The NTUC 3-Day Diet Program

NTUC is National Trades Union Congress, a labour union that has a bunch of services under its wing in Singapore. A couple of years back, NTUC Fairprice, the Supermarket chain, introduced the NTUC 3-day diet program. It was a detox-cum-weight-loss aimed diet that listed out the exact food you can have during a period of 3 days.

Since this was a trend a few years back, I hadn't heard of it until a Singaporean colleague told me about it at lunch one day. She forwarded me the list of stuff we can eat and three things caught my attention, making me want to try it - peanut butter, vanilla ice cream and average weight loss of 2kg in 3 days.

I am sharing the list here in case any of you want to try it.

Disclaimer: Diet police and people who feel this is unhealthy/shouldn't be shared/is polluting minds of healthy people, may choose not to read the rest of the post. Its each person's personal choice whether they want to try it or not. I am not for or against this, just sharing something I came across and tried myself.

Here's the shopping list, stuff you'll need to buy the day before you start.

1 grapefruit

2 bananas

2 small apples

long beans

200 gms beetroot

100 gms broccoli

50 gms carrot

100 gms cauliflower

3 chicken sausages

200 gms tuna

100 gms cottage cheese

10 Ritz biscuits

300 gms vanilla ice cream

Cheddar cheese slices

1/4 honeydew

The total list cost me about 28 SGD. These items are very easily available in Singapore and I am hoping its not an issue in India. The diet is not very substitution-friendly so you may see varying results if you do too much swapping. Note that cottage cheese here doesn't mean paneer but if you can make your own paneer from low fat milk, then that should work too.

Here's the meal schedule.

Day 1-BREAKFAST

Black tea/coffee

1 grapefruit

1 slice toast

2 tsps peanut butter

Day1-LUNCH

Black tea/coffee
4 oz (100g) tuna

1 slice toast

Day1-DINNER

1 chicken sausage

1 cup (50g) long beans

4 oz (100g) beetroot

4 oz (100g) ice-cream

1 small apple

Day2-BREAKFAST

Black tea/coffee

1 egg boiled/poached

1 slice toast

Half a banana

Day2-LUNCH

Black tea/coffee

4 oz (100g) cottage cheese

5 Ritz biscuits

Day2-DINNER

2 chicken sausages

4 oz (100g) broccoli

2 oz (50g) carrots

Half a banana

4 oz (100g) ice-cream

Day3-BREAKFAST

Black tea/coffee

1 egg hard boiled

1 slice toast

Day3-LUNCH

Black tea/coffee

1 slice cheddar cheese

5 Ritz biscuits

1 small apple

Day3-DINNER

4 oz (100g) tuna

4 oz (100g) beetroot

4 oz (100g) cauliflower

1/4 honeydew

4 oz (100g) ice-cream

Important Notes:

Do not vary or substitute any of the above foods. Salt and pepper to be used and not other seasoning. Where no quantity is given, there are no restrictions other than common sense. Toast is to be dry - no butter or margarine. Tuna, string beans and beetroot can be frozen. Ice-cream is to be vanilla flavour only.

This diet is to be used for 3 days at a time. In the three days you will lose 2 kg* (avg weight). After 3 days of dieting you can eat normally. Remember, not to overdo it. You can try this program up to twice a month.

My Notes:

Any kind of diet is a torture for me, simply because I hate restrictions in food. I like to eat what I please, when I please and I trust myself to practise some restraint and not go overboard on most days. I tried this because it was just 3 days and I had immense curiosity to see if I would lose the promised 2kg. I actually lost 2.5 kg in three days and gained back the .5kg in the next 3 days. The 2kg weight loss stuck even though I have returned to my normal food habits now.

The long gap between lunch and dinner is hard. I did this Monday - Wednesday since being at work makes it easier for me to control food and forget hunger to a large extend. Some prefer weekends so its up to you.

The smell of canned tuna was obnoxious, so I simply skipped it without substituting with anything else.

There are no vegetarian alternatives to the diet and I may not be the best person to come up with one. If you have any thoughts on that, please do share in the comments section.

Will I do this again? I am not sure. As of now, the answer is no. I can't take that level of hunger. I get cranky. Its not hard, its just hard for me :)

If you try it, I'd love to hear from you.