Week 1 results and First Shopping Trip

Today is Saturday and we have been following the Nutritarian diet wholeheartedly for 8 days.  Well...wholeheartedly except I pulled out my coffee pot on Wednesday and had 3 days of morning coffee and cream...and there was that one Binge on Pizza night.  

But, you know.  

Other than that.

My leg pains went away on Day 5.  And now I'm on to the other weird Detox symptom that I have....insomnia and euphoria.  That's right...I feel SO good that I can't sleep!  This happened last time I followed the Nutritarian diet and it took me a while to realize it wasn't just the "new normal," but a Detox symptom.  I lay in bed and my brain just races and races.  

Another symptom I'm having is what I'm going to call bloating.....I feel SO full...all the time.  I'm never hungry.  Today I had my breakfast (about 300 calories), lunch at 2pm (300 calories) and now it is 9pm and I'm still not hungry.  In fact, I don't think I could force myself to eat.  Dr. Fuhrman says the Eat to Live Diet is a high fat diet during the weightloss period, because you are eating low-fat, nutrient dense food, and your body is pulling fat from your waist and hips to supplement your calories.  That must be true, because I am SO not hungry.

As of Sunday morning, (end of Day 9) I have lost 3.7 pounds.  Now don't get too excited...that is all NEW weight.  Weight I gained in October!  ACK!  But it's nice to fit back into my FAT CLOTHES!  

Mackenzie was very surprised to find she lost 4 pounds!  I asked her if she felt deprived or "on a diet" and she said "No, not at all. Well, except when my family is eating something I can't have, like pizza or eggrolls."

I'm feeling great.  3 people in the family have been sick, but not me.  But that does include Mack with a mild stomach virus.

Shopping Trip

We went on our first Nutritarian shopping trip of this adventure.  Remember, only Mackenzie and I are eating this way..the rest of the family is eating our normal food.  

Here is the one week menu plan, recipes found in Dr. Fuhrman's Eat To Live Cookbook:

Breakfast Choices

Blueberry Nut Oatmeal

Quick Banana and Blueberry Breakfast

Tuscan Tofu Scramble

Apple Supreme

Lunches will be large salads or leftover soups

Dinner Choices

Brocolli Mushroom Stew

Anticancer Soup

Very Veggie Stew

Tomato Bisque

Here was our shopping list, and it doesn't include things we already had in our house like spices...but we didn't have much in the way of food.  This is a great list to use if you are wanting to fill your house with nutrient-rich foods:

Oranges

Banana

Apples

Dates

Pecans

Almonds

Cashews

Walnuts

Pine Nuts- (Holy Cow, these are expensive! If you have a cheaper source of Pine Nuts, let me know!)

Navy Beans

Sunflower Seeds (kernels only, raw)

Green Split Peas

Peppers

Kale

Spinach

Celery

Romaine

Carrots

Onions (green, red, yellow)

Avocado

Tomatoes

Leeks

Brocolli

Zucchini

Squash

Mushrooms

Mrs. Dash

Fresh cilantro

Fresh parsley

Frozen Blueberries

Carrot Juice

We shop at WINCO Foods, which we have found to have a much better selection in the produce department than any other grocery store, and the prices are comparable or even better than Costco or Grocery Outlet.  WINCO rocks.

Is it more expensive to follow a Nutritarian Diet?

The total for our Nutritarian Menu, which I suspect will stretch to 8 or 9 days rather than just the 7 I designed it for, was $94.06 for 2 people.  That would make this lifestyle of eating cost about $200 per person, per month.  For our family of 9, even when we are being as frugal as possible, we average $120 per person per month. And when we are eating that "tight" we end up splurging on pizza or KFC eventually, because we are just so tired of the mundane potatoes and rice meals we are eating.  The Nutritarian diet, on the other hand, is diverse, exciting, and spicy!

This is Dr. Fuhrman's Three Bean Pumpkin Chili. Doesn't it look hearty and amazing!  It was!

In the next few months however, we would need to replace our herbs and spices, and our tofu, which we had in the freezer.  I also didn't include any desserts in my meal plan. So, in the long run, maybe $230 per person is more likely.

You might think that sounds expensive, but remember, this is for 21 meals every week....no expense from eating out, no Starbucks category in the budget.  Hopefully, this Nutritarian lifestyle would also see an immediate savings on medicine such as...

 Decongestants-boosted immune system, reduced dairy lowers mucous production

Pain Relievers - lowered inflammatory response, quicker recovery from exercise or exertion, fewer headaches

Allergy medicine - lowered inflammatory response or reduced allergic reaction (documented in Eat to Live)

Asthma medicine - some participants have had asthma go away from this lifestyle!!  

And, of course, you need to consider future medical costs: Diabetes, Heart Surgery, Cancer Treatment...these are all VERY expensive future medical costs, and by eating according to the Nutritarian lifestyle we will dramatically lower our risk.  

Just to take one ridiculous example...a few years ago Brian got a blister on his toe.  It became infected with MRSA, and after several ER visits we were able to save his toe and his life. (Yes, it could have been that bad, but it turned out fine.)  But cost $5000, after insurance.  

If the day he got the blister he had been following the Nutritarian lifestyle and had a boosted immune system, maybe he never would have gotten the infection. 

(Boy...I could really use that $5000 right now!)  

But if we extrapolate that over our lifetimes and for each of our 7 children....this "expensive" way of eating is actually going to save us ALOT of money.

So, for me, even with my very tight Single-Income, Family of Nine grocery budget...this is not a more expensive way of eating.  

What IS Detox anyway?

I'm halfway through my first week on Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Nutritarian Diet.  The goal of this diet is longevity...not weightloss.  However, according to Dr. Fuhrman, even our scales of "normal" are skewed too high, so if you eat according to his plan you should be somewhat underweight.  Yeah.  We'll see.

During the first 2 to 6 weeks of eating according to his plan, most people experience detox.  Detox is when your body uses all of the great nutrients you are eating to go repair your cells.  The nutrients go into the cells, and the junk comes out.  Detox is good!  But it feels awful.

In order to accomplish the goal of detox, you must:

1. Eat a diet very high in plant-based nutrients, and

2. Only eat 3 meals per day.  

This gives your body time to 1.Digest then 2.Repair.  Most Americans are consuming calories all day long, so the body is in constant digestion, and never moves on to repair. (Which is why we are getting sick and feeling lousy)

However, this first 6 weeks of Detox can also feel lousy, because your bloodstream is being flooded with all of the junk from your cells.  You have to embrace the lousy feeling, knowing that it is working in your favor.

So far, my Detox Symptoms have been:

-Cravings

-Fatigue

-Cramps in legs, back, and neck

-Arthritis in my hands

-Feeling bloated

The cramps have been so bad I thought I'm might have a touch of the flu.  I slept very poorly for two nights, so last night I took a Tylenol PM for the pain and slept like a rock!  All that said, this detox was not as bad as the one I did 2 years ago.