Eat-Clean Diet

The Diet:

I looked at the Just The Rules by Tosca Reno. It had 55 basic rules for following the Eat-Clean Diet. Here are some of the highlights.

• Eat 5-6 smaller meals each day
• Make sure to have breakfast and include complex carbs and a protein (oatmeal, egg whites, berries).
• Only eat purchased foods with 5 ingredients or less. (Avoid food with perservatives)
• Make your own bread (water, flour, yeast, and salt)
• Have a little vinegar before each meal (for digestion)
• Drink a minimum of 3 liters of water each day.
• Eliminate sugar (what she calls "the legal cocaine").

This diet includes a lot of the basic stuff like color up your vegetables (meaning don't only eat the green ones). When you stream vegetables you should consume the water it was cooked in. This allows you to recover any nutrients that may have been lost in the cooking process. My old friend quiona makes a prominent appearance as a low protein and complex carb item.

The Experience:

Unfortunately I was sick this week. Most people lose weight when they are sick, because they eat less and they lounge about. While I did plenty of lounging my body decided it was going to need to some actual food in order to recover. Despite these challenges I still tried to follow some of the key points of the diet.

For most meals I had some apple cider vinegar (straight up) before starting a meal. I usually had a tablespoon or two. When you have a sore throat and your sinuses are congested you will be acutely aware of consuming vinegar. Your entire head will tingle as the substance does terrible things to you. Surely you get accustomed to it over time though right? Nope. Every drop of vinegar is worse than the last.

Chewing slowly is very hard for me. I typically like to get my nurtiousment by freebasing my food. When you have to chew 20-30 times per bite you far exceed the comfortable amount of time you want food in your mouth. As you chomp away the food eventually becomes disintegrated in your mouth. At that point you realize you are no longer chewing food, but some kind of waste product that recently was food.

I read the book before the week started and completely forgot about the 5 ingredient limitation. Tragically I did not follow that requirement. I also did not make my own bread, but avoided bread for the most part. The exception was that Saturday I had a Subway sandwich.

I did have frequent small meals. I would have oatmeal or cream of wheat for breakfast, I had chicken and vegetables or quiona for lunch, and I had chicken vegetables and broccoli for dinner most evenings. I also drank a bunch of fat free hot chocolate (20 calories per glass), because the hot water was soothing to my throat.

Exercise-wise I only worked out Monday evening, by Tuesday morning I was unable to do anything. Saturday afternoon I participated in an Aikido event, but that left me very tired.

The Result:

I ended up being 2.4 pounds heaver by the end of the week. I imagine it is because I did almost no exercise. It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that I require both diet and exercise to have success.