your ador - diet plans

The Ador Summer Diet

Prepare for your holiday and get ready for a healthy Autumn…

If you think overhauling your diet for the summer is all about carrot juice and splitting headaches brought on by semi-starvation and sudden caffeine-free regimes, then think again. It is actually all about smart food choices, which, yes, will help you to shed some unwanted winter pounds, but also genuinely give you an inner cleanse leaving you energised and ready to tackle the months ahead with verve and vigour.

The really good news about a summer dietary overhaul is that our bodies naturally find it easier to lose weight at this time of the year, because we tend to leave behind our cravings for stodgy comfort foods, and intuitively crave lighter fare instead.

Aim to adopt this new-style of eating for two weeks, and hopefully you will feel so much better, that you will keep up many of the changes all summer long. And that means you’re sure to look so much better when you finally kick back and hit the beach!

Where to begin

Needless to say, the first place to start is by getting ruthlessly honest with your current eating habits. It is normal for extras to have crept in over the winter and spring months, when you want to warm up and lift your mood with treats like biscuits, cakes and crisps.

But now it’s time to replace them with the lighter options of fruits, yoghurts and fromage frais. Immediately, your sugar and fat levels, along with your calorie consumption, will fall. Meanwhile, your intake of vitamins, minerals and super nutrients will be given a boost.

How to cook

Summer is also a great time of the year to make the most of lighter styles of cooking, moving over to methods like steaming, poaching and stir frying. All help to preserve maximum levels of vitamins and tend to use less fat than roasting and baking.

They are also good, because, unlike heat roasting and baking (which use very intense heat for prolonged periods), they produce fewer chemicals known as Advanced Glycogen Endproducts (or AGEs, for short), which can accumulate in our body tissues leading to inflammation and ageing.

Raw food

A lot has been written about the benefits of ‘raw food’, and summer does seem like a good time to begin chomping through lots of raw vegetables. While there is no harm in eating raw fruit and veg, it is not a necessity.

In fact, in some cases your body is able to better absorb supernutrients when cooked. For example, the orange pigment beta carotene and the red pigment lycopene, found in carrots, sweet potatoes and tomatoes, are better absorbed when these foods are cooked. Meanwhile, absorption is even easier when a little oil is added.

Breakfasts

Start each day with half a grapefruit. Research has shown that people who eat a grapefruit with every meal lose an average of almost 4lb – some up to 10lb – over 12 weeks, without making any other changes to their diet.

Scientists explain this by the slight reduction in insulin levels that grapefruit caused in the people taking part in the study. This is an effect that helps to make us spontaneously feel less hungry and unconsciously eat slightly fewer calories.

However, make sure you skip grapefruit if you’re taking cholesterol lowering drugs. One of its supernutrients affects their absorption.

A 50g bowl of sugar-free muesli is another healthy summer breakfast choice. It’s low GI and will keep you full until lunchtime. Plus, you can ramp up your vitamin intake by adding a chopped banana, a grated apple or some berries, serving with milk and a dollop of live yoghurt.

Alternatively, try two boiled or poached eggs on toast with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, or a fresh fruit salad with a yoghurt and a handful of toasted sunflower or sesame seeds. You could also go for a skinny cappuccino or latte with an Ador cereal bar and a piece of fruit.

Then again you could drop the coffee for tea. It contains less caffeine than coffee and so allows you to gently cut down you intake of this stimulating chemical, without sparking withdrawal symptoms.

Lunch

This is an ideal time to boost your springtime supernutrient intake by sticking with light vegetable-packed soups, eaten with warm pitta or rye bread, which is low GI and helps to keep you feeling full.

Try reviving flavours like tomato and roast red pepper, pea and mint, borscht, and carrot and coriander. And if the warm days we’re all praying for arrive, you can go for gazpacho.

Alternatively, have a wholemeal pitta, granary bread sandwich, tortilla wrap, four oatcakes, or a multigrain bread roll. Each can be accompanied by a light filling, such as tuna, chicken or turkey, or a basmati rice salad with beans and sweetcorn.

Follow any of these lunch ideas with some fresh fruit and a fromage frais or yoghurt.

Dinner

In the summer evenings, go back to basics and create some really simple, nourishing meals, which include at least two vegetables and one of these slow release carbohydrates: 60g of noodles (uncooked weight); 70g of pasta (uncooked weight); 150g sweet potato, baked; 150g boiled new potatoes.

You can then add one serving of lean protein such as: 100g of extra lean beef, pork or lamb; 120g of lean chicken or turkey; 80-100g of oily fish, including mackerel, salmon, sardines; an egg; 100g of cottage cheese; 40g of reduced fat cheddar; 150g of tofu; 150g of Quorn (cooked weight).

When you’re choosing vegetables, fruits and herbs, why not go for those in season. Delicious seasonal treats include beetroot, broccoli and sprouting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and celeriac, chichory, leeks, mint and parsley, potatoes, rhubarb, rosemary and thyme.

Drinking habits

Summer’s also a great time to drink yourself healthier, by sipping the following cleansing tipples:

Peppermint tea – The oils in peppermint contain more than 40 different supernutrients, including menthol, which helps to relax the digestive system, especially helping to relieve intestinal cramping and gas. It is also said to improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

Chamomile – The supernutrient apigenin in chamomile affects the same part of the brain as anti-anxiety drugs, helping to you to relax and sleep well, which enhances the detoxing process.

Water – There is no need to drink a specific quantity of mineral water daily. If you are sipping herbal teas, top up with mineral water in between, so that in total, the amount of fluid you drink in a day is approximately 2 litres. Remember that you need a further litre of water for every hour of strenuous exercise you undertake.