RE: The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno...responses apprec...
I bought Tosca Reno's book about 2 or 3 months ago. A lot of her recommendations make a lot of sense to me.
I was never overweight, I had never been on a diet before until I was pregnant with my second child, and was put on a low-fat diet with 3 meals per day, resulting in uncontrolable hunger attacks. In the end, in my second pregnancy I had gain 25 to 30 lbs more than during my first pregnancy.
After that I went on a downward spiral, Atkins, SouthBeach, The Zone, Fat Flush, The Rotation Diet, Bob Greene ....., saw two nutritionists, low calorie, high carb, low carb, low fat, high fat, you name it, I did it. It just made my head spin. I was the poster child for a yo-yo dieter! But certainly not by choice.
The only thing that every single one of those diets did was to deplete my energy and after a week or two on the plan, I couldn't continue my exercise program. The worst ones for me in that respect were Atkins and SouthBeach!
So finally, after my weight hit an all-time high and I saw a picture of myself taken at my son's birthday party, I decided to change my life.
I applied the principles that I had read in Tosca's book and modified it according to what had worked for me successfully in the past - prepregnancy. I started eating every 2 to 3 hours, always include a little bit of protein with my carbs. I had always eaten fairly healthy food, but I tightened it a little more, however, contrary to Tosca's recommendations, I will not eat non-fat dairy products or drink skim milk. I tried it at first but it just doesn't work for me.
I have been eating "clean" for close to 2 months now and only did daily walks. I dropped a few pounds it went VERY slow.
A few weeks ago I started to incorporate Cathe's Intermediate Rotation plus 45 to 60 min walks/walk-runs with my dogs in the evening, plus yoga/stretching.
As of this morning, 16 days into eating right and Cathe Rotation, I am down 10.5 lbs, my bodyfat dropped 6 % (don't know how accurate the scale is but it's a definite downward trend - don't be fooled though, I have plenty to lose
) and I am down one dress size.
I haven't had as much energy in years, so I have actually been able to stick to my exercise program without fail for 16 days in a row. I think the last time that happened was about 7 or 8 years ago.
Sooooo, I am pretty happy with the book. I don't eat clean 100 % of the time, I don't stick to Tosca's book 100 % either, I do not subscribe to all of her recommendation, they are too stringent for me and there are many things that I have learned that work for me that are not mentioned in the book.
To me this is not a quick-fix diet (just the word diet makes me hungry
), it is a lifestyle that I plan to continue for the rest of my life. Even my kids and my DH changed their diet along with me and I can also see a huge improvement in their energy level.
Good luck to you, let me know how your health journey progresses.
Take care,
Carola
