What I ate during my 1st cycle on the 17-day diet

When I first started this diet, I tried out different foods. First, I tried to make some okra soup. Disgusting when you drink it on its own. I’m used to eating it with something else like fufu or eba (these are some of our Nigerian staple foods). Next, I tried some spinach salad but I chopped the spinach first and it became very gooey… disgusting if you ask me. I also tried to make some steamed vegetables with fluted pumpkin leaves (ugu) [another West African staple leave] but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat that.Then I decided to stick to simple things that I loved cos’ I felt that would make following the diet easier.
Breakfast | Snack | Lunch | Snack | Dinner | |
Sunday | Yoghurt, fruit, green tea | fruit | Green tea, Lettuce wraps with diced chicken, red pepper, green pepper and onions | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Steamed cabbage, carrot and green beans + 1 boiled chicken breast or 2 pieces of grilled fish |
Monday | Fruit, Green tea, Scrambled egg whites (with a dash of pepper and salt. sometimes with a sprinkle of grated mozarella cheese) | yoghurt | Green tea, Steamed cabbage, carrot and green beans + 1 boiled chicken breast | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Stir fry with cabbage, carrots, green pepper, red pepper, green beans, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and shredded chicken |
Tuesday | Yoghurt, fruit, green tea | fruit | Green tea, Scrambled egg whites with onions, green pepper and red pepper | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Lettuce wraps with diced chicken, red pepper, green pepper and onions |
Wednesday | 2 boiled eggs, fruit, green tea | yoghurt | Green tea, Steamed cabbage, carrot and green beans + 1 boiled chicken breast or 2 pieces of grilled fish | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Stir fry with cabbage, carrots, green pepper, red pepper, green beans, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and shredded chicken |
Thursday | Yoghurt, fruit, green tea | fruit | Green tea, Scrambled egg whites with onions, green pepper and red pepper | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Steamed cabbage, carrot and green beans + 1 boiled chicken breast or 2 pieces of grilled fish |
Friday | Fruit, green tea, Scrambled egg whites ( with a dash of pepper and salt. sometimes with a sprinkle of grated mozarella cheese) | yoghurt | Green tea, Scrambled egg whites with onions, green pepper and red pepper | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Lettuce wraps with diced chicken, red pepper, green pepper and onions |
Saturday | 2 fried eggs (with non-stick oil spray), yoghurt, green tea | fruit | Green tea, Steamed cabbage, carrot and green beans + 1 boiled chicken breast or 2 pieces of grilled fish | yoghurt | Decaffeinated Green tea, Stir fry with cabbage, carrots, green pepper, red pepper, green beans, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and shredded chicken |
A few notes about my meal plan
- One of the things that really kept me making it through the day was to have my morning snack first thing in the morning then I would have my
breakfast between 10.30 and 11 am. This way, I was able to eat a late lunch. I wasn’t also ravenous by dinner.
- In the mornings, I would squeeze one lime into a glass of water (the book recommends lemons but we don’t readily have lemons here in Nigeria).
- Most of the foods I ate were things I could find easily.
- For my fruit, I pretty much stuck to apples.
- I preferred grilled fish to chicken breast. It’s a lot tastier. I just stuck to mackerel because it’s very easy to find here. I don’t like tilapia because of all the bones you have to deal with. At the beginning of the diet, I found a tin of wild salmon. It was horrible.
- I also added a lot of cayenne pepper to everything I cooked. This made my food tastier.
- To ‘fry’ my eggs, I used a non-stick oil spray that I found in the supermarket (if you live in Lagos, check SPAR supermarket: that’s where I bought mine).
- My yoghurt was unsweetened. I would add a little no-calorie sweetener to it and that would make it nice.
- I took regular green tea during the day AND decaffeinated green tea at night so that I would be able to sleep well.
Pretty basic right? In my next post, I will give you more tips for the 17 day diet. Do have a pleasant day!
Dr Fomsky
Related links:
- After 17 days on the 17-day diet!! My thoughts, my experience and my results!
- 17 Day Diet: Chapter 3 – Cycle 1: Accelerate
- Cycle 1 recipe links
- 17 Day Diet. Paleo Diet Cookbook Recipes. (Kindle edition)
- 17 Day Diet Recipe Book for Cycle 1 (Kindle edition)
- The 17 Day Diet Cookbook: 80 All New Recipes for Healthy Weight Loss

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Too bad about the lemon. We have them in Ghana.
Maybe I didn’t look that hard! How is Ghana? I miss Accra 😛
Thumps up!! u really tried. I wonder when i can bring myself to do this especially stick to the meal plan.
Thanks for sharing and also being an inspiration.
My dear Katchie it wasn’t easy. Cycle 2 is even worse I think because it’s possible to overeat! LOL!