B.S.

Before Sonoma.  ;-)

As I mentioned in my last post, I am going to be starting a new dieting adventure soon, in the form of a three month dedication to eating as prescribed in The New Sonoma Diet by Dr. Connie Guttersen.  Also, I will be reviewing this book for you guys.

I thought that it would be a good idea to document this review every step of the way.

I thought about waiting until after the LSAT to begin, but I can't seem to stop my "last supper" eating, and I know how much weight I could gain by June 16th if I keep this up so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and get right into this new way of eating on Sunday, June 2nd.

Since I am jumping head first into another diet (though I will be mostly calling it a "way of eating", which to me is less negative), I couldn't skip the most fun part.

For those of you who have ever set a start date for a new diet, you know that the most fun part of this is to engage in "last supper" eating.  So naturally, I couldn't skip out on that.  Here is what I bought today, to be consumed before the diet begins on Sunday morning (with plenty of help from Stacey, no doubt):

Jacques approved.
Not "NSD" approved, though...

Yeah...  I'm not proud of having done this, but I wanted to continue on in my honesty  here in the blog.  Whatever is left of this on Sunday will go straight to Stacey, who will not be joining me with this new way of eating, but who will enjoy the meals that I cook.

So here I am, starting a new diet.  In my progress photo outfit, I think that I look pretty good:

But that can be deceiving, so I thought that I would take some REAL progress photos, featuring myself in a sports bra.

Here are the "official" BS pictures:

BUT... I don't want anyone to think that my number one goal with this new way of eating is to get smaller.  Nope, my number one goal is health.  (Longevity is my ultimate goal, but I know that even great health cannot always guarantee a long life.)

I just want to do a thorough review for you guys, and I know that many of you will probably want to know if I lose any weight during these three months.  While I am not going to weigh in, I have no problem taking progress pictures.  And YES, I would love it if I got smaller, at least small enough to fit into my 14's again, but that is not my #1 goal with this.

Because I am reviewing the diet, I am going to have to see if it lives up to its claims.  One of the claims that The New Sonoma Diet makes is right on the cover:

"Trimmer Waist, More Energy 

in Just 10 Days".  

I pretty much call BS on that claim, but I will be posting updated photos after the first 10 days, as well as reporting on any notable differences  in my energy levels.

The first 10 days are more restrictive than the rest of the plan, but still don't seem too bad.  For me, the hard part is going to be giving up ALL JUNK FOOD.

Yes, me, the junk food queen (a recent title I reluctantly gave myself) is going cold turkey off of the stuff.

In that way, this diet is VERY restrictive.  But in actual amounts of food, it is not restrictive.  And in the fact that I don't have to count calories (or anything else), it is not restrictive.

There is a list of foods to choose from for Wave 1 (what the first 10 days are called).  This list includes unlimited amounts of "tier one" vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats.

guidelines for what to eat on Wave 1

I generally call BS on the idea of making any vegetables or fruits off limits, but I am going hard core here, so will abide by the tier one boundaries for the first 10 days.

The good news is that pretty much all of my favorite vegetables to cook (peppers, onions, squash/zucchini, asparagus) are tier one veggies.  The bad news is that my favorite fruit to eat is a tier three, which means no bananas for 10 days.  But I can deal.

Okay, so my plan is to begin first thing Sunday morning, which means that I need to prepare my kitchen accordingly.

I'm planning to spend a part of Sunday preparing for the rest of the week.  Getting all my vegetables chopped up and in containers for easy access for cooking quick meals throughout the week, cooking a giant pot of brown rice to use throughout the week, same for some beans, and defrosting some fish.

Another thing that I'm going to try to do:  Blog my eats every day of Wave 1, including pictures, for you guys.

Okay, I think that I'm ready to go now.  I'm looking forward to starting this, despite the withdrawals I'm bound to have...  I will miss my chips, pizza, and cake.  But none of those should be eaten regularly by someone who wants to be really healthy.  So, I'm doing this.