tasted before.

You are the one in control of your life. Everything that you eat, results from a decision that you have made. It is up to you to make the necessary changes that you want to live with.

You can make healthy choices about what you eat and still take pleasure in your food. Eating should be a celebratory time and never laden with guilt. Feelings of guilt will only make you feel disappointed in yourself. Keep in mind that food is not the problem; food is the answer. Your diet is your way of life; it is what sustains you and makes you whole.

Obesity can be avoided, or overcome, by an understanding of simple principles. These principles are the basis of the Fitness4Her Diet.

1. Eat often, but eat in small portions.

2. Don’t skip meals.

3. Don’t forget your fiber.

4. Eat plenty of protein, but get it from lean sources.

5. Within reason, eat as many servings of fresh fruits and vegetables as possible.

6. Reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates.

7. Reduce dietary fat generally, and particularly reduce unhealthy saturated fat.

8. Reduce your intake of salt.

9. Avoid alcohol.

10. Drink plenty of water.

11. Take a good multi-vitamin.

12. Counting calories … for those who must.

Be sure to read Explaining the Principles for an in-depth look into how these principles can work to end your diet woes. Logical and sensible, they are easy enough for anyone to follow and a key ingredient in achieving any women’s fitness goals!

Share your dieting tips with us and our readers by leaving a comment:

Part 1