Breakfast Tweak Prevents Sugar Craving

Reporting on how my switching from a nice full vegetable omelet to fruit and goat yogurt has affected my food cravings. A few months ago I found myself craving sweets and fruit at best after eating a nice big vegetable omelet. And I also couldn't get the 3-4 kilo which had snuck on back off. So I decided to change my breakfast to fruit and goat yogurt. In the beginning I sometimes even added some oats.

apple, peach, ginger slivers and goat yogurt

Well, the results are even better than I had expected. I no longer crave something sweet, eat less fruit during the day and I lost the few kilo, thank Gd.

There are times that we must listen to our "cravings" and then use them as guides. If you find a way to prevent them, you gain control and can even lose weight.

Have you any easy diet tips like this one?

Fat, Fat Go Away

I guess that my diet saga will never truly end. I have very slowly gotten off about five kilo, 11 pounds after they had been vanished in a rather successful diet a few years ago. But I know well that they can return in an instant. Because it has happened.

Walking has helped. I've raised my weekly step count. That is until the flu stopped me. But at least I didn't gain weight with the flu. I still haven't returned to my pre-flu walking.

I caught the pedometer stop count davka at such a crazy number.

The hardest thing is to get a nicer looking body. I lost a bit of weight, but I am still very overweight and growing older. OK good news that I'm still alive. Thank Gd

Diet Update, Weight Loss

Like too many people, I've been struggling trying to banish unwanted, unneeded, unattractive and unhealthy kilos/pounds. And in addition, I've had an occasional though chronic cough* that annoys more than anything else.

About a decade ago I managed to lose about 15 kilo, 30+ pounds, by reducing carbohydrates and getting out of the classroom. The rationale behind the low carb diet was based on the Blood Type Diet which prescribes this sort of eating plan for those with Type O blood. And when I was teaching in the yeshiva high school in Beit El, my schedule made it difficult to eat well. But the real reason I was pushed/encouraged into trying to diet was a chance to join the StartFresh kosher diet program for free in exchange for blogging about it.

The vast majority of that weight stayed off until about a year or more ago when I noticed that three kilo, six or more pounds, had suddenly reappeared. I tried all sorts of painless maneuvers to remove them, but somehow instead of reducing I found that two more had joined them. That meant that I was well over five kilo or eleven pounds more than what had become my weight. Even at the reduced weight I was technically overweight, though not obese.

Of course, I blamed my return to the classroom for the additional two kilo. Then at the end of June I really retired. The pool opened, and I exercised in the water a few times a week. And, although I began to look better, the extra weight didn't budge.

I needed to "recalibrate."

I listened to my body, which had been sending hints. For a few months I had begun to crave fruit after breakfast. And you must understand that I was eating nice breakfasts of vegetable omelets, which were large and theoretically filling enough to be proper meals. But somehow they didn't satisfy me. I was craving something sweet afterwards, and I had been drinking lots of coffee with sugar earlier in the morning.

Hint! Hint! Suddenly I decided to listen. If my body was asking for fruit in the morning, maybe it needed a fruit breakfast. So, I began having fruit, oats and goat yogurt. And afterwards I even left out the oats. The biggest surprise was that a small bowl with cut up fruit and under a cup of yogurt was enough for me. I felt satiated and had no sugar cravings.

My next challenge was when the pool closed on the first of September. I needed to exercise and really missed the water. Friends suggested I join the sports center in Ariel, even though the swimming pool has very few "women only" hours. Many of my friends go dressed in modest swimwear, which I do have. I went to take a look, but it didn't appeal. It's part of the view from a restaurant, and there are men who just sit by the pool watching...

I decided on the low cost walking, both with a friend and alone. My walking partner and I even exercise together at her house on occasion, and I've even forced myself to exercise to the music in good musicals. 

goat milk

almond milk

An additional change has been in the milk I put in my morning coffee. Instead of regular cow milk and sugar, I've been experimenting with all sorts of other fattier milks* and leaving out the sugar.

Now for the results. In less than two months, plus the summer vacation, over three of the five kilo are off, bli eyin haraa. And during that time I've eaten out, had some desserts etc. I haven't put myself on a super strict eating regime. In addition, there have been days when I've hardly had any exercise. One of my long time "diet principles" is to find an eating routine you can live with. Don't focus on a "weight goal," since maintaining it may well be impossible.

So far, bli eyin haraa (not to tempt the evil eye,) every few days I do see that my weight is slowly going down. I don't know how long that will continue, but I feel that I'm on the right track.

For me this has been a reminder that we must keep on changing and adapting to the new realities of our bodies and life situations. Do you have similar stories? Don't be shy. Comment, please.

*I will blog about my milk and lactose changes and how they have affected my cough in a future post, Gd willing.

Trying to Live Without Cow's Milk

A few months ago, I bought some coconut cream, which I never used. Last week I finally decided to give it a try. I had developed a cold and decided to try the coconut cream in my coffee instead of milk and sugar.

Some days it tasted good, and on others, I wasn't happy drinking my coffee with the coconut stuff.

The other day, I went back to milk and sugar. But my plan is to try another of the "non-dairy milks,"like cashew, almond or soy.

PS The yogurt I eat is goats.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Fighting to Get Off Every Ounce, Gram

Just under ten years ago, I found myself going on a diet, helped by Start Fresh, for two reasons:

1. I was obese
2. I was offered the program for free in exchange for blogging about it.

One of the biggest reasons I continued dieting, my own version of course,  was that the weight just fell off. Really, it was easy. I was out of work that year for the first time in over a decade, so I was able to devote the energy to myself and take walks with friends. The switch from high carbohydrate vegetarian eating to carnivorous low carbohydrates was just what my body needed to shed about thirty 30 pounds, fifteen kilograms. In six months my body changed enormously. I hadn't looked that good for years.

In the past year a few kilo snuck back on. Maybe I'm not as careful as I was in the heyday of my big weight loss. But I am still very active, exercise and rarely eat carbs, except Shabbat. 

If only there was a simple magic formula... an abracadabra that could make our bodies become what we dream.

In the meantime, I just do my best and try to fight to get the weight back off.

I'm a Morning Person, Sunrise, Coffee and Breakfast

My facebook friends know that pretty much every morning except for Shabbat, Jewish Holidays and fast days, even when not home, I manage to post a #morningcoffeehaiku. My computer photo gallery is full of pictures of sunrise, coffee and breakfast.

When I was growing up, a gazillion years ago, in America, parents were instructed that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. It worked for me, and I've always made a point of making sure that my kids had a good breakfast before leaving home for school, play etc. To this day I can't imagine not having breakfast. I don't function without it.

Until recently when American style breakfast cereals succeeded in marketing themselves here in Israel, most Israelis had nothing at all for breakfast. They relied on "aruchat esser," the "ten o'clock meal." Parents packed a sandwich, sometimes with nothing more than chocolate spread on the bread, and a fruit. That was the standard in the 1970's when my older children were growing up. Of course I gave my kids cheese or peanut butter in their sandwiches, never chocolate spread. And they always ate a proper breakfast before leaving the house, even when it meant that they just got some fruit for "aruchat esser." One nursery school teacher was furious with me; she insisted that "aruchat esser" was more important than breakfast.

As I've blogged, my breakfasts have varied over the years, but one thing I must have is a protein, even if it's nuts on the run. For some reason, my vegetable omelets just aren't doing the trick of late, because I immediately crave fruit or something sweet. So, I now have fruit as part of my breakfast. Sometimes, when I know that I'll be eating again soon, I just have a fruit with a bit of yogurt. And then I can have a vegetable omelet for lunch or even dinner.

When I was seriously dieting and managed to lose about 15 kilo, over thirty pounds, I sometimes had vegetables and fish for breakfast. Eating a large nutritious meal in the morning made it much easier to resist temptation during the long day.

And don't forget that I actually don't start the day with coffee. I drink close to a liter of water, sometimes with freshly squeezed lemon juice and ice. I drink the same before going to bed. My morning coffee adds another liter or more of liquid to my body, which is why I must have a couple of hours at home before going any place. Only when my body "empties of old food" do I have breakfast. I firmly believe that this promotes good health! And, yes, it's a reason I must get up early in the morning or I'd never get out before noon.

What's your morning food and liquid routine?

Filling Empty Days- No Pool, but At Least I Walked

Here in Shiloh unfortunately the swimming pool isn't open on the "9 days," or more accurately ten days. As the "adult hours" at the pool get more and more crowded with "retirees" who swim for health and fitness, not just plain fun, we always realize much too late that as a community we must have the local rabbi posken (make a halachik/rabbinic decision) that the pool should be open this week.

Besides the fact that most of us go to the pool for health reasons, there are many members who are ethnically "Edot Mizrach" and even their children are permitted to play in the water during the 9 days, until the week of Tisha b'Av.

Considering that the pool season here in Shiloh is only three months, the ten days- barely eighty days when you subtract the Shabbatot and the 9-10th of Av, those nine, sic, ten days make up a hefty proportion of the available swim days. This year we lose five days we could have benefited from the pool if the Rav would decide that certain categories of adults may use the pool.

Yesterday I found myself without any plans at all! It was horrible, and the weather was hot, too. I did force myself out for walks, twice on my own and once with a friend. I could easily have wasted the day eating and playing computer card games like, freecell, spider solitaire and pyramid, besides reading. And I must admit that I did waste most of the day. Regardless, I did walk, and my phone pedometer proves it.

You can see that I walked 12,640 steps, which was just short of two hours, though if you add my indoor walking when the phone wasn't on me, I certainly passed that benchmark. Ditto for nine kilometers, and my pace was an impressive 4.5 kilometers an hour, at least that last hike when I was out with a friend.

As you probably know, I'm trying to get a few or more kilo off of me. Gd willing this will help. I've been tweaking my food routine and hope it helps. The extra five kilo that has been sticking causes pain. It's just not good for me. I'm trying really hard to get back on the diet wagon.

Sprouts, Do You?

Do you eat sprouts, lentils, beans, seeds etc?
Do you sprout them at home or buy them sprouted?
Do you eat them fresh or cooked?
What's your favorite type of sprout?

I have neighbors whose children are athletic champions, and the family is more than vegan, they're raw food eaters. One of their dietary proteins is sprouts.

I've been getting a periodic supply from the newest member of our family who's vegan and sprouts lentils pretty regularly. But I haven't yet taken the plunge and tried doing it myself.

From what I understand you don't need expensive equipment, but even though I've heard the instructions, I keep chickening out. Oops, maybe a punny word.

Maybe I'd get some of the weight off if I have sprouts as my vegetarian protein more often instead of the sesame paste, but the fat in the sesame paste makes the meal more satisfying. And if I add a good olive oil I'd be increasing the calories...

Any suggestions?

Dieting Blues...

Some of you may remember that a number of years ago I very successfully and pretty easily lost about 15 kilo, yes a good 30 pounds, and they stayed off until recently, when they began creeping back. I've been fighting them best I can, but I must admit that I'm getting really tired of it. I'm getting tired of my food restrictions and frustrated that none of my "tricks" are working.

Just when it seems like I'm making progress, the scale suddenly tells me differently.

And it has gotten harder for some reason ever since I returned to teaching. So I've started telling people that teaching makes me gain weight. I know it sounds stupid, but as a teacher I feel less in charge of my eating schedule. The truth is that the weight began creeping back a year ago or more, but a kilo (a kilo equals 2.2 pounds) or two don't show all that much. Three or four show a lot more, and when you get closer to 5....

Eating out an average of once a week doesn't help, even when ordering the most dietetic meal possible. Restaurants sneak, sugars, oils and salts into all sorts of unsuspecting dishes. When I lost those 15 kilo, I didn't eat out much if at all, because we didn't have money to treat ourselves to restaurant meals. And then the following year I was caring for my elderly father, and I almost never got out, besides the money problem.

I'm going to have to re-motivate, increase exercise and find a way to enjoy the food restrictions again. Gd willing...

Picnic Lunch, Eating Creatively

One day last week I went to Jerusalem without packing a lunch nor wanting to eat/buy restaurant food.  I did take a cucumber and mushroom all washed and ready to be eaten with some cottage cheese. Now, I've done the cottage cheese meal before. Every supermarket or even small grocery store offers a "free spoon" if you ask, and that was my plan.

Somehow, I, davka, ended up in a supermarket that had run out of these free spoons. By the time I had discovered that, I had already paid for my cheese and figured I'd somehow manage, which I did.




As you can see, I used the veggies to scoop out the cheese and had a lovely meal in the little park by Safra Square, the Jerusalem Municipality.  I enjoyed watching the trains go by and admired the late winter greenery. It was a nice change of pace for me, and the weather was perfect. It felt like spring, though the trees were still bare. The weather forecast for this week is a return of winter, so I'm glad I had that opportunity to picnic creatively.

A Different Dinner

I'm one of those people who when home or my usual work routine likes to eat pretty much the same foods for various meals.

• breakfast is some sort of two-egg omelette with an onion plus, as I've blogged.
• lunch (or dinner) and frequently taken with me to work or other places are cooked vegetables with sesame paste as the protein. 
• dinner (or lunch) is cooked chicken (or beef) leftover from Shabbat cooked up with more low carb vegetables.

Today I didn't eat my regular meals. I had a late lunch out , a Broccoli Quiche and Salad, (bli neder will blog about it in the future) with a friend. And when I got home it was dinner time, and I just wasn't in the mood for chicken. 

So, I took a piece of frozen salmon, set it up on a paper-lined baking dish with a big piece of cabbage and an onion.  I dribbled some vegetable oil on top and baked it until it was ready. Sorry, no, I can't tell you how long for two reasons:

1. I didn't pay attention.
2. My oven is horrendously slow, small and slow. Yes, that's one of the reasons I need a new kitchen.

When it was ready, I served it with a bright red tomato. I didn't even season it. Everything tasted perfectly delicious.

Yes, there are days when you really need to break out of the routine.

Nu, And How's The Diet Going?

I was wondering if you'd ever ask me.

Believe me. I am trying. I'm walking more than I had been. And I'm trying really hard to eat more carefully, less "extra," more "no calorie" stuff, like cabbage and cauliflower.

One thing I've been doing which many diet experts consider a "no, no," is that I weigh myself almost every day. I find it helps even though it can be very frustrating and confusing, since my weight can go up and down from day to day. But I try to compare my weight by the week.

Today I weigh less than I did a week ago, but last Friday I weighed even less. I'm curious as to how much I'll weigh this Friday in comparison.

I don't always have control over my meals, the food and the times. When I managed to lose a lot of weight a number of years ago, it was after I had stopped teaching. Now that I'm back teaching, my weight has gone up. Maybe teaching is the cause...

But the bottom line is that I have to find an eating routine that works for me and gets the weight off and keeps it off. But in the meantime, you're my "diet buddy," so thanks for asking.

Dieting Again, Bring on The Cabbage!

I'm trying to make small tasty changes to reduce calories, carbohydrates and fats in my diet to lose weight and keep it off. So, I'm eating less carrots and more cabbage, cauliflower, green squash and other lower glycemic vegetables.

So last night this was dinner:

And since I didn't have eggs in the morning, I cooked eggs on it for my protein. All this was very simply cooked in a large covered frying pan:

• onion
• squash
• fresh garlic
• bit of vegetable oil
• after partially cooked added the:
• tomato
• cabbage
• and a few minutes later the eggs
• topped with coarsely ground black pepper, no salt at all

Delicious and filling. It was a full meal. I had eaten lots of salad at lunch, so I didn't need anything raw. There's enough fiber here.

Since the laws of kashrut also require leafy vegetables, such as cabbage to be cleaned and checked, I cut up a cabbage and soaked it in salt water. After a few minutes I took out the cabbage and checked the water. Since it was clean, I rinsed the cabbage well, let the water drain out and then packed the pieces in a plastic bag to be kept refrigerated. That way it's ready to be used. I do the same with cauliflower, lettuces etc. If you find bugs, even after a second soak and rinse, check etc., then  call it a loss and dump it. When you buy these vegetables in the winter, the proper season, they are pretty clean. I don't bother buying broccoli and cauliflower in the summer; that's when they are full of bugs and had been in storage.

Trying to Knock off a Few Pounds/Kilos

As some of you may know, a few years ago, I managed to lose about 15 kilo or 30 pounds. I blogged all about it here, and you can find posts by using the search box and searching for "losing weight," "public diet" and a few other keywords like those. And like many who have lost weight, a few of those unwanted pound/kilos have returned. This has happened before, and I've managed to get them off, but it's never easy, and it seems like each time, more find me. This time I got a good/bad 3 kilo (about 7 pounds) up on the scale, which meant that some clothes didn't fit. So I've been struggling to banish them.

If only it was as easy as when for the 52Frames photo challenge "Dream & Fantasy" I cropped and photoshopped the picture on the left into a nice slim me.

I'm working hard trying to get the unwanted weight off by walking more and trying to eat less. I've become very dependent on keeping track of my steps with the WalkLogger application on my phone. And when it somehow misses steps, I just tell myself that it's good that I've really walked even more than the app shows.

And if you're curious, I've knocked off/reduced at least half and can now wear the black leather skirt I got myself last year in the 2nd hand store I like. I wore it a lot during last year's trip to the states.  Too bad I couldn't fit into it this year. Serves me right, I should have been on top of things and never have gotten fatter. As many of us know, the challenge to keep off the weight is for life.

And remember, as it says so very accurately on this mug I bought a number of years ago:

"Dieting is A Losing Battle!"

Eggs and Veggies, Easy, Healthy Meal

The other day, since I hadn't eaten my usual onion omelette for breakfast I decided to allocate my daily two eggs for my dinner at work protein. I cooked them over lots of sauteed vegetables, which I made in my usual large, covered frying pan.

There's great flexibility in this sort of recipe, and if you don't have fresh vegetables, you can use frozen ones.

• onion
• garlic
• tomato
• squash
• mushroom
• eggs
• a bit of oil for the sauteeing and to help the body absorb the vitamins from the vegetables

I always cook on a low flame and cover it. Generally, I turn off the flame just before it's "ready" and let it complete cooking from the heat in the pan.

This makes an amazingly filling meal and has absolutely no carbohydrates at all. I find that cooked vegetables fill me up better than anything else. This is a very healthy meal.

This can be served any time of the day and travels well. Add salt, pepper and any herbs you like. I cool it well in the freezer before taking it to work with me.

An Important Lesson From Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day..."

Yesterday for the first time since I lost 15 kilo, just over 30 pounds, three and a half years ago, my weight inched over what had been the highest number of my new "normal weight." It was no real surprise, since I had been having my "once every week or two" cake, bread more than once a week for the past month.  Also, last week I made an enormous lentil soup (aka carbohydrates)  which I had eaten a lot of.  And I have been exercising less this winter, mostly due to the weather and my schedule.

Add all those things together, and it is pretty obvious that I was off-track.  I had managed to lose all the weight and keep it off, because I took the general advice of the "blood type diet," meaning that as I am Type O, I've reduced carbohydrates from my daily food and restrict protein to a conservative "portion" per meal.  I do eat a lot of fruit, but it hasn't brought my wight up, when I've kept to the rest of the regime.  I also make sure to eat every few hours, never allowing myself to get to hungry and out of control.

Now, how does Scarlett O'Hara come into this?

A number of years ago, I trained as a Life Coach.  Actually, I have never worked formally in it and didn't appreciate what a great thing it could be at the time, since I had never heard of the profession before.  One thing I liked is that it helps people change without getting all involved in their past.  It looks forward.

"Tomorrow is another day..."

And as I stepped off the scale, I knew that I'd be immediately preparing the cabbage that had been lounging in my refrigerator.  It doesn't matter why I had eaten the wrong things, but I was looking forward to taking a daily walk when possible (and making sure that I make it possible more often) and eating lots of the foods that would keep the weight off.

In the coaching course we were taught a technique using visualization to "put the past behind us."  I think it's an extremely healthy thing to do.  We can't control or change our past, but we do have some control over the future.

No doubt this isn't going to be the only time, I'll have to deal with unwanted weight gain.  G-d willing, I'll have the self-discipline to go back to my eating regime, which has done me well for the past four years.

Why Do I Eat So Much?

So far this Chanukah has been awful for my low carb "eating regime."  I don't call it a "diet."

Diets are temporary, and if I would consider my low carbohydrate eating, which I started about four years ago, "temporary," yes, a "diet," then I would have gone off it and regained all the weight I had lost "with interest" as the Israeli saying goes.

Most years I have maybe one day I eat what I shouldn't, but we're now on the third day of Chanuka, and I ate too many carbs and sugars and oils and calories on each of the first two.  This is not good.  I think this started even earlier at something last week, where the dessert was just fattening stuff and no fruit.  (Yes, now I remember; I was at a staff party after Shabbat, and only the fattening stuff was served.  I should have had brought a fruit platter along.)

Normally, if I eat enough fruit, I won't have a "sweet tooth" for the restricted stuff.  I wrote "restricted" rather than "forbidden," because sometimes it's better to have a taste or more in order not to agonize, obsess, think about the foods.  When I'm doing well, just a taste is enough.

The key to staying on track when trying to keep weight off is to have lots of healthy, low fat, low sugar alternatives.  If the choice is between being hungry (not having anything to eat) and eating the wrong foods, most of us will end up gorging on what should never be eaten.

So, I'm going to the kitchen right now to make myself food to take along with me today, food I like, which is good for me to eat!

Yummy, Simple and Delicious Vegetables, Cook and Serve

The trick to making this fantastic vegetable dish is a pan you can bake and serve in.

I'm in the market to stock up on some new ones.  One can never have too many, especially when you serve/cook as many vegetables as I do.  My husband and I are both trying to keep our weights down, and the key is to eat a lot of cooked vegetables.  Here are squash, carrots, celeriac and dla'at,  pumpkin.  Sometimes is set it up very orderly, but the day I made this one, I didn't.  You can also cut the vegetables in various ways. 

Once it's ready for the oven, I sprinkle oil and sometimes some spices or herbs or both.

Every time I make it, it's different. Be creative, enjoy...

Trying To Keep The Weight Off

This low carbohydrate food pyramid is very similar to the way I've been eating the past two plus years.  The only real difference is that I don't eat cheese.  I have milk with my coffee in the morning, and I don't eat any other dairy.  I even stopped eating goats yogurt a couple of months ago.  Sometimes I snack on a few nuts instead for extra protein energy.

I also eat about three portions of fruit per day, possibly more than illustrated here.  By eating enough fats in your protein, shun the 0% and skimmed dairy products if you eat dairy-but don't eat yellow cheese often or at all, you'll feel satisfied and less susceptible to food cravings and subsequent binges.  They're caused by incorrect, unbalanced eating.

Yes, once you find the best balance of vegetables, protein and fruit for your individual needs, you won't be tempted by all the forbidden foods, and if you take a bite, they won't even taste all that good.  Any food, even well-known as healthy like brown rice and multi-whole grain breads, which you can't stop eating, should never be eaten.  I can't eat just one slice of bread, but I'm perfectly satisfied when I don't eat even a crumb of bread.  Yes, those meals are better for me than if I ate one of those standard "balanced" one slice diets.

I find cooked vegetables most filling and satisfying.  Yesterday the lunch I took to work (in a good plastic container) was a generous portion of cooked (in a bit of oil, covered frying pan) onion, carrot and squash.  On top of that was a generous spoon of sesame paste and some fresh salad.  That kept me going all afternoon.  I made it the night before.  Yes, it does take longer to prepare than my husband's sandwiches, but if I ate his sandwiches I'd gain weight.  He's losing weight by eating limited sandwiches, a yogurt and fruit at work.  No more cake and cookies for him.

Good luck if you're trying to lose weight!

Dieting for Two

For the past two years, I've been blogging about my eating changes aka Public Diet which has resulted in a net loss of about fifteen (15)  kilo or over thirty pounds, 30 lbs.  There's nothing extreme in how I eat, and technically I'm still "overweight," though no longer obese.  Even though I've been the same weight for over a year, I'm still stopped by friends and neighbors gushing oodles of compliments.  I now dress like an always slim person which is probably why people think that I've lost more weight.

What do I mean by an "always slim person?"  Before I got fat, I wore fitted clothes, except when pregnant.  And after all five births I left the hospital (a couple of days after giving birth) in regular clothes, belted waists.  That's the real me. 
After those belted clothes no longer fit I began changing my wardrobe into a fat lady one, hiding my body under large tunics and sweaters.  They weren't tight, so I didn't feel like I had outgrown them, but the bulk actually made me look even heavier.  I've been gradually replacing my wardrobe, and bartering with a neighbor who paid me back by taking in some of my best clothes.  I must be doing something right, because I still get compliments, even though I've been the same basic weight for over a year.

OK, now, back to the title.  What do I mean by "dieting for two?"  I've done some diet coaching and am always looking for clients.  Now I have a new one, my husband.  He was told by his doctor to lose some weight, sent to a dietician and then handed me the instructions.  It's not the same food plan I'm on, but I market myself as a diet coach who can make any diet doable.

A diabetic friend (male) spent a Shabbat with us recently, just after my husband got those orders.  He said that I must take charge.  "Men can't follow diets without major help."  His sister-in-law does that for his brother, and it works.  So, now I pack my husband's food and snacks before he leaves for work, and he calls me to ask what he can eat when there's nothing prepared.

We still have another couple of weeks before the first "weigh-in" at the dietician's office.  To be continued...