Day 7 – No Test/CHEATING

Cleo -0.2, Tony -0.4 – We pass the beef test!  I didn’t eat all my beef, and I drank some water late, so I think my results could have been better.

TMI – Still constipated, but better.  I’m going back to the flax cereal today.

Today is the first day I’ll deviate (read cheat) from the plan.  Despite having chocolate for the last three days, I still feel deprived of my regular sweets.  So I am going to treat myself to an ice cream.  I have some logic with this too.  Since we haven’t test reactive (by weight) to anything yet, then I should be able to test something new.  I’m having ICE CREAM!  Lyn-Genet says that ice cream is the worst after dinner.  She says it’s too much dairy and cold inhibits digestions, so have ice cream during the day.  I will!  She also prefers gelato to ice cream because it has cleaner ingredients.  So I pick up a singe serving of cappuccino gelato and I enjoy every spoon of it!

Even though today is a rest day, we get a new food, Potato Chips.  Well, they have to be salt-free, and that was impossible to find.  Tony ended up buying Kettle Low Sodium potato chips.  They have 10 mg of sodium per 40 g serving.  1/4 tsp of salt has 390 mg of sodium.  So, it’s essentially no-salt.  Lyn-Genet like potatoes because they are high in potassium, even higher than bananas.  She says potassium help negate sodium.  Also, people like the crunch of chips.  They make them happy.  Cheers to chips!

My final “off plan” food for the day is the rest of that beef.  I simmer it, and cut it into tiny pieces and I’m able to eat most of it.  I promise Tony that since we only get beef once a week, I’ll make sure it’s only the best steak.  He sticks to plan and eats chicken.

Day 6 – New Protein

Cleo -0.6, Tony -0.2 – We passed the rye test!  Can’t wait to try wheat and oats.

TMI: I’m constipated!  I’m sure it’s because I switched out my flax breakfast for fruit compote.  It doesn’t feel good.

Today we get to add a new protein, and we choose beef.  The thing with beef is you can only have it once a week, so for the rest of the week we are eating chicken.  And I make a rookie beef mistake.  Tony is expecting steak, but I pick up some sliced beef marked stir fry.  It looked good to me!  But it ended up being tough.  Tony reminds me stir fry meat needs to be marinaded.  It’s so tough, I don’t even finish it.  The internet tells me if I marinate it in vinegar and then simmer it, I might be able to save it.  I’ll try it tomorrow.

I Heart Vegetables

One great lesson I have learned is how to eat my veggies.  The nutritionists and dietitians are always saying how we need to eat more vegetables, and now I get it.  I have never eaten this much veg, and I actually didn’t think I could do it.  Ya, I add carrot sticks to my sandwich and even make orange-spinach smoothies (believe me, they’re good) but it’s no where near as much as this plan.  Lunch and dinner always has two huge servings of vegetables.  This is something I will definitely be able to keep doing once the 20 days are up.

Eczema: I noticed that my ears have finally healed, but my hands are still in bad shape.

Day 5 – Rye

Cleo – 0.4, Tony -2.2 – This loss means were all clear for coffee, goat cheese, and chocolate.  Phew!

Today’s test: Rye!  Has anyone ever been this excited about rye?  Lyn-Genet calls this a “gateway” grain.  If you pass rye, you’re cleared to try other grains.

Today my breakfast is the blueberry and pear compote with chia seeds.  It’s very tasty.  The seeds give nice texture.  Unfortunately it doesn’t satisfy.  I’m hungry long before lunch.

For lunch we get our usual double dose of veggies, but today we get a rye cracker and hummus.   Yup, that one rye cracker for ladies and two for men.  The only rye crackers I could find are Wasa, and they are definitely hearty.

Tony has lower gut pain.  He doesn’t know why, but a quick visit the the facilities and he’s feeling great again.

I’m hungry all day.  Even after my chicken dinner, I could go out for more food.  I tell Tony I’m ok if he wants to cheat, but he’s feeling so good he’s happy to stay the course.  Good thing he’s here to keep me strong.

Day 4 – Cheese!

Weight: Cleo -0.5, Tony nil

Tony didn’t lose any weight.  He also drank a bunch of water late in the evening, so we’ll right it off to that.

Today we get cheese!  And coffee!  And wine! (ok, neither of us really drink wine) And chocolate!  Tony can’t believe there’s a diet that let’s you have all that.  And that’s the reason we get them today.  The book doesn’t want you to feel deprived, so it adds these fan favorites back right away.

First we enjoy our dark roast coffee with half and half.  Delicious!  It’s so good, I don’t even need another cup.  It sure makes my morning happier.

For lunch we get goat cheese with our vegetables and side salad with pumpkin seeds.  Such a good meal.

At snack, I tried almond butter again.  My nose started running, and my throat got irritated.  That’s a bad sign, right?

Here’s another complaint I have about the book. Dinner tonight is chicken with mango and cucumber salsa.  The salsa calls for a mango and a cucumber and makes 6-8 servings.  But it’s never included in a meal again.  So what am I suppose to do with the leftovers?  I don’t think cucs freeze well, but I’ll try it.

After dinner we get dessert!  1 oz of dark chocolate.  Hurrah!  1 oz is a good amount of chocolate and it makes me so happy.  And the plan lets us have chocolate every day!  So happy.  Did I already say that?

TMI warning! We are BMing like rock stars.

Eczema: My hands are worse.  New cuts, more irritation.

Day 3 – Chicken

Weight: Cleo -1.8 lbs, Tony -2.6 lbs.

Since I lost 1.8 lbs on rice, does that mean I’m not reactive?  Sadly, no.  I’m pretty sure it made me itchy.

So I made a little mistake.  Tony’s not too happy with me.  The book says if you really can’t live without coffee, then have coffee.  She wants you to avoid it because it’s acidic and to give your body a rest.  She also says teas are fine, even the caffeinated ones.  I could have been having caffeine this whole time!, Tony says.  Oops, love you.

Tony is loving this diet.  His guts don’t hurt.  He says he can’t remember when last time he felt this good.  If he wanted to quit and go get pizza and ice cream, I’d happily give in.  But he’s going strong, so I’ll stay with him.

I’m so over the flax cereal.  Eating it dry is not tasty.  Tomorrow I’m going to try something else, but I’ll have to prep it today.  Tony notices rice milk has more calories and sugar AND less salt and fiber than the coconut milk.  The tv tells me to watch out for those flavoured milks because they have a lot of added sugar.

Today we get chickpeas for lunch and chicken for dinner.  Two proteins I really like.  The books says chicken is one of the least reactive animal proteins.  Our dinner looks great – chicken, roast veggies and greens.  But I’d trade it for cookie.  Fine, I’ll eat my delicious dinner.

Four days of cooking and I’m sick of it!  It’s not that I’m no used to cooking daily, just not every meal, every day.  One positive change is that we are eating dinner at the dinning table instead of on the couch.  We put so much work into the meals that we want to enjoy them and pretend we’re grown-ups.

Eczema: The deep cuts on my hands are healing.  Yay.  My regular runny nose has yellow mucus, which isn’t normal for me.  The website’s extensive list of cleanse side effects lists excess mucus, so I must be healing, right?

Day 2 – Rice

Weight: Cleo -1.8 lbs, Tony -5.4 lbs.

Wow.  That is some weight loss.  Well, Tony’s has bad data.  After dinner he spent the evening vomiting.  He burst a blood vessel in his eye. 😦  I’m sure he had a stomach flu because he was ok by the next morning.  Or food poisoning from his “last meal” of a giant donair the day before.

Breakfast and lunch are the same as yesterday.  We couldn’t wait to eat lunch.  After lunch Tony was dreaming of hamburgers.  I let him eat his snack – an apple and almonds.  A few almonds in and my mouth is burning.  Ok, there’s a definite allergy.

I’m tired and grumpy.  Don’t know if it’s related to the diet or because it’s a day that ends in “y”.

Tony also felt bloated after eating the avocado, so we’ll add that to his reactive list.  I also felt that avocado could have made my mouth itchy, but since I think it’s so tasty, I’ll test it again.

Dinner is the same, but we get brown rice too.  I eat it, even though I know I have an allergy.  My skin gets itchy and I take a reactine.  I’m still hungry, but I have to admit I didn’t finish my lunch salad or my dinner salad.  I’m not so hungry I’d eat more veggies.

The book is starting to annoy me.  It’s really hard to follow menu planning and grocery shopping.  I’m constantly flipping forward to the next few days, then to the recipes, and then trying to assemble a huge grocery list.  I wish that the daily menu was on one page,so you could see “oh the same breakfast for a week”.  And I wish the recipes left you with the right amount of leftovers.  I also wish it was a coil book.  Maybe I need to write Lyn-Genet another letter with my brilliant ideas.  

Day 1 – Cleanse

Today we start our three day cleanse.

First we drink our two glasses of water and Tony has his liver detox pill.  I’ve opted for the Dandelion tea in lieu of the water and pill.  I regret this.  The tea is bitter.  Not horribly bitter, so you’d chug it because it’s good for you.  Just bitter enough you think, why am I drinking this .  Plus it takes two tea bags to make a serving and you’re supposed to have it three times a day.  So the box would get me through a week.  Tony’s pills cost $40 for a 30 day set.

Breakfast of flax granola, blueberries, and coconut milk.  I’m having mine dry.  The delicious blueberries make it a nice breakfast.  Tony likes it too.  It’s crunchy.  I take a small sip of the coconut milk and it seems ok, unlike the burning taste of coconut water.  But I don’t really want to risk it, so I eat the rest of the cereal dry.  Tony gets 1.5c of cereal, but it’s way too much to eat, so he just has 1c.

No coffee today.  Tony is grumpy, but I’m sure he’ll live.  He gets a headache, which he thinks is from caffeine withdrawal.

Lunch is vegetable soup with a side of veggies and salad.  We get chia or sunflower seeds for protein.

Snack is an apple.

Dinner is kale and the coco sauce, which is a coconut curry.  It sure makes the kale taste good.  We also get beet and carrot slaw (which only has two ingredients) with pumpkin seeds.  I can’t believe it but the slaw is good.  I have never buy beets, but now I love them.  They are sweat and delicious.

TMI warning!  In the evening I have terrible stinky gas.  Apparently this is an expected side affect.  I’m so glad it didn’t last.

Eczema:  I have spots on my head, back, upper arms, and legs.  My hands are itchy and cracked (2/5, 5/5) and so are the backs of my ears.

Water, water, everywhere

And ounces and ounces to drink.  You need to drink a lot of water by 7:30pm.  Take your weight in pounds and divide by two.  That’s how many ounces you need in a day.  So if you’re 200 lbs, you need 100 ounces.  A glass is 8 ounces, divide by another 8 and you need 12.5 glasses a day.  It sounds like a lot.  Well, actually it is a lot.  But you start the day with two glasses, and after a few days you’ll be used to it.  The book says to not sip it throughout the day, but drink a glass at a time.  That’ll keep you out of the bathroom all day long.  Tony likes to drink his out of a beer stein, and I like my sippy-cup with a straw.

T-3 days and counting

The Plan  requires a lot of planning and prep work, and the book does you no favours in this department.  She should have given you a grocery list in the book, although there is now one available on line here, you still need to go through each day and each recipe to prevent daily visits to the grocery.  She also should have told you to make up some of the recipes a few days before you start.  The Flax Granola requires you to soak the flax seed overnight, then bake for an hour.  This is a two-day process for me, since I eat first thing in the morning and don’t have time to wait an hour for food.  Day 1 requires orange oil, but I think this one should be made a few days ahead to let the flavours infuse.

Sharpen your knives.  And be prepared for a lot of chopping.  And cooking. Not to mention dishes.   Also, make friends with your local produce sellers.   You will be eating more vegetables than you thought was possible.  Oh, and if you’re a composter, your worms are going to love you!

You also need to do a few tests before you get started.  The yeast test takes one day and the thyroid test takes three days BEFORE you start the plan.  Tony and I both tested negative for these tests.

T-1 Day

Tomorrow we’re starting the plan.  So today I cooked the carrot soup, coco sauce, flax granola and made the orange oil.  It was a lot of cooking.

I’ve also run into a snag.  Breakfast for the first week includes Coconut Milk or Rice Milk.  I know I’m allergic to coconut water and rice.  So what to do?  Well, I went to the website and emailed them my question.  I got a response by the end of the day!  Impressive.  They said to eat it like popcorn (which is just a tastier way of saying eat it dry) or try a new recipe not included in the book for Blueberry and Pear compote.

A Note of Flax Seeds

The book says flax is high in omega-3, calcium and protein and great for “elimination”, meaning it’ll prevent you from becoming constipated.  Dr. Oz says that flax is good for fiber, omega-3, and lignans, which reduce the chance of breast cancer.  But you have to grind it and the granola uses whole seeds.  I also understand that some people with a history of breast cancer are supposed to avoid estrogenic foods like flax seed.  The book says that the granola uses whole seeds to cut down the absorption of these estrogenic properties.  And Lyn-Genet doesn’t like soy because it’s a phytoestrogen, which has an affect on hormone balance.  So what to do?

Supplements

The book also recommends a couple of supplements to help you.

1. Liver Detox – because the liver is responsible for metabolsim and hormone control
2. MSM (methyl sulfonyl methane) – for those with allergies.  She says it can reset the histamine response in your body.  (Really?  So could you please call my physician and tell him about it?  I really dislike it when I’m told my ailments can be cured by non-medical solutions.  It’s not that I don’t believe in alternative methods, its just that if it’s really tested to be true, then why wouldn’t my doc know?  I particularly hate it when this happens at the beauty counter.  Oh, this cream can cure eczema.  Really?  Then you should get a nobel prize.  Sorry, I rant.  I will try it anyway.)
3. Probiotics – Have on hand if you experience constipation.  Also helps to balance yeast grown.

The Deal

In short, this is what the book is saying.

• The wrong foods cause inflammation, and inflammation makes you sick and causes weight gain.
• Many people have thyroid problems, and don’t know it.  This also causes illness and weigh gain, but eating the right foods can counteract this problem.
• Too much salt is inflammatory
• Not enough water is inflammatory

The book says that everyone has different chemistry so each person can react differently to each food.  However, through her testing, Lyn-Genet has determined some generally non-reactive foods, so the plan starts with those foods.

The 20 day plan is a controlled experiment to see which foods are reactive for you.  The measuring stick?  A scale.  If you lose weight, you’re all clear.  Gain?  It’s a bad food.  Plus you have to listen to your body for obvious signs – bloating, head ache, scratchy throat…  Since you are eating a shorter list of ingredients, it’ll be more obvious what you are reacting too.

Day 1-3 is a cleanse.  Don’t let the word “cleanse” scare you.  This is no juice fast or master cleanse.  You get to eat A LOT of food.  More than I could even handle.  You’ll definitely be full.  But you could have a whole laundry list of symptoms.  She says the symptoms are a sign of your body “healing” itself.  Right.  If I rub a cat in my face and get a headache and full of mucus, that’s my body “healing” itself.  Well, then my body wins first place at continually healing itself.

Day 4-20 is the testing phase.  Every other day you try a new food.  One day a new food, the next day a rest to heal.  The addition of a new food is very systematic, so you can tell if you’ve reacted.

Why “The Plan” by Lyn-Genet Recitas?

I’ve decided to publicly document my husband and my journey on The Plan because we’ve had such success and I want others to know all about it.

Lyn-Genet is a nutritionist who says that each person has a unique chemistry where seemingly healthy food can trigger toxic reactions that cause weight gain.  The book provides information and a 20-day meal plan to determine which foods are reactive for you. 

I had seen Lyn-Genet on the daytime tv circuit and I didn’t think much of what she was saying.  I felt that she was pitching a new fad diet and I don’t really believe that someone who eats healthy foods at appropriate proportions and exercises regularly can still be overweight.  I’m pretty sure I’m fat because I eat too much and don’t exercise enough.  While I’m sure that’s still true, The Plan offered me something else.

I have chronic allergies.  I have asthma and eczema and neither are well controlled.  I am allergic to everything.  The doctor won’t allergy test me because he says the tests aren’t very accurate.  The naturopath suggested I only eat lamb and rice and gradually add back foods to see if I react to them.  Well, I’m allergic to rice. Plus, what do I add first? Cookies?  Lasagna?  How do I know if I’m reacting to a new food or to the changing season?  It was too overwhelming, so I never did it.  But The Plan offers to walk me through determining which foods are right for me.

My husband, “Tony”, has also been having lots of health problems.  For years he’s had stomach problems.  Serious problems.  He’s often bloated and in pain.  Sometime he’s constipated, sometime it’s diarrhea.  (tmi? sorry, but this is all about intestinal health)  The worst times it’s violent vomiting.  After a plethora of tests, he was diagnosed with gastritis.  The remedy is pills, but the doctor couldn’t provide much help in preventing flare ups.

One day we caught Lyn-Genet pushing her book on tv.  I asked Tony if he wanted to give it a try.  We both need to lose weight, but it’s hard if only one person is on board.  To my surprise he said yes.  So I immediately ran out, bought the book, and did a quick read.