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"No sugar, no butter, and certainly no seconds\u2014yet the food served at top spas never tastes spartan. Here's how to take their best diet tips home (and lose weight like you never checked out).\\n\\nThe moment in *The Wizard of Oz* when Dorothy and Toto go from dusty, drab Kansas to cheerful, jewel-toned Munchkinland? That's what spa dining can be like: After a life of eating cardboard diet food, you sit down to behold fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables and a piece of miso-glazed salmon...and you don't even care that it's Munchkin-sized.\\n\\n\\n\\nEventually, though, you go home from a spa\u2014but it doesn't have to be like returning to Dorothy's Kansas. The best spas prepare their guests for the challenges they'll face back in their real lives so they can continue shedding pounds sensibly. And, fortunately, their advice works for everyone. \\\"Our most successful guests make simple, small shifts instead of massive and quick attempts at overhauling every facet of their lives,\\\" says Wendy Bazilian, nutrition specialist at the Golden Door spa in Escondido, California. Here, then, is the diet equivalent of a yellow brick road:\\n\\n\\n\\n### STOP GRAZING\u2014EAT MEALS\\n\\n\\n\\nMost spas offer three meals and two snacks a day\u2014which sounds like a lot of food. But the daily total usually runs between 1,200 and 1,800 calories (meals are about 300 to 500 calories, and snacks are no more than 200). \\\"It's a reminder of just how little food guests need to feel full and satisfied in the real world, especially when they're not exercising four to five hours a day,\\\" says Lori Reamer, director of nutrition at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. Spa guests tend to have something to eat every three hours: They do not snack all day long, nor do they graze on six \\\"mini meals.\\\" When you do that, Bazilian says, \\\"you get into a pattern where snacks look like meals, and 'mini meals' are actually big meals,\\\" she says. \\\"Instead, have three moderate meals and two small snacks\\\"\u2014a dining plan that works well with your real social life.\\n\\n\\n\\n### PLAN AHEAD\\n\\n\\n\\nAn ounce of prevention is worth a pound...off your hips and thighs. Every morning, \\\"plan when and what you'll feed yourself,\\\" says Marsha Hudnall, program director at the Green Mountain at Fox Run Spa in Ludlow, Vermont. \\\"Decide in the morning what you'll have for lunch, rather than getting past lunchtime\u2014and you still haven't eaten, and you grab the first thing that appeals to you.\\\" You can even have a fun, busy social life and still honor your diet: Take about 20 minutes on Sunday or Monday to look at your calendar, assess the meals over which you'll have limited control (a friend's birthday dinner), and aim to counterbalance them with those over which you'll have more power.\\n\\n\\n\\n### LOVE THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD\\n\\n\\n\\nVariety is overrated. \\\"Having a food routine can help you in so many aspects of your life,\\\" Bazilian says. \\\"And we do need variety in our diets\u2014but not as much as we're led to believe. Some people have two breakfasts that they alternate every other day for a year, or they have two or three different lunches that they like. It makes them feel more confident and comfortable with the rest of their diet.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n### SWAP YOUR PLATES\\n\\n\\n\\nThe designers at Villeroy &amp; Bosch have it all wrong, dietwise. \\\"The easiest way to control portions is to eat your salad on your dinner plate and your dinner on your salad plate,\\\" says Yvonne Nienstadt, the nutrition director at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. \\\"You can eat freebie things like vegetables\u2014lettuce has just nine calories a cup\u2014in volume, and you won't want as much of the more caloric things.\\\" (A portion of protein, FYI, is three ounces\u2014about the size of a deck of cards.)\\n\\n\\n\\n### LOOK FOR THREE COLORS\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd not, say, the tre colori of a lasagna fashioned after the Italian flag. \\\"Getting a minimum of three colors on the plate at every meal is an easy way to get fruits and vegetables and high-fiber foods,\\\" Bazilian says. \\\"It's just a quick check: Oh, there are the blueberries in my oatmeal, and I just had an apple....\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n### EAT IN ORDER\\n\\n\\n\\nEven a small amount of food can make you feel full if you follow this trick from the Greenhouse Spa in Arlington, Texas: Each meal should have no more than four ounces of lean protein with high-fiber vegetables and some whole grains\u2014\\\"but think of the whole grain almost like a condiment, not the mainstay on your plate,\\\" says Deborah Cole, the director of the spa's residential weight-loss program. Start by eating the protein, which triggers your sense of satiety. When that's done, eat the vegetables, whose fiber will also fill you up, then the grain.\\n\\n\\n\\n### GO AHEAD AND HAVE FRUIT\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"You should really only get ten percent of your daily calories from sugary foods\\\" like candy and highly processed snacks and sweeteners, says Mary Horn, director of nutrition and exercise science at Miraval Spa Resort in Tucson, Arizona. That's 200 calories, tops\u2014about a handful of Swedish fish. Fruit, on the other hand, is a natural sweet that you can help yourself to. And don't worry about the Atkins diet's demonization of fruit: \\\"Once guests allow themselves to [see fruit as healthy again],\\\" Bazilian says, \\\"they learn to love fruit for the natural sweetness, but also for how it helps maintain their energy and, thanks to its fiber content, manage the frequency and severity of their cravings.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n### STOCK YOUR SNACKS\\n\\n\\n\\nBuy a small, dorm-size refrigerator for your office, and stash some midday craving-quellers\u2014snacks with no more than 200 calories, with a balance of carbohydrates and protein and a little bit of fat. Try whole fruit, a trail bar, hummus, or yogurt. When you know you'll have a snack in a few hours, you won't eat as much at lunch. Nienstadt points out that people who eat a snack 90 minutes before dinner end up eating significantly fewer calories at the meal itself\u201440 percent fewer, according to one study.\\n\\n\\n\\n### BUT DON'T GO NUTS\\n\\n\\n\\nNuts are packed with protein and the good, healthy fats. However, they are also packed with calories. \\\"Eat just five or ten, not a handful. And round them out with a piece of fruit or raw vegetables,\\\" says Nienstadt.\\n\\n\\n\\n### BE THE FIRST TO ORDER YOUR DRINK\\n\\n\\n\\nIf you go out several times a week, make a pact with yourself that you won't drink every time. \\\"Alcohol can put you out of touch with what your body really wants,\\\" Hudnall says. To safeguard your teetotaling resolve, Bazilian recommends being the first to order: \\\"Watch what happens the next time you order a sparkling water\u2014other people will follow your lead.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n### SWAP YOUR COFFEE FOR GREEN TEA\\n\\n\\n\\nMaybe all those healthy antioxidants and healing properties aren't sufficient enticements. But how's this? \\\"Green tea may boost your overall metabolism,\\\" Bazilian says. (Indeed, a 2007 study at Purdue University showed that drinking green tea increased the test subjects' daily calorie burn by 4.6 percent.)\\n\\n\\n\\n### AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, DEEP-SIX THE FAKE SUGAR\\n\\n\\n\\nThey may be a thousand times sweeter than sugar, but artificial sweeteners have been found in some studies to make you crave more sweets; they may also tamper with your sense of fullness. \\\"So until there is more definitive research, I encourage our guests to use natural sweeteners such as cane sugar, agave nectar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, or fruit juice,\\\" says Horn.\\n\\n\\n\\n### ADD SPICE (BUT NOT SALT)\\n\\n\\n\\nYes, the body needs salt\u2014about four teaspoons a day\u2014\\\"but it's difficult to adhere to those guidelines when a bowl of soup has two thirds of that,\\\" Horn says. To limit salt and its water-weight-retaining power, Reamer recommends swapping in a few different spices and fresh herbs. \\\"I want people to think about a wider variety of resources to enhance flavor,\\\" she says. She suggests thinking about the flavors you like, the descriptors on restaurant menus that make you want to order something...and then incorporating them into your meals before you reach for the salt. (Or simply mix dry herbs like oregano, thyme, or rosemary into your shaker.)\\n\\n\\n\\n### JUST SLOW DOWN AND EAT\\n\\n\\n\\nOnce a week, the guests at Rancho La Puerta observe a silent one-hour dinner. \\\"Guests always tell us that, without other distractions, they start to feel full sooner, and it surprises them,\\\" Nienstadt says. This has something to do with the fact that diners slowed down and tasted the food. Aim to chew each bite 20 to 30 times, Cole says.\\n\\n\\n\\n### THE KITCHEN IS CLOSED\\n\\n\\n\\nPerhaps only monks and senior citizens can adhere to the rule of not eating after 7 p.m. But even people who work late or socialize at night can tweak the rule. \\\"For better digestion and sleep, close the kitchen and give yourself two hours, minimum, between finishing dinner and going to bed,\\\" Bazilian says. Note that this doesn't mean you can crawl into bed and read magazines and gossip on the phone. \\\"You really want those two or three hours before reclining.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n### SLIM FASTS\\n\\n\\n\\nYou'd think we're all just walking, talking piles of hazmats, considering the increasing popularity of the word \\\"detox\\\" on spa menus. The recent growth in the cleansing trend may be because \\\"it's a very educated public we have now. People are so much more aware of the foods they're eating,\\\" says Susan Lombardi, a co-owner of the We Care Spa in Desert Hot Springs, California, where much of Hollywood can be found in the weeks before awards season. \\\"They'll call and ask us how our juices are made, whether they have preservatives. They want the produce as organic and local as possible\\\" to get their systems cleaned out. At We Care, that cleaner system comes from a six-day fast featuring organic, vegetable-based juice and broth, and multiple colonic treatments. \\\"The buildup of toxins in the colon is accumulated through the years, not overnight,\\\" Lombardi says. And the Blueprint Cleanse, a multiday juice-fast delivery diet, touts its Level 3 cleanse as being capable of \\\"finally unearth[ing] those crayons you ate when you were three.\\\" The notion of cleaning yourself from the inside out, says Blueprint Cleanse president Erica Huss Jones, \\\"is the new fascination, like the next level of using the Bior\u00E9 strips.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nBut are we really that filthy inside? \\\"A normal colon lining looks pink and smooth, like the inside of your mouth,\\\" says Christine Frissora, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of clinical medicine at New York-Cornell Medical Center. \\\"It's totally untrue that toxins accumulate in the colon for years.\\\" For those who want to clean out their systems, she doesn't recommend colonics, noting that they can cause infection or even perforation. Instead, \\\"for those who want to purge, I recommend [drinking] fruit and vegetable juice for just one day.\\\" And don't go looking for any Crayolas.\\n\\n\\n\\n### TOUGH LOVES\\n\\n\\n\\nYou could easily spend $4,000 on a luxurious vacation. (Week in Tahiti, anyone?) Or for the same amount, the Ashram in Calabasas, California, offers a program that's famously spartan. Yes, the 12 guests, some of whom share bedrooms, go on forced-march-style morning hikes of about 12 to 15 miles, then sweat through yoga and aqua aerobics, all of which is fueled by the skimpiest portions\u2014and the dangling carrot of extreme weight loss.\\n\\n\\n\\nBreakfast might be cereal with hemp milk. The midhike snack is a few almonds, a lone prune, and a piece of fruit dusted with Himalayan salt to restore electrolytes. Lunch and dinner are about the same size\u2014maybe an organic vegetable taco or an arugula salad with toasted quinoa. Dessert and wine? Forget it. \\\"People who come to the Ashram know what they are getting themselves into, and the food is a big part of that,\\\" says Catharina Hedberg, who's been director of the spa since it opened in 1974\\\\.\\n\\n\\n\\nThat was many, many fad diets ago, but the Ashram has always hewed to organic; vegan; low-sodium; low-glycemic; and alcohol-, wheat-, sugar-, and caffeine-free fare. \\\"All these terms are very in right now,\\\" Hedberg says, \\\"but it's what we've always done.\\\" Two weeks prior to arrival, guests are asked to give up caffeine, sugar, and diet soda, \\\"because if they don't they are not going to be in good shape, with headaches and moodiness,\\\" Hedberg says. It may not be for everyone, but the program does have a return rate of 70 percent and a waitlist of over 600 people.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n*By Rory Evans*\\n\\n#### See Also\\n\\n- [10 Easy Tips for Summer Weight Loss](http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/health/2011/10-easy-tips-for-summer-weight-loss\\\\#slide=1)\\n\\n\\n- [Is Your Job Making You Fat?](http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/how-to/2010/job_making_you_fat\\\\#slide=1)\\n\\n\\n- [Fergie's Nutritionist Shares Her Top Diet Tips &amp; Detox Smoothie](http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2011/07/fergies-nutritionist-shares-her-top-diet-tips-detox-smoothie.html)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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