Low-fat Spa Secrets
What makes the low-fat fare at Rancho La Puerta taste so sinfully delicious? Executive chef Bill Wavrin, author of The Rancho La Puerta Cookbook, and the mastermind behind the plan on these pages, shares a few of his secrets.
Get fresh. Wavrin picks vegetables from his garden every day. "As soon as a vegetable is picked, it starts losing its flavor and nutritional value, so freshness matters," he says. If you've got a brown thumb, visit your local farmers' market or find a grocery store that sells great produce.
Spice it up. Experiment with no-fat flavor enhancers, such as chili peppers, garlic, fresh cilantro and other herbs, curry, vinegars or a spritz of lime or lemon.
Try tofu and its cousin, tempeh. They're healthy, tasty, lower-fat substitutes for meat.
Spare the oil. When sauteing, use just enough olive or canola oil to barely coat the bottom of the pan.
Countdown-to-Summer Diet Ground Rules
- The calorie counts are roughly the same for each breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so if you don't like one of the meals and want to replace it with one from another day--or would like to repeat a meal two days in a row--that's fine. Switching one breakfast, lunch or dinner for another won't affect how much weight you lose.
- You'll be eating plenty of food at meals, plus one afternoon snack. But if you get hungry at other times of the day, feel free to have a piece of fruit.
- Drink as much water, seltzer or herbal tea as you like, but limit your intake of coffee, tea or diet cola to two to three servings a day.
- Vegetarians can simply omit the meat from the recipes that call for it and substitute half cups of black, pinto, cannelloni or garbanzo beans instead.
- For variety during the second week of the diet, swap any fruit in the plan for one from this list: blueberries, raspberries, papaya, mango, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, apple, orange, grapefruit or banana. Also, vary the bread. Try English muffins, pita pockets, tortillas or 100 percent whole-grain rolls.
