The Fat Smash Diet by Dr. Ian Smith

[Jay Francis]

I am nearing the completion of Phase I. I'm not the best of writers so what follows is pretty much stream of consciousness.

I am, however, maybe too good a cook, as what I prepare usually tastes so good that portion control is a big problem for me.

Knowing that I need to drop 30 pounds, it was time to find a diet and exercise program that suits my personality. Which is what the Fat Smash diet does.

What the "detox" phase is doing for me is weaning me from my craving for wheat products, starches, chocolates, etc. Fruits and vegetables are not forbidden, so that there is a source for "sweet". Four to five meals a day keeps the hunger pangs down, although I still have stayed hungry. Protein sources come from skim milk, egg whites, yogurt, tofu, beans and lentils in Phase 1. I am not a fan of dairy with the exception of yogurt. So, I have been making yogurt on a daily basis and straining it to thicken into a cheeselike consistency (1 quart low fat milk brought to 180 F then cooled to 105 F, add 1 tablespoon,no more than, yogurt (Dannon works as does Mountain High) and let sit in a closed unheated oven for 24 hours, then strain with cheesecloth; add chopped de-seeded cucumber and garlic if desired).

Now, by focusing on whole fruits and vegetables rather than processed products or juices, Fat Smash gets you into the mode of adding more fiber to your diet, which is excellent.

I eat oatmeal (not instant, which is so powder-y you don't get any fiber) and I eat it savory, seasoned with a little Tony Chachere seasoning rather than with milk and cinnamon.

Two recipes tried, the green bean salad (excellent) and the vegetable soup (also excellent, the mushrooms add a surprisingly nice flavor component).

No white rice but brown rice is part of Phase 1. Normally I would prepare brown rice in a rice cooker from scratch but I am cheating and using the Success Rice brown rice boil in bags. One of the rare commercially produced products that is pretty good.

Will you get hungry? Yes. But if you can fight the urge to eat before bedtime, you will be less hungry the next day.

Have I lost weight? Going into day 9 the answer is yes. I have dropped at least 5 legitimate (not water weight) pounds.

Do you need to exercise? Absolutely. I've been doing the recumbent bicycle at 30 minutes and a heart rate of 135. I plan to increase as time goes on.

Major impact: I haven't had any bread products, non-fruit sweets, or chocolate. The diet allowed me to burn out my constant craving for starches.

Have I cheated? Yes. Sort of cheating was to toast some lentil based pappadums as "chips". I went to a Chinese cafe with the intent of getting a tofu dish, ordered Ma Po Tofu, and when I discovered it had pork and oil, I ate around it anyway. Still hungry, I went to a Middle Eastern restaurant for tabouli.

Best discovery: Find yourself a Middle Eastern buffet restaurant. Here in Houston, Dimassi's is best. You'll be able to eat tabouli, fatoush, greek salad, bean dishes to your hearts content. Lots of flavor and variety so you won't get bored. No pita though. Watch the oil. Yep, definitely find a Middle Eastern cafe to eat at.

At first it seems like an overwhelming diet to follow. But you can get through Phase 1. You may want to stay in Phase 1 longer though.

Update 1: I have completed the Phase 1 detox and am pleased to confirm that by diligently following the recommendations, I have successfully eliminated my craving for bread products and white rice. I have been able to say "no" to naan at two Indian restaurant outings and home-made bread at one restaurant and at home. Of note is Dr. Smith's recommendation that meals not be eaten too closely to bed-time. This has proved to be beneficial. Yesterday I made the asparagus and lentil soup. It is flavorful and filling, so, of all the recipes tried, all have been good. My weight has dropped 6 pounds from the start of the diet.

Update 2: The gumbo recipe in the book is excellent, though I cut back on the file by one tablespoon, and substitute a chopped chicken breakfast and spicy turkey sausage (from Central Market here in Houston) for the seafood. The recipe uses whole wheat flour and it worked fine, though it was tricky to gauge the browning of the roux, resulting in my not taking it all the way to dark brown.

I have been able to say "No" to desserts and bread on multiple occasions now.

[kalypso]

A few years ago my alternative medicine doctor put me on a similar diet. We eliminated all wheat, corn, chocolate, caffeine and the entire nightshade (potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants) family from my diet, dairy was still okay because I don't have an intolerance or digestive difficulty with that. I was extremely dilgent with the diet reading labels to make sure that all wheat and corn was removed from the diet as we were trying to determine if I had an intolerance to either of these two items. This is a bigger challenge than you'd think. Who knew wheat was a prime ingredient in that bottle of soy sacue sitting in the fridge. And, of course, corn is in almost everything in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

I went on this diet cold turkey. The carbohydrate withdrawal was H*ll. But once I made it through the first week the carb cravings were gone. I was actually amazed at how much better I felt, and, how much happier I was.

Good luck on your diet, sounds like you're headed in the right direction.

[Rebecca263]

Just a heads up for you, tabbouleh is full of wheat. Bulghur IS wheat.

[Jay Francis]

Tabouleh is one of those interesting preparations that divides families into those who put more parsley in and those who put more bulgur in. Here in Houston, most of the Lebanese default to more parsley and I've been to two places where (no kidding) you have to really scrutinize the salad to see the flecks of bulgur.

Unlike some other approaches to diet, this one promotes whole grains at the expense of processed grains. So brown rice gets an okay but you're recommended to avoid white rice, pasta and bread for the first phases. Bulgur is not addressed, but you'd laugh if you were used to a bulgur dominant tabouleh and you saw the typical Houston tabouleh.

[markemorse]

hi jay, congratulations on your new diet. if you can stick with it for a few more weeks, you'll never go back to eating the way you did. or at least not all the way

my wife has had a couple of auto-immune diseases in a row and the last one really affected her metabolism dramatically. She grew up in an Italian-American family that lived to eat and she herself is a great cook. She was used to eating pretty much constantly and staying very thin. When she suddenly put on 30 lbs in six months or so, after a while she was just in tears every time she got dressed.

so: i basically became an amateur dietician and did scads of research and cooking experiments to try to find things that were interesting to eat but adhered to this kind of diet. a couple of suggestions just in general:

1) never go into a chinese restaurant no matter what. it's just not worth the temptation, and the likelihood that you'll end up in one who doesn't use store-bought chili bean sauce, hoisin sauce, and brown sauce (all full of sugar) in their ma po tofu is incredibly small (ah leung's recipe for reference).

2) what are you drinking? it's so hard to find a non-dairy drink that doesn't have sugar or HFCS in it that, again, for me i just stopped buying them. you can do a lot of nice things with refrigerating herbal teas, i know how boring that sounds, but mint is a good one to start with.

more in a bit if this is helping......

Edited August 14, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[markemorse]

couple other things:

1) if you're looking for more ways to liven up your yoghurt, we used fruit purees and nuts in yogurt a lot: fig/almond, pear/hazelnut, apple/walnut, etc. tamarind puree is very nice too, maybe with mint and pine nuts. also dill, garlic and any nut. don't be afraid of the prune, either.

2) there are some non-obvious seeds that can replace some wheat starches and liven things up in general: quinoa holds up well to both savory and fruit-sweetened preps; wild rice is actually a seed, and if you learn to cook it ahead of time (it takes an hour) and make salads with it, it's great to just have in the fridge; don't forget the pumpkinseed....toast them and eat them with anything.

3) raw sweet onions are amazingly helpful in the excitement department if you like them. i've got a bunch of tuna recipes that really make for great non-mayo based tuna salad that you can eat every day without getting sick of.

my biggest tip: have plenty of interesting things cooked ahead of time so that you never get desperate and fk it up b/c you're blind with hunger. and buy claudia roden's new book of middle eastern food (the laptop im typing on is resting on it right now).

mark

EDITS: I keep thinking of things to do with yoghurt. and tuna. i'll stop soon. and when I say tuna, I mean good canned tuna.

Edited August 14, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[judiu]

Something I've just discovered is La Croix canned sparkling water. It's flavored, but totally unsweetened; no HFCS, sugar, splenda or anything! Most refreshing! Another favorite of mine is plain club soda, bitters and lime. Keep in mind though, that Angustora Bitters are 90 proof. Also, think about vinegar as a flavor enhancer; I always put a good shot of decent wine vinegar in my tuna salad as a "zapper", and a small drizzle of a decent Balsemic will help almost anything!

[markemorse]

Good one judiu: that was one last thing I was going to say to jay: if you're not already a user of top-notch oils and vinegars that you love tasting by themselves...upgrade, it's worth every penny.

Just this year I started using an olive oil that I'm happy to sip neat (after just kind of using default EVOO), and it makes all the difference in the world. When you're on a restricted diet, everything that's not restricted has to be as enjoyable as possible, right? I also am onto an awesome sherry vinegar that's worth every penny for what it does to everyday dishes. Obvs this extends to walnut and hazelnut oils and whatever else you're cooking with.....

ok

mark

Edited August 14, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[MissAmy]

Something I've just discovered is La Croix canned sparkling water. It's flavored, but totally unsweetened; no HFCS, sugar, splenda or anything! Most refreshing!

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Yes! La Croix is fabulous! I love that it gives you that feeling of "soda satisfaction" but with none of the chemicals, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, or calories. It's wonderful.

[chow guy]

Tabouleh is one of those interesting preparations that divides families into those who put more parsley in and those who put more bulgur in.  Here in Houston, most of the Lebanese default to more parsley and I've been to two places where (no kidding) you have to really scrutinize the salad to see the flecks of bulgur.

Unlike some other approaches to diet, this one promotes whole grains at the expense of processed grains. So brown rice gets an okay but you're recommended to avoid white rice, pasta and bread for the first phases. Bulgur is not addressed, but you'd laugh if you were used to a bulgur dominant tabouleh and you saw the typical Houston tabouleh.

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Try making it with quinoa... you'll never go back to bulghur. It's very tasty and complete protein to boot.