The Sonoma diet promises not only weight loss, but also a sensual celebration of life, longevity, and “better health and a trimmer waist in just ten days”. By going on this diet, you imitate the lifestyle of people who originally lived in Mediterranean Europe but who now live in beautiful Sonoma County in California, an area known for its fresh produce and vineyards.
The diet is neither low carb nor low fat but rather it is about the “art and science of food,” and the pleasure of eating well. You eat mostly fresh fruits and vegetables and eliminate sweets and all foods made from refined flour, although you can indulge in wine and an occasional chocolate and dessert once you reach your target weight. Instead of calorie counting, you do “plate watching.” You fill up a plate of a certain size according to a formula based on what meal and what phase of the diet you are in. The book has diagrams of how to fill your plate with the right proportions at each meal.
Wave 1 and Wave 2 breakfast is the same: half dairy and grain in a two-cup bowl, or 75% protein and 25% grains on a seven-inch plate. Wave 1 lunch is 40% protein and 60% Tier l vegetables, and dinner is 50% Tier 1 vegetables, 30% proteins and 20% grains. Wave 2 lunch and dinner is the same: 25% protein, 25% grains, 25% fruit and 25% vegetables. All lunches and dinners on both Waves must be on nine-inch plates. Wave 1 allows you to choose from a list of proteins that include ½-cup legumes, small servings of lean cuts of all kinds of meat or poultry, fish, soy substitutes, 1 egg or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter.
Tier 1 vegetables include all fresh green vegetables, tomatoes and onions but not fleshy vegetables such as peas, carrots or potatoes. Dairy is fat-free skim milk, low-fat cottage cheese, or low fat hard cheese. Grains include ½-cup servings of pasta, barley, brown rice, popcorn, noodles, and whole grain bread. You can have up to three teaspoons per day of olive or canola oil, and unlimited herbs, spices, mustard and vinegar.
Wave 2 allows you to eat fruits and vegetables from a list that divides them into three kinds: Tier 1 or unlimited, Tier 2 or limited to one fruit and vegetable choice per day, and Tier 3, also limited to one fruit and vegetable choice per day. Tier 3 fruits and vegetables are fleshy, such as banana and squash. Tier 2 fruits are berries, melon, oranges, apples etc. Wave 2 allows for six ounces of wine per day. Once you reach your target weight, you go on to Wave 3, which allows you to “do whatever you think is best for staying within the guidelines of the Sonoma Diet.” By the time you are at Wave 3 and at your right weight, you should have lost your cravings for foods that are bad for you and you should have learned how to eat in a healthy way forever.
As for exercise, you are on your own. According to the author, “We’re not going to badger you about exercising. The diet will get you to your target weight with or without exercise.”
See: Guttersen, Connie (RD, PhD). The Sonoma Diet (Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books) 2005.
Created:
2005
Categories:
Fad
Website:
SonomaDiet.aspx
Meetings:
No
Books:
No
Sample Menu:
WAVE one Meal Plan
BREAKFAST
Use a seven-inch plate or 2-cup bowl. You can have 75% protein and 25% grains or 50% dairy and 50% grains. The menu usually is a two-egg omelet and a piece of bread or a bowl of cereal and milk.
LUNCH
Use a nine-inch plate. You get 40% protein and 60% Tier l vegetables.
DINNER
Use a nine-inch plate and fill half with Tier 1 vegetables, then 30% proteins and 20% grains.
Wave one Suggested Menu
BREAKFAST
Two scrambled eggs with l slice whole grain toast
LUNCH
Greek Salad with Grilled Shrimp on ½ whole-wheat pita
DINNER
Chicken en Papillote
SNACKS
11 almonds for women; 33 for men
RECIPES
GREEK SALAD
¼ lb fresh or frozen shrimp in shells
½ clove garlic
One and ½ cups baby spinach and romaine letters
½ tomato
¼ medium cucumber
¼ oz. feta cheese
One olive, and a bit of chopped radish and onion
Combine all salad ingredients. Grill shrimp on skewer. Top with low-calorie vinaigrette dressing.
CHICKEN EN PAPILLOTE
¼ lb skinless chicken breast
½ T. olive oil
¼ T. fresh oregano and thyme, lemon juice
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
2 oz. fresh asparagus in 2-inch pieces
1 and ½ oz. pea pods
¼ cup canned artichoke hearts
¼-cup cherry tomatoes
½ T. fresh parsley
1/8 cup sliced green onion
Toss chicken cut in ½-inch slices with oil, oregano, thyme, lemon, salt and sprinkling of pepper. In separate bowl, combine vegetables and parsley and arrange it on a piece of parchment paper. Top with chicken and fold to make packet. Place packet on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven.