On 22 June 2004, we received the following story from A. in Atlanta, GA:
"I found your site when I was researching sucralose, and appreciate the information you have posted. I noticed your site posts information about diet and fitness, so I thought you might be interested in a new diet plan. (Its actually not new, its been around since 86). Following this diet, I lost 25# last year, and 16# this year, and am only 7 # away from my ideal weight. I'm passing this on so you can check it out, and if you like it, pass it on to all your viewers. I'm also forwarding this to provide people an alternative to the Atkins Diet.
The people who developed this diet called it the Lifestyle Diet, but I call it "The US Army Greenbook Diet". The diet plan is found in Ch 8, pg 121 of a fitness book titled "The U.S. Army Total Fitness Program".
To quickly summarize, the book presents a "reader's digest condensed version" of the US Army's Total Fitness Program as of that time .. 1986.
Anyway, the Lifestyle Diet is a very common sense and straightforward plan. I have showed it to my friends, and they say it sounds a like Weight-Watchers, although I have never used W.W. myself. They approach their weight-loss diet by setting a daily calorie intake of 1500 calories/day for Men, and 1200 calories/day for women. Then, within this constraint, they design a daily meal plan that provides for 3 modest very well balanced meals (but no snacks).
30% of the calories go to Breakfast, 30% go to Lunch, and about 40% go to Dinner. The meals are all well balanced, and you eat foods from all the major groups: Breads & Starches, Fruits, Vegetables, Meats & Protein, Milk, and Fat. For each meal (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner), they tell you how many helpings of each type food you can eat. And for each food group they provide a list of foods that you can eat, and for each food they tell you how much of that food makes up a helping. When you get the urge to cheat, they also provide a "cheat list" of sweet foods and they tell you what to omit from your eating if/when you cheat. So by picking the foods that you like to eat from the lists they provide, and sticking with the specified number of helpings, and helping sizes, you're sure to stay on track with the diet. All you have to do is follow the meal patterns, and measure the helpings.
They say in the book that if you follow the diet and don't exercise, that you'll lose about 1 LB a week, and if you also exercise 3 times a week, you'll lose about 1.5 LB a week. I have found this to be true in my case.
Unlike the Atkins Diet, this plan provides very well balanced and very well proportioned food helpings. ( I myself think the Atkins diet to be quite unhealthy and have met people that have reported health problems after trying the Atkins diet).
This diet plan was actually put together for the Army, and (according to the book) has been used by thousands of Army folks to help them reach their ideal weights. I myself am not an Army person. I'm just an ordinary, middle-aged guy working in an office. But my experience with the diet has been very positive and effective. Last year, I lost about 25# using this diet. This year, I have lost 16 #, and am now 7# away from my ideal weight (which I hope to reach by the end of next month). While following this plan, I have experienced very good energy levels, very clear and alert mind/thinking, no unpleasant or undesirable side effects. I have felt great, and people have even told me that I look great too. In fact, I feel a lot better eating on this plan than I did before getting on the diet.
In addition to following the diet, I do a few more things to enhance it. 1) I take a daily multivitamen (Eckerd's Sundown multivitamen for Women, which gives you 36 vitamins, minerals, and just a few natural berry extracts). I chop the vitamin in half, and take half at breakfast, and half at lunch. 2) I drink 32 oz of water on the way in to work, along with about 8-12 oz of black coffee. Then I eat breakfast at work. I also exercise every day following the 8-week workout pattern that they give in the book. And I drink another 32 oz of water in the late afternoon, a little while before dinner. I think all these factors help make the diet effective.
Anyway, I think its a great diet, and am a little surprised that nobody has heard much about it. So, I'm writing to let you know, so you can review it and pass it on to your readers. I give it "two thumbs ups". My plan is to keep eating the same way, even after reaching my target weight, by just adding an extra meal or two, and continuing with the workouts."
On 23 June 2004, we received an update from A. to set us straight about the diet (we had misunderstood some of it):
"I guess I need to clarify a little. On pg 123 of the Army fitness book, they show you the basic daily meal "blueprint", which simply states how many helpings of each type food to eat at each meal (they assume you will measure your portions using the lists they provide.)
A few pages later, they provide you with about two-week's worth of sample daily itemized menus, which give you a good idea of how one can follow this plan and still be quite flexible and eat a wide variety of foods. However, they don't ask or lock you in to following the menus. You just follow the pattern laid out on pg 123, which simply says how many portions (helpings)... (but their word for it is 'exchange'). to eat at each meal. And then the lists tell you which foods are in which groups, and what quantity makes up a portion. It's very simple, but effective, and it really keeps all the food groups in a good proportion to each other for each meal.
So starting out, you can pick whatever foods you like to eat from their lists. But then, once you learn the principles that guide their thinking,and understand their system, you can add in other healthy favorite foods, as long as you know what food group they fall into. Its quite adaptable to one's eating preferences.
I reviewed my health notes this AM. On 2-6-04 I weighed 204# and 31% body fat. This morning, I was 184 and 24% body fat. And todays Body Mass Index (bmi) was 25.02 . So since around the first of Feb of this year, I've lost 20#. ( My fitness goal is 177# and 7% body fat.)
Assuming a person is in ordinary health, and wants to eat a balanced diet, this is a diet I can recommend."
Thank you A. for sharing your story with our visitors. We can definitely recommend this well-rounded, reasonable diet to our visitors, as well.
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