Ultra Simple for a Month

Having traveled for nearly the entire month of August, and enjoyed many glutenous activities this summer overall, I think it all took a toll on my body, and specifically my liver.  As I mentioned in the previous blog post, I have decided to follow and complete The Ultra Simple Diet, by Dr. Mark Hyman, for an entire month (9/15/09 - 10/13/09). 

This diet is a simple one: It gets rid of bad foods which directly cause toxicity and inflammation (the two major causes of weight gain and disease) and adds good foods which detoxify and are anti-inflammatory.  This is not a starvation diet, in fact, I'll be eating constantly throughout the day, turning my metabolism into an ever burning fire. 

I took Dr. Hyman's toxicity and inflammation quiz which measures just how toxic and inflamed one is.  I scored a 42 which = mild imbalance.  This score isn't super high, but it is not what is considered "optimal health," which is a score of 10 or lower.  My goal over the month is to decrease my score into the optimal health range.  I will be taking my vitals before and after the program as well; weight, waist, hip, and BMI will all be measured.  

I want to blog about this experience because even though this is a "simple" diet, it is also going to be very hard (and I believe, very rewarding).  I need my friends and family to be supportive of it, as I may have to decline invitations to certain things.  The diet can be summarized by the following:

Foods I will avoid:
- Alcohol
- Caffeine (except for green tea)
- Gluten
- Flour (white & wheat flour)
- Sugar (including artificial sweeteners)
- Dairy products
- Eggs
- Corn (and the plethora of products containing corn)
- All meat except organic fish (easy part, go pescetarianism!)
- Any oil other than EVOO
- Citrus fruits and juices (except lemon juice)
- Fast food, junk food, any foods that are processed in anyway
- Peanuts
- Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers)

Foods I will enjoy:
- Water
- Fish
- Non-citrus fruits (berries)
- Fresh vegetables
- Fresh vegetable broth
- Legumes (lentils, beans, tofu, etc)
- Brown Rice
- Nuts & Seeds
- Flaxseeds
- Lemons
- Various seasonings

As you can see, it is a "simple," yet, complex diet.  Bascially, all of the foods in the "do not eat" list are common triggers of inflammation and or toxicity in humans, and many of which have been found to have direct links to modern day diseases.  Dr. Hyman recommends cutting them all out in order to reach your optimal health, and then slowly incorporating only some of them back in once you finish the cleansing stage of this diet (his second stage is called Ultra Metabolism, I will blog about that when my month of Ultra Simple is nearly up). 

I plan to blog about the diet bi-weekly, and include any tasty recipes I come up with as well.  I am also going to start going on longer weekend bike rides, now that I am back in the area for the weekends!  Lots to stay tuned for!  :)