The Results: 7/10 - I lost just under 1kg and slimmed down a lot - my waist is now a trim 26 inches and my skin is very clear and glowy. Note I don't have a lot of weight to lose. Results would probably be more impressive on someone overweight or eating poorly already. Also more impressive on me if I was completely militant about the clean eating.
The Rules: Overall I found this was too many rules to all introduce at once and I lost track a little (e.g. slow eating... oops!) In future I think I'll try to focus on less things at a time.
- Cut out the following:
- Coffee (1 per day is ok) - 8/10. I only went over my 1 cup max on a few days
- Refined sugar - 6/10. I cheated a little with the odd treat dessert (2 x a week). Other than that I pretty much eliminated low fat and processed foods with high amounts of refined sugar, and switched to using fruit and honey as sweeteners.
- Alcohol - 10/10. No alcohol for a whole month. I started this early, when I finished I kept a few days gap between having a night with a drink or 2.
- Processed food - 9/10. Apart from the odd dessert I pretty much eliminated all heavily processed food from my diet. Making most things from scratch using basic ingredients.
- Do more:
- Drinking water - 10/10 I nailed this
- Eating slowly - 2/10 oops.. I totally forgot about this. Pretty much didn't do this on the whole.
- Eating organic & fresh veggies - 9/10 pretty good!
Pros
- I'm eating much more whole and homemade foods. This is a plus because it is yummier than a more processed diet.
- This has really helped me break the back of my over-reliance on wine. I can go without, and it's not as difficult as I'd imagined. I'll definitely be looking to increase the number of booze free days in future.
- I've replaced wine intake with water intake. My stainless steel water flask is literally within reach of my hand at all times and I am drinking a lot of plain, boring water. This has had a massive impact on my skin (see next point)
- I've reduced the amount of makeup I wear. I've received lots of compliments on my skin so no need to smear all that foundation and makeup on
- I'm reading labels more, and seeking foods that have minimal and simple ingredients
- I've been introduced to oat pancakes. AMAZING.
- I've finally ditched the rusty old pots and pans, whew.
- The cheat meal. I have embraced fully (one may argue too fully - should this be a con?)
- I've actually liked cutting out most gluten from my diet (although I haven't managed to do so completely, this is a definite challenge)... I swear it makes me feel better. I'm going to keep on with this and perhaps try a more strict gluten free diet in future to figure out if it is something I have a sensitivity to.
- Lots of rules to follow. Found it difficult to follow/incorporate these all at once... I ended up doing them really well 80% of the time mostly :)
- The diet had too many meals for me. I have a quick hunger, but small appetite, so do like a little snacking naturally. But I couldn't adjust to the amount and frequency of eating (i.e. sizeable morning and evening snacks) that this diet encouraged.
- Eating a lot of fresh meat and fish, and organic veg can be pricey. I don't mind paying for this because I believe the improved taste and reduction of chemicals is a good thing, but it may not be for everyone.
- It is a bit time consuming to make everything from scratch... a commitment for sure, and you have to make time to make it work
- It's not the magic pill. It is still possible to overeat on this diet and not achieve a weight-loss calorie deficit. I'd say if you aren't seeing results then do a week of counting to see whether you are under or over eating.
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