Day 2: Dr Perricone 3 day programme

I woke up without my caffeine withdrawal headache feeling refreshed after 10 hours' sleep. I went and looked in the mirror and was surprised and thrilled to see that my skin already looked significantly better - after one day! It looked smooth and glowing. I put on some sunscreen and strolled off to get a Starbucks spearmint green tea before returning home to cook my epic 3 course breakfast (the meal plan is identical for all three days, so see yesterday's post for details).  Throughout the day I drank the essential still spring water, with extra sparkling water and fresh mint tea.

As I had struggled with the salmon yesterday, I decided to make salmon tartare today. I used the ingredients of Dr P's salad dressing: a tbsp of olive oil and fresh lemon juice, to marinate it plus the usual diced shallot/pickled cucumber/capers. As olives are allowed on the plan (as an alternative to almonds in the evening snack) I figured these salty/preserved items aren't too far off the programme.

Again I merged lunch and dinner due to the fact that I'm a bum on weekends and had breakfast at 11.30, but I made sure I ate an extra large portion of salmon and incorporated the green vegetables from dinner. I treated myself to an antoxidant-rich glass of red wine. It's the Sicilian red Nero d'Avola which is a full-bodied red bursting with antioxidants! I appreciated it to wash down my bland veggies and oily salmon.

I've skipped the afternoon snack and will shortly be munching on my green apple + 4 almonds + 50g of quorn before bed! Back to work tomorrow so will be interesting to see how this plan fits into my work routine.

Here's a no-makeup pic of my noticeably smoother and radiant skin at the end of day 2:

I took it on my Camera+ app and it looks like I've used a filter, but I haven't! My skin actually looks this nice :)

Day 1: Dr Perricone 3 day programme

I have very mixed feelings as to how this diet is going. It's easy in that I have found the food very filling and haven't been tempted to eat anything else, and hard in that I haven't been able to eat all the meals on the plan - aaand I have a banging detox headache right now, I often get it when I give up caffeine. I allowed myself some green tea (antioxidants!) but it's still really painful. Of the three meals and two snacks, I've only managed two meals and one snack - partly because I overslept till 11am, and partly because my hunger is totally gone.

Breakfast

Breakfast was an omelette made with one whole egg plus two whites, oatmeal (which I made with water and a splash of almond milk), cantaloupe melon and blueberries. It was kind of bland but yummy. It definitely kept me full and satisfied.

Lunch

I ended up eating lunch at 4pm due to my late breakfast. The romaine lettuce is dressed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. I added a little bit of soy for dipping the salmon, it isn't in the prescribed plan probably because of the salt content, so I used it very minimally. I found the meal with the salad dressing and the fatty salmon very oily; my mouth felt oily towards the end of the meal. Again I felt very full after this meal. I usually like regular snacks but I didn't want anything for hours after this.

Dinner

I wasn't hungry for dinner but it SHOULD have been the same as lunch with the addition of steamed green veg. I've probably committed the ultimate Perricone sin by skipping a serving of salmon, I just can't face it tonight!

Evening Snack

As I couldn't face dinner I merged the two snacks in the diet plan. I had a green apple, 4 hazelnuts, 4 almonds and 100g of quorn (my preferred substitute for chicken). I felt a little nuts (hehe) counting out the tiny servings of nuts, 4 is quite specific. I enjoyed this meal a lot more than the lunch and felt extremely full after. Also pictured is the spearmint green tea I grabbed from Starbucks to combat my splitting headache when I was on the way home.

Exercise

In addition to the diet plan I did about 45 minutes of brisk walking.

If I have any readers yet, or if anyone reading about the Perricone diet finds this page, please say hi! Let me know if you have any questions or anything you'd like to know about the plan, and let me know how it went for you!