Reverse Diet

Does it matter when you eat? Well, Tricia Cunningham and Heidi Skolnik, two diet experts who have joined forces to create this diet, say it does. Tricia, who claims to have lost 150 pounds and kept it off for six years, is a qualified life coach, and brings a holistic, motivational approach to the program.

The idea of the reverse diet is that by reversing the order of meals, and changing the calorie balance of each one, the body will find it easier to lose weight. Its been known for a long time that eating a heavy meal in the evening isn't a good idea. and this diet just goes a little farther, and reverses the order of all the meals, so that breakfast is much more like the huge breakfasts that were once the norm, lunch is lighter, and the evening meal is no more than a snack.

But the reverse diet is more than just a calorie swapping trick, and the book, called "Reverse Diet Solution" contains recipes, menus and food lists together with advice helping to build a fairly well balanced calorie controlled diet. The diet has been through its teething pains with groups following it since 1999, and now there is an on line support group too.

Reverse dieting is really not such an odd idea, although having cod, spinach and green beans as well as oatmeal and shredded wheat for breakfast may seem a lot. A generation ago, farm workers tucked in to fare like this without calling it a reverse diet, in fact their idea of a reverse diet would have been what we call a normal diet today!

The recipes given in the reverse diet cookbook section are good, filling, easy dishes, and should not raise many difficulties, although one possible problem may be that in order to reverse meals you may find yourself cooking chicken and potatoes at five o'clock in the morning. Of course, if you get up early enough to cook breakfast, you will actually be eating it at close to your biological lunchtime....

Some of the menu ideas for the reverse diet are;

Reverse Diet Smothered Chicken;

5oz chicken breast, place in a baking dish and cover with lemon, tomato, green pepper, onion, garlic and herbs, add half an inch of water and bake for three quarters of an hour, then add a slice of Swiss cheese for each portion and broil.

Reverse Diet Tangy Tofu Smoothie;

In the blender, simply blend together one serving of tofu, half a cup of blueberries,half a cup of strawberries, two slices of pineapple and 8oz of Tropicana OJ, pour and drink.

Reverse Diet Creamy Potatoes;

place four thinly sliced potatoes in a baking dish, make a sauce of tofu, fat free sour cream, skim milk, a little Parmesan cheese, garlic and onion, pour over the potatoes and bake in a hot oven until done.

The Reverse Diet actually consists of three phases, as do all good diets nowadays, and not all these recipes can be eaten in the first phase. But we don't want to spoil the surprise, the book will be out pretty soon, so get ready to get into reverse gear!