Phase 1 lasts 14 days. The point is to stop the fastest carbohydrates while you still eat three meals and snacks. Agatston did not want a ketogenic diet. He wanted cravings down without cutting carbohydrates to zero, which is why vegetables, beans, and limited dairy stay in.
Eat at each meal
- Lean protein: skinless chicken or turkey, fish and shellfish, sirloin, tenderloin, eye of round, pork tenderloin, Canadian bacon, or boiled ham.
- Non-starchy vegetables: lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, eggplant.
- Fat from olive oil, or a measured portion of nuts. Nuts are once a day, not a free food. About 15 almonds, 15 walnuts, or 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
Eat in limited amounts
- Eggs. The original plan did not cap whole eggs at fewer than seven a week unless a doctor had already limited them.
- Low-fat or fat-free cheese, cottage cheese, and plain low-fat yogurt. Milk, if you use it, is fat-free or 1%, not a glass at every meal.
- Legumes: black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and edamame, about a half cup cooked.
- Tofu and other low-fat soy proteins, if you want them.
Leave out for the full 14 days
- All fruit and fruit juice, including berries.
- Bread, rice, pasta, cereal, oats, crackers, and baked goods.
- Potatoes, corn, beets, and carrots.
- Sugar, honey, syrup, cookies, and ice cream.
- Alcohol.
- Fatty cuts: ribeye, honey-baked ham, poultry skin, full-fat cheese.
Those foods are the Phase 2 decision, not a Phase 1 cheat. A day-by-day version is on the meal plan. The itemized list is on allowed foods.