Tomorrow is the last day of our Perricone diet. We have taken a truck load of supplements, eaten more seafood than we have in years and basically just maintained where we are. The diet should have been easier than the detox diet but it was actually more difficult. I think it was TOO close to our normal diet for one thing. We never felt like we were actually on a diet. It was difficult to follow from another sense. We are not used to eating a big breakfast. We simply do not have the time. We stuck with out power shake for breakfast on the weekdays then Dr Perricone's suggestions for the weekends. The meals prescribed were actually more food than what we are used to eating. The combinations were a little strange as well. Having Salmon and yogurt together for a meal as an example. I ended up making a curry flavored yogurt and using it as a sauce for the salmon. It turned out well but I had to think outside of the box. Finally, there was nothing convenient about the diet. Every meal required advance planning. Several times we ended up buying a roasted chicken and salad to make a quick meal. We did not have fruit at every meal and snack as suggested. The diet was all about having a protein, good fat, a low sugar vegetable and then a fruit five times a day.
All of that being said, I saw another 14 day diet in a Clean Living magazine. It actually had the entire 14 days complete with the entire menu, broken down by calories, fat, carbs, etc., as well as a complete shopping list. I scanned the menu's and quickly realized it was more of the same. A very strict combination of ingredients regardless of how well they went together. I don't know when I would ever want to put a kiwi, maple syrup, oatmeal, cottage cheese and pistacio's together in one meal except in an episode of chopped. Snacks need to be something you can grab and go... not something you have to prepare. Now I figured I could have toasted the oatmeal and pistacios together and make a parfait from the ingredients, but that is beside the point.
Another issue we had was when to take the supplements. It was suggested to take the supplements with meals. We have breakfast around 7:30 every morning and lunch at noon. We don't eat dinner until about 8 PM. So we have one or two snacks in the afternoon. Taking a round of supplements with the afternoon snack didn't seem like it would help much. Often we skipped at least one round of the supplements.
At the end of this diet, we did not feel better like we had with the detox diet. Our health dramatically improved with the detox diet. With Dr Perricone's diet, our blood pressure continued to impreve but we were reverting back to some of our previous health issues. Harry's tinitus returned. We both started having congestion and sinus issues the last week of the diet. Finally, my daily headaches returned. We contribute this to the dairy that we introduced back into our diets. I saw an ad that made me laugh. It is known that dairy is not consumed in Japan and Japan has the lowest rate of cancers. The ad was of a japanese woman holding a huge piece of cheese. The caption was, full fat cheese may prevent diabetes! Well the dairy association has to come up with something! While I can say, I don't miss milk that much, I do like my cheese. Dr Perricone allows cheese on his diet, but sparingly. I should be in a CAA group. Cheese-aholics anonymous. I can't just eat a few crumbs of cheese.
I can't say if Dr Perricone's diet would have worked or not because there were too many things we were not able to follow as he mapped it out. Our diet has to fit our schedule and our schedule is built around our jobs like everyone else! While I am looking for a diet to lose weight with, I ultimately want that same diet to maintain my weight when I reach my goal. Kind of like Weight Watcher's. With Weight Watcher's, you continually reduce the number of food points you can consume as your weight goes down. Weight Watcher's was very successful for me and I lost 55 pounds in 4 months on that diet. However I finally reached a target of 20 points a day and it was difficult to maintain, much less continue dropping weight. 20 points is not much food.
This next week, we plan to take our supplements but maybe twice a day instead of three. We will "coast" for the week as we have several parties to attend and Memorial weekend to enjoy. Starting June 5, we will revert back to a slightly modified detox diet. We don't plan to do the juice fast again, but we may incorporate juicing for a snack or something. I also plan to take white bean extract before every meal or snack. White bean extract does not allow carbohydrates to convert to sugar. Basically it is a natural carb blocker.
I will keep you posted!
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