My trainer decided last night, in his wisdom, to give me the food nazi book "Eat-Clean Diet - for Men".

I suspect he is becoming frustrated that my progress to an envious body is being hampered by my penchant for cheese, chocolate and alcohol - in all its glorious forms.

So has anyone gone clean (when it comes to eating)? Was it easy to do? Do you stay on the wagon? Did it work?

I'm not sure whether to take it seriously (IE do most/all of it), semi-seriously (do some of it) or chalk it up to those mad Hollywood types all trying to be macho-heros.



(I know what you are thinking - could he get any more gorgeous!! )

Yes!!!

I am on clean diet.

Its not easy, but as i can see results already taking affect im sticking with it.

You can see an example of what i am eating on this thread.


cheers
SC

Chief food fascist checking in.

Easy. Stay off the grains and carbs, or if you can't, avoid them in the evening.

Try and eat a full meal at lunchtime as opposed to in the evenings. Get used to eating stuff like mixed nuts, avocados and more white meat and vegetables. Easy on fruit, too much isn't great for that waistline.

Oh yeah and stick with the chia seeds buddy, we'll get you looking Mexican real soon!

I went mega nazi. No refined sugar in any form (that means alcohol too of course). No refined grains. Try to find bread made with 100% whole grain (learned to bake bread). No vinegar. 70% of food intake had to be raw or very lightly cooked vegetables. I was essentially vegetarian at the time, so that was easy.

What I found was that to simply meet my caloric needs I did a hell of a lot of chewing. I was running ~5 miles every other day, got insanely slim for my frame. No weight training, that might have been a good thing to do.

Did that for a solid year. Results, 14 years later: I still am very conscious particularly about sugar and refined grains. But I love beer, and several years of zero exercise whatsoever between 2008 and now have shown that love over my belt .

But to answer your question 'was it easy to do'- yes, once the decision was made. It gets tiresome after a while, and it's very hard to eat in restaurants or with friends, so tempering the naziness becomes necessary. It's an interesting experience, and it makes you quite aware of what you feed your body even long after the drill is over.

I don't completely understand the "progress to an envious body" part. From a woman's point of view I have to say that you're having a great body (from what I've seen, blame you-know-who's fb page ). What would you want to achieve with this diet? Be thinner, more muscles, or ...?

I'm all for a healthy and balanced diet but find the food nazi approach too extreme and also difficult to keep up in the long run. I've never lasted long on diets because denying myself certain foods feels like a punishment and makes me unhappy.

I follow a special dietary regime which allows me to eat pretty much whatever I like and stay thin. I plan to write a book on it and become a bazillionaire!

This year I made a New Year's resolution, and usually I get to February and become depressed feel I am a failure, but this year I promised to eat MORE chocolate than last year. And so far I am feeling very good!

Try the Ninja diet - only eat foods you don't like

Yeah.. i've been obsessive about food at various stages of my life.

And I have a friend who is so obsessive, she writes books about it:
see here if you what to go truly overboard, and miss out on living for anything else:
http://www.ultra-running-insights.com/index.html

Like with everything, (like exercise) food is about balance.
I do believe that Input = Output.. but i wouldn't go travelling, exploring a new country, and say.. "no sorry, I can't eat your speciality, I'm on a no-goat/ox/emu egg/cockroach diet.."

But in everyday life?
Eat what makes you feel positive.
If you are in touch with your body, which I am pretty sure you are, you *know* what makes you feel good, and what makes you feel blah.

No alcohol?! For DK??

I could never take the extreme approach (well, I managed to pretty much not eat anything at all when I was a teenager, which is easier than eating but forbidding yourself anything nice). I've changed my diet and am eating almost only healthy things (low fat, and I don't eat much sugar anyway) and the odd naughty treat when I need it, while making sure not to "need" them too often. I've also been going to the gym as and when I can.

I've stopped drinking alcohol for the time being as I believe it's the main culprit in my weight gain over the last year, and I'm a little demotivated as I haven't lost any weight yet. I appreciate it's only the first few weeks, but most people I know would have dropped something by now. Still, I know that if I did the "food Nazi" approach I would snap at some point and go on a binge. Best to make a long term change such as what I'm doing and be patient for the weight loss... *sigh*

No, couldn't do it but also it seems a little extreme.

A few years ago I decided what weight I wanted to be and how far and how fast I wanted to be able to run....and then I changed my diet a little bit over a long time to make it happen gradually so I didn't notice the withdrawal. Now I don't have any rules, but I monitor the weight and the running and if one suffers, I know I've been overdoing it. In other words, I find it easier to monitor the outputs than try to cut the inputs!

Sounds like a clean diet to me!

Just returned from Brussels with 6.4 kg of Belgian cheeses, in all of their glorious forms!

Tom

My nutritionist suggested low carbohydrate, no sugar (xylitol in small doses), more vegetables, etc. Not exactly clean, but worked for me since I've lost close to 10kg since August. Well, that and not having to take steroids. I do eat small amounts of 70% chocolate, nuts, cheese and meat, so it's mostly low carb. I feel a lot better.

Chocolate, cheese, carbs, beers and coffee for me. Life is too short.

If you're going for the veiny body builder look, then go for it. But it's an unnatural state. You want 10% or less BF, you need a *mountain* of base 1 work - running, swimming, cycling. A normal balanced diet is all you need.

Caveat: I was a biologist, and am cyclist normally (but a long story short, I'm 7kg over race weight right now). I normally lose weight regardless of diet when fully ramped up. I tried the whole lean and mean thing to get to 2nd cat, but only ended up unhappy and even ill. It was a ton of effort, for very little performance gain.

Edit: since coming to CH, I now eat a lot less chocolate, funnily enough.

when I lived in Gringoland my diet consisted of a steady consumption of beer, sausage and sauerkraut. the fact that I've been able to add kaesespaetzli and roeschti to the diet has been one of the greatest things about moving over here. I suppose I am broadening my horizons, so to speak.

About mid September I started a "food nazi" scheme. I had seen a nutritionalist and this is mostly covered on our health insurance. I was 117 kg's, 5 ft 9 and it got out of control. Vices included diet coke (2l per day), bread, chocolate, carbs, cookies, large portions, snacking. Alcohol was not an issue.

The diet was very strict. Two days of preparation eating only potatoes one day, only vegetables the next and then about 17 days of protein and steamed veggies. They pretty well gave me a choice of 3 meals for each meal which you could rotate. Only carbs was small amount from fruit and 100pc rye bread (roggenbrot). I had to drink 4l of water a day, no diet coke, I could have tea or coffee only with my meals which wasn't an issue as I don't drink coffee but did drink a little tea as had caffeine withdrawals from no diet coke.

It wasnt as difficult as it sounds. Got into a rhythm and after 3 weeks had lost 9 kg's, was then allowed one cheat meal and a few diet cokes at the time. After 8 weeks had lost 16 kg's. Better than I could have expected. Then I went on a 3 week world tour (USA and aust) ate a reasonable amount of crap, drank too much diet coke came back 3kg's heavier. Ate complete garbage all December gained another 2 kg's. Started back on track January 1st and by the 10th was back down 3 kg's.

It's still a struggle as I have another 13 kg's (at least) to lose. I find when I am by myself (wife traveling) it's easier and when I have guests it's really, really hard.

So, being a food nazi can work. It's especially difficult when there are friends around. I avoided social occasions in the first 6 weeks. As someone mentioned there can be a tendency to binge. I think it's important to have an occasional treat meal or whatever drink or whatever you really like.

I feel lighter with more energy and if I have diet coke or white bread I feel a little drowsy for it.

That sounds like metabolic balance.

This is a guided lifestyle choice that teaches you how to eat proper portions of proper food, in this consumer excess world.
You know that you have to keep this up in order to stay at your new weight right?
I've known people to relapse on this and others to stay strong, and for years, at their new weight.

Congratulations for all that you have achieved so far.

Yes that's the one. Still a work in process for me. I also know people in both camps of staying strong or relapsing. All lost serious weight at start. Thanks for the congrats.

A friend joined weight watchers. She lost quite a bit, but now it's all back on again.

The weight watchers diet allows as much steamed vegetable as you like, the other foods have to be restricted, you can eat a small piece of meat OR a small piece of chocolate. It all seems very simple.

I went to the doctor about a year ago as I was losing the feelings in my feet. He gave me some vitamin D and told me to lay off the alcohol. I still drink about 4 pints of beer a day, but only alcohol free. The nerve endings are getting better, but it is a slow process!

I lost and kept off excess weight by following the revolutionary concept of burning more calories than I ate.