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Medical Foods Plan — Article Two

By Jill Place, MA, RD

While you're on your specific medical food plan, attempt to follow the following guidelines and choose foods as much as possible from the following shopping list, menu plan, and recipes. The booklets that accompany the medical foods also have great ideas to help you succeed. There's no reason to alter your normal activities, including eating out and entertaining at home. And don't be discouraged if you "cheat"-this is not an exercise in perfection. JUST GO ON!

Drink your shakes as a meal replacement, snack, or as part of a meal TWICE daily at times, such as breakfast and dinner, when you will be at home and able to make the drink fresh. If your schedule doesn't permit this, carry a portable blender or Tupperware-type shaker to mix on-the-go. Shakes need to be consumed within 30 minutes of mixing to retain nutrients.

Drink at least two quarts of pure filtered or distilled water or more per day.

You might generally want to eat less of or exclude these foods from your medical foods plan. See the booklets that accompany each medical food for more specific choices:

Soft drinks	Alcohol	High-sodium foods
Caffeine	Refined sugars	Non-organic foods
Eggs	High-fat foods	Foods with artificial colorings, flavorings, preservatives

On more restrictive plans such as those with UltraInflamX, UltraClear or UltraClear Plus, or UltraClear Sustain, you might want to eat less of or exclude these foods:

Wheat	Kamut	Peanuts
Rye	Dairy	Margarine
Oats	Red meat	Butter
Barley	Eggs	Processed oils
Spelt	Shellfish

If you're doing the UltraInflamX plan, you might also want to eat less of or exclude these foods:

Citrus fruits	Tomatoes	Peppers
Dried fruit	White Potatoes	Cayenne/Paprika
Grapes	Eggplant

Here's some other guidelines:

Avoid any foods you think you can't tolerate.

To make the process easier, prepare simple dishes such as steamed, broiled, or grilled animal protein (see shopping list), steamed vegetables, and brown rice. Try to eat at least three servings of vegetables a day-one of these might be dark-green or orange, such as carrots, broccoli, or winter squash, and one raw.

Cut-up fruits and vegetables, microwave vegetable packs, and ready-salads are available in the produce sections of most supermarkets. Many markets and health food stores have handy salad bars for customized take-home treats.

If you can tolerate them, cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, turnips, and Brussels sprouts, help support liver function.

Select fresh foods-organically grown fruits and vegetables and free-range or organically grown chicken, turkey, lamb, or fish.

Include vegetarian options from the suggestions here or the recipes included in the booklets.

This is NOT a weight-loss program. Eat as much as you like of recommended and tolerated foods so that you don't feel deprived or hungry. If weight loss or gain is a goal, work with your dietitian or Supplement Savvy Specialist to increase or decrease amounts of food eaten to achieve these goals.

© Copyright 2002 Jill Place, MA, RD