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(I know this might sound like an infomercial. I promise I get nothing from discussing this. I'm simply sold on the concept and thought others might be interested as well.)
So, I'm going to do a dietary cleanse. I've never done this before. In fact, I've never even dieted before. I don't even own a scale. And, I'm in the best shape I've been in since I was 20, mainly as a result of cutting milk from my diet (more on that below) and playing tennis regularly all year round and swimming in the summer.
But I read something the other day that convinced me to give this a try. I'll explain further below.
But first, let me explain how I got here. As many of you know, I'm a total foodie. I love cooking, I love wine, I love the entire culinary experience.
And, some of you may also know that I've become more and more about organic food lately. I'm convinced that much of the food that we eat is so far removed from actual "food"--it's over-processed, full of chemicals and hormones and simply unhealthy--and that's a problem.
I've been thinking about food a lot lately (that and, as some of my Twitter and Facebook friends may know, sunscreen and Vitamin D deficiency, but that's another story;) For a while now I've been thinking that people's genetic make up/ethnicity contribute heavily to how we should eat. In other words, in many cases, people should eat what their ancestors ate hundreds of years ago. So, for example, if your ancestors hail from Japan, foods traditional to that region are likely healthier and more easy to digest for your body. If your ancestors are from Italy, same idea.
It's tough to implement in the US though since many people are, like me, mutts. But, if you listen to your body, sometimes you can figure out what works best for you.
For example, a little over a year ago, I noticed that even though I'd recently lost weight, I was bloated. So much so that I thought maybe I had ovarian cancer (unexplained bloating is a symptom) and was going to go in and get screened. However, I also noticed that I felt bloated after breakfast. I decided to cut milk out of my diet and as soon as I did, the bloating disappeared, I felt so much better and lost 5 lbs. in a matter of weeks. It turns out, milk really upsets my system and I'm much better off without it.
I've always felt as if there were other foods that had similar effects, but have never really had the time to sort through it all and think about it everytime I ate. So I just never really bothered.
Then I read this article from More magazine. It describes Lyn-Genet Recita's "Plan".It works as follows:
There are 4 basic variables for weight gain- not enough water, eating too much sodium, eating the wrong chemical combinations and eating foods you are reactive to. When you eliminate foods that are reactive you can increase your calories because your body is no longer having histamine/inflammatory responses which retard digestion and causes you to put on anywhere from .5 to 2 lbs in inflammatory response.
As soon as I read this, I was sold. This comports exactly with my milk reduction experience and theories above.
So, I've dedcided to do that "cleanse" described in the More article. It only lasts 3 days and is really more of a "starting from scratch" concept rather than a starvation cleanse. You get to eat good foods, albeit simple ones, and certain amounts are unlimited.
Surprisingly, when I told my husband I was doing this, he jumped on board and wanted to try it as well. So, tomorrow we start and I'll blog about it as I go.The hardest part so far was finding oat-free granola. I finally found some at the Super-Wegmans in Pittsford. It's Wegmans' flagship store and they have a huge organic section and I was fortunately able to find a granola that fit the bill.
Unfortunately, as a result of the More article Lyn-Genet Recitas is now booked through July 2012 and isn't accepting new clients, and her book isn't due out for a while. She was very helpful when I contacted her on Twitter and sent me a very nice follow-up email. I'm not sure what we'll do after our 3 day cleanse is over. Maybe we'll just take a stab at adding less reactive foods each day on our own.
So, tune in tomorrow. I'll let you know how it's going!
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