A pal mentioned this over the weekend and has lost a few kg on it so I’m gonna give it a try as I’ve been trying to lose half a stone / stone for a while but even upping exercise hasn’t done anything.

Only thing that worries me is that when I’ve tried cutting out simple carbs in the past I’ve felt a bit weak and lacking in ebergy. Has anyone else had this? Does it pass? I am training at the moment so don’t want to screw myself up; I’ve always been a fan of loading up on carbs post exercise to prevent any low the next day. I shall try this and see…

Just started giving it a go. Headaches at end of second day, maybe not enough water, too much espresso, change in diet I assume it’ll settle down.

I managed a couple of months on the Mark Sissons Primal Blueprint diet. Went well for the time I did it, but I like the idea of being able to have beans, peas, pulses which are off that diet.

I’m interested in the ‘fruit’ definition though.

At the moment I’m going with the ‘if it goes in the fruit bowl’ it’s off the list, but if it goes in the fridge salad box it’s in, so tomatoes, peppers, cucumber are OK. Obviously not scientific in the sense of definition of a fruit, but it sort of makes sense.

I guessed it would just be an initial temporary thing I’m sure it also happened when I had a go at the Atkins years ago. Lack of sleep maybe too revising for an OU exam so had a couple of late nights.

I also found that green tea helps to stave off hunger.

Can we have sweet potatoes or are they off limits too?

Sweet potatoes are ‘low GI’, but this isn’t strictly a GI diet as dairy isn’t allowed, so would say not, unless someone with underestanding says it won’t affect the mechanisms of the diet.

Green tea, sparkling water and coffee work well for me to stave off hunger, although that is one surprising thing, I don’t really feel hunger so much any more.

RE Fruit – custard test. DWISOTT. Anything sugary will go with custard, anything not – won’t, is my reckoning. As scientific as it gets 😀

personally I take the diet at face value

Sweet potatoes are ‘low GI’, but this isn’t strictly a GI diet as dairy isn’t allowed, so would say not

as they aren’t on the don’t list I eat them as part of the regime

I would wait for iDave to ammend the list to clarify

I’ve found it can be hard to get enough carbs this way because I can only get so many legumes down me. I can start to feel worse and worse towards the end of the week before cheat day. I sometimes get headachey when I don’t have enough carbs so sometimes when I feel really crappy I just top up with something bad. Possibly doesn’t help the diet but it certainly helps my general state of being.

I think headaches could be a risk for us sweet tooths coming to the diet.

Dave, in your emailed notes (from last year) you said you soak a load of beans/pulses once a week and then split into portions. Do you just keep these in the fridge? Or do you freeze them?

Just asking because IME chickpeas last 3-4 days in the fridge; lentils 2 days (before going squidgy), and other beans maybe 3-4 days too.

Are you getting a full week out of yours once cooked?

Ta

Dave, in your emailed notes (from last year) you said you soak a load of beans/pulses once a week and then split into portions. Do you just keep these in the fridge? Or do you freeze them?

After boiling, etc. Beans are diveed up into portions, bagged and frozen.

When I have time, I will boil up some beans. Favs are Pinto beans, chick peas and Cannellini beans.
When I’m pressed for time though, its the tetra packed beans from the usual supermarket suspects.
I’m mostly on the tetra packs at the moment.

I’m currently on salads, beans and the odd stir fry or chilli, along with that winning Combo, lentils and bacon.

I’m interested in the ‘fruit’ definition though.

If you’re being strictly botranical with your definitions then fruit = contains seeds.
So tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, aubergines and many other things we commonly call vegetables are in fact fruits.
As far as I understand it, the iFruits are those with high sugar content so in other words your fruit bowl items.
The ‘custard rule’ is about as good as it gets really 🙂

bagged and frozen

That’s probably what I’ll start doing then. Have been doing them in batches and always keeping in the fridge until now.

lentils and bacon

Defo. Has to be smoked bacon though – preferably with red lentils, chicken stock, garlic and a few spices. Major nommage.

Spot on HillDodger.
The Custard rule, err…. rules
😀

Has to be smoked bacon though – preferably with red lentils, chicken stock, garlic and a few spices. Major nommage.

Most definately.
😀

Question.

When is the “week of will and mind” ?. Is it during February ?.

😆

my missus also wants to know about sweet potatoes

she has made a huge vege-mince shepherds pie, topped with sweet potatoe……

its currently in the freezer awaiting her ‘rest day’ unless someone can advise

save it for the rest day.

and sweet potato on shepherds pie is just wrong 😉

Just had my favourite meal of the week. Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew with mashed parsnip and steamed garlic spinach.

Hard work huh ? 😉

You poor thing, being forced to eat that muck. And having to send me money all the time too.

iDave = sadist.

Just had my favourite meal of the week. Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew with mashed parsnip and steamed garlic spinach.

I’ve just had (lean) sausages, brocolli, leeks and spinach, along with mixed beans and mashed parsnip in place of the chips the rest of the family had.

Now I’m wondering whether parsnip chips are kosher within the idave diet scheme of things? I love parsnip chips and I can’t see why not. Looks like I’ll be tucking into them two or three times a week then 🙂

Can we make it a rule that if you use the expression Nom when describing food, and you’re not 12, you have to punch yourself in the head?

parnsip chips are fine

nom, twack…

It’s a lolcat-ism.

2 salmon fillets for dinner, with lots of veg. Moving onto pumpkin seeds now. Num num num.

cheers idave

i dont get on with veg-emince and im not keen on sweet potatoes, so i might match the missus diet rest day with vanishing for a long day on the bike

so thanks, twice i guess.

It’s a lolcat-ism.

it’s an annoying-ism. 😆

Nom nom nom

Just paying homage to nomage

Ooh, very sharp.

I’m going to bed now.

i want to do this but i can see it being hella expensive. an expense to which student loans cannot stretch to 🙁

It’s not at all expensive float, not the way I do it???

I’m a student! On student loan, with no other suppport. As said above it’s costing me and my gf £60 ish a week, so £30 a person per week. Normal food spend for me has always been £25 to £30.

Try to maximise the cheap filling things such as lentils/dried beans to replace the previous cheap filling things (pasta etc), and cost shouldn’t be much different. Would definitely suggest giving it a try. 10 days in now and enjoying it. The wii suggests I’ve lost a tiny bit, and the gf has lost some too. No side effects apart from rabbit droppings 🙂 😕

I reckon it can be done on the cheap. Send me a tenner and I’ll tell you how.

GRRR! 3rd week of doing this now.

Started at 88kg
Week 1 – lost 3kg
Week 2 – lost nothing
Week 3 – lost nothing.

I could cope with nothing lost during week 2 as I did have a 2-day break (we went to friends for the Easter weekend) but nothing during week 3 despite sticking to the diet is a little de-motivating. Especially as I feel I’ve lost a fair amount of ‘snap’ when on my bike (was able to up the power up hills quite easily, but now find myself grinding up in a lower gear.)

Maybe it’s because I have been eating a gluten free diet for several years so I’m used to avaoiding large ‘white carb’ intake (mainly through avoiding bread and pasta), but so far I’ve seen nothing that I wouldn’t have achieved from simpy cutting out the crisps and GF cakes that I was scoffing in the weeks before I started.

I’ll give it another week since I have the food in the cupboard and see what happens…..

Ben

Ben, drink plenty of water, don’t forget it’s not a low carb plan so plenty of beans, keep at it – and don’t try and eat less, keep eating normal amounts.

Thanks iDave – I upped the water quantity this week after seeing your advice to others and Mrs BOAS reckons i’ll never lose any weight given the portion sizes I eat!

I’m grateful for the 3kg lost so far and the fact that the diet isn’t restrictive in terms of calories or portions is what attracted me to starting a ‘diet’ in the first place, so my thanks to you for that!

Ben

Just had a nice brekkie from Pod, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, nori and wasabi powder. Yum

Hoping to touch 84kg by the end of the week. This is a major milestone for me.

Hoping to get under 90kg with this weeks wiegh-in (tomorrow), lost 2.5kg in the first week (and wasn’t that strict on it) so have been very strict this week!

I’ll echo the advice re water. Even when not strictly on the diet I make a point of drinking 1/2 pint+ of water before I eat anything and as much as I can reasonably drink at other times.

Apart from the obvious hydration benefits to skin etc. it suppresses the appetite (for me anyway) and makes the whole digestive system more efficient.

Dave, can’t remember if we’ve covered this before – what’s your take on fruit? I can understand how the sugars etc can mess with the diet’s vibe, but surely eating fruit only once per week isn’t ‘good’.

surely eating fruit only once per week isn’t ‘good’.

If you weren’t eating lots of veg every day I might agree.