Hi all,
I want to start the BSD as soon as possible, but I’m totally overwhelmed by the week 1 meal plans–so many ingredients to buy and flipping through all the recipes trying to find the ones that match what is listed in the meal plans is annoying (this part of the book could be much better organized in the next edition). Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone made any sort of streamlined or more organized version of the meal plans?

Thanks.

Hi Robsy. You could do worse than to start with full fat yoghurt and berries for breakfast, green soup and a little bit of cheese or a tuna or chicken or feta salad for lunch, and meat or fish freshly cooked with veg at dinner. Keep your carbs low, definitely under 50g, lower if you can,. No bread, no rice, no pasta, no potatoes, no sugar, no alcohol. Have a look through the recipes and add your favourites one by one. Invest in a spiraliser to make courgetti etc and stock up on herbs and spics to keep things tasty. I’ve low carbed (but not low cal) for years using ordinary foods you’d have in the fridge, and although I know and appreciate the commitment and interest of others who add flax and chia and things, keeping things simple works best for some people, or it can look a bit daunting and discourage you from starting at all. I take a general vitamin supplement too. It’s counter intuitive to add butter to veg, cream to coffee, buy full fat not low fat, but it works. Keep your water intake up and you’ll soon see those lbs fall away. MK x

Good advice, there, Maharani Kitten.

Good luck with it all, RobsyG, and MK is one who definitely has the results to show for it all.

Thanks very much, Maharani kitten, for your advice!!

MK is right about keeping things simple – especially at the beginning. Initially I followed pretty much the pattern she has recommended and then added things in, as and when I felt I needed to – like chia, as it helps me with bowel regularity. We’re all different though and if you keep it simple at the start, you can easily tweak things as necessary, to suit your body and your lifestyle. The keys to successfully doing the BSD really are keeping an eye on carb intake, good hydration and full fat not low fat. Good luck on making a great start – we’ll all look forward to reading your positive results soon.

Robsy I used the meal plans as a guide only, I’ve tried some of the recipes both in the diet book and the accompanying recipe book but “tweak” them to suit ingredients I already have. I use My Fitness Pal app to keep track of calories. During the week my meals are pretty simple, eggs or porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch (with tuna, cold meat, frittata etc), and dinner I’ve been making my usual bolognaise/curries/stir fries but just adjusting the ingredients to suit BSD.
After the first couple of weeks I did start investing in different ingredients like quinoa, steel cut oats, chia seeds etc
I’m finding that because I’m not buying bread, jars of sauces and pre-packaged foods I can afford to buy fresh ingredients. It’s funny but I used to think blueberries, at $4 per punnet, were too expensive. But now I find they last most of the week (I only have a handful each day in porridge or yoghurt).
Good luck – it definitely gets easier as you get into the swing of things 🙂

Thank you SunnyB and SueBlue for you advice and encouragement. I’m finally getting my head around it and am doing a big shop today.

Good luck on making a great start, RobsyG. We’ll look forward to reading your positive results soon.

I followed the recipes religiously for 2 weeks so I got the hang of it and now freestyle it – I personally have eggs for breakfast most days as I find 2 poached eggs at around 150 calories really fills you up better than anything else of equivalent calorific intake then either meat or fish with some greens for dinner (stir fry with greens and beansprouts (but no noodles) is a very easy and satisfying meal with low carbs and relatively low calories). I snack on cheese and nuts when the hunger pangs strike!