Post by bethemiracle on Mar 28, 2013 1:26:55 GMT
Hello Everyone!
>
> You may not all be interested in this, I understand, but for those who might be interested, I am starting the Virgin Diet today, which basically is an elimination diet. I am going to attempt to do it WHILE I follow the low-choline diet.
>
> I am supposed to journal my food every day, so I thought I'd do it here as sort of a blog. I thought it might be interesting to see what I'm able to eat and how I do it and maybe get some feedback if anyone is interested. I would be very interested in any comments of my diet along the way, either affirming or admonishing.
>
> I forgot to weigh in and measure before my first meal of my first day today, so I'll do that tomorrow when I wake, before I eat. That's when I usually like to do it. I know a lot of folks lose a lot of weight on the choline diet, but I gain, maybe from all the white rice/pasta, cereal, potatoe chips I've been eating, and I'd like to lose weight, while keeping my choline low.
>
> A couple things first: Unfortunately, I cannot detect my own odor. I can only go on reactions. I am going to try to use trusted friends and professionals, but you know how that is, so....
>
> Also, I had to make a few decisions on certain foods before beginning, and I've decided to go ahead and eat the recommended "brown" rice instead of the "white" rice. I figure it's not really that much higher in choline and I will get the fiber benefits and so forth.
>
> The basic guidelines of the diet:
> (I am not in any way encouraging or promoting this diet, just thought it might be fun and interesting to follow.)
>
> For 3 weeks, give up the following, then reintroduce one at a time, if you want, to see if you have sensitivities or allergies to any:
>
> 1.) eggs
> 2.) soy
> 3.) peanuts
> (we are almost halfway there already with these top three :-) )
> 4.) sugar and sugar substitutes (from what I hear, most folks have succes giving this up anyway.)
> 5.) dairy (going to be my hardest! Cheese! which isn't good for us either but HARD to give up.)
> 6.) corn
> 7.) gluten
>
> Every meal should consist of:
>
> - 1 serving clean, lean protein: 4-6 oz. (I will not eat this much b/c of TMAU. see below comment.)
> - 1 serving of high fiber, low glycemic carb: 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2
> c cooked rice, 1 piece of low glycemic fruit
> - 2 plus servings of non starchy veggies: 1/2 c cooked or 1 c raw
> - 1-2 servings of healthy fats: 1 tbls olive oil, 1/4 sm avocado (not sure on this), grass fed beef or fish count as a fat.
>
> -Eat within 1 hour or rising
> -Eat only every 4-6 hours
> -stop eating 2-3 hours before bed
> -eat 3 meals, and 1 snack only if necessary
> -you must be ABSOLUTE. One morsel will mess it up.
> - a lot of water
> -after the 3 weeks you can begin to add one of the 7 food groups at a time to see if you can handle it
>
>
> - I am worried about all the protein so I will eat chicken basically for my daily protein, with every meal. As opposed to the 4 - 6 ozs., I plan to eat about 1 oz., which is -- VERY ROUGH ESTIMATED NUMBER -- about .15 grams, if my math and conversion is correct, with every meal.
>
> I also plan to rotate in tuna and do it the same way. I am convinced from other members' trial that tuna is okay, I'm just still a little nervous, but I'm going to try it.
>
> I will also look into what exactly is Nutribiotic organic rice protein powder, and is there anything about it that is not good for TMAU???
>
> JJ Virgin recommends a lot of fiber, and one source is certified organic chia seeds. I will make a decision on these when I'm convinced they're safe for TMAU. So far I cannot find any reason that they are not safe!
>
> JJ has more info on her web site at www.thevirgindiet.com. Again, I am not recommending this as a good diet for us, but I'm going to see if I can do it and stay low-choline and get some good benefits.
>
> I hope I can do this. You have to have absolutely NONE of the 7 food groups for three weeks in order to make this work.
>
> What I am hoping from this experience:
> - lose weight
> - be odor free or odor reduced
> - get rid of my IBS symptoms, i.e., bloating, constipation, general gut issues.
> - gain energy and feel better
> - see if any of the 7 food groups are sensitivities for me and stop eating them if they are. I'm sure, with my luck, it will be dairy :-(
>
> - stop insomnia and waking up in the middle of the night
> - just to find a healty way to eat, that is low choline, that causes me no food sensitivities, that I can maintain for life.
>
> I'll do my best to check in every day with a list of what I've eaten that day. I've said this before, I'm not really sure how to "start" a post, so I take a prior post that was floating around and change the "subject" and send it out. Fortunately, ironically, I see I chose Laura's very informative diet list post! So that is attached to this post.
>
> Just to give you an idea, my first meal today was:
> - about 1 oz plain baked chicken thigh
> - 1/2 baked sweet potatoe
> - roughly 1 cup sauteed zucchini
> - olive oil to cook with
>
> I saved the leftovers and will probably do the exact same thing for my next meal. Boring I know but I want to keep it pretty simple while I'm just beginning.
>
> If I find there's no interest, I'll stop bothering everybody :-)
>
> Wendy
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
March 26, 2013
> (Kinda long. Probably won't be this long after this first entry!)
>
> Okay. I guess I'm going to reveal my weight and measurements. :-0
>
> First I have to explain that I forgot to "weigh in " yesterday, so I weighed myself last night, at the end of the day, after eating and drinking 64 oz. of water, and also pigging out the day before because I knew I would be starting this diet! So I weighed 171 last night. So I know I always weigh a couple more pounds in the evening than in the morning. Lately I've been around 169-ish. From now on I will weigh in first thing in the morning. I had to explain this because I was astonished at the scale this morning, but I think it has to do with all the factors I just menioned, and I think the weight was a little inflated last night.
>
> VERY scarey but I'll post my measurements too, to follow the progress. I am not really going to measure my waist, which should be the skinniest part of your body, I believe. I am going to be giving measurements more for my "tummy," which is the part that sticks out the most for me. So kinda at or a little below the belly button. Then my hips, which is the widest part of the rearend. Then the thigh, which is when you're facing the mirror, the part that sticks out the most on your thigh, kind of just below where your leg begins. So my results for today, Tuesday, are down below.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> DAY 1 - 3-25-13
>
> (Weight and measurements unknown)
>
> (I'll call it meal 1, 2 and 3 for ease, and snack)
> (I've recalculated. 1 oz. of chix is about 30 g) So if you have that 3 times a day, obvously that's about 100 grams of chicken a day. Sometimes I might even have less because I am concerned about 100 grams every day. Although, if you're eating that and just low-choline veggies and other low choline stuff it shouldn't be too high, I hope.
>
>
> Meal 1
> 1 oz. chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> roughly a cup or two so of zucchini
> olive oil to cook with (oo = olive oil)
>
> Meal 2
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> roughly a cup or so of zucchini
> oo
>
> Meal 3
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice (oh, my gosh! it was sooooo good after all these years of white rice.)
> 1 - 2 c red/yellow/green peppers (I will try to be more precise with the measurements of the veggies from now on. For weight loss you should have as many veggies as you want, but for TMAU I know we may have to watch a little closer. One day, when I have time, I'll go back and calculate the choline. I'm kind of afraid to do it now, hoping it's not too high. But just knowing some things off the top of my head and doing a quick calculation, I'm thinking it's probably somewhere around 150 or less, is my guess.)
> oo
>
> Snack
> Did not have one because this was all new I started my meals too late and didn't have time for a snack. You are encouraged not to have a snack if you can help it, so I guess it's okay.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Day 2 3-26-13
>
> Height: 5/9-1/2'
>
> Weight: 166.8
> Tummy: 37
> Hips: 41
> Thighs: 25
>
> MEAL 1
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> about 1-1/2 c red/yellow/green peppers
> oo to cook with
> (I did not finish my meal because I was not that hungry in the morning and I was a little rushed. I finished it with my meal 2. Not sure if that's allowed. I sent a question to The Virgin Diet. Hope I get a response!....okay, just got the response. It was a little criptic and just said to follow the outline. So I take that to mean eat exactly what she says. I also asked if I needed to eat all components of the meal, like could I leave out the protein if I wanted to and she said the balanced meal is all for a purpose. So I'll stick exactly with the plan from now on. I'll either eat all of my meal, or if I don't, I won't include it with my next meal.)
>
> MEAL 2
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice
> 1 c or so of red/yellow/green peppers
> plus a little bit of leftovers from Meal 1
> * I must say, both times after eating the peppers (which are my absolute favorite!) I feel more bloated than when I ate the zucchini??? I hear some people have problems with "nightshades," which are eggplant, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. I really hope that's not me!
>
> MEAL 3
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice
> roughly 1-1/2 c yellow squash mixed with leftover peppers
> oo
>
> Again - too late for a snack
>
> Did not feel bloated after this meal. If it is the peppers maybe it's because I just had a couple spoonfuls of peppers. I am feeling a little hungry tonight but I'm just trying to ignore it. Last night when I felt hungry I drank some hot water with lemon juice.
>
> NOTES:
> I can see that the biggest problem is going to be variety because of the choline restrictions! We don't have many veggies to choose from. On this diet some of the veggies that I usually eat are considered high-fiber, low glycemic carbs now, like tomatoes, carrots and winter squash, and they have to be considered your carb now, and then you have to find more veggies and try to have more than two servings of veggies at each meal, and your carrots or tomatoes will count as your carb. And you're not really supposed to eat the same things day in and day out, but with this choline diet, I don't see a way around it.
>
> Here is a list of the foods I think are safe for both the low-choline diet and the Virgin diet.
> Very limiting :-(
>
> VEGGIES
> bamboo shoots (not even sure they're the best because they're in a can. never seen them fresh)
> peppers
> spaghetti squash (which is not the easiest to cook!)
> yellow and zucchini squash
> celery
> lettuce (I only eat iceberg and romaine, and it kind of bothers my stomach)
> JJ says to be careful with carrots and don't cook them or snack on them alone so they're kind of out as a veggie but in as a carb....
>
> NONSTARCHY CARBS I figure we can eat:
> brown rice
> brown rice pasta (have not looked into this yet, but could be a possibility)
> brown rice wraps (same as above)
> squash: acorn, butternut, winter
> carrots (but not many and not cooked. more like a condiment)
> sweet potatos or yams
> tomatoes
> *white rice (I may consider this. JJ says she assumes it will happen at 1 time or another)
> *white potatoe (Ihave a question in to see if this is okay. From my research there's only 3 g. sugar so I'm not sure why not! Although I'm not very optimistic that this will be approved.)
>
> PROTEINS: (I've been treating my proteins as almost a condiment. cutting it up very small and sprinkling it throughout
> chicken
> *tuna (still haven't made the plunge, but I plan to)
> *rice protein (haven't decided if I'm going to do this or not???)
> I may break down every now and then and eat a VERY small amt. of grass fed beef. Thoughts?
> Any other proteins?
>
> HEALTHY OILS
> Olive oil for cooking
> Extra Virgin olive oil for not heating
> *coconut milk (have never tried this. Thoughts?)
> *coconut oil (anybody tried? and what was the verdict on odor? I've had it before all of this TMAU stuff and it tastes really good. Just no sure what it would do for odor?
>
> FRUITS:
> I'm not really sure where they fit in, but I think they go in the carb column on this diet!
> Strawberries
> blueberries (can't remember but I think raspberries have a problem with one of the other things we need to worry about like tyramine or something. I think blackberries have a problem too, but I can't remember
> kiwis
> lemon/lime
> peaches
> *pears (sometimes bother me, personally)
> *apples (I cannot eat. They bother me. Don't know why?)
>
> The veggie list is the most disappointing one for me. It's ashame we can't eat very healthy vegetables!
> The above list is what I'll be eating from for the next 3 weeks. I'm looking for a program that I can do for life that entails low-choline and health. How healthy is this? Also I'm a little worried about how many combinations I can make???
>
> If anyone has any input if there's anything else that can be safely added for TMAU, I would look forward to hearing, or if anyone thinks any of the above foods are bad....
>
> See you tomorrow!
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
>
> You may not all be interested in this, I understand, but for those who might be interested, I am starting the Virgin Diet today, which basically is an elimination diet. I am going to attempt to do it WHILE I follow the low-choline diet.
>
> I am supposed to journal my food every day, so I thought I'd do it here as sort of a blog. I thought it might be interesting to see what I'm able to eat and how I do it and maybe get some feedback if anyone is interested. I would be very interested in any comments of my diet along the way, either affirming or admonishing.
>
> I forgot to weigh in and measure before my first meal of my first day today, so I'll do that tomorrow when I wake, before I eat. That's when I usually like to do it. I know a lot of folks lose a lot of weight on the choline diet, but I gain, maybe from all the white rice/pasta, cereal, potatoe chips I've been eating, and I'd like to lose weight, while keeping my choline low.
>
> A couple things first: Unfortunately, I cannot detect my own odor. I can only go on reactions. I am going to try to use trusted friends and professionals, but you know how that is, so....
>
> Also, I had to make a few decisions on certain foods before beginning, and I've decided to go ahead and eat the recommended "brown" rice instead of the "white" rice. I figure it's not really that much higher in choline and I will get the fiber benefits and so forth.
>
> The basic guidelines of the diet:
> (I am not in any way encouraging or promoting this diet, just thought it might be fun and interesting to follow.)
>
> For 3 weeks, give up the following, then reintroduce one at a time, if you want, to see if you have sensitivities or allergies to any:
>
> 1.) eggs
> 2.) soy
> 3.) peanuts
> (we are almost halfway there already with these top three :-) )
> 4.) sugar and sugar substitutes (from what I hear, most folks have succes giving this up anyway.)
> 5.) dairy (going to be my hardest! Cheese! which isn't good for us either but HARD to give up.)
> 6.) corn
> 7.) gluten
>
> Every meal should consist of:
>
> - 1 serving clean, lean protein: 4-6 oz. (I will not eat this much b/c of TMAU. see below comment.)
> - 1 serving of high fiber, low glycemic carb: 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2
> c cooked rice, 1 piece of low glycemic fruit
> - 2 plus servings of non starchy veggies: 1/2 c cooked or 1 c raw
> - 1-2 servings of healthy fats: 1 tbls olive oil, 1/4 sm avocado (not sure on this), grass fed beef or fish count as a fat.
>
> -Eat within 1 hour or rising
> -Eat only every 4-6 hours
> -stop eating 2-3 hours before bed
> -eat 3 meals, and 1 snack only if necessary
> -you must be ABSOLUTE. One morsel will mess it up.
> - a lot of water
> -after the 3 weeks you can begin to add one of the 7 food groups at a time to see if you can handle it
>
>
> - I am worried about all the protein so I will eat chicken basically for my daily protein, with every meal. As opposed to the 4 - 6 ozs., I plan to eat about 1 oz., which is -- VERY ROUGH ESTIMATED NUMBER -- about .15 grams, if my math and conversion is correct, with every meal.
>
> I also plan to rotate in tuna and do it the same way. I am convinced from other members' trial that tuna is okay, I'm just still a little nervous, but I'm going to try it.
>
> I will also look into what exactly is Nutribiotic organic rice protein powder, and is there anything about it that is not good for TMAU???
>
> JJ Virgin recommends a lot of fiber, and one source is certified organic chia seeds. I will make a decision on these when I'm convinced they're safe for TMAU. So far I cannot find any reason that they are not safe!
>
> JJ has more info on her web site at www.thevirgindiet.com. Again, I am not recommending this as a good diet for us, but I'm going to see if I can do it and stay low-choline and get some good benefits.
>
> I hope I can do this. You have to have absolutely NONE of the 7 food groups for three weeks in order to make this work.
>
> What I am hoping from this experience:
> - lose weight
> - be odor free or odor reduced
> - get rid of my IBS symptoms, i.e., bloating, constipation, general gut issues.
> - gain energy and feel better
> - see if any of the 7 food groups are sensitivities for me and stop eating them if they are. I'm sure, with my luck, it will be dairy :-(
>
> - stop insomnia and waking up in the middle of the night
> - just to find a healty way to eat, that is low choline, that causes me no food sensitivities, that I can maintain for life.
>
> I'll do my best to check in every day with a list of what I've eaten that day. I've said this before, I'm not really sure how to "start" a post, so I take a prior post that was floating around and change the "subject" and send it out. Fortunately, ironically, I see I chose Laura's very informative diet list post! So that is attached to this post.
>
> Just to give you an idea, my first meal today was:
> - about 1 oz plain baked chicken thigh
> - 1/2 baked sweet potatoe
> - roughly 1 cup sauteed zucchini
> - olive oil to cook with
>
> I saved the leftovers and will probably do the exact same thing for my next meal. Boring I know but I want to keep it pretty simple while I'm just beginning.
>
> If I find there's no interest, I'll stop bothering everybody :-)
>
> Wendy
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
March 26, 2013
> (Kinda long. Probably won't be this long after this first entry!)
>
> Okay. I guess I'm going to reveal my weight and measurements. :-0
>
> First I have to explain that I forgot to "weigh in " yesterday, so I weighed myself last night, at the end of the day, after eating and drinking 64 oz. of water, and also pigging out the day before because I knew I would be starting this diet! So I weighed 171 last night. So I know I always weigh a couple more pounds in the evening than in the morning. Lately I've been around 169-ish. From now on I will weigh in first thing in the morning. I had to explain this because I was astonished at the scale this morning, but I think it has to do with all the factors I just menioned, and I think the weight was a little inflated last night.
>
> VERY scarey but I'll post my measurements too, to follow the progress. I am not really going to measure my waist, which should be the skinniest part of your body, I believe. I am going to be giving measurements more for my "tummy," which is the part that sticks out the most for me. So kinda at or a little below the belly button. Then my hips, which is the widest part of the rearend. Then the thigh, which is when you're facing the mirror, the part that sticks out the most on your thigh, kind of just below where your leg begins. So my results for today, Tuesday, are down below.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> DAY 1 - 3-25-13
>
> (Weight and measurements unknown)
>
> (I'll call it meal 1, 2 and 3 for ease, and snack)
> (I've recalculated. 1 oz. of chix is about 30 g) So if you have that 3 times a day, obvously that's about 100 grams of chicken a day. Sometimes I might even have less because I am concerned about 100 grams every day. Although, if you're eating that and just low-choline veggies and other low choline stuff it shouldn't be too high, I hope.
>
>
> Meal 1
> 1 oz. chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> roughly a cup or two so of zucchini
> olive oil to cook with (oo = olive oil)
>
> Meal 2
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> roughly a cup or so of zucchini
> oo
>
> Meal 3
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice (oh, my gosh! it was sooooo good after all these years of white rice.)
> 1 - 2 c red/yellow/green peppers (I will try to be more precise with the measurements of the veggies from now on. For weight loss you should have as many veggies as you want, but for TMAU I know we may have to watch a little closer. One day, when I have time, I'll go back and calculate the choline. I'm kind of afraid to do it now, hoping it's not too high. But just knowing some things off the top of my head and doing a quick calculation, I'm thinking it's probably somewhere around 150 or less, is my guess.)
> oo
>
> Snack
> Did not have one because this was all new I started my meals too late and didn't have time for a snack. You are encouraged not to have a snack if you can help it, so I guess it's okay.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Day 2 3-26-13
>
> Height: 5/9-1/2'
>
> Weight: 166.8
> Tummy: 37
> Hips: 41
> Thighs: 25
>
> MEAL 1
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 sweet potato
> about 1-1/2 c red/yellow/green peppers
> oo to cook with
> (I did not finish my meal because I was not that hungry in the morning and I was a little rushed. I finished it with my meal 2. Not sure if that's allowed. I sent a question to The Virgin Diet. Hope I get a response!....okay, just got the response. It was a little criptic and just said to follow the outline. So I take that to mean eat exactly what she says. I also asked if I needed to eat all components of the meal, like could I leave out the protein if I wanted to and she said the balanced meal is all for a purpose. So I'll stick exactly with the plan from now on. I'll either eat all of my meal, or if I don't, I won't include it with my next meal.)
>
> MEAL 2
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice
> 1 c or so of red/yellow/green peppers
> plus a little bit of leftovers from Meal 1
> * I must say, both times after eating the peppers (which are my absolute favorite!) I feel more bloated than when I ate the zucchini??? I hear some people have problems with "nightshades," which are eggplant, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. I really hope that's not me!
>
> MEAL 3
> 1 oz chicken
> 1/2 c brown rice
> roughly 1-1/2 c yellow squash mixed with leftover peppers
> oo
>
> Again - too late for a snack
>
> Did not feel bloated after this meal. If it is the peppers maybe it's because I just had a couple spoonfuls of peppers. I am feeling a little hungry tonight but I'm just trying to ignore it. Last night when I felt hungry I drank some hot water with lemon juice.
>
> NOTES:
> I can see that the biggest problem is going to be variety because of the choline restrictions! We don't have many veggies to choose from. On this diet some of the veggies that I usually eat are considered high-fiber, low glycemic carbs now, like tomatoes, carrots and winter squash, and they have to be considered your carb now, and then you have to find more veggies and try to have more than two servings of veggies at each meal, and your carrots or tomatoes will count as your carb. And you're not really supposed to eat the same things day in and day out, but with this choline diet, I don't see a way around it.
>
> Here is a list of the foods I think are safe for both the low-choline diet and the Virgin diet.
> Very limiting :-(
>
> VEGGIES
> bamboo shoots (not even sure they're the best because they're in a can. never seen them fresh)
> peppers
> spaghetti squash (which is not the easiest to cook!)
> yellow and zucchini squash
> celery
> lettuce (I only eat iceberg and romaine, and it kind of bothers my stomach)
> JJ says to be careful with carrots and don't cook them or snack on them alone so they're kind of out as a veggie but in as a carb....
>
> NONSTARCHY CARBS I figure we can eat:
> brown rice
> brown rice pasta (have not looked into this yet, but could be a possibility)
> brown rice wraps (same as above)
> squash: acorn, butternut, winter
> carrots (but not many and not cooked. more like a condiment)
> sweet potatos or yams
> tomatoes
> *white rice (I may consider this. JJ says she assumes it will happen at 1 time or another)
> *white potatoe (Ihave a question in to see if this is okay. From my research there's only 3 g. sugar so I'm not sure why not! Although I'm not very optimistic that this will be approved.)
>
> PROTEINS: (I've been treating my proteins as almost a condiment. cutting it up very small and sprinkling it throughout
> chicken
> *tuna (still haven't made the plunge, but I plan to)
> *rice protein (haven't decided if I'm going to do this or not???)
> I may break down every now and then and eat a VERY small amt. of grass fed beef. Thoughts?
> Any other proteins?
>
> HEALTHY OILS
> Olive oil for cooking
> Extra Virgin olive oil for not heating
> *coconut milk (have never tried this. Thoughts?)
> *coconut oil (anybody tried? and what was the verdict on odor? I've had it before all of this TMAU stuff and it tastes really good. Just no sure what it would do for odor?
>
> FRUITS:
> I'm not really sure where they fit in, but I think they go in the carb column on this diet!
> Strawberries
> blueberries (can't remember but I think raspberries have a problem with one of the other things we need to worry about like tyramine or something. I think blackberries have a problem too, but I can't remember
> kiwis
> lemon/lime
> peaches
> *pears (sometimes bother me, personally)
> *apples (I cannot eat. They bother me. Don't know why?)
>
> The veggie list is the most disappointing one for me. It's ashame we can't eat very healthy vegetables!
> The above list is what I'll be eating from for the next 3 weeks. I'm looking for a program that I can do for life that entails low-choline and health. How healthy is this? Also I'm a little worried about how many combinations I can make???
>
> If anyone has any input if there's anything else that can be safely added for TMAU, I would look forward to hearing, or if anyone thinks any of the above foods are bad....
>
> See you tomorrow!
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +