My first experience with the Grain Brain Diet about a year ago helped me to loose twenty pounds that I have managed to keep off. However, due to my other dietary restrictions and health issues at the time that experience with the Grain Brain diet ultimately proved to have consequences that were not sustainable over the long-term. Fast forward to about two weeks ago when Ingrid announced that she wanted to go on a sugar free diet. Sugar has been gaining a bad reputation in recent years - being blamed for the nations obesity epidemic, being called toxic by prominent physicians, and now being blamed, in part, for neurodegenerative disease. With the mounting evidence against sugar, Ingrid and I have significantly cut down on the sugar in our normal diets - including foregoing traditional starches at meal times. But what does it mean to go on a truly sugar free diet? For starters, misery.
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| On the Grain Brain Diet, get ready to eat a lot of these... |
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| Savory Chick Pea Crepe |
As of Tuesday of this week, Ingrid and I were at one week and counting on the Grain Brain diet. Our alternative culinary acumen has become significantly improved since my original experience, so we pulled out all the stops. For starters, chickpeas are allowed unadulterated on the Grain Brain Diet - so we've experimented heavily with chickpea crepes (Socca, from France, or Pudla from India) - often using it like a side or wrap but also using it like Injera, the Ethiopian flat bread, tearing pieces off to scoop up bites of stewed meat and veg. Granted, I am still minimizing dairy, nuts, and eggs - but smart preparation this time has made that less of an issue. I now have a tried and true recipe for sugar-free sunflower seed butter, which has provided an excellent source of fat and nutrients, and I've expanded my cooking techniques somewhat to provide added flavor in a number of ways, including using Yakitori style cooking to add quick smoky grill flavor to our chicken, middle eastern/Asian influence to make a diet friendly Fried Calamari, finally using some beef bones we've had stored for too long to make beef bone broth, and good old American Ingenuity to make a diet-friendly pizza on a cauliflower and sunflower seed crust (not shown). Ingrid even found somewhere on the web (sorry, I have no idea where) that had a Grain Brain bread (has a lot of eggs).
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| Chicken Yakitori |
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| Sunflower Seed Butter |
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| Fried Calamari w/ Lemon |
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| Grain Brain Bread |
The good news is that both Ingrid and I are both satiated with our meals - and on less food as advertised. But oh the misery. The side effects of the diet that I have personally experienced include headaches (first three days), dry mouth (no matter how much water I drink), nausea, constipation, and fatigue. I cut out all but meat and veg for two days without improvement. Several websites that I have consulted about these symptoms identify them as typical symptoms for people on a low carb diet - however, the recommended corrections have not produced improvements in some of most of my symptoms as of today (day nine). On the weight front, no improvement. I monitor my weight daily (at the same time of day) and have alternately lost and gained weight with zero net change. As of right now, the downsides definitely out weight the perceived benefits. I'm going to stick with it for a couple more days and reevaluate.
Incidentally, most of the recipes on the recipes page (but not all, so read the ingredients) are on the grain brain diet. Find the recipes page on the right-hand side of the blog under "pages" or click here to be taken directly to the recipes page:
Alternative Road Recipes Page.
To read about my first experience with the Grain Brain Diet, click here.
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