Attack Phase: Day 1

Introduction

It's Saturday 9th March and I am out with my Mum and Sister celebrating Mother's Day a day early, as I am in a play which requires me tomorrow for a dress rehearsal on the day itself. It's the last chance I have to eat what I want, as I am starting the Dukan Diet tomorrow, so what better place to go than the gorgeous La Tasca's on the Quayside for some mouth watering Spanish Tapas.....here's some pictures to get your taste buds going...

Manchego Cheese, Homemade Bread with Balsamic and Olive Oil Dip

Chicken and Seafood Paella

So, if I'm about to start an intensive diet, why am I showing you these pictures? Well, probably for motivation. Once I achieve the weight that I am happy with I will then be able to treat myself - once in a while - with gorgeous food like this. Another reason, is that people think that being on a diet means being restricted to boring tasteless food, but if anything it should make you want to test out your culinary skills even more. I think the message is, don't be afraid to try new things. And with the Dukan Diet Life Plan Book, that my awesome Daddy got me well before Christmas last year - yes, it's taken me this long to start it! - you are given dozens of interesting recipes which not only tantalise your taste buds, but provide surprising satisfaction keeping you fuller for longer. Here's a picture of the book (I would seriously recommend this one out of all of them - it is more of a bible than anything with handy tips and detailed information of each phase, not to mention the helpful meal plans that he has compiled to help your inner creativity come out!):

Use Sticky Tabs to Mark Important Pages

Attack Phase

Sunday 10th March:

Day 1

It's day 1 of the Attack Phase and I'm feeling more motivated than ever - as we all do! This phase can last from one to ten days depending how much weight you want to lose. For me, I want to lose about three stones over the whole course of the diet - not in this phase alone!! - so I am going to be in this phase for seven days. Dr Pierre Dukan explains how long you should stay in this phase for in The Dukan Diet Life Plan Book.

For Breakfast I jump straight into the deep end as I'm curious to know how the Oat Bran Galette, Dr Dukan himself so enthusiastically recommends, tastes....

Breakfast: 

Oat Bran Galette

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons of oat bran

1 whole egg or just the white (I used the whole egg)

1 1/2 tablespoons of fat-free fromage frais or virtually fat free quark (I used the fromage frais)

1 teaspoon of aspartame or a little salt (I actually used two crushed stevia a natural sweeteners made from plants)

Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl then pour onto a non-stick frying pan without any fat (or if you don't have a non-stick frying pan, like me, add a drop of oil and wipe the surface using kitchen roll). Cook on either side of the galette. 

So, my first attempt of making it looks like this:

Oat Bran Galette

And the verdict? Well, let's just say I need a few more attempts to make this a 'winning' dish. Firstly, the pan I used just doesn't cook the galette well without needing a substantial amount of oil. So I would recommend buying a non-stick frying pan. Secondly, I used only two small stevia sweeteners which after re-checking the ingredients I realised I need at least a full teaspoon of crushed stevia to make this taste remotely edible! To help get it down this time I plopped a generous blob of creme fraiche to liven it up, but this limp galette proved to be a bit of an anti-climax, though I wasn't going to let it dishearten me. There are many ways you can get your recommended oat bran intake (1-2 tablespoons), you just need to be creative. I realised that if I use it more for desserts I get the best of both worlds, a yummy pud and my recommended intake! Win, win!

I finished off the breakfast with a cherry fat-free yoghurt and a cup of English breakfast tea!

As I have my dress rehearsal today, I need to think about what quick, easy but tasty lunch I can take to the theatre. As a result, I throw a bunch of things in my bag which work well separately but also together....

Day 1: Lunch

Lunch

Ingredients:

Smoked salmon slices

Small tub of fat-free cottage cheese with chives

Fat-free strawberry yoghurt

Water

Diet Coke

I ripped up my lovely smoked salmon slices and mixed them into the cottage cheese. The Diet Coke was a brilliant way to see me through this loooooong rehearsal.

The seafood sticks and the chamomile tea were my snacks which I munched on - and gulped down - throughout the dress rehearsal.

Tip: Water is extremely important to any healthy lifestyle but the Dukan Diet requires it more than ever, so make sure you get your recommended daily amount of 1.5 litres :)

I don't get back from the theatre until 7pm, which I'm unhappy about, as the Dukan Diet suggests not eating after 7pm which allows your body to digest the food properly before you go to sleep, but alas "suffer for your art", and I get cooking regardless. I am looking forward to this meal the most as I have more time to spend on making it really delicious.

Dinner

Starter: King Prawns in Chilli, Garlic and Soy Sauce

And here it is:

Day 1: Dinner (Starter)

Funny thing, there actually was more prawns here. A dozen at least, but they were so tasty I couldn't help myself and so I forgot all about taking a photo. Such a simple but tasty dish. I gently fried the chilli and garlic just to soften them up, then I marinated the prawns in the light soy sauce and added them to the pan for just a few seconds and Voila! Done! Although maybe I should have de-seeded the chilli's cause, damn! That was a spicy one, even for a spice lover like me!

For those chilli haters out there, you can always replace the chilli with ginger - it's a dukan recipe so I have no doubt it will be gorgeous! I think I will give it a try once I get a hold of some ginger myself.

So my main meal was a bit of a cop out, but filling nonetheless...

Main: Boiled Chicken Breast Stuffed with Fat-Free Fromage Frais, Fresh Chives and Lemon Juice

Day 1: Dinner (Main)

So the reason it was a cop out was because the fromage frais was a little too bitter for the chicken, and as chicken is already quite a plain flavour when on it's own, it became quite a dull and dry dish, something which I didn't want to happen, but of course is inevitable when trying out new things. It did however do the most important thing, which was fill me up. 

However, as I looked forward to tucking into another fat-free yoghurt (the third of the day), something hit me and before I knew it I was flicking through the pages of my Dukan Bible to make sure it was okay to have these fruity yoghurts all the time. Luckily I did check because although you are allowed to have as much fat-free flavoured yoghurt as you want, it is recommended you only have up to two fat-free fruit yoghurts throughout this phase. Phew! So I've had my two today and that's all I can have for the next week. However, that means I don't have a dessert lined up for afterwards. I'm disappointed but have learnt from my mistake, ALWAYS STOCK UP ON PURE PROTEIN FOODS: that way if anything goes wrong you can substitute for something else you have. Good thing I have my seafood sticks; I munch on two and have a cup of tea to take the ease off my craving for something sweet. I'll not make that mistake again.

And this is where the oat bran can come into play. Think oat bran cookies, oat bran muffins, oat bran ice cream. The possibilities are endless. And I can imagine having oat bran in desserts will go down a lot better than the galette I had this morning, cooked correctly or not.

The key is to think creatively.

Now we come on to the subject of alcohol. Can you drink alcohol in the Attack Phase? The answer is NO! Now I think I have done quite a clever thing by starting my diet around the same time as the week of my shows. This means that since I will be performing on stage from 7:30pm until 11pm I will not be subdued to any temptations i.e. snacking or drinking alcohol, and all I will want to do when I finish is go home to bed! Fool proof. What's even better, is that my call at the theatre is 6:15pm to warm up and prepare which means that I will be eating dinner at the earlier time of 5-5:30pm which, again, is a bonus because I won't be eating so late and my body will have a chance to digest all of the food well before I go to sleep - I might even burn a few extra calories since I'll be performing on stage! It all adds up! So the key here is to pick the best time for YOU and only you, not near holidays, or weekend nights out. Try pick a time when you know you will be able to see this phase of the diet through! Maybe you have a deadline coming up and you know that this will be your priority for the next 7 days and all you will be doing is sitting in the library doing it then going home to bed? Just think. But make sure you get your recommended sleep - 8 hours minimum. Sleep is so important in this phase.  

Oh and one more note on an important subject: Exercise. Dr Dukan suggests that because the Attack Phase is all about giving your body a shock to enable fast weight loss, it's advised that you don't participate in any extremely strenuous exercise. This by no means suggests that you lie around all day in your pyjamas, watching wor Jezza Kyle. Make sure you dedicate 20 minutes to take a brisk walk. Or if you can't do that, just make sure you take the stairs rather than the elevator. Just think about incorporating this 20 minutes of walking into your day, even if you only get 5 minutes to do so, it's better than nothing. 

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to take a walk however I think the dress rehearsal counts as some sort of energy output, if not exercise!

So, day one has been a day of trial and error. I realise all the things I need and the things I need to change, but if anything it has made me more motivated to have a successful day of rustling up scrumptious food. Hopefully day two will be a lot more successful. But if it isn't, who cares!?! :)