After a recommendation from another long-time member of Julia Buckley’s online gym, I studied the Sirtfood diet book and decided it was worth a go. I do not agree with severe calorie restriction, especially when lifting heavy weights, but in desperation (damn scales showing me 1 stone lighter than the truth for a while!) I decided to give it a go.
One reason for going ahead was that the food is all stuff I love to eat anyway. Strawbs, kale, lemon, buckwheat, tofu. Other things, like matcha and buckwheat flakes, are too expensive, so I just left them out. Ditto celery – can’t stand it!! I did try again, but ych-a-fi.
Days 1-3 was mostly green juice, and one meal. The meals are big, filling and lovely – I will be eating them forever now. I felt empty, but healthy and not exactly hungry. Even managed at work, where I usually hoover up all sorts.
The juice is kale, rocket, parsley, apple and lemon, and to my surprise I like it. I find smoothies harder to choke down as I am a two-year-old and don’t like ‘bits’! I got a Russell Hobbs juicer from B&M and it’s great.
Day 4 saw two meals and two juices – yay! I loved the salmon supper. It defo took a bit of organisation and extra cooking time, but I was really starting to feel the difference. The strawberry tabbouleh is my new fave dish; made double instead of having 2 different meals on day 5. A couple of squares of dark chocolate every day is awesome; I love quality over quantity with this.
In the latter part of the first week, easier to make meals like stuffed wholemeal pitta and oatcakes and dip appeared – ideal. Everything was so, so tasty.
Did some reading around on the net and got pissed off with ‘nutritionists’ slating the diet without even reading the book, let alone following it! I did find one blog with a good balanced review.
I will say that the style of the book is quite magazine-y, and makes it sound faddy, the new wonder-diet, miraculous etc. The science of it interested me more. Basically it’s about how certain foods ramp up your metabolism, as well as helping stave off illness and ageing. To be honest, even if the science isn’t widely accepted (yet), the foods are clearly excellent, and it’s a yummy way to eat.
There is plenty in the book about how to carry on and consolidate weight loss, and I really do feel that it’s a great plan. You could skip the first week, but I was so desperate to get shifting it I tried it, and I’m glad I did.
Overall I lost 9lbs in a week, (new posh scales!) my water content went up not down (as can happen with sudden weight loss), and my muscle mass increased (I was still working out). I’ve kept going for another month and lost a few more pounds. I also stopped drinking almost totally, although you are allowed the odd red wine.
I have since bought the accompanying recipe book, which is also excellent, and the Sirtfood Diet website has even more info, including juicer recommendations.
