The Doctor’s Diet by Dr. Travis Stork (2014): Food list

The Doctor’s Diet (2014) is an unprocessed, moderate-portion diet in 3 stages.

• Low in sugar, simple carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, and sodium.
• Moderate amounts of lean protein, healthy fats, and whole grains.
• Generous amounts of fiber-rich vegetables, legumes, and fruits.
• Real foods, not processed foods.
• Meal Plan Equations for each phase, allowing for flexibility in eating guidelines.

Below is a description of the food recommendations in the diet. General guidelines and food prescriptions  |  STAT plan  |  RESTORE plan  |  MAINTAIN plan. There’s a lot more in the book.

Use this page as a cheat sheet alongside the book. Send this page to friends, family, and anyone else who you want to understand what you’re eating on this diet.

Get a copy of The Doctor’s Diet for quick exercise guidelines, advice on eating mindfully, overcoming sugar addiction, nutrient and other tables, guidance on helping your kids be healthy, sample menus, and recipes.

Order The Doctor’s Diet Cookbook for more recipes.

The reasoning behind The Doctor’s Diet

This book claims that our food choices are so dangerously unhealthy that eating-related diseases send twice as many people to hospital ERs than injuries and accidents. Eating meals with fewer calories and the right combinations of fat-burning foods is the fastest way to kick-start major weight loss.

The Doctor’s Diet plan – what to eat and foods to avoid

General guidelines and food prescriptions  |  STAT plan  |  RESTORE plan  |  MAINTAIN plan

You start out with 2 weeks on the high-intensity STAT plan to kick start dramatic weight loss. Then you move to 2 weeks on the less intense RESTORE plan. If you meet your goal weight during the RESTORE Plan, you’ll move on to the MAINTAIN Plan. If not, you’ll alternate between STAT and RESTORE until you achieve your goal.

General guidelines and food prescriptions

Food prescriptions  |  What to eat general guidelines  |  Foods to limit general guidelines  |  Foods to avoid general guidelines

Food prescriptions

1. Eat with your mind
   • Eat mindfully, taste your food and appreciate the flavors
   • Pay real attention to what you put in your mouth, how it tastes, how it makes your body feel, what it’s made of, and what potential it has to save or sabotage your health
   • Read food labels, take note of serving sizes, shop from a list, choose foods that fit with your short-term and long-term health goals, focus on eating instead of eating while multitasking, eat slowly, taste every bite, chew your food fully, appreciate natural flavor, focus on when you’re (truly rather than emotionally) hungry or full
   • Eating mindfully helps you reset your palate for eating real foods
2. Put protein to work for you
   • Eat protein in all meals and snacks, to moderate your blood sugar levels, burn belly fat, preserve muscle, help healing, and help your blood cholesterol levels
   • One of the best protein sources is seafood, especially fatty fish
3. Choose super-filling, fat-burning carbohydrates
   • Vegetables, beans, and whole grains
   • Don’t go gluten-free unless you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance
4. Avoid sugar and foods and drinks containing sugars
   • To break sugar addiction: figure out whether you’re addicted, identify the added sugar in your diet, make the decision to cut out sugar (gradually or cold turkey), choose low-sugar alternatives (for just a little sweetness add honey, molasses, or maple syrup, which contain antioxidants), wean yourself off artificial sweeteners, make a plan to deal with cravings
   • If you make mistakes, forgive yourself and move on
   • Natural sugars (found in fruits, dairy foods, grains, and some vegetables) are okay, but not added sugars
5. Stop fearing fat
   • Super low-fat diets didn’t eliminate heart disease or cause people to thin down to healthy weights overnight. Although some kinds of fat are not healthy, and we have to limit our overall fat intake because of the calories it contains, there is no reason at all to cut every bit of fat from our diets; some kinds of dietary fat are incredibly good for us
   • Low-fat and fat-free foods substitutes can actually be worse for you than the full-fat foods they replace
   • Eating a healthy amount of fat does not make you fat
   • Unsaturated fats are healthier than saturated fats, but saturated fats are better than simple carbohydrates, trans fats, and other unhealthful foods
   • Saturated fat can be both good and bad – in other words, neutral – it’s okay to enjoy it occasionally, such as red meat, butter, full fat dairy foods, and other high-saturated fat foods. Have a little bit of real ice cream instead of a big bowl of the fake stuff. Nibble on a small square of real cheddar cheese rather than a giant slice of the fat-free junk that tastes like plastic. Sauté your broccoli in a bit of butter rather than a pool of margarine
6. Fill your plate with vegetables
   • Vegetables are full of all kinds of nutrients that do all kinds of wonderful things for your body, from protecting your eyes, blood vessels, and heart to boosting your immune system, keeping cells healthy, and even helping your body fight off cancer
   • Studies show that people who eat more vegetables are way more likely to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight than those who eat fewer vegetables – they’re filling because they’re packed with fiber and water. Non-starchy vegetables and lower-calorie fruits do a better job than most other foods at filling you up, as they are low energy density
   • Learn to like vegetables – it’s all in the preparation. Sauté in a little olive oil and garlic; add a little fresh Parmesan cheese; roast veggies. Experiment with different cooking techniques
   • Every time you do your weekly grocery shopping, buy one new vegetable – you never know when you might find a new favorite
   • Eat a variety of different colored veggies for phytochemicals, carotenoids, antioxidants, and more
   • Try vegetables in soups, smoothies, omelets, veggies salsa, low-sodium vegetable juice made at home with juicers (1-2 servings a day max)
7. Start eating fruit again
   • Fruits fill you up (soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, and water) without adding weight
   • Eat whole fruit or blend whole fruit into a smoothie – avoid fruit juice, which has most of the fiber removed
   • Help keep your intestinal flora healthy
   • A huge range of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants
   • If you have type 2 diabetes, check with your doctor, but in general diabetes health experts say it’s good to include fruit in a healthy diabetes diet as long as it fits in to your daily carbohydrate limits
   • Berries – blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries – are the most recommended fruits, and they have less impact on blood sugar than most other fruits. Fresh berries in season taste best, but it’s also fine to use frozen or canned berries, as long as they have no added sugar
   • Whole fruit is more filling than processed fruit – e.g. if you munch on apples you consume fewer calories and feel fuller than if you eat applesauce or drink apple juice
8. Go nuts over nuts (if you’re not allergic to them)
   • People who eat nuts tend to live longer than those who don’t
   • They may help with weight loss, they’re very filling, they keep blood sugar stable, they have lots of fiber and protein, they improve your blood lipid profile, they’re a source of good fat, they have lots of different nutrients
   • Choose raw over roasted nuts, and unsalted over salted nuts. Choose unsweetened nuts
   • Buy nuts in amounts that will be eaten fairly quickly, because they can oxidize and develop an off taste if you keep them too long. Store them in a cool, dark place – some people keep them in the refrigerator or freezer
   • Try walnuts, which seem to be more beneficial than other nuts
   • Try nut butters, such as almond butter, cashew butter, pecan butter. If you’re choosing peanut butter, pick the “natural” ones that contain neither added sugar nor hydrogenated fats
9. Fall in love with legumes
   • They’re inexpensive, they’re packed with fiber (soluble and insoluble) and fill you up to help you lose weight, they lower LDL cholesterol and bring down harmful triglycerides, they make blood sugar and insulin levels rise and fall more gradually, they cut your risk of cancer, they’re packed with nutrients, they help you live longer
   • Try them with different foods
   • Try hummus as a snack food
   • To prevent gas and bloating: add beans and other legumes to your diet slowly, soak dried beans overnight and rinsing them before cooking (it removes some of the compounds that contribute to flatulence), choose less-gassy legumes (lentils, black-eyed peas, adzuki beans), avoid major gas producers (lima beans, pinto beans, navy beans) until your system adjusts, chew beans thoroughly before swallowing, if you cook dried beans from scratch add 1/8 teaspoon baking soda into the presoaking water
10. Go for yogurt
    • Yogurt helps you lose weight more than vegetables, whole grains, fruits, or nuts
    • Eat live yogurt with live active cultures, such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis (Bifidus), skip jam-like fruit yogurts, stay away from mix-ins, watch out for sugar, watch out for artificial sweeteners, don’t get your kids hooked on “kid-gurt” as some are terribly high in sugar and calories, be aware of frozen yogurt / fro-yo as it’s often packed with sugar and fat and it may contain few or no live active cultures
    • It’s good for your bones as it’s a rich source of calcium and vitamin D, it’s packed with protein, it’s associated with lower blood pressure, it may be okay if you’re lactose intolerant, and it may improve gastrointestinal/GI health
    • Yogurt has more going for it than milk. And if you eat Greek yogurt, you get a lot more protein
    • There’s debate about whether to have lower-fat or full-fat milk products; in the meantime the recommendation is to user lower-fat dairy until you’ve reached your goal weight, and be conscious of calories and serving sizes if you go full-fat
    • Other ways to eat it: make a smoothie, dip, sauce, swirl it into a soup, use it to dress a salad, serve it as a side instead of sour cream, build a parfait by layering yogurt and fresh berries and chopped nuts

Foods to eat in The Doctor’s Diet

• Portion sizes, meal timing
  • If possible, eat your whole grains early in the day – for better weight loss and increased energy
  • When portions are given in a range —for example, 3-4 ounces of lean meat, poultry or fish— choose the low end of the range if you’re smaller (under 5’4” for women or under 5’10” for men), older (over 50 ), or less active (under 30 minutes daily), and the high end of the range if you’re tall, younger, or more active
  • Meat, poultry, and fish servings are about the same size as the palm of your hand, so feel free to use your palm as a measuring guide for size; the thickness should be similar to that of a deck of playing cards. Measure beans and lentils with a measuring cup. Up to a third / 30-35% of your daily calories on this diet comes from the protein in meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, dairy, nuts, and seeds
  • Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast
• It’s not ideal to eat too much of any single food, even if researchers are calling it a “superfood.” Go for variety
• Protein
  • Eggs – enjoy up to 7 whole eggs per week (or 3 per week if you have heart disease or diabetes). Use olive oil cooking spray for scrambling or frying eggs
  • Limit red meat to a few servings a week. When you choose red meat, go for grass-fed or wild when possible
  • Dairy – low-fat and nonfat yogurt and milk (to keep calories low, not because dairy fat is bad for you)

Foods to limit with The Doctor’s Diet

• Processed meats
  • Such as bacon, ham, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, hot dogs
  • These can be eaten occasionally but should not be considered daily go-to options
• Charred meats
  • Avoid carcinogenic compounds by cutting off excess fat, turning down the flames, marinating meats for 30 minutes before grilling, parboiling meats before grilling, flipping meat often to reduce charring, cook in a foil package
• Potatoes
  • Have these only occasionally, in small amounts, paired with protein, fiber, and healthy fats, or using colorful potatoes such as purple potatoes which provide antioxidants
• Eggs
  • Limit yourself to one yolk a day, or three per week if you have heart disease or diabetes
• High-mercury fish, for women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children
  • Avoid types of fish that are typically high in mercury— including shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel
  • Limit intake of lower-mercury fish to 12 ounces per week. Some of the most commonly eaten lower-mercury seafood includes shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish
  • Limit intake of canned albacore (white tuna), which has more mercury than light tuna, to 6 ounces per week
  • Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas . (Even freshwater fish can contain traces of mercury.) If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces per week of fish caught in local waters, but don’t consume any other fish during that week.
• Soy
  • If your doctor says you should avoid soy, follow their advice. If not, the recommendation is to enjoy soy foods in moderation
• Salt and sodium
  • If your doctor has told you to avoid salt and sodium, do so. Otherwise, limit salt use

Foods to avoid with The Doctor’s Diet

• Sweet Beverages/drinks
  • Sweetened beverages, including soda, sweetened iced tea, sports drinks, fruit punches, lemonade, sugary coffee drinks, any other sweet drinks or “liquid candy”
  • Diet sodas
  • Fruit juices – go light on fruits juices and choose whole fruit instead. If you do drink fruit juice, choose 100% fruit juice rather than fruit punch-type drinks, many of which have as much sugar as soda
• Simple sugars
  • Sugar – including agave nectar, barley malt, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, cane juice, cane sugar, cane syrup, corn sugar, corn sweeteners, corn syrup, date sugar, dextran, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, fruit nectars, glucose, glucose solids, high-fructose corn syrup HFCS, honey, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, rice syrup, sorghum, syrup, sucrose, syrup, turbinado sugar
  • White flour, white bread, white rice, white pasta
  • Cakes, cookies, pies, pastries, candy, etc.
• Artificial sweeteners of any kind
  • These can reset your brain and cause unnatural sweet cravings
• Processed foods
  • Including low-fat foods and many gluten-free products
• Fast food
• Trans fats
  • From artificially processed sources – foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil. Even small amounts seem to be detrimental to heart health, mess with your blood sugar and insulin response, and increase inflammation
  • Avoid anything that says “partially hydrogenated oil” or “shortening” on the ingredient list

STAT Plan – high intensity 14 days to start the diet

STAT What to eat  |  STAT Foods to limit  |  STAT Foods to avoid

Dr. Stork views overweight and obesity as an emergency that should be actioned with an immediate change in your diet. This is a kick start for dramatic weight loss to “stop the bleeding” of an unhealthy lifestyle. Stay on this plan for 14 days at a time, then move to the RESTORE plan

Foods to eat in The Doctor’s Diet STAT Plan – Meal Plan Equations and food list

• See notes in General – What to Eat
• Meal Plan Equations – use these to create your daily menus
  • Breakfast: 1 Breakfast Protein + 1 STAT Fruit
  • Lunch: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Dinner: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Snack: 1 Snack Protein + 1 STAT Fruit + 1 or more Anytime Vegetables. Have the snack when you need it – mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or after dinner
  • Daily flex-time foods: Each day (at the meal or snack of your choice ) enjoy these additional foods: 1 Healthy Fat, 1 Whole Grain, 1 High-Density Vegetable
• There’s a 14-day STAT plan daily menu that you can follow if you’d prefer not to choose your own menu. The lunches and dinners can be swapped as they use the same Meal Plan Equations

STAT food list

• Breakfast proteins:
  • 1 medium egg
  • 3 egg whites (separate whites yourself or buy commercially separated whites in a carton)
  • 1 tablespoon nut butter
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (low-fat, regular or Greek)
  • 1 cup milk (dairy or soy, low-fat)
  • Handful (½ ounce) of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, etc.)
  • Half each of two Breakfast Proteins— for example, half a cup of yogurt with half a handful of nuts
• STAT fruits
  • Eat 2 fruits daily
  • Choose from 1 medium apple, 1 medium grapefruit, 1 cup berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries) – compared with other fruits, these are a bit higher in fiber, lower in sugar, and thus better at burning fat
• Snack proteins
  • Handful (½ ounce) of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, etc.)
  • Handful (½ ounce) of seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
  • 1 egg or 3 egg whites
  • 1 tablespoon nut butter
  • 2 tablespoons hummus
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (low-fat, regular or Greek)
  • 1 cup milk (dairy or soy, low-fat) (note that non-dairy milk alternatives such as almond milk and coconut milk are low-protein and not considered a protein food)
  • 1 ounce hard cheese (e.g. cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, Parmesan ) or feta cheese
  • ½ cup cottage or ricotta cheese (low-fat)
  • Half each of two Snack Proteins— for example, 1 tablespoon hummus and ½ tablespoon nut butter
• Main-dish proteins
  • Fish or shellfish (3– 4 ounces) – especially omega-3 fatty fish such as salmon, tuna (watch out for mercury), sardines, mackerel, shellfish, scallops, shrimp, or other fish e.g. cod, tilapia, white fish
  • Poultry (skinless) — chicken breast, turkey breast, or lean ground turkey or chicken (3– 4 ounces)
  • Lean meat— lean beef, lean ground beef, buffalo meat, ground buffalo meat, pork, lamb, or wild game (3– 4 ounces) – preferably wild or grass-fed
  • Tempeh or bean-burger patty (3– 4 ounces)
  • Tofu (¾ cup, or 6 ounces)
  • Cooked beans (adzuki beans, black beans, garbanzo beans/ chickpeas, fava beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, white beans), dried peas (split peas, yellow peas, green peas, black-eyed peas), or lentils (brown lentils, green lentils, red lentils, black lentils) (½ to ¾ cup)
  • Legume -based soup— lentil, bean, or split pea (up to 2 cups)
  • 2 Breakfast Proteins (for example, a cup of plain yogurt and a handful of nuts)
  • 2 Snack Proteins (for example, 1 ounce hard cheese and one handful of nuts)
  • 1 Breakfast Protein plus 1 Snack Protein (for example , a cup of yogurt and a handful of seeds)
  • 1 Breakfast Protein plus half a Main-Dish Protein ( for example, an egg and a cup of bean soup)
  • 1 Snack Protein plus half a Main-Dish Protein (for example, 2 tablespoons of hummus and a 2-ounce chicken breast)
  • Half each of two Main-Dish Proteins (for example, 2 ounces of meat and ¼ cup cooked beans)
• Anytime vegetables (Serving size : 1 cup raw leafy greens or ½ cup other vegetables)
  • Anytime Vegetable Soup
  • Anytime Garden Salad
  • Anytime Salsa
  • Alfalfa sprouts; artichoke hearts; artichokes; arugula, asparagus; bamboo shoots; beets; bell peppers (red, orange, green, yellow); bok choy; broccoli; broccoli sprouts; Brussels sprouts; cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; celery; chilies, all types, including jalapeños; cilantro; collard greens; cucumbers; eggplant; garlic; grape leaves; green beans; green, leafy vegetables (including beet greens, turnip greens, collard greens); jicama; kale; kelp and other edible seaweeds; kohlrabi; leeks; lettuce, all varieties; mesclun; mushrooms; mustard greens; okra; onions; parsley; pea pods; pumpkin; radishes; red cabbage; rhubarb; romaine lettuce; rutabaga; salsa made with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and other anytime vegetables; scallions; spinach; squash (acorn squash, butternut squash, Hubbard squash, summer squash, winter squash); Swiss chard; tomatoes; tomato sauce; turnip greens; turnips; vegetable juice; watercress; wax beans; zucchini
• High-density vegetables (Serving size: ½ cup cooked)
  • Black-eyed peas (not dry); corn; field peas; fresh cowpeas; green bananas/plantains, green lima beans; green peas; sweet potatoes/yams; taro; water chestnuts
• Healthy fats
  • Monounsaturated / omega-3 oils: olive oil or nut oil (1 tablespoon); other healthy oils (canola oil, peanut oil, high-oleic safflower oil, flaxseed oil – portion size not given but assumed to be 1 tablespoon)
  • Omega-6 oils: soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil
  • Unprocessed (virgin) coconut oil is fine to include in your diet
  • Olives (8 black or 10 green, medium-sized)
  • Oil and vinegar dressing or vinaigrette (1 ½ tablespoons)
  • Avocado (½ small or ⅓ medium); guacamole (¼ cup), packaged or homemade, with avocado as primary ingredient
  • Nuts – handful (½ ounce) of nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, etc.). The peanut is actually a legume rather than a tree nut, but since most people think of peanuts as being part of the nut family, that’s how it’s categorized in this diet
  • Nut butter (1 tablespoon)
  • Seeds – handful (½ ounce) of seeds (flaxseed, pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
• Whole grains
  • Whole-grain bread (1 slice— maximum ~ 100 calories); whole-grain english muffin (1 whole muffin— maximum ~ 100 calories)
  • Whole-grain cold cereal— whole wheat, oats, or other whole grain listed as first ingredient (1 cup)
  • Oatmeal— unsweetened (½ cup cooked or 1 ounce dry)
• G: Whole-Grain Flex-Time Food (1 daily)
  • E.g. whole grain toast; oatmeal; whole grain garlic croutons; whole-grain cold cereal; whole-grain English muffin; High-Protein Breakfast Smoothie
• F: Healthy Fat Flex-Time Food (1 daily)
  • E.g. salad with Versatile Vinaigrette; guacamole
• V: High-Density Vegetable Flex-Time Food (1 daily)
  • Pick from the list of High Density Vegetables above
• Herbs and spices and other pantry items
  • Herbs – basil, bay leaf, cilantro, dill, garlic, lemongrass, mint, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc.
  • Spices – black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, cumin, curry, nutmeg, paprika, pepper, red pepper flakes, turmeric, etc. to name a few
  • Lemon juice, lime juice
  • Broth (fat-free, reduced sodium – e.g. chicken broth, beef broth, vegetable broth), cornstarch, fish sauce, mustard, pickles, soy sauce, vinegar (balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, etc.), Worcestershire sauce
• Beverages
  • Plain water, sparkling water, or water naturally flavored with lemon juice or cucumber slices
  • Drink an 8 oz glass of water before each meal and snack (and with your food, if you desire). Drink an additional 2-4 glasses of water throughout the day.
  • Coffee, green tea, black tea
  • If you drink almond milk or coconut milk, choose pure, unsweetened varieties, which are the lowest in calories. Be wary of rice milk as it’s very high in carbohydrates
• Sweeteners – in moderation
  • Honey or light agave nectar syrup (up to 1 teaspoon a day) to sweeten certain foods

Foods to limit with The Doctor’s Diet STAT Plan

• Foods listed under “general – limit” above

Foods to avoid or limit with The Doctor’s Diet STAT Plan

• Foods listed under “general – avoid” above
• Dried fruits
• Alcoholic drinks

RESTORE Plan – less intense 14 days to continue to lose weight

RESTORE What to eat  |  RESTORE foods to limit  |  RESTORE Foods to avoid

During the next 14 days, you continue to lose weight at a lower pace while enjoying a wider range of foods, for more flexibility and choices. If you meet your goal weight during the RESTORE Plan, you’ll move on to the MAINTAIN Plan. If not, you’ll alternate between STAT and RESTORE until you achieve your goal.

Foods to eat in The Doctor’s Diet RESTORE Plan – Meal Plan Equations and food list

• See notes in General – What to Eat
• Meal Plan Equations – use these to create your daily menus
  • Breakfast: 1 Breakfast Protein + 1 RESTORE Fruit
  • Lunch: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Dinner: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • RESTORE snack #1: 1 Snack Protein + 1 RESTORE Fruit
  • RESTORE snack #2: 1 Snack Protein + 1 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Have the snacks when you need them – mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or after dinner
  • Daily flex-time foods: Each day (at the meal or snack of your choice ) enjoy these additional foods: 2 Healthy Fats, 2 Whole Grains, 1 High-Density Vegetable
  • Optional: 2 alcohol-based beverages (per week)
• There’s a 14-day RESTORE plan daily menu that you can follow if you’d prefer not to choose your own menu. The lunches and dinners can be swapped as they use the same Meal Plan Equations

RESTORE food list
The food lists on RESTORE are the same as the STAT food list, plus there’s a wider selection of choices for fruits and whole grains. Those marked * below are the same as the STAT plan

• RESTORE fruits
  • Eat 2 fruits daily
  • Choose from 1 medium apple*, 1 medium grapefruit*, 1 cup berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries)*, 1 small-medium (or ½ large) orange, pear, plum, or other fruit eaten out of hand, 1 small (or ½ large) banana, 1 cup chopped or sliced fresh fruit, 1 cup grapes or melon balls, 1 cup frozen fruit, ½ cup canned fruit (packed in its own juice, but drain the juice before measuring), ¼ of a small melon
  • Other fruitslisted in the book: apricots, cherries, gooseberries, kiwi fruit, mangoes, nectarines, papaya, peaches, persimmons, pineapple, pomegranates (seeds), tangerines
• Whole grains
  • Whole-grain bread (1 slice)*; whole-grain English muffin (1 whole muffin)*
  • Whole-grain cold cereal— whole wheat, oats, or other whole grain listed as first ingredient (1 cup)*
  • Whole-grain crackers (1 ounce)
  • Whole-grain dinner roll (1 ounce)
  • Whole-grain pasta (½ cup cooked)
  • Whole-grain tortillas (1 small)
  • Other gluten-containing whole grains, including barley, bulgur wheat, rye, triticale, whole wheat berries (½ cup cooked)
  • Oatmeal— unsweetened (½ cup cooked or 1 ounce dry)*
  • Other non-gluten whole grains, including brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, corn, wild rice (½ cup cooked)
  • Popcorn (3 cups air-popped)
• Beverages
  • You can have 2 alcohol-based beverages each week
  • Beer – 12 ounces
  • Wine – 5 ounces
  • Hard liquor – 1 ½ ounce shot

Foods to limit with The Doctor’s Diet RESTORE Plan

• Foods listed under “general – limit” above

Foods to avoid with The Doctor’s Diet RESTORE Plan

• Foods listed under “general – avoid” above
• Dried fruits

MAINTAIN Plan – lifelong eating habits

MAINTAIN What to eat  |  MAINTAIN foods to limit  |  MAINTAIN Foods to avoid

Once you’ve met your weight-loss goal, this plan is designed to help you keep the weight off for the rest of your life.

You can use the Meal Plan Equations closely if that’s what will work best for you, or just use them as guidelines, using the numbers on the scale to make adjustments over time

Foods to eat in The Doctor’s Diet MAINTAIN Plan – Meal Plan Equations and food list

• See notes in General – What to Eat
• Meal Plan Equations – use these to create your daily menus
  • Breakfast: 1 Breakfast Protein + 1 Fruit
  • Lunch: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Dinner: 1 Main-Dish Protein + 2 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • MAINTAIN snack #1: 1 Snack Protein + 1 Fruit
  • MAINTAIN snack #2: 1 Snack Protein + 1 or more Anytime Vegetables
  • Have the snacks when you need them – mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or after dinner
  • Daily flex-time foods: Each day enjoy these additional foods smartly based on your metabolism and activity levels:  Healthy Fats, Carb-Flex Foods: Whole Grains / High-Density Vegetables / Anytime Vegetables / Fruits
  • Optional:  alcohol-based beverages (Max 1 per day for women, 2 per day for men)
• Food lists on MAINTAIN are the same as STAT and RESTORE. You can now eat dried fruits, which are very sweet but preferable to processed sugars
• Pick and choose your favorite foods. Just make sure you keep an eye on portion sizes and the types of foods you eat
• MAINTAIN strategies
  • Acknowledge your amazing accomplishments
  • Be carb-smart – Eat reasonable amounts of the healthiest carbs (carbohydrates from vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains), and avoid the not-so-good carbs (simple sugars from “white” foods, fruit juice, sweets, and candy). Use your activity levels to guide you as you make choices about carbohydrates – if you’ve been very active, some extra complex carbohydrates are fine and sometimes necessary. But if you’ve been working late hours at the office and sitting around a lot with little or no exercise, go light on carbohydrates, choosing Anytime Vegetables and keeping down to STAT-level amounts of whole grains
  • Eat a wide variety of foods
  • Re-create your craving foods – make healthy, good-for-you versions
  • Work off your splurges by increasing your activity level
  • Weigh yourself once a week to keep an eye on how you’re doing
  • Monitor your health – pay attention to how your clothes are fitting, how you feel during exercise (and how often you’re exercising), your blood pressure, and other measurements of health that your doctor can monitor for you
  • Move, move, move! Any exercise that you enjoy and that suits your body’s strengths and weaknesses

Foods to limit with The Doctor’s Diet MAINTAIN Plan

• Foods listed under “general – limit” above

Foods to avoid with The Doctor’s Diet MAINTAIN Plan

• Foods listed under “general – avoid” above

Health benefits claimed in The Doctor’s Diet

The diet in this book claims to reduce the risks for: Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, certain cancers (cervical cancer, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, esophageal cancer, gallbladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, aggressive prostate cancer, rectal cancer, thyroid cancer), cartilage damage, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD, depression, diabetes, food addiction, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, infertility, inflammation, insomnia, insulin resistance, moodiness, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, overweight/obesity, prediabetes, pregnancy complications, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, stroke, sugar addiction

As always, this is not intended to be a replacement for professional medical diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition. Consult your doctor before starting a new diet. This page describes what the authors of the diet recommend – Chewfo is describing the diet only, not endorsing it.

Get a copy of The Doctor’s Diet for quick exercise guidelines, advice on eating mindfully, overcoming sugar addiction, nutrient and other tables, guidance on helping your kids be healthy, sample menus, and recipes.

 Diet book
Order The Doctor’s Diet Cookbook for more recipes.

 Cookbook
The Doctor’s Diet is on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/thedoctors/the-doctors-diet. Dr. Travis Stork is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TravisStorkMD.

How has this diet helped you? Please add a comment or question below.