Five Ingredient Diet

The five ingredient diet was designed to accommodate actors' busy lifestyles while they were filming. Since the meals could only be eaten during short breaks while on set, they had to be quick and easy. The five ingredient diet is a meal that includes five ingredients one from each of the following categories: protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, fat and fluids, and which consists of eating five meals a day that take no more than five minutes to prepare. The diet is designed to reveal results in five weeks with five "cheat" days during that time period.

Five Ingredient Diet

The five ingredient diet focuses on providing a balanced meal consisting of lean protein such as chicken breast, fish or low-fat dairy; complex carbohydrates from fresh fruits and vegetables; fiber; healthy fats (unsaturated fats) and water or any other sugar-free beverage.

Five meals should be eaten a day including an ingredient from each of the five groups.

In addition to the diet, you should spend 25 minutes exercising five days a week for five weeks.

Every Sunday, you may indulge in a "cheat" day where you can eat whatever you like, but adhering to the five meal guideline.

Meal Guideline

The five meals should be eaten with a three to four hour gap in between each meal. In most cases, this will require you to eat your first meal as soon as you wake up to get in five meals a day before you go to sleep.

For breakfast, consider eating a sugar-free cereal that contains both protein and fiber topped with fresh fruit. Non-fat cottage cheese or sugar-free yogurt mixed with fresh fruit and granola are also good breakfast options.

For lunch, soups and salads make good choices. Also, you can make sandwiches using no-flour bread, tortilla for wraps or rice cakes.

For dinner, choose lean chicken, steak or fish for protein, a side of fresh vegetables like squash, broccoli, spinach or cauliflower, with brown or wild rice.

For the other two meals, consider having a protein shake, egg white omelette or sandwich.

Meal Preparation

The foods can be prepared within five minutes or less because you are using five or fewer ingredients for each meal. Additionally, you rely mainly on mixing, blending or toasting. For example, when preparing a yogurt parfait, you will be mixing yogurt with fresh fruit and granola, and in the case of making a shake you will blend the fruit and yogurt together with protein powder, both of which will take only five minutes or less. To prepare a sandwich you will only need to put your ingredients together, and toast the bread if desired. The only time you will need to cook something is when you have a raw piece of meat or fish and egg that needs to be prepared. These items will be prepared quickly because you will not be marinating these items, just using any dry spices during cooking time. As an alternative for preparing quick meals, find ready-made products or already grilled meats so ingredients can be put together quickly.

What to Expect During the Diet

The five factor diet is not a crash diet where you will shed pounds rapidly or within days. You can expect to lose between one to two pounds each week. The low glycemic index foods (high protein and fiber foods) keep blood sugar levels steady to keep hunger satisfied for a longer period of time to prevent you from overeating or snacking in between meals. Thus, the diet is designed to provide a healthy way to lose weight, approximately five to ten pounds, in a five week span. In most cases, if you are seeking to lose a substantial amount of weight, you will need to continue the diet for a longer period of time.

The diet is easy to make part of your daily routine because the ingredients are easy to find and the meals are easy to prepare.