Did you indulge and eat lots of high calorie food during the dark days of social distancing? No worries! But now that isolation is over, are you still eating and drinking like the sweatpants and scrunchie days of COVID? If so, it’s time to get serious about slimming down. Seeing friends and going out for fun is just around the corner and you want to fit into those skinny jeans! I have the easiest solution for dropping a size within one week….
Get Slim & Sexy With Intermittent Fasting & 2 Salads A Day
A ridiculously easy and satisfying way to lose body fat just in time for prime bikini season is by fasting for 16 hours from the time you finish dinner until you break the fast the next day.
Fasting 16 hours a day offers numerous health benefits, including burning visceral abdominal fat (the unflattering kind that’s associated with health problems such as type 2 diabetes).
Another simple way to boost your fat loss potential even more is by eating 2 salads (one for lunch, the other for dinner). Really. That’s all it takes.
But you can’t just eat iceberg lettuce. The salad has to be nutritiously-dense. That means you need to include 3 things in your salad:
- Dark leafy greens: arugula, spinach, mixed greens, etc.
- Healthy fats: nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil
- Lean protein.
Here’s what I like to put in my everyday salad:
- Dark leafy greens (mixed greens)
- Carrots (I like chopped baby carrots for the crunch)
- Peas (easily digestible vegan source of protein)
- Sunflower seeds (raw is best)
- “Krumbs” (vegan-friendly croutons made from cashews and nutritional yeast)
- Cucumbers
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Balsamic Vinegar (choose one with grape must as the first ingredient, not the cheaper wine vinegar)
- Strawberries, blueberries or pomegranates
After you fast for 16 hours and have something light for breakfast, you might think that eating a watermelon salad won’t satisfy your hunger for the first meal of the day. Well, think again. Watermelon actually fills you up fast. The combination of water and fiber in the fruit slightly expands your belly. Plus, the almond cheese and macadamia nuts are filling and contain both healthy dietary fat and protein.
My mason jar salad recipes are great for a busy day – just pack a mason jar with ingredients and GO.
Best Summer Salads To Keep You Full and Lean
In summertime, I love adding fruit to my salad. But notice I didn’t say that I love fruit salads. Of course, eating a serving or two of fruit is super healthy. Fruit salads, however, are 100% carbohydrates. The problem with fruit salad is many times, the serving size is enormous, and there is no dietary fat or protein to balance out the carbs.
So when you make a salad, the base of it (the main ingredient) should always be leafy greens.
My favorite fruits to top on a salad are blueberries, strawberries or pomegranates.
If you’ve never added pomegranates to a salad, you’re going to love it.
Besides the perfect balance of sweet and tart, these tiny little pellets of goodness offer numerous health benefits.
Want a recipe for the perfect summer salad with pomegranates?
Check out my Superfood Power Salad here.
Easy Green Salad Recipe
For now, I’ll leave you with one more awesome summer salad recipe that’ll fill your belly and contribute to a slimmer waistline.
This Easy Green Salad  contains healthy fat from avocado, and high-fiber kidney beans. If you have high blood sugar, kidney beans are the perfect food for managing glucose levels. Not only that, they provide a creamy mouthfeel that counteracts the crunchy greens.
For any of my salad recipes if you feel like you need more protein, you can simply top off the salad with canned wild salmon, tuna fish, chopped egg whites or a lean, organic meat like turkey breast.
See if you can go a week or fasting for 16 hours and eating a salad for lunch and dinner. Take a before/after selfie in a swimsuit. If you don’t eat any snacks and just have the 2 salads per day and nothing else (with the exception of Chef V’s Organic Green Drink, Protein Shake, Detox Soup and Detox Tea when you break your fast), there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to look leaner in that bikini.
