Food observations and related behaviours

Dr. Bernstein Diet is by far a tough diet by my point of view. You can't eat that much food, the calories intake is below minimum and the amount of supplements makes you feel like a 95 years old struggling with aches. 

Side effects are tons and being constantly motivated could be a challenge when the missing sugar puts you down. You must be strong and determined to follow this plan, I'm in day 2 and I already feel like hell in pain with my back, lack of energy, dizziness and so on. But the desire to lose some of my stubborn fat is so big that I'm doing all this to the same body that it's struggling to survive.

Before starting the Diet I read a lot and watched few videos, it makes me laugh now when I think of some "excuses" people can find to justify eating way more than required, forgetting doctor appointments, being tempted by food all the times. Of course it's difficult! We're forced to say no to one of the biggest pleasure of human life: food. It's a torture - but nothing can be gained without sacrifices, well at least not for Dr. Bernstein Diet.

Let's be honest with ourselves, finding excuses on why I gained back 5 pounds this week it won't help me feel better really, on the opposite - admitting the failure can contribute to give me a motivational boost required to stick to this strict food regiment. 

Bernstein Diet - Day 2

Today I went to the clinic (with my urine sample) for my double shot injection and the weigh-in. So far I lost 1.8 lbs – of course… I'm not eating anything - but the positive part is that my ketones are good (dark strip) so I'm burning fat and not muscles.

I mentioned my side effects to the nurse and she told me that could be due to my lower sugar intake, now I've to take 2 additional pills of Potassium and see how my energy level changes. Hopefully I'll feel more energetic with these 2 extra pills, last night I went to bed at 9pm!

Next appointment will be on Tuesday since Monday is holiday here. I'll have a single shot on Tuesday and again in on Wednesday for a double shot. Both days I'll need to bring with me my urine samples, apparently the Monday one is the most relevant. I started to have a sort of discomfort/pain to my back since yesterday; it seems that the muscles at the base of my neck and down are getting tired almost instantly, when I sit on my chair in the office. It might be due to something else, I don't know but I'm definitely not feeling myself in the past 2 days or so!

Today the nurse suggested me to buy some tofu noodles that are in the Bernstein Food List. The noodles are a lot and can be prepared with anything else to add flavour. I might give it a try and see if it helps my hunger, which I still have so far, although not crazy but there.

During the evening I'm reading the recipe book that they gave me, it's pretty good and I may try the French toast one with strawberries. Somehow all the ingredients are the same, as well as the quantities so it becomes very easy to find in your fridge whatever you need to execute a recipe, so I'll say go for it.

Side Effects

It's just a couple of days that I'm in this Dr Bernstein Diet plan but I'm learning every day about it. I did lots of researches before deciding to take this program and I read comments regarding side effects such as: hair loss, period disappearing, headaches and so on. I have to say - I believe it's all true.

Human body is a perfect machine, if something is in an emergency mode, something else will be affected.

Dr Bernstein Diet has a great formula though; it makes you in a starvation-mode so your body will start to use those fat deposits that you so much want to get rid of.

It's normal for anyone's body having side effects when drastically your diet switches to an 800 calories daily intake. All those supplements, as well as the water, help you not to feel the hunger too much. Nobody mentally sane can follow a diet that makes you feel starving all-day-long. The injections – on the other side –should give you the energy that you need to carry forward this type of low-calories regiment.

Since Day 1 I decided to take the Fish Oil they suggest, to avoid any hair loss; I have very sensitive scalp and my hair follow exactly my level of body stress usually – so I'm assuming I'm a candidate at risk for this. I think it's wiser to take the pills anyway, even if you don't have any hair problem so far. The odd thing is that your Multivitamins daily intake will be doubled if you take the Fish Oil. I'm not yet clear why.

For a woman missing her period with this type of diet I think is obviously normal. How the hell your body can even think to have a normal ovulation/pregnancy when it's fighting to survive itself?!

Today I don't quite feel myself, nothing major of course, but I'm dizzy often when I walk to go to the washroom, and my energy is a bit low today. Again, I don't think is because of the food, I spent days in the past working like crazy without having time to eat anything but still feeling with lots of energy. I'm sure it's for my supplements and I still have 5 pills left to take for the day! It definitely put you down but I hope it will get better with the days.

Overall it's a strict diet and I am definitely not worried about how I'll manage such little food intake as opposite I'm wondering on how these side effects can impact, on a long term,  my body health.

Dr. Bernstein Diet - Day 1

Starts officially today my Dr. Bernstein Diet! So far I got lots of food from the Allowed-Food-List; I bought all the Vitamins/Supplements mandatory for the program and a new pitcher to filter my water.

I heard that the first 3 days are the worst, I've a mild headache and some sort of dizziness on and off, it's definitely not due to my lack of food since I just started, but I believe all these discomforts are caused by my vitamins/supplements. I've 14 pills to take every day! That's a lot considering that I'm a healthy person. Maybe my body just needs to adjust to all those supplements intake, I'm sure I will feel better in few days.

This morning I stopped to Starbucks - as I usually do before going to the office – but I had to change my Vanilla Latte for a Grande decaf coffee, it does taste awful but I hope I'll get used to it. Apparently I can use as much cinnamon as I want, so tomorrow I might try to sprinkle some in my coffee, hoping it helps the taste.

I got an apple for breakfast this morning and I'm starving now, but it's almost lunch time so I'm sure that's the reason why. I had 5 GoldFish to break down the hunger till noon; it works….but for about 10 minutes.  

I had already 1L of water so far and last night I learnt not to drink too much during the evening, so I won't wake up in the middle of the night to use the washroom…which happened at 2am this morning.

Drinking water is by far for me the biggest challenge, the trips to the washroom are annoying and it becomes difficult when I'm in a long meeting. I may have to learn on how to drink based on Dr. Bernstein instructions:

• Morning: 1 litre consumed over 30 minute period
• Noon: 1 litre consumed over 30 minute period
• Evening: 1 litre consumed over 60 minute period (around food)

I don't think I would be able to drink 3L of water every day, especially since I want to try to avoid drinking at night but I have to follow the instructions, water is an essential part of the diet and I believe will help me mitigate the side effects of all those pills.

One thing of this diet is that you always have to keep your diary-sheet with you and update it every time you eat/drink something. There are numbers even to track your glasses of water – I found it very useful because refilling my half litre bottle multiple times can be hard to remember.

My first Double Injection

Wednesday is usually weigh-in and injection day for Bernstein Diet, so yesterday I went to the clinic, although not officially on diet, I got double injections, they checked my weight and the ketones in my urine sample.

There were lots of people waiting, I guess after a while you get use to the whole process, which might be annoying eventually.

This is what I'll do for the next weeks – it takes about 15 minutes - 

• Go early in the morning to the clinic (Mon, Wed, Fri only) 
• Sign my ID/name on the sheet and wait for my name to be called 
• Go on the scale for the weigh-in and wait again for my name to be called 
• Follow the nurse for the injections and the ketones verification

Double injections hurt, seriously! But fortunately just for few seconds, I'm wondering how would feel on my stomach or when I'll be losing fat from my butt.

I went to do some other grocery shopping yesterday, I bought lots of vegetarian products from Yves, as protein choice they have a lot, plus they were on sale so I was happy for that. The only downside is that I'm not allowed to have those types of processed protein more than twice a week so I might need to figure out what else I could have.

My dinner was nice, I got some mushrooms and 230g (1 serving) is a lot. It was the whole package! So I cooked the mushrooms in the microwave with some oregano, salt, and parsley. After they were cooked I put everything in a pan adding my half cup of white eggs to it…and a pinch of black pepper. 

For me it was a normal meal, didn't feel at all in a food-restriction state.

After dinner I prepared something to bring in the office today, I need to plan it in advance or I'd be late every morning. I'm still in the process of understanding on how prepare my meals, the 4 food categories are clear but – as additional food items – there are lots of garnishments, liquids and seasoning choices for cooking so I will need to get familiar with those portions too.

So far the only challenge I had yesterday was drinking 2+ liters of water! 

Initial Consultation

Yesterday I had my first consultation at the Dr Bernstein Clinic. I was there by 6:30AM so I won't be too late at work after. Usually they do these consultation sessions – not free of course – on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are fairly less busy days since there are no patients coming for the weigh-in or injections.

The nurse gave us a wide explanation of what Bernstein Diet is and all the different types of food allowed during Diet/Maintenance. Once done they gave us a container for the urine to bring the day after with a sample, a little pouch bag, lots of brochures, a recipe book and a sheet that will need to be filled every day with a detailed description of what ate and the quantities.

I subscribed for a month and I bought the Vitamins that they recommend, they are very strict on brands, you cannot go with your own choice. I found the Multivitamins in a regular drug store (they were on sale) but for the Calcium and the Fish-Oil I wasn't able to find those specific brands so I bought it from them.

I got my first single injection as well – painful for few seconds I admit it – and they took my blood to do all kind of tests, I almost fainted going to work without all that blood and an empty stomach.

The official Diet usually starts 2 days after the initial consultation; they gave you the time to read all materials provided and to do some grocery shopping before strictly follow Bernstein plan.

On the Diary sheet they suggest not to eat starch or sugar in these 2 days prior the diet, also 2+ Liter of water are encouraged since day 0 so it's something that needs to be reported on the sheet as well on a daily basis.

I had normal lunch yesterday but I went shopping after work so I bought all kinds of products to start with, at night I had only one apple…feeling guilty for my Vanilla Latte and Lemon Poppy Seed I had in the morning.

I've to say the variety of food allowed is huge, so for this I'm not complaining and it doesn't seem little at all either. There are 4 groups of food and are allowed 2 servings for each group, here's the list: 

1. Protein (mandatory group of 2 servings) 
2. Vegetable 
3. Bread substitution 
4. Fruit

I spent all afternoon reading the material and trying to figure out what to eat the next days or what could be a generic meal. They suggest planning in advance your food for the week but for me it's still early, I think I'll need few days to come up with a menu or few dishes that I can prepare and save for few days. So I prepared tomatoes salad, bought some apples, and 3 delicious M&M products.
Oh well, I'll definitely miss my Starbucks Vanilla Latte I cannot deny...