The Better Homemaking Network

I am not one to go in for fad diets. I am a firm believer in knowing how to eat every day without needing a weird temporary solution for quick weight loss. The Amazing Soup Diet from Good Housekeeping, however, looks like it is based on sound nutrition and seems easily adjustable for food preferences and allergies. Besides, it will be fun to try, for a week, anyway. I will be keeping track of Weight Watchers points, too, since I trust that calculation method to be sure there is enough calories in this diet. It appears that I can still stick with my current nutrition plan, as well.

My mother will be trying the diet, too. I’ll also be feeding a 1-year-old, as well as my husband. The whole staff is involved!

Preparation

Today I spent some time preparing the shopping list for The Amazing Soup Diet. Some things have me going, eeww, but I plan on sticking to the diet as closely as possible. Nothing repeats, so I can handle a meal that may not be my favorite, and keep in the spirit of the test. It will only be a week, after all. I can already see some problems with the bread, since we have to make it all homemade due to soy allergies. Well, not really a problem, just a lot of prep work. That just keeps us busy so there is less time to snack, right?

I’m cleaning out our main fridge and freezer so I can have everything for the week in the kitchen ready to go. The “working pantry” will need a bit of work, too – some things need to go into the basement with the rest of the food storage items. I’m happy to see that many items on the list are things we already have in our freezer, which means they were bought on sale. Most of what is left to buy is the fresh fruit and veggies, which happens every week, regardless.

I did throw together a Cajun Seasoning Mix, and will make some homemade hummus tomorrow.

Shopping List

These are variations on the original The Amazing Soup Diet shopping list, providing some adjustments for allergies. You’ll have to click on the link above to view the full list, since it is copyrighted, after all. I have noted my changes below, according to their categories.

Staples:

•Cajun seasoning (I made my own mix since I am allergic to black pepper)
•Ground cumin (I personally do not like cumin and use oregano to substitute)
•Ground red pepper (this is cayenne pepper)
•Hot sauce (this is for eggs, so I am going to use taco sauce rather than Tobasco)

Fruits and Veggies
•Green beans, 3/4 lb. (2 cans of green beans are much easier, or a quart of home-canned)
•Lemon, 1 (If you have lemon juice in the fridge, you won’t need to get a lemon)
•Snow peas, 1/4 lb. (I’ll be using frozen, which I keep on hand, fresh are almost as much trouble as green beans)
•Tangerines, 3 (Substitute one of these for a can of mandarin oranges, unless you like peeling and sectioning an orange. For the second, just buy your favorite type of orange, we like navels. I can’t find where the third orange is used.)

Fresh Herbs
•Garlic, 1 lg. head (I keep fresh minced garlic on hand in the refrigerator, which is much easier)

Grains
•Bread, whole-grain (we have to make our own because of soy ingredients)
•Brown rice (I didn’t know you could buy pre-cooked, we will cook our own)
•English muffins, whole-grain (Another bread product we can’t eat due to soy ingredients, will substitute bagels)
•Pitas, whole wheat (Again, making our own, seeing a trend here)
•Tortilla chips, baked (hard to find without soy, we will substitute flour tortillas)

Dairy
•Eggs, 1/2 dozen (we use egg substitute, due to egg yolk allergy)
•Yogurt, plain, nonfat (we got Greek style, it is very yummy)

Meat and Fish
•Bacon, 1 pkg. (we use a beef bacon due to pork allergy and turkey bacon is just nasty)
•Turkey, smoked, deli-sliced (got chicken due to turkey allergy)
•Turkey breast, ground (using 93% lean ground beef)
•Turkey kielbasa (Mom gets the turkey version, I will use a beef/pork version, yes allergies again)

Grocery Items
•Chicken broth (we got two big cartons for the soup, I like it better than just water)
•Egg noodles (No Yolks version, due to egg yolk allergy)
•Hummus (made our own to avoid soy and nuts)
•Tomatoes, whole, in juice, 2 28-oz cans (we use diced tomatoes, no smashing needed, and seeds can add a bitter taste)
•Walnuts, 3 oz.

Frozen Items
•Corn kernels (we’re using canned)

The Soup

The Good Housekeeping Recipe can be found here. I actually doubled my own vegetable soup recipe and added the zucchini and spinach. Here are the differences: I used 2 onions (about 3c chopped) and 2 large leeks. I also used 12c chicken stock and no water. Due to a black pepper allergy, I left that out, but added a teaspoon of thyme. The nutritional content remains the same as the original.
Here is the Better Homemaking Network’s version of the Basic Soup for The Amazing Soup Diet, complete with precise instructions and pictures.

Before

Okay, I’m not posting pictures, but at least my weights and measurements will be here. I don’t expect a huge change, since we will only be testing this diet for a week, but you never know. When you first start a diet and exercise program, weight loss could go fast or slow, depending on how much water weight you lose, how much you increase your exercise, and how much muscle you gain. (See Weigh Your Way to Losing Weight.) We should definitely see an improvement in body measurements, no matter what.

Pyrrh’s beginning measurements:

Weight: 170 lbs
Arm: 13.5″
Stomach: 33.75″
Waist: 33.5″
Hips: 41.5″
Thigh: 23.5″
Calf: 15.5″

This was right after a workout, but I can’t blame my hips on that! Ugh!

So, here we are, your Guinea Pigs for a week. We will start the diet on Monday!