You’re not alone. The $60 billion diet industry (United States) is flooded with fads and quick fixes that don’t work! You know this because you’ve tried too many.
It’s time for a realistic diet. A diet free of restrictive and overbearing rules. A diet that works with busy lives and can withstand hectic family schedules, holidays, and even travel (<gasp!>). A diet that finally gets you the weight, health, and fitness results you’ve been working so hard for.
You are in the right place (finally!). This will be your antidote to all the dieting nonsense that has gotten you nowhere.
Welcome to the 800 Gram Challenge.
“Hi! I’m EC Synkowski, creator of the #800gChallenge® (800g Challenge), which is to eat 800 grams, by weight, of the fruits and vegetables of your choice. And then, you continue to eat whatever else you want.
That’s right, you focus on adding healthy foods to your diet – not eliminating the foods you love!
So, how much is 800 grams (28 ounces)? Well, it fits on a standard dinner plate, but you certainly wouldn’t want to try to eat it all at dinner. A good sustainable strategy is about eat 2 cups of fruits and veggies at each main meal – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and then just fill in the rest with protein foods, grains, nuts, snacks, whatever.
This means 800 grams is about 6 cups, which is a great way to estimate the 800g Challenge if you don’t have a scale. A closed adult fist is about 1 cup (or about 130 grams), so when you accumulate 6 cups (or fists) a day of fruits and veggies, you will be close enough to 800 grams.
Do not let perfection get in the way of good enough. Just be aware of the two major outliers to this estimate system: leafy greens and mashed potatoes.
Now, because of all the diets you’ve likely tried before this one, you might be looking for more rules. But there really aren’t any.
You just need be sure you are eating fruits and vegetables AS fruits and vegetables, not as products made with fruits and vegetables, and you will be on track.
You can weigh the items cooked, canned, frozen, or fresh, and you pick which fruits and veggies to eat. If you don’t like kale, you don’t have to eat kale.
The lack of hyper-specific rules are because the #800gChallenge® was built for the long haul of real life.
Some days it’s going to be a lot of bananas and oranges, other days it’s going to be a lot of carrots and potatoes, and that’s ok, because all of those are great choices.
Join my email list to get a downloadable version of the rules, as well as a sample #800gChallenge day for me.
Or better yet, check out my ebook with plenty more information. Strategies, tips for eating out, the science behind the approach, and answers to frequently asked questions about things like the glycemic index and fructose consumption.
Welcome aboard to the #800gChallenge®! It’s the most sensible diet you’ll ever do.”
It is recommended you do at home, but no need to bring a scale to a restaurant or when you are traveling. To estimate: a closed adult fist is about 1 cup. About 6 cups (6 fists) ends up being very close to 800 grams.
Except, leafy greens in salads don’t weigh much. They only weigh ~25g/cup – so think about it as 6 cups a day and as many leafy greens as you want when you are estimating.
Yes, 800 grams is the baseline and larger or more active people can scale up. It only ends up being about 400-500 calories, which is 25% or less of on average of people’s caloric intake.
This volume of fruits and veggies was associated with a lower risk of cancer, stroke, heart disease, and death, and falls in line with USDA recommendations regarding fruit and vegetable consumption.
Eight-hundred grams is about 28 ounces or about 1.76 pounds. In this weight, you are primarily eating water! Fruits and vegetables are 70-90%+ water!
First, vegetables are not always better than fruit due to different nutrients and serving sizes. Most people simply need to increase their consumption of both fruits and vegetables. There are different guidelines regarding how much that should be each day. The USDA Guidelines, for example, use a cup and food grouping system. The 800 gram challenge meets or exceeds their standards.
