The Russian Prison Diet

The primary strength of this diet is its wholesome appeal. Once you follow the plan -- together with an exercise program and vitamin supplements -- you should lose some weight within a few weeks. It is important that you provide yourself some psychological boost and you should tape the MANIFESTO outside your refrigerator door. We recommend that you supplement this program with daily dosages of vitamin A, E, C, and a mega vitamin. Of course, needless to say, you should always consult with your doctor before embarking with this program or any diet program.

The following is a summary of this program.

1. Abide by the Manifesto.
2. Prepare the special Prison Diet soup.
3. Start the program with a Sunday breakfast through Wednesday lunch.
4. Adapt minor variation effective with Wednesday dinner thru Saturday lunch.
5. Reward yourself with a good Saturday dinner
6. Continue program from Sunday breakfast thru Thursday dinner.
7. Stop for a reprieve and set new goal.

DAILY FAIRE The best time to start this program is on Sunday morning. Do not deviate this program until Wednesday's dinner. Sunday's breakfast thru Wednesday's lunch: Breakfast: 2 slices dry toast. 1 boiled or 1 fried egg. You may add a couple wedges of extra firm tofu or a couple slices fried bananas or fried zucchini (we recommend extra virgin olive oil). 6 to 8 unpitted prunes. Coffee or hot tea. 2% milk, soy milk, orange juice, or grapefruit juice (you may alternate daily). Lunch: 1 medium size bowl of soup (about 2 cups). Dinner: Medium sized tossed salad, season with salt, pepper, oregano , extra virgin olive oil and a dab of vinegar (you may toss a few small cubes of extra firm tofu). large bowl of soup (about 3 or 4 cups). Hot tea. Snacks: Take it easy on this. Limit it to fruit only! Wednesday's dinner thru Saturday's lunch: By this time you will be tempted to throw everything away -- but don't do it. Remember, you are climbing Mount Everest in reverse and today is merely another rest stop. It is time for a little reward for your valiant efforts: Breakfast: Same as before Lunch: Same as before Dinner: For dinner, boil a few pieces of skinless chicken. Do not get carried away! Cut up the boiled chicken into small bite size morsels and toss a few of them (not too many) into your special soup. You will feel as though you are eating REAL food! That is the ONLY change that is allowed to your program. Snacks: Still take it easy on this. Limit it to fruit only! Saturday's dinner: Congratulations!  You are doing FANTASTIC! It is time for a gold medal award and you deserve a good dinner. It is OK to splurge a little. Your Saturday dinner can be either grilled salmon steak or chicken. Your chicken could be fried, baked, boiled, or grilled. Limit yourself to 1 breast and 1 other piece, or 3 pieces if you do not include a breast. It is OK to have a baked potato with the works, a couple vegetables, and a tossed salad. Again we recommend seasoning with extra virgin olive oil but you could indulge a little and use some other low calorie dressing. You have now endured 7 days of the program. Don't give up! You must continue the program for 5 more days. BY DAY 12 you should have lost about 5% to 7% of your body weight. After DAY 12, you may revert to a balanced diet BUT you must abide by the provisions of your MANIFESTO. Relax and have a little fun for a few days. Remember you are now resting in one of the Mount Everest camps but there still is more to do. You may analyze your progress and set another realistic goal. Just remember that our body is very complex. If it perceives that something is depriving it of food, it could shift its focus to a protective mode and that can alter your metabolism thereby making any diet program useless. The strength of this diet is its measured and disciplined approach. However, you must not neglect a good and safe exercise program. Please let us know how you are progressing!

SOUP PREPARATION l medium size head of cabbage. 1/2 stalk of celery. 1 large green pepper. 2 shallots (small onions). Optional: Any other green and crisp type vegetables. You may also include some small red tomatoes. Bok Choy. Add Flavors: -- a few basil leaves -- table spoon oregano -- some ground black pepper -- 1 small finely chopped jalopeno pepper -- a little salt -- a dash of vinegar You may use a large pot and that should be enough for 2 to 3 days. Boil for about 20 minutes or to desired crispness.

THE RUSSIAN PRISON DIET MANIFESTO Absolutely no ice cream. You may substitute (in moderation) yogurt or sherbert. Absolutely no French fries! Absolutely no chips of any kind. Drink 5 glasses of 2% milk or soy milk a week -- you may also drink various fruit juices such as lemon juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, etc. Absolutely no carbonated beverages. Remember that a normal soda pop requires 1.5 portions of water just to flush out all the bad stuff your body absorbed from the soda pop. And, what's even worse, if you drink a diet soda pop, it requires over 2 portions of water to flush out all the bad stuff your body absorbed from the diet soda pop. You may substitute fruit based drinks but don't be fooled by labeling -- some of them are called fruit based drinks but they have only 5% fruit in the drink! Absolutely no second helpings! Absolutely no snacks (some fruit and yogurt would be OK). Eliminate brie, yellow, and most cheeses (a little low fat cottage cheese or feta is ok). Learn to use extra firm tofu in a variety of ways. Remember that tofu does not have any flavor but it picks up the flavor of other good stuff. Absolutely no sneak visits to franchise row junk food places. Forget pies, bear claws, danish, and other good bakery stuff like that. How about using some Brea Bakery or Fornau hard crusted bread and slightly dip it in a seasoned extra virgin olive oil (in moderation, of course). Avoid red meat and cut down from your present levels. Exercise! Exercise! At least 20 to 30 minutes a day. Walk! Walk! At least 6 to 10 miles a week. Proclamation: I hereby will abide by the provisions of this manifesto: ___________________________ (date)   __________________ (weight)