The Virgin Diet: My Journey So Far
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"You're kidding me." That's the response I had when I learned about the seven foods I'd have to give up to succeed on the Virgin Diet. I was participating in a web conference call in November, hosted by the Smart Women's Institute, designed to increase interest before the book launched in December.
I'd been intrigued by the promise of a solution, through diet, for people who have had problems losing weight. That was me, for sure: For two years, I'd been stagnated in my efforts to lose nearly 60 pounds of pregnancy weight, and I'd even gained back 10 of the 30 pounds I had lost. So when J.J. Virgin, on the conference call, said you could lose seven pounds in a week by cutting out seven foods, I was all ears.
First, though, she talked about food intolerance, an often unrecognized problem that was at the core of her diet. As she listed the signs, many of them sounded like me, including some symptoms I figured were the body's backlash for having a baby: such as being exhausted, and feeling bloated and gassy. To be able to lessen or eliminate those symptoms seemed like a worthwhile goal. In fact, it sounded a little bit like heaven. Then I heard the foods that Virgin wanted me to give up: corn, peanuts, soy, eggs, dairy, gluten and sugar/sweeteners. You're kidding me.
Corn and peanuts didn't seem so terribly difficult to do without, and while I knew that soy was used in a lot of processed foods, I didn't have a mental block towards giving it up. But giving up gluten? Giving up dairy? Giving up eggs? You've got to be kidding. I certainly couldn't imagine giving them up for a long period of time. My heart sunk. It was as though I'd glimpsed a better future and then realized I might never get there.
By the end of the call, though, I was intrigued enough to read more about the program, so I placed a pre-order for the book, as well as the Virgin Diet recipe book. In December, when they arrived, I eagerly read through them, and I was surprised by the information I learned about the relative nutritional value (or lack thereof) and the potential problems with those foods I loved. In fact the more I read, the less I wanted to hold onto those foods at the expense of a potential new life.
That's when I committed to starting the diet, but I knew it would be difficult over the holidays, so I vowed to begin in January. Since Cycle 1 calls for stringently avoiding all seven foods for three weeks while eating healing foods, I knew that would giive me a better chance for success than starting while turning down holiday treats. Since I had several weeks to think about it, I made plans to change my habits to meet the diet's conditions.
For example, no more diet sodas to give me an extra boost while working. Instead, I'd opt for coffee (either brewed or freeze-dried) with coconut milk and one of the only sweeteners approved for Cycle 1: Xylitol and Stevia. I bought small containers of coconut milk to carry in my diaper bag for use in coffee shops and restaurants. While traveling over Christmas, I examined the rest area food options and determined there was almost nothing there that I would be able to eat as a snack. Finally, I determined I would have been able to purchase a bag of pistachios or almonds, along with some fresh fruit. For something more substantial, I could order a salad with added meat for protein; without croutons and cheese; and with a slice of lemon instead of salad dressing.
I started looking for places where I could get organic meats and discovered that Whole Foods had the best selection, but you could also get a decent selection by ordering groceries through Peapod or even from the local grocery store. I also discovered that the little health-food market where I occasionally shopped, Martindale's, sold humane organic frozen meats.
By the time I began the diet in January, I was mentally prepared for the changes I would have to make, which made it easier to enact them.
I won't say that it was completely easy those first three weeks, but it was a lot easier than I'd thought it might be, mostly because I looked forward to the meals and honestly enjoyed them. Even the shakes that Virgin recommended having twice a day for the first week were tasty and filling, and I no longer consider waffles with syrup an appropriate choice for my daily breakfast.
While to some, it might seem a cruel twist of fate, it turned out the foods that I was most reluctant to give up were the ones that gave me the most trouble. I learned this during Cycle 2, where for one week at a time, you test four of potentially troublesome foods: dairy, soy, gluten and eggs. (Virgin recommends that you continue to avoid corn, peanuts, and sugar/sweeteners. Honestly, I have not missed any of them much.)
It was indeed gluten and dairy that gave me problems: gluten to the worst extent, making me immediately feel bloated, dried out, gassy and absolutely miserable. I lost the feeling of renewed energy that I'd had during Cycle 1. I couldn't wait to go back to avoiding it. Dairy affected me to a lesser degree, giving me problems with my digestive tract, which my husband thought sounded a little bit like a low-key version of lactose intolerance.
Now, I'm in Cycle 3 of the diet, which involves moving forward, using the knowledge you gained from the testing phase. Since I had problems with gluten and dairy, I am continuing to avoid them for now and will retest them again after three months, once my gut has had more time to heal. Since I had no problems with soy or eggs, I was able to work them both back into my diet, limiting my consumption of each to once or twice a week.
So far, I've lost about 15 pounds since the beginning of the diet, and hopefully, if I keep with it, I'll lose the 30 additional pounds of pregnancy weight, which is my goal.
Even though it was so difficult back in November to imagine giving up those seven foods, it's more difficult now to imagine going back to feeling the way I did.
It may make it more difficult to eat out. It may mean that when I go to parties and other social events I have to plan ahead and either bring something with me that I can eat or figure out what will be available that I can. It may mean avoiding foods I used to love. But I would not give up the way I feel now just so I could have cheese every day. That's not an exchange I'm willing to make.
People who don't know how I'm feeling assume I must feel terribly deprived. Instead, I feel so very grateful that I participated in that conference call. To anyone who's considering whether to embark on this journey, I say take a chance on making things better for yourself, because it could be extraordinary.