Glamour on a budget - Mattie Roberts

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Post-Summer Slim Down
September 5, 2006

Summer has been great! A sunny haze of pasta, rose wine and belly dancing on the beach punctuated by long spells of listless lounging. Okay, that only happened a couple of times this summer, but I still need to de-bloat and wring out my liver. Basically I need to get back on track so I can look good in the new must-have narrow-leg pants for fall.

This is what we’re going to consume today:

A big glass of water with lemon and a splash of cranberry juice when you first awake

One cup of coffee or tea with a bit of milk if you must – I must

A small bowl…a cup or so…of oatmeal with splenda

An egg

For lunch we’ll have a big salad with tuna, olive oil and lemon dressing, half an avocado and lots of raw veggies shredded on it, plus a big glass of lemon water with cranberry juice.

For a snack we’ll eat a carton of plain yogurt with an apple – with skin – chopped up in it and another glass of lemon water with cranberry juice.

Dinner is a piece of chicken without skin, broccoli and/or spinach sautéed in a little olive oil, garlic and chicken stock. A side salad with sliced tomatoes and the other half of the avocado will finish it off…and more of the lemon water with cranberry.

Make sure you either do half an hour on the elliptical at full speed, jog for half an hour or walk briskly for an hour. Add in about ten minutes of push-ups, sit-ups and biceps curls and you’re set.

Basically what you are doing is cutting out the alcohol, wheat, sugar and added salt. For best results, give yourself a good eight or nine hours of sleep. You’ll wake up looking years younger and probably a pound or two lighter. If you can, keep this up for a few days and you’ll be on your way to skinny pants and pencil-skirts in no time.