The 17 Day Diet, created by Dr. Mike Moreno, is a popular weight loss program designed to "confuse" the body by cycling through different eating patterns. The diet claims to prevent the body from adapting and, therefore, prevents weight loss plateaus. It involves four cycles, each lasting 17 days (except Cycle 4), with specific food recommendations for each phase. This article serves as a comprehensive guide to the 17 Day Diet grocery list, outlining what you can and cannot eat during each cycle. The newest edition of the best-selling 17 Day Diet by Mike Moreno, MD, promises to help you rev up your fat-burning metabolism, shed pounds, and build healthy new habits.
Understanding the Four Cycles
The 17 Day Diet is structured around four distinct cycles: Accelerate, Activate, Achieve, and Arrive. Each cycle has a specific purpose and set of dietary guidelines.
Cycle 1: Accelerate
This cycle focuses on rapid weight loss by improving digestive health, clearing sugar from the blood to boost fat-burning, and discouraging fat storage. It's a low-carb, low-fat, low-processed food stage, emphasizing high vegetable and lean protein intake. You follow this cycle for 17 days. If you reach your weight loss goal you move to cycle 4; if not you move to cycle 2.
Key Features:
- Duration: 17 days
- Goal: Rapid weight loss, improved digestive health, and boosted fat-burning.
- Dietary Focus: Low carb, low fat, low processed foods, high vegetable, and high lean protein.
- Unlimited permitted low-fat proteins and non-starchy vegetables.
Cycle 2: Activate
This cycle aims to reset your metabolism through a strategy that involves increasing and decreasing your caloric consumption to stimulate fat-burning and to help prevent plateaus.
Key Features:
- Goal: Reset metabolism, stimulate fat-burning, and prevent plateaus.
- Alternating between Accelerate days (Cycle 1 foods) and Activate days.
Cycle 3: Achieve
This cycle helps you develop good eating habits through the re-introduction of additional foods and move you closer to your weight goal. It lasts 17 days. Some more carbs are allowed, and protein is cut down.
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Key Features:
- Duration: 17 days
- Goal: Develop good eating habits while progressing towards your weight goal.
- Dietary Focus: Re-introduction of some carbs, reduced protein intake.
Cycle 4: Arrive
This cycle is designed to help you maintain your goal weight through a program that allows you to enjoy your favorite foods on weekends, while eating healthfully during the week. Monday breakfast through Friday lunch, eat with restrictions as described in cycles 1, 2, or 3.
Key Features:
- Goal: Maintain goal weight.
- Dietary Focus: Healthy eating during the week with flexibility to enjoy favorite foods on weekends.
General Food Guidelines
The 17 Day Diet emphasizes lean protein, antioxidant-rich produce, probiotics, and good fats. It restricts sugar, processed foods, salty foods, and fried foods. Early on, you minimize starchy vegetables and high-sugar fruits, and alcohol is off-limits entirely. As the diet progresses, though, it gradually eases up. But as users move through the cycles, more and more foods are added. Dieters can pick and tailor their own recipes to fit the plan, or choose among a wide selection of recipes included in the book.
Detailed Grocery List by Food Category
Here's a breakdown of the allowed foods on the 17 Day Diet, categorized for easier shopping:
Proteins
- Proteins are unlimited.
- Fish: Salmon (canned or fresh), sole, flounder, catfish, tilapia, canned light tuna in water, sardines (canned in water or olive oil), wild salmon (fresh, smoked, or canned in water), rainbow trout, Atlantic mackerel, whitefish.
- Chicken: Per Dr. Moreno directly, “Choose free-range organic chicken whenever possible, but if you can’t find it, don’t worry.”
- Eggs: You may eat up to two eggs a day. However, no more than four yolks per week if your physician has diagnosed you with high cholesterol.
- Other: Tofu, rice protein powder, soy milk (for vegetarians and vegans).
- Contour Foods: Fish (salmon).
- Allowed in Cycles 2 & 3
- Allowed in Cycle 3
Probiotics
- Yogurt: Greek-style, sugar-free fruit flavored, plain, low-fat (6 oz). Preferably organic, whole-fat (not skim, which usually has more sugar content). You can also try nut-based yogurts, and sheep or goat milk yogurt. Avoid sweetened yogurts; if you do have them (or any packaged food), stay under 12 grams of sugar per serving.
- Dairy Substitutes (starting in Cycle 3): Sugar-free rice milk, sugar-free almond milk, or sugar-free soy milk.
- Kombucha: One serving should not exceed 12 grams of sugar-the lower, the better, of course, because not only is there less sugar but there is also more probiotic content.
Fruits
- Low-Sugar Fruit: 2 servings daily - 1 serving = 1 piece fresh or 1 cup chopped fresh fruit. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw whenever possible, except carrots and tomatoes.
- Allowed starting in Cycle 3
- Contour Foods: Grapefruit. If you take statins and want to eat grapefruit - have ½ grapefruit in the morning and always take your statins in the evening, to minimize any grapefruit-drug interaction.
Vegetables
Unlimited permitted low-fat proteins and non-starchy vegetables in Cycle 1. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw whenever possible, except carrots and tomatoes.
- Allowed starting in Cycle 3
Natural Starches (Starting in Cycle 3)
- No more than 2 servings daily.
- Starchy vegetables: Breadfruit (1 cup = 1 serving), corn (½ cup), potato (1 medium), sweet potato (1 medium), taro (½ cup), winter squashes - acorn, spaghetti, butternut etc.
- longer grain rice.
- gluten-free pasta (for example, you could use corn, quinoa, or rice, etc.
Friendly Fats (Starting in Cycle 3)
- Olive and flaxseed oils (moderate amounts).
- Sunflower butter (in moderation: serving amount = 1 tablespoon once a day).
- Pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed butter (serving amounts = 2 tablespoons unsalted seeds, 1 tablespoon pumpkin seed butter).
- Ground flaxseeds.
- Hemp seeds.
- Chia seeds.
- Sesame seeds.
- Quinoa (Torey’s Note: this is a complete protein.
Dairy
- Fat-free sour cream, fat-free cheeses (i.e.
Other
- Herbs.
- Spices.
- Water, mineral water, or seltzer water - eight 8 oz.
- Contour Foods: Yogurt.
- Low-salt foods.
- Low-fat foods.
Foods to Avoid
- Sugar.
- Processed foods.
- Salty foods.
- Fried foods.
- Minimize starchy vegetables and high-sugar fruits early on.
- Alcohol is off the table entirely early on.
- Avoid cold beverages, canned foods, frozen foods, processed foods if you have bad digestion during your period.
Additional Notes
- Contour Foods: These foods are suggested in the Breakthrough Edition as foods that have been scientifically proven to take fat off your abs, thighs, and all over your body, which everybody should be eating, every day. These are marked here with a *star.
- Alcohol: One alcoholic drink daily - 5 oz. wine, 12 oz. beer, or 1 ½ oz. If desired, enjoy alcoholic drinks in moderation over the weekend (1-2 daily) - 5 oz. wine, 12 oz. beer, or 1 ½ oz. Do not binge.
- Nuts and Seeds: Choose unsalted nuts and seeds, to avoid excess sodium.
- Shellfish: Shellfish such as lobster and crab are often served at restaurants with copious amounts of butter, so if you’re eating out, ask for your shellfish without butter for dipping. It’s delicious enough on its own!
- Bananas: Note: bananas were NOT listed under the “new foods” section. Dr.
The 17 Day Kickstart Diet
The brand new 17 Day Kickstart Diet Book published by Dr. The following foods are approved for all phases of the 17 Day Kickstart Diet, so this particular list will be used throughout the entire 17 days, with each phase adding in additional foods. This meal plan follows the Kickstart Diet 100%. The Kickstart Diet is NOT 100% vegetarian. The easiest way to order the 17 Day Kickstart Diet book is on amazon.
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Importance of Exercise
The book includes a 17-minute weightlifting and cardio workout to do 6 days a week. The exercise portion of the program starts slowly with just 17 minutes a day of a moderate activity like walking. It quickly increases to 40 to 60 minutes of aerobic activity on most days.
Potential Benefits and Considerations
Weight loss and exercise are proven ways to help prevent and treat heart disease and diabetes. They also help keep blood pressure under control and help raise good HDL cholesterol and lower bad LDL cholesterol. Throw in the plan’s emphasis on low-fat and low-salt foods, and you can lower your risk even more. If you have kidney disease, this plan might include too much protein for you. Check with your dietitian or doctor about your particular protein needs. If you have heart disease or any other medical conditions, you should check with your doctor before starting this program.
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