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Written by Madeleine Marr, KRT
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Wednesday, 05 July 2006 |
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 Waffles for breakfast. Ham and avocado wrap for lunch. Stir-fried rice for dinner. Blueberry-vanilla custard for dessert.
Sounds like a day of bliss for non-calorie counters.
Actually, it’s a typical day’s menu from “The Reality Diet” (Avery, $24.95), a new book by Dr. Steven Schnur, chief executive officer of South Florida Cardiology Associates in Miami Beach. Its 200-plus recipes cover an eight-week period — though you can stick with the plan the rest of your life. And why not? There’s even pizza on this thing, albeit with Canadian bacon, no pepperoni.
“I’ve designed it so you’re eating regular food you enjoy — from hot dogs and hamburgers to lobster thermidor,” says Schnur. “This is a diet for real people living in the real world.”
As you might have noticed, low-carbing-it isn’t a requirement this time around. As a doctor, Schnur says, he can’t condone the nutritional restrictions of many trendster diets.
“Human beings are designed to eat from all food groups,” he says. “In the last few years, patients on the low-carb plans come in saying they were dizzy, light-headed or too tired to exercise ... that’s because carbohydrates give you energy!”
Shirley De Leon, Schnur’s in-house nutritionist and a consultant on the book, agrees.
“It’s not carbs that are making people overweight — it’s overeating, period,” she says. “We’re eating too much and moving too little, and the equation doesn’t balance.”
Schnur’s hardly magic-bullet prescription: Fiber, the structural part of plants that’s not broken down by digestive enzymes. And not just a spoonful of Metamucil in your morning OJ. He’s talking a daily diet filled with fiber-rich foods like oats, beans, fruits, wheat bran, whole-grain cereals and such root vegetables as turnips, rutabagas, parsnips and sweet potatoes. Even the big supposed no-no, spuds.
The federal government agrees, recommending that adults consume a minimum of 25 fiber grams a day. Right now, Schnur says, the average Joe/Josephine takes in half to two-thirds of that.
“It amazes me when people say this is a high-fiber diet,” he says. “I’m not stuffing you with 50 grams, I’m just bringing you to where you should be.”
What’s so great about fiber? We all know it helps with — ahem — digestion, but did you know it also lowers cholesterol by allowing it to be eliminated naturally?
But its most alluring feature, for dieters, at least, is that it keeps hunger pangs at bay.
TRY THIS “Reality” MENU
Breakfast
- 1 serving high-fiber, calcium-fortified cereal
- 1 cup skim milk
- 8 walnut halves
- 1 large orange
- (Men add 1/3 cup fruit muesli)
LUNCH
- Pepper steak pita (2 ounces beef for women, 4 ounces for men, with teriyaki sauce and veggies in a whole-wheat pita)
- 10 gourmet baked potato chips
- (Men add 12 cashews or 1/3 cup
- carrot sticks)
DINNER
- Thai chicken satay with crunch
- vegetable salad
BANANA CHOCOLATE CREPES
The crepes are sweet and decadent, but the fruit and whole-wheat flour make them healthful, too.
- 1/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder
- 3 1/2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar substitute
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
- Vegetable oil spray
- 1/2 banana, sliced
- 2 pitted dates, chopped
- 4 toasted pecan halves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon semisweet chocolate mini-morsels
In a small bowl, combine dry milk, flour, sugar substitute, cinnamon and baking powder. Whisk in oil, vanilla, coconut extract and 1/2 cup water until batter is smooth. A few lumps are OK.
Spray an 8-inch nonstick skillet with vegetable oil, and heat over medium heat. Remove skillet from heat and pour in half the batter. Lift and tilt skillet to spread batter across bottom. Return skillet to heat and cook 30 seconds. Carefully turn over crepe with a spatula and cook the second side for 30 seconds. Slide cooked crepe onto a plate and repeat with remaining batter.
Arrange half the banana slices, dates, pecans and chocolate morsels across lower third of each crepe. Lift bottom edge and roll it up to serve.
Makes one serving.
Per serving: 449 calories (25 percent from fat), 12.8 g fat
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