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Undoubtedly, the French diet remains a mystery and even a source of envy and frustration for those of us who would love to partake in rich cheeses, creamy sauces, buttery croissants and red wine, but can’t stop worrying about the calories, fat, and cholesterol! It doesn’t seem fair that such rich food can be eaten and enjoyed, without showing up on the hips or waistline. Wouldn’t you love to know the secret? Better yet, how would you like to lose weight, while continuing to savor and enjoy the food you eat?
One innovative dietary method can help you do just that: Achieve and maintain your desired weight, without counting calories, without measuring meal portions and without completely restricting food choices. You’ll just need to pay attention to your silverware! Introducing the Fork It! method and its most important eating utensil.
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Fork It! isn’t really a diet, but rather a new way of eating that results in weight loss and weight stabilization. The basic concept is simple: You eat three meals a day, but at dinner, you only eat foods that are naturally eaten with a fork. In other words, no knives, spoons or fingers are allowed during the evening meal. While this strategy may seem a little peculiar, the fork helps to regulate what you eat and how much you eat of it. While that means no pizza, hamburgers or steak for dinner, pasta, salmon and most vegetables are acceptable choices.
Most importantly, because there are relatively few restrictions at breakfast and lunch, you don't have to contend with the feelings of deprivation that accompany most diets and that contribute to failure. With this method, you satisfy your hunger during the day, and at night, you eat less and eliminate the foods that are often the highest in calories.
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Changing how and what you eat at dinner invariably affects what you eat the rest of the day. This is the primary goal of the creators and co-authors of Fork It!, Ivan Gavriloff and Sophie Troff. After all, altering your eating habits is paramount to losing weight. But, what is the best way to do that? According to the Fork It! method, the answer lies in a French adage: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
This proverbial wisdom prescribes a daily diet that is actually beneficial to the body’s constitution. French physician and nutritionist Dr. Alain Delabos developed and designed a dietary regimen called Chrono-Nutrition, which follows the body’s metabolism. This way of eating allows us to efficiently metabolize nutrients by consuming different kinds of foods at the best time of the day to eat them. For example, it is better to eat fat and heavier protein--both crucial and necessary for a balanced diet--in the morning and at lunchtime. Eaten then, these foods are more likely to be converted into the energy that is the needed to get you through the day. However, these same foods, when eaten in the evening, have a greater chance of being stored by the body and converted to fat.
Applying principles of Chrono-Nutrition, the Fork It! method offers a simple, healthy and modern approach to dieting that is easy to implement and maintain. All the doctors, nutritionists and medical specialists we consulted confirm that Fork It! is completely safe to practice, provided that practitioners fulfill their daily nutritional needs. In the next section, you will discover how to restructure your daily diet so that you can meet those needs. Then if you still have further questions, you can consult our website's Q&A section.
When deciding to alter your eating habits, whether for the sake of weight loss and/or overall health and wellbeing, you should consider the following.
• Cut back on your daily intake of food.
While you don't need to actually count calories, if you want to lose
weight, you need to reduce your daily caloric intake by at least 200-400
calories.
• Monitor your alcohol intake. No more than one or two (at the most) glasses
of alcohol daily. Pregnant women should abstain from alcohol entirely.
• Monitor your salt intake.
• Reduce your consumption of saturated animal fats.
• Eat an abundance of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
• Exercise regularly.
To ensure that dietary and metabolic needs are met throughout the day, Fork It! treats each meal differently. Here is a detailed breakdown for each meal, along with food suggestions to help you meet those needs.
In the Morning – Eat Breakfast Like a King Go all out at breakfast and feel good about it! Nutritionally speaking, this is the most important meal of the day: it jump starts your day and keeps you going strong until lunch.* Remember, your body has a better chance of burning off the calories and fat from breakfast than from the other two meals. In fact, this is why you can consider breakfast your daily feast. So go ahead and treat yourself guilt-free to dairy products, such as milk, butter, yogurts and cheeses. Approach this meal with all utensils in hand.**
Breakfast
Menu Suggestions
• 2 Eggs**, ham and 2 slices buttered
whole wheat toast
• 2 Slices buttered whole wheat toast with
cheese (approx. 3.5 oz.)
or peanut butter
• Cereal, yogurt, fruit and honey
• Oatmeal with raisins
*While breakfast can be a more substantial meal, it is best to consume foods that are healthy for the body. Nutritionists advise against a breakfast that is high in sugar due to its effect on the body’s metabolism. Too much sugar produces a temporary “sugar high,” which is followed by a “sugar crash” or loss of energy. You want to give your body fuel to get you going and to stay with you until the next meal.
**In the big picture, it is equally important to consider the quality of fats you consume. A lean piece of ham is a better choice over bacon and sausage, which are normally higher in saturated animal fat. It is also best not to consume more than 3-4 eggs weekly.
Eat Lunch Like a PrinceLunch should be high in protein and starches (i.e. rice, pasta or grains) and accompanied with vegetables.
Be conscientious of your intake of high caloric food, such as hamburgers with buns, French fries, pizza, chips and extra-sweet desserts. These foods are acceptable at lunch, but it is a good idea to limit how often you eat them
Mid-morning and afternoon snacks:
If you get hungry between breakfast and lunch, have a piece
of fruit. In the afternoon, around 4 or 5, you can treat yourself to
a sweet snack. Afternoon snack suggestions include dark
chocolate, fruit or sorbet.
Lunch
Menu Suggestions
• Steak and potatoes
• Chicken with rice and vegetables
• Pasta dishes
• An omelet, salad and fries
• Soup and a high protein sandwich
• A salad and sandwich or hamburger
For dessert:
• Yogurt, fruit or fruit salad, or a small serving
of pie, cake, ice cream or sorbet
Eat Dinner Like a Pauper and only with a Fork Your first concern at dinner is to ask yourself if what you are eating is something that would normally be eaten and/or prepared with a fork. This meal is the method’s key to success. The Fork It! Only Chart indicates the foods to avoid at dinner.
Dinner should be a one-course meal of fish with vegetables or starches, with no dessert. Vegetables are a must at this meal. Fish is also an excellent choice as it is low in calories, yet high in protein, minerals and trace elements.* As a general rule, the reasons to avoid eating meat at dinner are its high fat content and the fact that it takes so long to digest. (Approximately 4 hours!) If you like to finish your evening meal with something sweet, try a nice fruit tea.
*Trace elements are chemical elements that living organisms need in minute amounts.
Dinner
Menu Suggestions
• Vegetables:
asparagus, beans, broccoli,
brussel sprouts, carrots,
lentils, mushrooms,
onions, peas, potatoes, salad,
spinach, soy
• Grains:
pastas, rice (preferably brown),
semolina, bulgar, quinoa
• Fish:
Mackerel, herring, salmon, tuna, eel,
carp, sardines, trout, turbot, sole
• Meat*:
Chicken and ground turkey
*White meats only apply to those following
the Fork It! lightly option.
One of the big advantages to this method is that you can adapt it to your personal tastes and dietary goals. As long as you adhere to the meal descriptions listed above, you are free to choose the foods you prefer to eat. The Fork It! Only Chart below details the foods and condiments you should refrain from at dinnertime. These details may seem numerous in the beginning, but you will quickly get the hang of the routine.
You also need to determine which Fork It! option best meets your needs. If your goal is to lose more than 10 lbs in a healthy way, then you need to Fork It! the strict way. If you just want to take off a few extra pounds and achieve a balanced way of eating, Fork It! lightly is the best way to go. Either option will help you to lose your excess weight, as well as to lay the groundwork for an effective weight maintenance program. In the end, you will discover a better way to eat, one that is healthy, efficient and economical, and that values the pleasures of eating and sharing communal meals.
Fork It! the Strict
Way:
This option is for those who want to lose a substantial amount of weight in
a gradual and healthy way, as well as to adopt a better way of eating overall.
At dinnertime, you choose only those foods that are eaten naturally with
a fork and that don’t
require a knife for preparation. That means that, aside from vegetables and
fish, there is no cutting allowed during the preparation or eating of your
meal. The chart below indicates foods that are eliminated at dinner due to
this ban on silverware.
The Fork It! Only Chart
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Fork It! Lightly:This
option is for those who want to lose a few extra pounds and achieve a
balanced, stable weight. Fork It! lightly is more lenient as
you are permitted to use a knife in the preparation of your dinner. In
addition, you can add the following foods to your dinner
list.
Additional Dinner Suggestions
- Raw vegetables and salads
- White meats, cut into bite size pieces (chicken, turkey)
- Seafood (shrimp, lobster)
- An omelet