The Ornish Diet

The Ornish Diet is one prescribed for vegetarians so unlike Atkins or the Zone, most protein here will be fromvegetables. Dr. Dean Ornish, M.D. popularized this diet telling people they can eat more and weigh less. This is a very restrictive diet since there are a lot of foods that are not recommended for consumption to achieve your goal. Unlike Atkins or Sears’ it doesn’t only help us reduce weight but it reduces bad cholesterol which causes harm to our cardiovascular system.

What you can’t eat. As mentioned, this is mostly a vegetarian meal so meat, fish and poultry are not allowed in this diet. Other foods that are not allowed are: all fats, oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, refined carbohydrates (including sugar, white rice, and white flour), sugar and simple sugar derivatives -- honey, molasses, corn syrup, and high-fructose syrup, alcohol, anything commercially prepared that has more than two grams of fat per serving.

What you can eat. Anything other than what was listed are allowed so this doesn’t leave us much choice but a very small selection of vegetables. Beans and legumes are allowes as well as grains. As for fruits, any kind is allowed in the diet.

What you should eat in moderation. The only dairy allowed is fat-free yogurt, milk, fat free cheeses, and egg whites. This is where the Ornish dieter gets his protein. But dairy consumption should also be monitored and kept at a minimum. Nonfat or very low-fat commercially available products --from Life Choice frozen dinners to Haagen-Dazs frozen yogurt bars and Entenmann's fat-free desserts. If there’s more sugar than necessary though then you might want to leave these out of your diet.

Unlike the other diets, Ornish also recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, or an hour three times a week, and using some kind of stress-management technique like yoga and meditation.

Here are a few sample meal plans for a low-fat Ornish diet:

Here are a few sample meal plans for a low-fat Ornish diet:

SAMPLE MENU ONE:
Breakfast: Whole grain cereal with fat-free yogurt and orange juice
Lunch: Baked potatoes stuffed with fat-free cheese and spinach, Broccoli, Potato salad with fat-free dressing, Green salad and fresh fruit
Dinner: Bread with tomatoes and capers, Wholemeal pasta with vegetables, Peaches in wine
Drinks: Water, tea, coffee, skim milk, juices

SAMPLE MENU TWO
Breakfast: 1 cup of non-instant oatmeal with ½ cup of fresh fruit or raisins to mix with the oatmeal for flavor. ¼ cup of skim milk for oatmeal if preferred. 1 banana, 1 cup of orange juice.
Lunch: Mustard and Red Onion Sandwich, Spread mustard on whole grain bread. Layer thin sliced tomato and red onion on bread. Season tomatoes with a little pepper. Top both layers of tomatoes and red onion with some artichoke hearts.
Dinner. Vegetable Barley Soup:
Ingredients are:
2 cups of chopped carrots
2 cups of mushrooms
1 cup of chopped celery
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cups of chopped onion
5 cups of water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons of barley



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