Composition of meals

Main meal - lunch or dinner

Your eating will revolve around this meal.

It will contain a starchy foodstuff AND vegetables AND meat (or fish or eggs), AND a small amount of fat.

Depending on your preferences and the restrictions at certain points, you may eat this as a HOT MEAL or as a COMPOSITE SALAD.

Starch: as you wish

Small potatoes
Noodles, rice, semolina, maize, ground corn (pil-pil or pre-cooked), dry vegetables (lentils, white or red beans, chick peas, peas, kidney beans)

These starch products are to be cooked without any fat: so, for example, you must avoid chips for the time being.

  • Potatoes: it is advisable to avoid eating purée – this satisfies your hunger for shorter periods since it is processed too quickly by your body.
  • You must also cook potatoes with the skins: this is a much better system in terms of vitamin C and glucids. You do not have to eat the skin, but it is better to remove it after cooking rather than before. It is ideal to oven-roast potatoes in their jackets (delicious, too), but you can also boil them or steam them without removing the skin first.

Vegetables: as you wish

  • You may eat as many vegetables as you wish, and you may even eat them at the same meal or over several meals, as you wish.
  • If you are eating starchy foods, it is important to eat the SAME volume of vegetables OR MORE during the SAME MEAL.

For example:

Food to be eatenwith
NOODLES Tomatoes à la provençale, oven-roasted with oil and garlic
RICECheese-topped courgettes
POTATOES Cauliflower or green salad
MAIZE
GROUND CORN (PRE-COOKED OR PIL-PIL)Ratatouille
SEMOLINA Oven-roasted aubergines and peppers
LENTILSTomato pulp or fresh tomato (tinned tomato for the sake of speed), combined with onion or fine herbs, depending on your tastes ...
KIDNEY BEANS Green beans (fresh, deep-frozen or tinned, as you prefer) etc. … (these are only examples, and you may choose the combinations yourself)

Lean meat : As you wish

Twice a week, you may eat a slice of FATTY MEAT,

Or LEAN or FATTY FISH. You can also eat "fresh" tinned tuna, mackerel in white wine or bottled herring (without cream). You must, however, avoid bread-crumbed fish and tuna in oil.

or 1 - 3 thin slices of COOKED HAM,

or 1 - 3 EGGS cooked without any fat (boiled, or cooked in a non-stick pan),

or 6 - 18 OYSTERS,

or 1 - 3 DAIRY PRODUCT(S) (see "Breakfast").

This can be practical if you wish to eat soft cheese with herbs or spices, or just want a quick snack.

Fats

You must use one of the fatty foodstuffs listed below to cook or accompany the food (starch + vegetables + meat, fish or eggs), BUT YOU MUST NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS: this is extremely important if your plans are to be successful.

BUTTER or MARGARINE 10 g or 2 level coffee spoons

or 41% FAT BUTTER 20 g or 4 level coffee spoons

or OIL 10 g or 2 coffee spoons (or 1 soup spoon)

or 30% FAT CREAM 30 g or 2 unheaped soup spoons

or 15% FAT CREAM 60 g or 4 unheaped soup spoons

or Commercial low-fat VINAIGRETTE 25 g or 2½ soup spoons

or MAYONNAISE 10 g or 1 generous soup spoon

Each of these will have the same effect on your body; oil is best for your health, especially olive oil, colza oil and nut oil.

To make your food even more "healthy" and creamier in your mouth, you should cook the starchy foods, vegetables and meat, fish or eggs without any fatty materials (see "Advice on cooking – Conseil de cuisine") other than those recommended for the dish. You may eat this just as it is (a little oil or a knob of butter, for example), or in a sauce (you can either make the sauce yourself, or it may be one of the suggestions in "Sauces"). However, you must never eat more than the recommended amounts.

Lists of foodstuffs

Starchy foods

  • Cereal foodstuff : Noodles, rice, semolina, whole wheat (Ebly, for example), ground corn (pre-cooked or pil-pil)
  • A dry vegetable : Lentils, chick peas, split peas, white beans, red beans, kidney beans
  • Another starchy foodstuff : Potatoes, maize, peas

Vegetables:

especially those in bold type

  • Root vegetables : Carrots, turnips, celeriac, radishes, salsify, Jerusalem artichokes, beetroot, onions, leeks
  • Fruit-vegetables : Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, marrows
  • Stalk vegetables : Cardoons, celery, fennel
  • Leaf vegetables : Endives, lamb’s lettuce, common lettuce, chicory, curled leaf lettuce, broad endives, curly endives, cos lettuce, lollarossa, baby lettuce, spinach, sorrel, cress, beet
  • Cabbage types : Cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, white cabbage, green cabbage, kales, Brussels sprouts
  • Shoot vegetables : Asparagus
  • Pod vegetables : Green beans, butter beans, mange-tout
  • Plant-heart vegetables : Artichokes, palm hearts
  • Mushrooms : Cultivated mushrooms, cepes, chanterelles, parasol mushrooms etc.

Meat

MeatLean cutsFatty cuts
Giblets Heart, liver, kidneys Tongue, brains
Lamb Cutlets, haunches, shoulder
Beef Steak, sirloin, roast beef, 5%-fat minced steak Entrecôte, bourguignon, beef stew, 15% or 20%-fat minced steak
Charcuterie Cooked ham (without fat), bacon Other charcuterie products (andouille sausage, black/white pudding, pâté, garlic sausage, raw ham etc.)
Horse All cuts
Game Venison, wild boar
Rabbit All cuts
Pork Lean fillet Cutlets, roast pork, cross-cut, chine
Veal Ribs, escalope, roast veal Roast cut
Poultry Turkey, chicken, guinea fowl Duck, pheasant, goose, pigeon, hen

Fish

Prefered lean fish Prefered fatty fish Fatty fish to be avoided
Bass Anglerfish Pike Atlantic cod Plaice Hake Smelt Smoked haddock Pollack Dab Burbot Whiting European hake Cod Perch Skate Scorpionfish Sole Surimi Eel Fresh anchovies Tinned anchovies Swordfish Halibut Fresh or smoked herring Rollmops in vinegar Fresh or smoked mackerel Tinned mackerel in white wine Mullet Dogfish Fresh sardines Fresh or smoked salmon Fresh tuna Tinned tuna Trout Turbot Caviar, roe, fish eggs Anchovies in oil (tinned) Cream rollmops Sardines in oil Tinned tuna in oil Bread-crumbed fish, fried fish, Fish croquettes