ATB BB Series 3: The diet that finally worked...

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on the second post of the series. I can understand your sense of urgency regarding the diet & food plans. I too would have felt the same way if I were in your place.

I stumbled on this lifestyle, quite by accident. Although now it seems it couldn't have been a co-incidence.

Before I let you in about the diet (bear with me for a few minutes more), please note that this is not a short-term way of eating. If you want to lose weight & stay at that weight, effortlessly, you need to eat like this for the rest of your life. 

Yes, you read that right. For the rest of your life. This is not a short term magic formula. The diet works on restricting insulin production in your body, therefore carbohydate restriction. The moment you go back to eating regular roti - sabzi, you will be in deep trouble.

And this diet is best suited for non-vegetarians. There are not too many high quality protein sources that are also vegetarian, other than tofu or soya chunks. Dal does have some protein, but if you google it you will see that it has more carbohydrates per gram than protein, and you can only eat like a half a bowl max of it daily. I avoid it, tbh. I eat it like one bowl once a fortnight.

Vegetarians can try this diet, but it will be a bit monotonous & difficult to come up with new foods to eat. So think about it deeply before you begin.

Before you begin, a word of medical caution: if you are pregnant or are currently taking medications to control cholesterol, blood pressure, fluid retention, or blood sugar, do not begin this regimen without a physician’s guidance.


Okay, with the statutory warnings done, let me introduce you to the diet. This is famous by many, many names actually. And has been around since the 70s. It is the only diet *proven* by science to be effective in weight loss. In a year long study done by Stanford University in 2008, this was the only diet that caused the maximum weight loss which was sustained over a year. 

You can watch the video of study here:

This is the "Low - Carbohydrate" diet. This diet is also known as

1. Atkins diet
2. HFLC diet: High Fat Low Carb
3. Wheat Belly Diet
4. Protein Power diet
5. Paleo Diet

Although truth be told, while my diet does have food pattern similar to Atkins (Induction phase only), Protein Power, Paleo or HFLC diet, it is essentially "The Wheat Belly" diet. I will share later why I chose to follow  WheatBelly above the rest in another post.

This book Wheat Belly is available on flipkart & my suggestion is if you plan to follow this diet, please buy it and read it. You can also refer to the blog by the author (who is a cardiologist btw) here: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Yes, you heard that right. No grains. No wheat, corn, rice, millet, bajra, jowar, maida and no dals as well! For the rest of my life. This is not a month long initiative. This is a life time deal.

This is the diet I followed in the last four months:

Eliminate:

• All wheat-based products (all breads, all breakfast cereals, noodles, pasta, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles, donuts, pretzels, crackers), oat products (oatmeal, oat bran), corn and cornstarch-based products (sauces or gravies thickened with cornstarch, prepared or processed foods containing cornstarch, cornmeal products like chips, tacos, tortillas), sugary soft drinks, candies. I even avoid other grains like rice, bajra, jowar, millet et al. No grains. 
• Avoid processed foods containing wheat, such as Chinese sauces like soy sauce, powdered instant Soup mixes, salad dressings, taco seasoning–examine ALL labels and avoid any food with mention of grains / sugar. (It’s not a bad idea to avoid foods with labels! Cucumbers and spinach, for instance, generally don’t come with labels.)
• Anything that has sugar - whether it is regular white sugar, brown sugar, jaggery, honey, sugarcane. That means no chocolates, cakes, pastries, sweets, fruit juices. But this strict sugar avoidance is important only if you are looking to lose weight. No dry fruits as well, like rasins, apricots & dates. 

Enjoy unlimited:

• Vegetables-except potatoes, sweet potatoes & beets; rest you can eat fresh or frozen, never canned
• Raw nuts and seeds-raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamians; dry-roasted peanuts (not roasted in oil); pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, and chia seeds
• Healthy oils-olive, flaxseed, coconut, avocado, walnut, peanut, sesame, ghee. 
• Meats-red meats, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs.
• Teas & coffee (all without sugar), water, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or coconut water
• Cheeses. 
• Avocado or guacamole; hummus; unsweetened condiments, e.g., mayonnaise, mustard, oil-based salad dressings; ketchup without high-fructose corn syrup; pesto, tapenades; olives
• Full fat milk, curd, malai, ghee, paneer. 
• Water: drink till you float!

Limited:

• Fruit-No more than one serving once a week  (one serving is a level handful), preferably in this order (best first): berries of all varieties, citrus, apples, nectarines, peaches, melons only. Minimize bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and grapes and only in the smallest of quantities (since they are like candy in sugar content)
• Legumes/beans (rajma, chole, channa) only half a cup a day.; peas; organic soy
• Dark chocolates only -70-85% cocoa or greater; no more than 40 grams (approximately 2 inches square) once a week
• Pulses - dals: one bowl once a week. 

Never:

• "Gluten-free" foods made with rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch. This means that bhujiya, namkeen, chaat is all no!
• Fried foods like samosas, vadas - But you can eat onion, gobi & paneer pakodas btw. Vegetable pakodas, once in a fortnight is absolutely fine. Just make sure you use only besan batter & don't add any wheat / corn starch to it.
• Fast foods - like samosas, rolls, frankies, sandwhiches. 
• Hydrogenated “trans” fats
• Cured meats–hot dogs, sausages, bacon, bologna, pepperoni “fixed” with sodium nitrite
• High-fructose corn syrup containing foods; honey; agave syrup; sucrose
• Processed rice, rice flour or potato products-rice crackers, rice cereals, pretzels, white breads, breakfast cereals, potato chips
• Fat-free or low-fat salad dressings

Please start this diet when you have 2-3 days off as the body takes a few days to adjust & you may experience flu like symptoms (Atkins flu)

So there you have it. The list of foods I eat & don't eat. I shall share the rules of this diet in the next post as well as what to order in restaurants, what alcohols are okay and a lot of other information.

Questions?? Keep them coming!