Introduction
Congratulations!  You are about to embark upon an easy, effective, and healthy program for weight management and improved body composition (percent fat tissue and percent lean tissue) with UltraMeal.

In an independent study at the University of Oregon School of Human Performance, a group of 27 women using UltraMeal and following a moderate exercise program were able to lose fat as they increased their lean muscle mass.  At the end of the seven-week program, these women not only weighed less, they had improved body composition.

UltraMeal was developed by the UltraBalance research team.  For some time there has been concern about the yo-yo dieting habits of Americans and the damaging effects that type of dieting has on health.  (Individuals who diet repeatedly tend to lose muscle and gain fat, leading to an unhealthy body composition.) The UltraMeal program should help you improve your body composition.

Determine what your appropriate weight and body composition should be and how many calories you should consume each day as you work toward your goal.  You can use UltraMeal to help you reach your goal in an enjoyable, satisfying, and, above all, healthy manner.

Tips As You're Starting Out

1. Don't skip a meal.  The menus that follow were designed to nutritionally support your body as you lose fat and improve your body composition.   If you skip a meal, you not only increase the likelihood that you will be excessively hungry later in the day (and thus apt to eat too much), but you will also deprive your body of some of the nutrients that ensure the success of the UltraMeal program.

2. Eat slowly. Take at least 20 minutes to eat a meal.  It takes 20 minutes for your brain to send the "full" message to your stomach.  If you hurry your meals, you can eat too much before you realize you are satisfied.  Eating is a pleasant experience.  Eating slowly helps you extend that pleasure as long as you can.

3. Establish an eating environment.  If at all possible, eat all your meals and snacks in one place, while you are sitting down.

4. Reorganize your kitchen.  Get rid of obvious high-fat foods, or put them in inconvenient, hard-to-reach places (in the back of the cupboard, on a high shelf, in the freezer).  Plan activities that take you out of the kitchen.  Don't use the kitchen table for paying bills, balancing your checkbook, or reviewing the kids' homework.  Use the telephone in a room other than the kitchen.

5. Shop smart.  Go grocery shopping before you begin the UltraMeal program.  Look over the week's menus at the start of each week, and buy the foods you will need for the entire week.  When you get home, immediately wash and cut up raw vegetables for salads and snacks.

6. Prepare for times of weakness.  Recognize times or events that signal you to eat, such as an argument, a hard day at work, talking on the telephone, your favorite t.v. show.  Plan nonfood-related activities for these times.  Knit a sweater, groom your pet, take a long, hot bath and read a good book, cultivate your houseplants, walk the dog.  (You obviously would not start knitting a sweater or read a good book during an argument, but it's a good idea to plan to have these activities for the "decompression" period following such events.)

7. Indulge yourself.  As you retrain your eating habits with the help of UltraMeal, you can still pamper yourself in low-fat ways.  Select the choicest fresh fruits and vegetables, prepare them with care, and use your best china or crystal when you eat them.

8. Be your own best friend.  If your friend makes a mistake, your don't call him a failure or tell him to give up.  If you stray from your new eating plan temporarily, don't give up on yourself.  Treat each lapse as a temporary problem, not as a sign of failure.  Simply resume your program and don't look back.

9. Drink plenty of water.  Water is a natural diuretic that helps flush toxins from your body.  It helps keep your appetite under control, and, in combination with the fiber content of the UltraMeal product, it assists with intestinal regularity.

The Ultrameal Program:

With the UltraMeal program, you should be able to lose undesirable body fat each week.   During the first week, you will drink an UltraMeal beverage three times a day, along with the listed foods.  During the ensuing weeks, you will have UltraMeal twice a day (at breakfast and lunch) and a healthy, low-fat evening meal.  Although the calorie count of the diet is low (between 1,000 and 1,200 calories a day), UltraMeal helps ensure you are getting sufficient high-quality nutrition to meet all of your body's basic needs.

For most men and many active women, 1,000 calories a day may be too few to maintain their energy level as they lose weight.  To meet the increased needs of these individuals, we have included a supplemental food lists at the end of the diet.  In it you will find 100-, 150-, and 200-calorie foods from which to select to supplement the basic diet so you need not feel hungry, irritable, or weak.  By monitoring the number of calories you consume, you can determine how many calories are necessary for you as an individual to lose weight.

Do not try to lose weight too quickly.  After the first week, you should be satisfied with losing approximately 1 pound a week.  Remember, most of the weight you will be losing is unhealthy, unattractive fat; at the same time, you should be maintaining your lean muscle.

Make sure you get adequate exercise.  When you reduce your calorie intake, your body's metabolism has a tendency to slow down.  The net result is that you require fewer calories, and you stop losing weight.  The only effective way to maintain your metabolic rate is to continue to remain physically active.  In the UltraMeal research study, UltraMeal dieters lost fat and maintained healthy muscle when they followed a diet similar to the one that follows and engaged in a program of about 30 minutes of brisk walking three times a week.

We believe your long-term goal should be to stabilize your weight at a healthy level (which should be about 19-22 percent body fat for a young woman, 25 percent for an older woman, 15-18 percent for a young man, and 22 percent for an older man).  "Going on a diet" implies "going off" again.  Repeated dieting is not the way to achieve good health.  Instead, as you follow this program, you should look for ways to incorporate healthy, low-fat snacks and vegetable-based meals into your menu plans, and make it your goal to eat no more than 20 percent of your daily calories as fat, approximately 20 percent as protein, and the remaining 60 percent as carbohydrate.  This 60:20:20 eating plan will help you maintain a lean, healthy body composition.  (For weight loss, as the following diet plan reflects, fat content is cut back still further.)

Note from the doctor:  This UltraMeal program is designed for rapid weight loss.  After reaching your goal, follow the long term nutritional 40/30/30 plan for maintaining optimum shape and great overall health.

You can continue to use UltraMeal until you have achieved your ideal body composition.   Once you have reached this goal, UltraMeal can become a lifelong part of your diet as you design your own eating plan to maintain your lean body composition.   Incorporated as one meal a day, for example, it can help ensure you are getting high-quality nutrition at a cost of little fat and few calories.  This calorie saving can help you keep from regaining the weight you worked so hard to lose.  We can keep you supplied with UltraMeal for use in a maintenance program.

WEEK ONE:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

WEEK TWO:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

WEEK THREE:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

WEEK FOUR:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Supplementary Foods:

Following are lists of foods you can add if you need extra calories to meet your energy needs as you diet.  The first list contains foods having between 50 and 100 calories, the second between 100 and 150 calories, and the third between 150 and 200 calories.   Calories are listed to the right.

          Foods with 50 to 100 Calories

Questions And Answers:

Here are answers to some of the questions you may have as you follow the UltraMeal 4-Week Program for Weight Management and Improved Body Composition.

1. Can I use salt while I am on this diet?
   Use salt sparingly or not at all.  If you have been advised to restrict your salt intake, look for salt-free products whenever canned or processed foods are used in the diet.  There are many good salt-free seasonings (e.g., Sun Spices, Mrs. Dash) on the market.  Your local health food store offers a variety of these products.
   

2. What additional spices or flavorings can I use?
   Seasonings can enhance the natural flavors of food without added butter, margarine or salt.  Try ButterBuds®, Molly McButter®, horseradish, mustard, oil-free salad dressing, taco sauce or salsa, vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, and nonstick pan spray.
   

3. Can I drink coffee and tea?
   Drink only decaffeinated coffee or tea.  Herbal tea is also a good choice.
   

4. Can I drink diet drinks?
   Drink only low-sodium seltzer or mineral water.
   

5. Can I use canned vegetables instead of fresh vegetables with this diet?
   Fresh and frozen vegetables have more vitamins and less added salt and would therefore be preferable.  If they are unavailable, purchase canned vegetables without added salt or fat.
   

6. Can I swap menus from one day to the next day?
   You can do so, but the calorie level for that day will vary somewhat.
   

7. Should I exercise while on this diet?
   By all means.  Exercise is an appetite suppressant and an accelerated means of burning calories.  Besides acting as an aid in your weight stabilization, aerobic exercise will improve cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness.  Your exercise program can be as simple as 30 minutes of walking each day.  (This level of exercise led to improved muscle mass in the UltraMeal® research.)
   

8. Is UltraMeal an appropriate diet for children?
   No. UltraMeal should not be the sole source of nutrition for babies or children under age 12.  UltraMeal's nutritional content is based on the adult RDIs (Reference Daily Intakes).  Under the supervision of a physician, however, the program would be appropriate for older children or adolescents, although it may be advisable to start the program with the second week, when they would use UltraMeal twice daily.
   

9. Can I use this diet if I am pregnant or nursing my baby?
   No.  You should not use UltraMeal as your sole source of nutrients while you are pregnant or lactating.  You could, however, use it as a nutritional supplement to your diet while you are pregnant, or after your baby is born.
   

10. Can I take supplements during this diet?
    Yes, although the UltraMeal program is designed to provide at least the RDI for all vitamins and minerals.  Follow your health practitioner's recommendations for the proper amounts of supplements.  Or Take the Test to determine specifically what your body needs.
    

11. How many cans of UltraMeal® will I need to complete 4 weeks of program?
    For 4 weeks on the UltraMeal program, you will need to purchase 5 cans of the product in the flavors you prefer.
    

12. How does UltraMeal differ from over-the-counter diet products?
    The main ingredient in many over-the-counter diet products is plain sugar, sucrose.  There is no added sucrose in UltraMeal.  The typical over-the-counter product is an extremely sweet drink with a smaller amount of protein.  Although UltraMeal is somewhat more expensive, the expense, the expense of the two products can be misleading, unless one compares cost per serving and considers the fact that, in order to have a satisfactory amount of protein, the over-the-counter product must be mixed with milk.
    

13. What is unique about UltraMeal?
    UltraMeal is a unique blend of proteins designed to provide physiological balance.  The carbohydrate sources are a mixture of complex starches from rice, pea, and potato, and simple carbohydrate from fructose for quick energy.  The fat source is stabilized canola oil, which is high in monounsaturated fatty acids.  The vitamin and mineral component contains the trace minerals manganese, copper, chromium (as ChromeMate® GTF), molybdenum and selenium.  It also contains RDI levels of vitamins if consumed three times a day.
    

14. Do I have to mix UltraMeal with water?
    No.  If you are not dairy-sensitive, you can mix UltraMeal with nonfat milk.   Remember, however, milk will add additional calories, protein, etc.
    

15. How can I add variety to this UltraMeal program?
    In addition to selecting foods from the Supplementary Foods List, you may add alcohol-free extracts or your favorite fruit to the UltraMeal shake (be sure to count the additional calories).
    

16. Does UltraMeal come in flavors?
    Yes, it is available in all-natural Berry and Vanilla flavors.
    

17. I have heard that liquid diets are unsafe.  How does UltraMeal compare?
    UltraMeal has been designed to contain a high-quality source of complete protein, along with vitamins and trace minerals essential for maintaining health and protecting lean body mass.