The 3-day military diet program is a fantastic choice for losing or maintaining weight.

Finding 3 Day Military Diet substitutions is easy.

All the food items on this diet menu are easily replaceable with other foods of equal calorie and nutritious value.

However, swapping one diet with another may not produce expected weight loss results. As far as possible, stick to the recommended diet menu.

But if you can find the right replacements for a few items on the Military Diet menu, it is okay to substitute. It has a few advantages as well.

Diet replacements allow you to have foods that are appealing to your taste and health conditions.

In fact, substituting your diets occasionally help you to carry on with the diet regimen for a long period without getting bored with repetitive diet habits. After all, variety is the spice of life!!

Substitution diets give you enough room for enjoying some of the foods that you relish a lot. In fact, your weight loss diets’ motto should be, “substitute, substitute, and substitute.”

It is natural that on a fixed diet plan like the 3 Day Military Diet, some of the items on the menu may not be appealing to you. But you can still follow this great diet program by finding suitable replacements for the foods that are not agreeable to you.

What Is The 3 Day Military Diet?

As you already know, the 3 Day Military Diet plan is a rapid weight loss program that helps you to lose up to 10 pounds within a week.

Unlike many other weight loss programs, you need not do strenuous workout sessions to lose weight in this effective weight loss program.

The Military Diet plan is also known as the 3-day diet plan as this diet plan is followed for 3 days and then take 4 days off in a week.

“It’s also known as the Navy diet, the Army diet and sometimes the ice cream diet because, in addition to hot dogs and tuna fish, you get to eat ice cream on all three days of the program (1).”

Please know that the Military diet is not developed or followed by US Army Or Navy. It is not the best diet plan either.

For the sake of emergency weight loss, you can continue with the recurring 3-day diet plan every week till you achieve your weight loss goal.

For best weight loss results, on four off days in a week, it is important to maintain the daily calorie intake to a minimal amount though there are no restrictions on the choice of foods.

Some people may lose up to 30 pounds within a month by following the Military Diet plan. It is more of a temporary result that lasts only till you quit the 3-day diet plan.

“With this type of low-calorie, lower-carbohydrate diet, you are losing mostly water and potentially some muscle,” said registered dietitian Elaine Magee.

The combination of foods used in the military diet menu aims at boosting metabolism, increased fat burning and low-calorie intake for fast weight loss.

Military Diet plan doesn’t slow down your metabolism like other diets.

The Military Diet contains healthy diets that supply the necessary energy for the body and control sugar swings.

Before we go into the details of Military Diet replacements, let us once again be sure of the items on this diet menu.

List of food items included in the 3 Day Military diet menu are:

Tuna

Broccoli

Bananas

Apple

Coffee or Tea

Grapefruit

Eggs

Peanut Butter

Meat

Vanilla Ice Cream

Cottage Cheese

Saltine Crackers

Hot Dog

Carrots

Green Beans

Cheddar Cheese

Whole Wheat Bread

Some of these items may not suit your diet habits for reasons like allergic reactions, unavailability or taste preferences.

List Of 3 Day Military Diet Substitutions

The list of food items on the 3 Day Military Diet menu is healthy and weight loss friendly. However, a few of the items on the list may not be liked by you or cannot be had for dietary limitations.

The foods that replace the recommended diet should have an approximately similar count of calories and nutritional value.

Apple Substitutes

Instead of the apple, you can have other fruits like:

Peaches

Pears

Plums

Grapes

Dried Apricots

Replacement for Bananas

Banana is included in all the three days of the military diet. However, banana may not be suitable for people with health issues like diabetes or gastric.

You can replace banana in 3 Day Military diet with other fruits like:

Kiwis

Papaya

Plum

Apple Sauce

Apricot

Broccoli Substitute Diets

Broccoli is a coniferous green vegetable. You can substitute this vegetable with any of the green vegetables in the same category.

There many alternative vegetables to broccoli such as:

Spinach

Asparagus

Brussel Sprouts

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Garden Cress

Bok Choy

Kale

Komatsuna

Radish

Alternative Foods to Carrots

Carrot is a healthy vegetable with several essential vitamins and nutrients in it. Fortunately, most people love to eat carrot as its taste is palatable.

Some of the best substitutes to carrot you can think of are:

Parsnip

Bell pepper

Beets

Celery

Squash

Best Replacement For Cheddar Cheese

It is possible to swap cheddar cheese with any of the different verities of cheese available in different brand names such as:

Roquefort

Chèvre

Feta

Mozzarella

Camembert

Cotija

Emmental

Gouda

Taleggio

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Manchego

If you do not prefer dairy products, you can substitute cheese with ham or eggs.

Substitutes for Coffee or Tea

Naturally, the best substitute for coffee is green tea.

Whether you take coffee or green tea, do not use sugar or milk in both of them.

Other healthy alternatives to coffee and tea are:

Sugar-free RedBull

Sugar-free hot Chocolate

Cottage Cheese Replacement Options

There are several replacement options to cottage cheese in the 3 Day Military Diet. They include both dairy and non-dairy alternatives such as:

Tofu

Soy milk

Soy cheese

Ham

Cheddar cheese

Plain Greek yogurt

Eggs

Ricotta cheese.

Substitute Diets For Eggs

Eggs are among the healthiest foods you can eat as it helps you to avoid other calorie-rich foods. However, many do not prefer egg for dietary reasons.

Egg in Military Diet is replaceable with:

Milk

Seeds

Nuts

Bacon

Chicken Wing

Diets Instead Of Grapefruit

Grapefruit, a citrus fruit, is very beneficial for weight loss. However, its taste may not be appealing to most people.

Grapefruit also interfere with certain medications.

Unfortunately, there are hardly a few diets that can substitute the grapefruit on the military diet menu.

Some of the possible alternatives to the grapefruit diet are:

Foods In Place of Green Beans

The green bean is a versatile vegetable that is both high in dietary fiber and low in fat.

Most of the leafy vegetables are an excellent substitute for the green beans. Some of the best alternatives are:

Lettuce

Spinach

Tomatoes

Nopales

Asparagus Stalks

Wax Beans

Hot Dog Substitutes

A hot dog (without the bun) is a good diet for a weight loss diet; one serving of hot dog contains only about 150 calories.

For Non-vegetarians the best substitutes for the hot dog are:

Deli meat

Turkey dogs

Bratwurst

Luncheon meat.

Vegetarians can use the following diets instead of hot dogs:

Soy dogs

Portobello mushrooms

Beans

Tofu dogs

Foods To Eat Instead Of Meat

Eating meat helps to suppress appetite and reduce the intake of too many calories.

In the 3 Day Military Diet program, you can use any types of meat provided you do not exceed the calories consumption limit per day.

Eating fish or eggs is also a good alternative to meat.

If you are a vegetarian, certainly you have to look for alternative vegetarian diets in place of the meat. You can replace meat with any of the following vegetarian foods:

Lentils

Tofu

Beans

Portobello mushrooms.

Alternative Foods to Peanut Butter

Many do not like to eat peanut butter for their taste or allergic reasons.

Fortunately, there are many diets that can substitute the peanuts butter on the 3-day diet menu.

Instead of peanut butter, you can use foods such as:

Almond Butter

Pumpkin Butter

Sunflower Seed Butter

Soy Butter

Saltine Crackers Substitutes

Saltine crackers are low in calories, and for this reason, they ideally fit into a low-calorie diet program like the Military Diet.

You can swap Saltine crackers with other healthy diets like:

Rice Cakes

Woven Cracker

Sea-Salt Cracker.

Replacement diet for Tuna

Tuna fish is a fantastic weight loss diet because of its high protein content. These fish also contain amino acids necessary for muscle building.

The high thermic effect caused by this fish help in boosting metabolism.

If for some reason you cannot have the tuna fish there are other foods that can replace this diet on the military diet menu.

Best alternatives to tuna fish are:

Cottage cheese,

Lean meat

Chicken

Tofu

Almonds

In case if you’re looking for a vegetarian substitute for tuna, then you can include:

Cottage Cheese

Tofu

Almonds

Vanilla Ice Cream Substitutes

Ice creams are tasty and relishing for most people. However, some may not like to have ice creams for dietary reasons or poor health conditions.

Best substitutes to ice cream in the 3 days diet are:

Apple juice

Favored yogurt.

Diets Instead of Whole Wheat Bread

Whole grain bread is a health and weight loss friendly food.

You can substitute the whole-grain bread in the Military Diet with other foods such as:

Sunflower seeds

Protein bar

Flaxseed

Whole-grain cereal

Yogurt

Tortilla wraps

Rice cakes.

Important Aspects Of 3 Day Military Diet Substitutions

The military diet is a calorie-restricted diet program.

If you have to substitute any of the recommended food items on the diet menu with other foods you should ensure that the calorie limit is not exceeded.

As for examples:

1 banana = 105 calories

1 kiwi = 42 calories.military diet substitutions

So if you are substituting banana with kiwi, then you have to eat approximately two and a half kiwis instead of one banana.

It is not about the size and weight of the food but the number of calories contained in them that matters.

Secondly, it is good to pay attention to the nutritional value of the foods. As far as possible, choose the substitution foods that have similar nutritional value as the recommended food items on the Military Diet program.

Lastly, some of the food items on the Military Diet like Vanilla Ice Cream or meat may have an appealing taste that can make you eat more. However, you should never eat more than the recommended quantity of foods mentioned in the menu.

The Bottom Line

The Military diet, also known as the 3 Day Diet is a great weight loss program, especially in emergency situations.

It is effective for temporary weight loss needs but not a permanent solution to obesity.

The name “Military” appears to be a strong approval for the diet. Food items like hot dogs and ice creams make this diet more appealing.

Some of the internet reports and videos even falsely term this diet program as the American Heart Association diet, the Cleveland Clinic diet, the Mayo Clinic diet, the Kaiser diet, and the Birmingham Hospital diet. All these claims are absolutely false.

Numerous people from different parts of the world have achieved fast weight loss results by following the Military Diet program. It is natural that every low-calorie diets programs like this one produce a significant amount of fast weight loss results.

This diet program is meant for people who want to shed weight quickly within a short period.

Unlike the other weight loss programs, 3 Day Diet plan does not recommend strenuous workout sessions for weight loss.

Most of the recommended foods included in the Military diet menu are tasty foods appealing to most people.

Lastly, you should opt for Military Diet substitutions only if it is strictly necessary for the sake of your health conditions. The original items recommended in the menu can help you lose maximum weight compared to the substituted or modified version.

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