The Editors of Cooking Light - Cooking that counts: 1,200- to 1,500-calorie meal plans to lose weight deliciously

COOKING THAT COUNTS 1,200- to 1,500-Calorie Meal Plans to Lose Weight DELICIOUSLY 2017 Time Inc. Books Published by Oxmoor House, an imprint of Time Inc. Books 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281 Cooking Light is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Lifestyle Group. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations in connection with reviews written specifically for inclusion in magazines or newspapers, or limited excerpts strictly for personal use.

Senior Editor: Rachel Quinlivan West, R.D. Editor: Cathy Wesler, M.S., R.D. Project Editor: Lacie Pinyan Designers: Amy Bickell, Chris Rhoads Junior Designer: AnnaMaria Jacob Photographers: Iain Bagwell, Jen Causey, Greg Dupree, Victor Protasio Prop Stylists: Kay Clarke, Audrey Davis, Thom Driver, Lindsey Lower, Claire Spollen Food Stylists: Margaret Dickey, Kellie Kelley Recipe Developers and Testers: Robin Bashinsky, Jiselle Basile, Adam Hickman, Julia Levy, Callie Nash, Marianne Williams, Deb Wise Senior Production Manager: Greg A. Amason Associate Manager for Project Management and Production: Anna Riego Copy Editors: Jacqueline Giovanelli, Dolores Hydock Indexer: Mary Ann Laurens Fellows: Audrey Davis, Kyle Grace Mills, Natalie Schumann eISBN: 978-0-84875-171-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955288 First Edition 2017 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Time Inc. Books products may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Christi Crowley in the Special Sales Department at (845) 895-9858.

We welcome your comments and suggestions about Time Inc. Books. Please write to us at: Time Inc. Books Attention: Book Editors P.O. Box 62310 Tampa, Florida 33662-2310 INTRODUCTION TO MEAL PLANS Make Your Meals Count THINK ABOUT THE TYPICAL APPROACH TO DIETING. Its often framed as cants and quick fixes.

You cant eat this, you shouldnt eat that, you have to eat this for those results, do this for that amount of time, and so on. Not only are these approaches discouraging and often driven by deprivation, theyre also not sustainable. What happens when those X-amount of days are up, or when youve dropped the desired pounds by not eating certain food groups without a thought as to what happens next? You end up right back where you started. If a diet is to truly work, it needs to be a long-term commitment to a healthier lifestyle, one that allows you to enjoy the foods you love, including dessert. It needs to changeand breakall those bad eating habits that have you dieting in the first place. And that change can be extremely difficult, especially since there are so many questions that need answering first: Will I be able to make this work with my schedule? Will I see the results Im looking for? Is this sustainable? The goal of Cooking that Counts is to help you figure out what this new, healthier lifestyle looks like for you.

Each of the meal plans in this book is meant to guide you, introducing you to a delicious way to eat thats filled with wholesome, satisfying foods in proper portionsits a way to eat for a lifetime rather than just for swimsuit season. We also know that desserts and a celebratory drink are a part of life, so those havent been omitted from this book. Theyve just been served up in ways that empower you to work them into your diet when you like. We also realize that many of our readers may have dietary restrictions, so weve identified recipes using the key at left that fit a range of criteria. This book originated from the Cooking Light Diet, an online, subscription-based service created to help people eat healthier and happier. When building the diet, we harnessed our vast, ever-growing archive of healthy recipes to help families eat better, while also addressing the age-old questions: Whats for dinner? And lunch? And breakfast? Driven by an emphasis on portion control and three basic principlesPLAN, SHOP, and COOKwe believe weve done just that.

Heres a little bit about how the Cooking Light Diet works: With PLAN, menus are generated based on your preferences: vegetarian, gluten free, SmartCarb, dairy free, tree nut and peanut free, and more. From there, you can designate how often youd like to cook, whether its breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner every day of the week, dinners only, or however much youre able. You make the menus work for your life, not the other way around. If you want to plan for two weeks at a time, you can do that, too. SHOP then generates a grocery list based on the recipes youve selected. The list can be customized to only include certain meals or meal days, and formatted to include two weeks worth of recipes, eliminate ingredients you already have on hand in the kitchen, and add nonfood items to your list.

Then you simply email or print when its store-ready. Our SHOP feature takes all the hassle out of grocery store trips, and eliminates the chances of buying junk food you dont need by arming you with a ready-made list. Lastly, COOK provides you with beautiful images of the recipes youre cooking along with recipe instructions, nutritional information, cook times, and options to mark favorite recipes for later reference or indicate whether you want more or fewer recipes like the one youre cooking. And all recipes youve ever cooked are archived so you can schedule them into future menus. Purchasing this book is a great step towards making a commitment to cooking your way towards a healthier lifestyle. We encourage you to use it to expand your recipe wheelhouse, experiment with ingredients, and experience firsthand the joy of cooking.

Then take the next step and join the Cooking Light Diet. Read the success stories in the pages that follow to see how other people have incorporated this plan into their lives. And then take the guesswork out of your meal planning by utilizing the CLDiet in your day-to-day. You wont regret it. RECIPE KEY DAIRY FREE GLUTEN FREE LOW CARB VEGETARIAN Must-Have Ingredients AN IMPORTANT STEP TO LOSING WEIGHT and maintaining that weight loss is stocking your kitchen with the ingredients you need to create healthy meals. The following 12 essential kitchen staples are the basis of many recipes in this book.

Youll find a mix of ingredients that emphasize flavor without excess calories. Stock your pantry, fridge, and freezer with these items and watch your weekly shopping list grow shorter. HEART-HEALTHY OIL: Olive oil and canola oil are Cooking Light Diet essentials for sauted and roasted dishes, salad dressings, and more. These two staple oils are high in heart-healthy unsaturated fats and low in artery-clogging saturated fats. CITRUS: Lemons and limes (juice and rind) add flavor and depth without added salt in sweet and savory dishes. Citrus is similar in effect to vinegar, but is less tangy in flavor.