Follow along with Joy Bauer’s crew diet menu

Joy Bauer MS, RD, CDN TODAY nutritionist and diet editor • Profile • E-mail

On TODAY’s Backstage Diet series, nutritionist Joy Bauer is giving five TODAY crew members a diet makeover over the course of eight weeks. Here’s the menu — adapted from the New York Times best-seller “Joy’s LIFE Diet” — that she provided to the crew during week four of the program.

Sample diet menu for women (1,200 to 1,400 total daily calories)

Note: To adapt for men, increase protein at meals; eight-ounce turkey burger at lunch and one to two chicken breasts with dinner.

Breakfast
1 cup whole-grain cereal (such as bran flakes) with skim milk

Half a pink grapefruit

Coffee with optional skim or 1 percent milk

Lunch
Four-ounce turkey burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard and/or ketchup on half a bun (preferably whole-grain)

Unlimited baby carrots and red pepper sticks on the side

Water OR unsweetened iced tea OR naturally flavored seltzer

Afternoon snack
6 ounces nonfat plain, Greek or flavored yogurt, plus one apple

Water OR unsweetened iced tea OR naturally flavored seltzer

Learn more at JoyBauer.com How much weight do YOU need to lose? Get a FREE Diet Profile from Joy!

Dinner
Bowl of LIFE veggie soup, which is two cups of broth-based soup packed with broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and other nonstarchy veggies (click here for a recipe)

Grilled chicken Parmesan (5 ounces grilled chicken topped with ½ cup marinara sauce and 1 ounce melted part-skim mozzarella cheese)

Unlimited steamed broccoli and cauliflower on the side

Water OR unsweetened iced tea OR naturally flavored seltzer

PM snack
One-ounce piece of dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa) and cup of decaffeinated tea

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Find out if Joy's Life Diet is right for you at JoyBauer.com.

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