Worth a try, a more concrete plan

First, a progress report on my trucker. She has lost 5 pounds so far. She finally hit the 25 point mark. She was averaging about 15 points a day and it wasn't because of the food she was eating. It was because she simply was not eating enough of the food that would give her points.
We have been doing the plan as well. I make an all vegetable soup or a salad with beans and barley, a tagine full of vegetables or a mixed grill. This is like my detox plan except we are allowing ourselves a bit of dairy and eggs, plus we can have limited amounts of lean meat, poultry or fish. On the plan, each half cup of vegetables is one serving or one point, so the vegetable soup or salad can rack up some points. Animal protein is 1 point for 1-6 oz but starts going negative after that. The aim is to keep the portions small.
I am letting my trucker eat unlimited fruit because I would rather have her eat some than hold out for what not may be available on the road. I think there should be a rule to not eat ANY thing three hours before bed that can convert to sugar. That is really hard for us because we get home fairly late and usually eat about an hour or two before bed. So that means no fruit in the evening, or at least very sparing and low suagr fruit, like a few apple slices in a salad.
All of that being said, this modified detox is not working as well as the detox diet. I had to start rethinking my supplements.
During the detox and Perricone diets, we were taking supplements. Too many in my opinion and not sustainable at $200 per month each. However I ran across something recently that was touting Alpha Lipoic acid as a weight loss supplement. Well we were taking that on both plans. The other items were garlic extract, green tea and sugar cane extract. According to the article, sugarcane extract can lower cholesterol by 24% without any other change to the diet.
Another article I read might help my trucker. If she can maintain the points and stay below 1200 calories every other day, this should allow the fat to burn twice as fast.
So, stick with the 25 point plan - stay under 1200 calories every other day, add supplements: Garlic extract 200 mg before breakfast, lunch and dinner and at bed time. Alpha Lipoic Acid 100-300mg and a cup of green tea or 325 mg green tea flavanoids before breakfast, lunch and dinner, then the sugarcane extract or Policosano 20-25 mg before bedtime. We are also taking our Juice Plus capsules and Evening Primrose. We have a shake every day with brewers yeast, protein powder and lecithin made with 1 banana, almond milk and cinnamon.
An example of a daily plan:

Breakfast:
Juice Plus capsules (2 pts)
Alpha Lipoic Acid 100-300 mg
Green Tea Flavanoids 325mg
Garlic Extract 200mg
Evening Primrose (or Omega 3) 1000 mg
Breakfast shake with banana (described above - 4 pts)
Coffee (may use stevia and fat free milk: 0 pts)
12 oz water (1 pt)

On higher calorie days, add 2 eggs and 1 slice multi grain toast with almond
butter. (3pt)
Citrus fruit or 6 oz natural unsweetened orange juice (1 pt)

Lunch
Alpha Lipoic Acid 100-300 mg
Green Tea Flavanoids 325mg
Garlic Extract 200mg
12 oz water (before meal) 1 point

2 cups salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, red cabbage, yellow
bell peppers, parsley, olives, (4 pts for veggies), kidney beans or
chick peas, prepared bulgar wheat,quinoa, or pearl couscous,
(3 points for complex carb), feta cheese, lemon vinegarette (1 point)


On higher calorie days add
1-6 oz chicken breast or fish (1 pt)
with lemon (1)
Sliced apple with 12 almonds or walnuts (2 pt)
(Or 1 cup watermelon, also 2 pts)
Iced green tea (1 pt)


Snack
12 oz water (before meal) 1 point

Raw carrots and celery (2)
1 wedge laughing cow cheese

On higher calorie days, may add
4 walnut halves (1)
1 apple (1)

Dinner
Alpha Lipoic Acid 100-300 mg
Green Tea Flavanoids 325mg
Garlic Extract 200mg
12 oz water (1)

3-6 oz chicken breast, 3 oz lean steak or 6 oz broiled/baked fish (1 pt)
1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms (1)
1 cup grilled vegetables (2)
1/2 cup brown rice and black beans (3)

On high calorie days, add 6 or red wine (-3)
Additional cup grilled vegetables (2)

Bedtime
Alpha Lipoic Acid 100-300 mg
Garlic Extract 200mg
Policosanal 20-25 mg
12 oz water (1)

Total points on low days: 26
Total points on high days: 36

We can incorporate this immediately, except for the sugar cane extract. I am off to the Internet to find that!

Progress on the point plan

My trucker is trying the point plan and doing good. She is doing pretty darn well considering what is available on the road. However she is not getting enough points. It is not because she is eating stuff that bad either.

I think the problem is the lack of availability of fruits and veggies on the road. The very thing that gives her points are the fruits, veggies and water. Fruits and veggies are hard to come by on the road. She limits her water because she doesn't want to have to stop on the road.

She is managing to find chicken breast to eat which is 1 point until it exceeds 6 ounces. Some chicken breasts are huge and could make two meals. My husband and I often share a chicken breast because they are so large. I told her to save some for later if she can. Disperse the protein.

She was using artificial cream in her coffee. I would rather see her use real cream than anything artificial in spite of the fat content. So she is using half and half. I haven't gotten her buy-in on fat free milk yet. I have noticed though that most convenience stores carry whole or low fat milk, but rarely fat free.

I looked at some yogurt she was eating. The yogurt had 28 carbs from the sugar, it high frutose corn syrup. artificial flavor and at least a dozen ingredients I could not pronounce. This is a very popular yogurt and is usually the one they sell in convenience stores or truck stops. Another example of the marketing of food that is no better than a toxic waste dump in the body. There is no nutritional value in that food at all and it would cause her blood sugar to spike. It goes straight to belly fat. It is a shame that an otherwise good food can be rendered so unhealthy. We see commercials all the time that say, eat yogurt because it is good for the body. Well there is yogurt, which is milk and fruit, then there is the yogurt like this one that bears little resemblance to anything natural. Canned peaches with cottage cheese would be better than this stuff.

She asked about cheerios. Well cheerios are oats. I have none in my cupboard, but it is probably one of the healthier of the cereals that are readily available. She wanted to eat it as a snack. I told her to add nuts which would make it a complex carb instead of a simple carb. A simple carb turns quickly into sugar.

As for me, it is the weekend. I intend to roast some lovely vegetables, put on some greens, have a nice salad.... maybe I will bake some fish. I will easily have 15 points just from dinner. Glad I am not on the road.

The 25 point plan

It is day five of my 25 point plan. My trucker guinea pig is trying to do this on the road and it has to be the ultimate test. If you have ever been to a truck stop, it is kind of like an over priced convenience store with the addition of hamburgers, hot dogs, deli sandwiches and the like. If they have a restaurant, it is usually a buffet with a lot of "home style" cooking where everything is fried or covered with gravy.
I have asked her to avoid bread, sugar, fried foods, sodas and bagged snacks (like chips and candy) like the plague. All of those are negative points. The more offensive, the more negative the points. Every vegetable or fruit is one point each. Lean meats are one point, not to exceed 6 oz. Dairy products are all pretty much negative but I will give 1 pt for skim milk, 1 oz of cheese or a laughing cow cheese. Nuts are 1 point. Water is 1 point for every 8 ounces.
Basically the whole thing about the point system is to strive for 25 points a day. If you do 20 one day and 30 the next, that works. It literally forces you to do veggies, fruits and water to get your points.
You can get points for lean meats, fish and chicken - or for something like rice and beans. Everything sugar, artificial, fried, preserved, cured (like bacon) or otherwise full of fat pulls you the other way.
Since this is a totally new approach, I am having to make decisions of the points on some things as we go.
A real challenge for my trucker is to eliminate the bread as bread is the main ingredient in every sandwich, hamburger, burrito, etc. She can't eliminate it completely the way we did on our detox, but she can cut back as much as possible. She got a grilled chicken sandwich and threw away the bun. I was proud of her.
Her other challenge is to have fresh produce. She has a tiny mini fridge, about big enough for 8 cans of soda. Also, 18 wheelers are not welcome to park anywhere other than a truck stop - so it is difficult for her to even go to a regular market. So she lets her husband drop her off to shop and he drives around until she is done. So she buys produce that does not have to be refrigerated, and washes them in a plastic tub and eats them when she can. She is eating an apple three times a day as instructed. The pectin in the apple will offset the fat in the trucker food somewhat and she gets a point for each.
Really Walmart... and you other big stores. Can't truckers park long enough to shop in your stores?