What is Diet Royale™ - A Basic Introduction

What is Diet Royale™?

Well it stems from an old saying:
“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” - Adelle Davis, American Nutritionist and Writer, 1904-1974.

I doubt that Adelle Davis was the first person to say this, but it has been a method of dieting throughout the centuries. I personally had never heard the philosophy up until a friend said it to me one morning in the break-room at work. I was 235+ lbs. over weight and searching for a solution to my ongoing "battle of the bulge." Shake plans, starvation plans and lean "healthy" eating were not doing the trick. I’ve been on Jenny Craig twice, since I turned 23 (now 34). I choked down diet pills and whatnot, but I just was getting bigger and bigger. Both weight losses from Jenny Craig were shortly put on within a matter of months and I just couldn't afford the plan anymore. I had a new thought process already going on in my head at this point, “hey, I’ll try it for two weeks, if nothing significant happens then I’ll try something new.” I was so amazed with my new plan, I call Diet Royale™, because I was dropping weight like you wouldn’t believe.

Some of my progress on Diet Royale™The Originale.

Now I kept a record of my diet plan, and I’ll have to hack an old hard-drive to find what I wrote and all the facts and figures I came up with. You should know this is not a lazy plan. There is math involved. You are going to have to watch everything you eat and drink. Measure how much fiber, sodium, potassium, carbs, sugars, calories and protein you are eating everyday; BUT THAT IS ONLY IN THE BEGINNING (first 4-8 weeks) or if you start to gain. There are easy ways to do it, once you’ve done your math homework. However, half my gaining problem, has been because I haven’t been doing my homework. The other half is a battle with migraines and hormone imbalances.

You are also going to have to exercise at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Walking is a good way to do it, so be prepared to find or purchase a pair of good shoes and put together a good playlist to walk too.

Also, get yourself a way to track your foods. You can use my sheet found in Chapter 10, or you can use FatSecret.com, like I am and have done in the past.

So let me find my writings on the diet and see if I can’t load up some worksheets and just dive right into it. I am not saying this diet will work for you, I am simply saying it worked for me and I am going to try it again.

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About the Date of this post. I want this to be the first post you read when you visit Diet Royale™, but I honestly don't know another way to make this a primary post. So know that I am not trying to trick you. This post was actually published 12/22/2012 at 9:31 AM. I did my best to "hide" the date so that it isn't distracting. This note is in case you can see it and were wondering why it was so far into the future.

Chapter 10: Royale Meal Planner

The task of writing down everything you eat and drink can be daunting. In addition to logging your foods it becomes even more daunting to have to list all the Nutrition Facts about your food -- well sort of. What you list and what you don't list is COMPLETELY UP TO YOU. There is an easy online source for you to do it at http://www.fatsecret.com, which I found INCREDIBLY useful and easy to do. Plus it can go with you and your mobile devices.

However, if you want to do it the Diet Royale™ way (or as I like to say "The Queen's Way"), I've made you a planner you can easily fill out, save and print out to your heart's content. No membership required. No fees. It's completely free. All you need is a recent version of Acrobat (I think it is compatible with 7 and up), and time to think about what you are going to eat.

Download The Royale Meal Planner PDF here.

It looks something like this.

This is a sample of the planner. This is Day 03. This is not a perfect menu,
but it gives you an idea of how the tables work.

It Doesn't Have To Be Perfect
The sample menu is merely a sample of my Day 03. Word of caution, it doesn't have to be perfect. I found it was virtually impossible to have a perfect day. I tried many different ways to get a perfect day and I think I struck gold once meeting all my Magic Numbers. That was almost 2 years ago, and I don't know if I kept the formula. Plus, I recall it wasn't very satisfying.

You don't want to starve yourself. You don't want to punish yourself because Dinner may be a little bigger than Lunch. Simply do your best. The point is behind the planner is to get you to pay attention to the foods you eat and know how much of each nutritional value you are getting.

You will find it very hard to keep your Carbohydrates (Carbs) levels low, while keeping you Sodium level low too. I found the fewer the Carbs, the higher the Sodium is in some foods. Don't worry about it. Don't fuss over it. Just know it is going to happen. If I had to pick, I would choose lower Sodium.

Do I Have To Plan Every Day?
You can, but you don't have too. I would recommend doing this for a few months, until you have an idea of what to eat and not eat on your own. In 2010, I pretty much kept a daily log. There were days I forgot or days I didn't want to. There were days I was sometimes too busy. However, I found I was more successful about keeping on track if I made a daily meal plan.

A Word About Potassium
Like I mentioned in Chapter 3: The Full House and the Royale Flush™, potassium is often not listed on Nutrition Facts, because it is not required by the FDA for food companies to list it. You are often times going to have to leave this field blank, do some research, or make an educated guess. That is all I can tell you. When I can't find potassium on a food, I sometimes put a standard 50 mgs for most foods that are healthy and organic. Junk food I just leave blank. These are places you can look online to find out how much potassium might be in your food:
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/potassium-foods.htm
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php
http://www.drugs.com/cg/potassium-content-of-foods-list.html
http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/potassium.php

So take it easy. The Royale Meal Planner is not the end-all-be-all of planners. It is simply a tool you can use to help you on your way. Good luck

Chapter 8: Change Your Stars

I often hear or read up on fad diets that say “loose 10 lbs easily in a month FAST!” I look into gimmicks and plans designed to help your metabolism work better. I watch the commercials for franchised diet programs and I just cringe because I know their products are full of the things you shouldn’t be eating. Plans that cost you EXTRA money than your normal cost of living are likely a waste of that extra money.

Most diets fail because they don’t work with everybody’s metabolism, the portions are not right for everybody's body and people are not eating foods they like. That doesn’t have to be the case. You can change your stars.

Change your stars and live a better life than I have.

— John Thatcher to his son
from the movie 2001 "A Knight's Tale"

If you've never seen the movie, that's fine. The story is about a impoverished thatcher's son named William, who one day sees a parade of knights passing through his childhood town. As he watches in awe at them he says to his father confidently "Someday, I'll be a knight." A man looks up and says to William laughing, "A thatcher's son?  A knight?  You might as well try to change the stars!" William looks to his father and asks  "Can it be done, father?  Can a man change the stars?" to which his father replies, "Yes, William. If he believes enough, a man can do anything." Shortly after William  becomes a knight's squire. Years pass to the time when William is a young adult and the Knight dies just before he is about to compete and William takes his place to prove he can be a Knight too! After becoming a champion among other Knights, William returns home to his father, now blind and tells him that he had in fact 'changed his stars.'

If it isn't apparent my metaphor is simple, this: you don't have to be fat and unhealthy forever with diets that fail -- you too can change your stars! It’s not going to happen over night, and it will take some time. But if you believe you can do it and make the effort to change your stars, then you can.

Challenges will be there, but if you have the Will Power to change your stars, you can overcome them.  Know that my diet might not work for you – I know it will not work for everyone, but it worked for me. If my diet program doesn’t work for you and you did all the math and ate well to your body type, try something else or talk to your doctor (and I mean a real MD, not these phony doctors pitching HCG through Med-Spas).  Don’t have insurance and want to review other diet plans easily then join http://www.fatsecret.com: it’s free and there are 100’s of diets to look into. Find something that works for you and you can stick with. Try to avoid fad-diets and crash diets. Remember “keep it healthy!”

However if you decide to diet the Diet Royale™ way, there are challenges like cookies in the break room at work you will want to turn a blind eye too. A challenge you might face could be that you cook for more than just yourself. Whatever the challenges you face, you can work though them with Will Power, eating healthy and remember that you are a King or Queen of your diet kingdom, and to keep calm and carry on and you can change your stars!

Just The Facts Ma'am

An interesting personal challenge has emerged for me on this “second term.” When I first designed this diet I was single and I lived alone. Now, on this second term of  Diet Royale™ I am thankfully to be no longer single and with someone I love. I cook and plan our meals. My “other half” or King, has a “faster” metabolism than I and needs to eat more than me at meals to compensate. At first it was a challenge, but then when I looked at the situation and figured out how to make it “work” for us, it no longer became a problem.

I make our meals the exactly same, except I remember to dish out my portions healthier for my body. Notice I didn’t say “smaller.” Remember to stick to the facts for single serving sizes listed at the top of every Nutrition Facts listed on your foods (if your food doesn’t come with Nutrition Facts, check http://www.fatsecret.com).

Stick to the Facts: If a bottle of vegetable juice says 8 oz. is a serving, then that is your serving. If you are hungry and all you have is 16 oz. of vegetable juice with you then go ahead and have all 16 oz. of that bottle, but know you are having two servings not one. Basically don’t have two servings of something and count it as one in your daily foods. Remember just because you’re not counting it, doesn’t mean your body is too. If you ate it, then it counts.

Don’t Let Calories Rule Your Realm

Speaking of counting. Don’t let calories stop you from enjoying your food, just keep them in mind to prevent you from over eating. If you don’t want to count calories, then count sodium. You might find that by keeping your sodium levels low, (1500-2300 mg of sodium) you may no longer need to count calories, and the challenge then becomes “how can I get enough calories.” Do not short-change yourself on calories. Eating too few calories can turn your body’s metabolism over to “starvation mode.” It will tax your liver and you will stop losing weight. Reduce your calories if you are eating too many.

What about Carbohydrates (carbs)? Do I count those?

You can, but I personally wouldn’t make it your daily mission. From my perspective it is better to count the amount of sodium over. Reduce or eliminate refined sugars. Sugars that come from fruit and vegetables are different from sugars that come from junk food. Low starch foods are best. If you are going to have a potato, choose a sweet potato instead. Know that there are good carbs out there and that you need carbs to function and they can help you burn fat.

Good Carbs for fat burning:

• Sprouted grain breads made from rice or spelt
• Fruits and vegetables
• Rice such as millet and quinoa
•  Sweet potatoes

Fats are good for you too, so long as they are “Good Fats.” There are good fats that will help you burn the unhealthy fat in your body. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are considered to be Good Fats, whereas saturated fats and trans fats are considered “Bad Fats,” because they increase your risk of elevated cholesterol and disease. You want to avoid the Bad Fats.

Good fats include:

• nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews)
• coconut oil
• olive oil
• Sesame oil
• avocados
• olives
• flaxseed

Say “Au Revoir” to Processed Foods and go Au Naturale with Diet Royale™

You want to eat foods that have one ingredient or simple ingredients in them like steak, eggs, fruit, vegetables, olive oil, coconut oil, rice, butter, sweet potatoes, etc.  The less your body has to “break down” removing harmful hydrogenated oils, artificial sugars, flavors, high fructose corn syrup and processed soy products, the better it is for you. Avoid these things and you can change your stars without too much effort:

• sugar (as much as possible)
• orange juice and juices made of mostly water
• processed foods
• whole wheat breads, pastas and crackers
• hydrogenated oils, canola oil, vegetable oil, margarine and artificial or substitute butter
• artificial sweeteners,
• high fructose corn syrup
• processed soy products

Embrace every challenge for what it is. A challenge is like a story: it has a beginning, middle and end. Often times it is the beginning that has us giving up so easily. The middle is actually the fun part (well for me it is). It is the opportunity to learn something new. For example:

• Challenge Beginning: I was drinking plenty of water to go along with my fiber, but I was still gassy. What was causing my excess gas?
• Challenge Middle: I reviewed what I was eating and what was different about it in compared to previous days. I noticed I had drastically increased my protein from 30 g to 100 g over night. I researched “protein and gas,” and found that the drastic increase of protein was causing excess gas. But how do I fix that?
• Challenge End: To reduce gas from protein, I should gradually increase my protein intake until my body has time to adjust to the new levels – and know that protein powders, shakes, meal bars and any processed protein form will likely cause excess gas. Beans have protein and fiber: enjoy them, but be warned you will toot!

If I had stopped at the beginning or never bothered to ask the question, “what was causing my excess gas,” and looked into it, it could have hurt my progress. Your body WILL send you messages to tell you something is wrong, different or not entirely right. Listen to your body. If your body is hungry, please, please, please feed it, but feed it with healthy things. That candy bar may satisfy your craving, but it’s not healthy for you … and you know that.

You can change your stars, if you choose to and do what’s best for your body. Don’t let me or any other diet tell you what to do with your body. You decide what is right. You decide what you want to eat, but know what you are eating. Ignorance may be bliss, knowing is half the challenge and ignorance won’t make you skinnier – just dimmer. Diet smarter, Diet Royale™.

Day 01: Nobody's Perfect

Practicingwhat you preach can be hard and hey, nobody's perfect. Day 1 may seem like a bit of a challenge. If you’renot ready to start counting and planning a day in the life of your stomach,then start out small. I haven’t had time to buy new foods, so I looked in ourfridge, freezer and cupboards to determine what I was going to eat today. It isnot a perfect menu, but it did get me started on things to look for. I over didbreakfast by about 300 calories and 700 mg of sodium. No worries, just keep in mind that throughout therest of the day my meals would have to be smaller. You will notice I am not focusing on fat and sugar atthe moment. I will next week. This is just to get me started,

Here’swhat I did for Day 1:

QUEEN MARY'S DAY – The Royale Menu Planner -- Limit 1500 calories
Time	Event	Calories/Sodium/Fiber/Protein/Potassium
4:30 a.m.	Waking:	I am not hungry for 2 hours -- listen to your body!
6:30 a.m.	KING BREAKFAST	6 Nancy’s Petite Quiches 715 cal., 1080 g sod., 3 g fib., 26 g pro., 150 mg pota.
8:30 a.m.	QUEEN SNACK	Almonds 169 cal., 0 g sod., 4 g fib., 7 g pro., 211 mg pota.
10:30 a.m.	PRINCE LUNCH	Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese 340  cal.,  1364 g sod., 4 g fib., 15 g pro., 488 mg pota.
1:30 a.m.	PRINCESS SNACK	Talente Sorbet 120 cal., 0 g sod., 3 g fib., 0 g pro., 0 mg pota.
4:30 a.m.	PAUPER DINNER	2 cups Steamed Broccoli 60 cal., 60 g sod., 6 g fib., 4 g pro., 556 mg pota.
6:30 a.m.	PEASENT SNACK	Yogurt Drink 70 cal., 40 g sod., 0 g fib., 3 g pro., 135 mg pota.
	Total intake	1474 cal., 2544 g sod., 20 g fib., 55 g pro., 1540 mg pota.
8:30 a.m.	8 hours of Royal Beauty Sleep	A minimum of 8 hours for healthy weight loss.

Mybreakfast, though really good, put my numbers over the top too early and I hadto seriously think before I ate anything after I realized how many calories andsodium I had consumed. All in all total calories were in line, but my sodiumturned out to be really high, and I needed to take 5088 mg of potassium just tobalance 2544 g of sodium. So I was a little short. As you can see, the firstmeal of the day should be the biggest … but try not to make it above 400calories as it will limit what you eat for lunch and dinner. I had to choosebroccoli for dinner, because breakfast and lunch were so big. However this isday 1, which though was a fail, got me to think about planning day 2 better.

Chapter 1: Mind Over Fatter

“Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch, and pauper for dinner.”  
           Have you ever heard this quote before? It is an proverb about a basic fundamental way of dieting. I think I heard it once in college, but never paid much attention to it. I was in the middle of my dieting struggle when a former colleague and friend, Dan Shook said it to me in the break room at work one morning.
           Perhaps it was the way in which he said it to me that made it stick or perhaps I was grasping at some constructive way to complete the diet to end all diets. Regardless, something clicked that day with me and it changed the way I think and diet. However, before we begin on our royal affair I feel I should introduce myself:
           Hear, ye, hear ye! I am Mary E. Gober and I have had a diet problem all my life. From an early age I was chubby and I loved to eat. My body seemed to absorb the calories in all foods and pack it in as if I were storing it for winter hibernation. My parents tried to instill good eating habits in me, smart ways to stay fit, but how many children do you know that ACTUALLY listen to their parents? I know I didn't. On top of which I am one of the pickiest eaters I know. I have been quoted saying, “I eat like a five year old.” Most vegetables trigger my gag reflex like a juicy horror film and for 31 years I refused to eat broccoli, but a change was about to happen. 
           Perhaps it was my cousin's daughter Ana who set up the challenge for me as she ate her steamed-broccoli as I would devour Pirate's Treasure from Fresh & Easy. Perhaps the turning point came when awful photos of me from a Las Vegas trip were published online, or it was the physical I had taken just shortly before it. Nevertheless something got the ball rolling and this is my story, my struggles and how I eventually lost the weight.
            I have been on a diet for at least 23 years and sometimes my weight was up, sometimes it was down and sometimes I just didn't care. Sometimes I used a plan, sometimes I didn't. At roughly 205 lbs. in 2002, I got serious about my weight and joined Jenny Craig. It is a good program, but very expensive and only helped me with half the battle of the bulge. After a year of their plan with only a net loss of 50 lbs., a steadily disappearing checking account and very stagnant plateau, I decided I had had enough of Jenny Craig and her tasty lasagna. For about 6 months I managed to keep most of the weight off and maintain my new healthier weight of 155 lbs, but it steadily snuck-up on me. By the summer of 2004, when I auditioned for American Idol, I was starting to take a turn for the worse and I didn't know it. Stress and several life changing events would start to help me pack on what I took off and then some, and in a matter of 5 years, I was the heaviest I had ever been, 235 lbs.
           However, it wasn't for a lack of trying. I tried everything I could think of and could afford to get my health in-line, and I even went back to Jenny Craig for my last failed attempt. However, I couldn't afford to stay in their program and went back to fattening up. For reasons I can't recall, my Dr. wanted me to get a physical, and I agreed to it. When I received the results of my physical and found that I was fat, unhealthy and crossing the epic borderline of diabetes –– not good. He recommended me to a Life Coach and told me that my insurance would cover it. My insurance only covered 3 visits, so I stopped going when I couldn't afford to see him. However, the Life Coach had gotten me thinking about how I ate and how I ate my food. I used the basic plan he set up for me as best I could, no major changes. Then Ana looked at me at my Aunt's house with a “oh, really, aren't you a grown-up” face when I said I didn't like broccoli. It was a challenge. So I took a brave step and ate some of my Aunt's steamed broccoli, and suddenly I found it was rather tasty.
          I thought that maybe my phobia about broccoli had ended, and I liked it. Well, this was half-true, because I found out I don't like it raw, but I do like it steamed. So I introduced it into my life, and ate broccoli every night for two weeks. I felt good, but the weight still remained, because I hadn't changed other things. Then came Halloween and I went to my friend's Halloween Party dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. WOW! With the advent of the internet, digital camera phones and Facebook, I saw a picture that would change my life: Me, in my Dorothy costume, fat as I had ever been.
          So I decided around November 2009 that I would work out a plan. I would take my chubby butt and do what I could, with what I had learned, and get rid of the weight. When I look at the big picture, I had actually lost a great deal of weight from the beginning of November to the end of December, but I wasn't doing a good job of tracking it and I think I wasn't taking care of my body the way I should. I used meal replacing shakes for breakfast followed by a light lunch and then a big dinner, because I was starving by the time I got home. I reached a small plateau of 206 lbs. around the end of 2009. I had made a pack with myself to go on “the diet to end all diets,” as a New Year's Resolution. A week later, Dan Shook recited that proverb “Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch, and pauper for dinner,” and it changed my life. Something clicked that day and I changed the way I eat. I told myself I would do it for two weeks and if I saw no significant progress I would try something else. It didn't happen overnight of course, but it happened over the weekend. Within 3 days of starting the Royale Diet™, I lost 3 lbs! WOW! But how long would this last, I wondered.
          At the start of the Royale Diet™, I was only counting calories, fiber and protein. I decided to add sodium, sugar and eventually fat.  The Royale Diet™ approach led me to ask the right questions about my body and health: 

• How does one burn fat?
• How many calories should I have?
• How much fiber and protein should I be getting?
• Am I eating too much salt?
• What does salt do to my body?
• Should I be eating more potassium?
• What does green tea do for me?
• How much fructose and glucose sugar should I be eating? 

          I looked for facts, data and answers to my questions until I was able to realistically assess what I needed for my body. When I started watching the sodium, I was keeping up with my progress and goals. It was also teaching me a great deal about our food industry and the facts that companies like Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Atkins, and South Beach Diet foods don't like to tell you or focus on. The knowledge of sodium makes me turn over ever box, bag and bottle to see how much sodium these products are packing.
          I laugh most of the time when I read food lables, because most foods are LOADED WITH SODIUM! Sure the calories, carbs and trans-fats are “low” when compared to non-diet foods, but the sodium is almost just as high or even higher than non-diet foods. Most of these products have 440-900 mgs of sodium in one meal. Sure that is less then say a pasta dinner from a Italian restaurant, but you should be keeping your sodium intake between 1500-2300 mgs a day, the sodium amounts in these “diet meals” can quickly add up to more of this.
          The thing these companies don't factor in is the other things you are going to eat in addition to this meal. Everyone should eat three meals and three snacks a day, eating every 3 hours. If you were to eat 6 items from the “diet entrees” found in your frozen food section of your local grocer, with an average of 400 mg of sodium in them you would ingest over 2400 mg a day.
          Did you know to balance 2400 mg of sodium a day, you need to ingest 4800 mg of potassium a day? Chances are you didn't, because most of these “diet food”companies don't tell you this. They don't have to and most of them don't even list potassium on their products because they don't want you to see how imbalanced their “diet foods” really are.
          Here's a tip: if you reduce your sodium to 1500 mgs a day, you will no longer have to fear calories. Your big challenge will be getting enough calories to keep your metabolism moving, but keeping your sodium low. So next time when you are selecting that “diet” frozen dinner, look at the back and see how much sodium is in there. Chances are you will be surprised and mortified at the same time.
          The solution is to go as organic as possible. Vegetables, fruits and foods that are not processed are your best bet, but chances are you are like me and you don't like most vegetables and fruits. Chances are you have a day job, loads of responsibilities, little free time to work out, and sleep. The last thing you want to think about is preparing 6 healthy meals loaded with vegetables and fruits. You just want to select a frozen “diet” meal from your grocer’s freezer, pop it in the microwave and eat it in peace without thinking about how much sodium is in it, because after all it is only 1 point from Weight Watchers, so that means it's good, right? Well, that is not the whole truth.
          If Weight Watchers and other programs are working for you, then good for you, but remember to stick with them. But if they're not, you might want to rethink the way you eat. You might want to start to balance your frozen “diet” dinners with a few more fruits and vegetables. Cut back on the salt whenever you can and drink plenty of water. I can't stress this enough: DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!!!!

What about Diet Royale™?

          Now you are wondering about my diet plan. How much sodium am I allowed to ingest to eat like a King at breakfast, like a Prince at lunch, and like a Pauper for dinner? Answer: 1500-2300 mg a day. When you are giving yourself the royal treatment and start organizing your foods, you will want to weigh in every factor: DON'T JUST COUNT THE CALORIES. You need to be looking at the big picture. It is okay to have your calories, sodium and fats heavier at breakfast then you do at dinner time. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then why skimp on it.
         Breakfast should be a crowning affair and it should be filled with proteins, fibers, potassium and good fats! However, on all accounts keep your salt, sugars and bad fats as low as you can, without too much worry because breakfast is where you are setting up your day. Breakfast should wake you up, fill you up, and get your brain moving. Treat your snacks the same way Large, Medium, Small, or as I came to call them: eat like a Queen for the first snack, a Princess for the second snack and like a Peasant for the third snack. Now I can preach all I want but if you don't see the ideal day, you won't understand:

QUEEN MARY'S DAY – The Royale Menu Planner
Time	Event	Calories/Sodium/Fiber/Protein/Potassium
4:30 a.m.	Waking:	I am not hungry for 2 hours, so I eat at work.
6:30 a.m.	KING BREAKFAST	0/0/0/0/0
8:30 a.m.	QUEEN SNACK	0/0/0/0/0
10:30 a.m.	PRINCE LUNCH	0/0/0/0/0
1:30 a.m.	PRINCESS SNACK	0/0/0/0/0
4:30 a.m.	PAUPER DINNER	0/0/0/0/0
6:30 a.m.	PEASENT SNACK	0/0/0/0/0
8:30 a.m.	8 hours of Royal Beauty Sleep	A minimum of 8 hours of sleep for healthy weight loss.

 
The Royale Menu™ of the Royale Diet™ is a great starting point. With each meal you reduce the calories, sodium, fiber, protein and potassium as you go throughout your day – but making sure the amounts add up to what you need, don’t skimp. The greatest aspect about the Royale Diet™ is flexibility. Eat what you want; so long as you stay within the parameters you set up for yourself. Food is like a drug and your body will develop a tolerance to it if you eat the same exact things every day, and your body will stop making the progress you are trying to make. It is a good idea to have a week's worth of varied menus which you can mix and match at any time. Be sure to allow yourself at least one cheat day a week or on a bi-weekly basis. All work and no play, makes for a mean ruler! This should be fun! The foods you are eating should give you happiness and energy. Remember you are Royalty, and there is no reason to flog yourself for slipping up or making mistakes along the way, because Kings and Queens do not make mistakes, everything they do is right, because you rule!
            So what if your lunch has higher sodium than your breakfast. That’s okay for a day, but don’t make it a habit. As long as your totals: total calories, total sodium, total fiber, total protein and total potassium, all meet your daily requirements, then you will do well. Depending on what you eat, your totals are going to fluctuate. However, try to maintain that Breakfast is the heaviest in calories and sodium then the rest of your meals for that day. The best way to think about it is a pyramid. You start your day at the bottom with the largest base, and as you work towards the top, the levels get smaller and smaller. In order to be ruler of all you want to reach the top of the pyramid. If the pyramid was heavier at the top than the bottom or middle, it would be lopsided. We don’t want that. So now you understand the basics of the diet or as I like to think of it, a new way of eating and looking at food.

Mind Over Fatter

            Now, it is time to look at what is going to keep your crown on? When it comes to successful and healthy weight loss, you're mind has to be in it to win it too! If your mind isn't ready or treated fairly you are not going to be able to lose or keep the weight off. Mind is King, Fatter is the Opposition. Since you rule, then it is clearly Mind Over Fatter. I found that whenever my diet challenges got rough, and I thought of this title, all I had to say to myself to get my mind and body beyond the challenge was, “Remember Mary, it's mind over fatter, and you rule!”
            This simple thought was enough for me to hold my imaginary scepter with stature and vigilance, and readjust my crown so that I was back on the path to success without fear or worry. It became a way to empower my will power like I never dreamed possible. In the next few chapters I will bestow upon you, the tools and techniques I used to obtain my regal stature as Ruler of my mind and body! I will share with you the truths and the lies I have uncovered and provide you with ways for you to make your healthy reign supreme!

Disclaimer Time

I am not a licensed Doctor of any kind, nor am I a trained dietician. I am not a spokesperson for any product I personally endorse, or condone. I have no medical training or experience. I am a graphic designer with a weight problem, and this, the Royale Diet™, is what I did to take charge of my life and my health. I will be as honest with you about my weight, practices, tools and techniques as possible. As of the day this was composed, April 24, 2010, I had lost 52 lbs. since early November 1, 2009, and I was only half-way to my goal.

            I highly recommend that before you start this and any diet regiment, that you speak to a licensed and train health care professional, to make sure this or any other plan is right for you. I am not out to condemn, attack or discredit any “diet” product or company except to say this: they need to be telling you more, and you have the right to know what you are eating and drinking. It is my wish that maybe, just maybe the diet companies will take it upon themselves to educate their consumers with accurate and truthful information to help everyone maintain a healthy life filled with vitality. If they can't educate you, please educate yourself. Ask them questions. Most of the diet food companies have websites to promote their products. If potassium isn't listed on their product, ask them. If they don't know or are able to tell you, complain and demand to know. Blog, Facebook or Twitter about it. Be your own revolution! Your nobility is yours to have if you are willing and wanting to take it and make it your own.

“How did the nobles become noble in the first place? They took it! At a tip of the sword!”

— William Thatcher, from the movie 2001 "A Knight's Tale."