The Doctor's Diet: Dr. Travis Stork's STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health (40 page)

The basic guidelines for RESTORE are similar to those for STAT. Here’s a quick review:

Stay on plan.
Follow the RESTORE Plan as closely as possible for best results. Use daily Meal Plan Equations to create your daily menus. Or follow my sample 14-day RESTORE menu.

Think ahead.
Save time tomorrow by planning your next day’s meals today.

Size up your size.
When portions are given in a range—for example, Main Dish Proteins are three to four ounces—choose the low end of the range if you’re smaller (under 5 feet 4 for women or under 5 feet 10 for men), older (over 50), or less active (under 30 minutes daily), and the high end of the range if you’re tall, younger, or more active.

Get served.
Make sure you pay attention to serving sizes. Eating too much of even the healthiest foods slows weight loss.

Give protein a hand.
Use your palm as a measuring guide for a four-ounce serving of meat, fish, or poultry. Measure beans and lentils with a measuring cup.

Choose drinks that accelerate weight loss.
Avoid sweetened beverages and diet sodas. For now, enjoy plain water, coffee, green tea, black tea, sparkling water, or water flavored naturally with lemon juice or cucumber slices.

Keep it real.
Avoid artificial sweeteners of any kind. You may use small amounts of honey or light agave nectar syrup (up to a teaspoon a day) to sweeten certain foods.

Fill up with H
₂
O.
Continue to drink an eight-ounce glass of water before each meal and snack (and with your food, if you desire). Drink an additional two to four glasses of water throughout the day.

Scramble it up.
Continue to enjoy up to seven whole eggs per week (or three per week if you have heart disease or diabetes). Use olive oil cooking spray for scrambling or frying eggs.

Go low with dairy fat.
In the interest of keeping calories low, continue to stick with low-fat yogurt and milk.

Spice is nice.
Use healthy fresh or dried seasonings and herbs to liven up your foods.

Slip the skip.
It’s best not to skip meals, especially breakfast.

Fill ’er up.
Continue to fill your plate, bowl, or mug with Anytime Vegetables, Anytime Vegetable Soup, and Anytime Garden Salad.