A Delicious Way to Diet

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Secret Weapon: Delicious Recipes

So often, weight-loss programs call for prepackaged meals or, at best, bland dishes like plain baked chicken and steamed vegetables. But once you learn the right tricks (replace fat with flavor from spices and herbs) and realize that a little butter can taste as good as a lot, you can enjoy delicious, flavorful recipes and still shed pounds. For Monica Walsh, who lost 16 pounds during our diet, incorporating new recipes that were low in calories and high on flavor was the easiest part of the entire Challenge. “I love to cook,” says Monica. She pulled her boyfriend, Jim, into the diet, too, and he also lost about 15 pounds. (Next, she plans to help her 70-year-old mother follow the diet’s principles.) “We knew whatever EatingWell recipe we made, it would be a nice meal. Of course, we did like some recipes more than others.” The recipes in The EatingWell Diet emphasize lean sources of protein, low-fat dairy and vegetables—all foods that, research suggests, may help you feel full on fewer calories. Many meet the criteria for our healthy-weight icon: they contain 350 calories or less, and have less than 20 grams of total fat and less than 5 grams of saturated fat.

In the end, the nine people who took our EatingWell Diet Challenge lost well over 100 pounds simply by eating delicious, healthy recipes, getting regular exercise and connecting with their supportive families and friends. Making time for cooking and exercising took commitment, prioritizing and a little bit of problem-solving but all our dieters agreed that such efforts yielded big returns: health, happiness, a smaller number on the scale—and the confidence to keep it all going.