What is Diet Royale™ - A Basic Introduction

What is Diet Royale™?

Well it stems from an old saying:
“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” - Adelle Davis, American Nutritionist and Writer, 1904-1974.

I doubt that Adelle Davis was the first person to say this, but it has been a method of dieting throughout the centuries. I personally had never heard the philosophy up until a friend said it to me one morning in the break-room at work. I was 235+ lbs. over weight and searching for a solution to my ongoing "battle of the bulge." Shake plans, starvation plans and lean "healthy" eating were not doing the trick. I’ve been on Jenny Craig twice, since I turned 23 (now 34). I choked down diet pills and whatnot, but I just was getting bigger and bigger. Both weight losses from Jenny Craig were shortly put on within a matter of months and I just couldn't afford the plan anymore. I had a new thought process already going on in my head at this point, “hey, I’ll try it for two weeks, if nothing significant happens then I’ll try something new.” I was so amazed with my new plan, I call Diet Royale™, because I was dropping weight like you wouldn’t believe.

Some of my progress on Diet Royale™The Originale.

Now I kept a record of my diet plan, and I’ll have to hack an old hard-drive to find what I wrote and all the facts and figures I came up with. You should know this is not a lazy plan. There is math involved. You are going to have to watch everything you eat and drink. Measure how much fiber, sodium, potassium, carbs, sugars, calories and protein you are eating everyday; BUT THAT IS ONLY IN THE BEGINNING (first 4-8 weeks) or if you start to gain. There are easy ways to do it, once you’ve done your math homework. However, half my gaining problem, has been because I haven’t been doing my homework. The other half is a battle with migraines and hormone imbalances.

You are also going to have to exercise at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Walking is a good way to do it, so be prepared to find or purchase a pair of good shoes and put together a good playlist to walk too.

Also, get yourself a way to track your foods. You can use my sheet found in Chapter 10, or you can use FatSecret.com, like I am and have done in the past.

So let me find my writings on the diet and see if I can’t load up some worksheets and just dive right into it. I am not saying this diet will work for you, I am simply saying it worked for me and I am going to try it again.

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About the Date of this post. I want this to be the first post you read when you visit Diet Royale™, but I honestly don't know another way to make this a primary post. So know that I am not trying to trick you. This post was actually published 12/22/2012 at 9:31 AM. I did my best to "hide" the date so that it isn't distracting. This note is in case you can see it and were wondering why it was so far into the future.

Progress and Photos

First off … I am not fishing for compliments, but I am sincerely grateful for everyone I have already received and might get today. Today I have a meeting and wanted to look my best, so I put on my most expensive red dress and glammed-up. The lady at the U-Scan at Walmart who sees me often said, "Wow, you look amazing today!" to which I responded, "Thank you! That's really nice to hear considering nobody noticed yet." Then I got a several upon entry to the office. With every compliment, my self-esteem grew

Compliments are very important to a woman's self-esteem, especially when she worked hard to look good that day. Never take a woman for granted, so if you see a woman today you know, compliment her. It's cheaper than a dozen roses and will make her feel like a millon bucks (though few women would deny roses, unless they're allergic, which I am not -- *WINK, WINK*). That being said, I decided that this was a good "picture" day. I've lost about 10 lbs. and I wanted to see if I could see progress. I think I can. This is me today (red dress):

And this is me 10 lbs ago (black):

Pictures help us know that we are on the right track. The give us focus and direction on where to go next and how hard we need to push oursleves. The photo of me in black is me 10 lbs. heavier, and the one in red is me today as mentioned above. It will be interestng to see myself in the same red dress 10 lbs. lighter than this.

You'll see it more in my face I think. But yeah, I look amazing today … but I will look even better in about 5-8 weeks. And again, thank you lady at Walmart, you made my morning.

-M.E. Gober

The Skinny on Artificial Sweeteners

So this morning I woke up at 3:45 a.m. with a horrible migraine-headache. I fear the monster is back, and then it occurred to me that this might be just junk-food/Coca-cola withdrawal. I realized this when I had a severe craving for Coca-cola and I thought to myself "NO, NO, NO! I don't drink that stuff anymore. No junk!"

Since I started my diet again I am having to tap into some strong will power. The kind that will drag my butt to the finish line kicking and screaming, but at least I will get there.

I think if you are going to do a diet successfully you can allow for no distractions, cheats or days of indulgence. Some programs recommend having a treat day, which is nice and all, but I find that giving in to one treat day leads to another and then another or you end up calling it a "treat" weekend. Even on my birthday there will be no treats! I will simply have to design my food day around healthy food that appears to be a treat. Possibly more fruit will be involved.

So this is my current no-no list:

• junk food

• fast food

• sweets

• sugar sodas and drinks

• artificial sweeteners that cause headaches

Artificial Sweeteners are just bad. Know that. If you have a sweet tooth like me, try to avoid artificial sweeteners like Acesulfame potassium, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin and most definitely Sucralose, because these migraine-headache makers. Novel sweeteners and natural sweeteners are your friend. I like Monks Fruit extract, because it has zero calories and I haven't had any bad side-effects (thus far), http://www.monkfruit.org/. I like to use Skinnygirl Monk Fruit Extract Liquid Sweetener http://www.skinnygirlsweeteners.com/shop/monk-fruit-liquid-sweetener/ to sweeten things. It's expensive, but I feel it's worth it. 

For more information on artificial sweeteners in general and other natural sweeteners like stevia and agave see the mark up here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/artificial-sweeteners/art-20046936

Skinny and I are going to be great friends again! I can feel it!

- M.E. Gober

Day 30: Baby Step Lessons

Baby Step Lessons

Q: Where have I been?
A: Bleeding. Just allot of bleeding, pain and surgery.

Don't worry, I'm fine. But a lesson was learned. I had some complications that made it impossible for me to have my LEEP surgery as scheduled. Turns out, the complication, likely has to do with a change in my diet. Sometimes when I start to lose weight my body will respond in a kind of over-reacting-manner to the new lifestyle change. It happened in 2003 after I loss 30+ lbs on Jenny Craig. However, this time around, I believe it had to do with eliminating about 70% of process foods and gluten from my diet. I did it over a span of 2 weeks , but I must have eliminated the processed foods and gluten too quickly, because my body essentially went through a form of "withdrawal," with a severe hormonal imbalance, so-to-speak.

I spoke with my Doctor about it and he said that "our bodies develop a dependance to the hormones and chemicals found in process foods and eliminating them drastically can have a negative effect on our bodies."

He recommended that I spend at least a year slowly tapering away my intake of process foods and gluten, "a baby steps approach." He said that "especially a person like yourself [me] who is dependent on process foods with a strong sensitivity to hormonal changes, should take a long-term approach to weening yourself off the process foods and gluten, rather than a sudden stop."

So I did have my surgery, and it went well, but in order to get my body to stop "over-reacting," I had to double up on my daily hormone regiment. I ate without a care to the processed foods but tried not to overindulge. My skin turned into a teenager and I felt bloated. I was sedentary for about 10 days. I feared I had gained back the 4 lbs. I worked so hard to lose -- only to be pleasantly surprised to lose an additional 1.5 lbs.

Whoohoo!

Moral of the story: Baby steps when making a BIG diet change and don't worry about weight gain when you're sick -- just get better.

Wheat Wars: The Phantom Wheat Menace™

Photo by lusi at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1148243

Is wheat bread bad for your diet?
Many dietitians, health magazines and doctors will say that it is bad for your diet and that the long-held belief wheat bread is better for you and healthier for your diet is all just a myth.

According to author Dr. William Davis of the book "Wheat Belly" claims that wheat is addictive as crack cocaine:
"There's something in modern wheat called gliadin that was changed by the geneticists to change the properties of this plant, mostly to increase yield," Davis said. "The unintended effect is that it increases appetite ... for junk ... so, people can't help themselves." He added that wheat consumption can lead to feelings of "incessant hunger." CBS News, http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article/262600/57/Author-Wheat-Is-As-Addictive-As-Crack 

Is this a sensational method to sell a book? Possibly. However, this hasn't been the first time I've heard accounts about diets that suggest to lose weight, you need to simply cut out ALL wheat products. Dr. William Davis says on his blog, that to remove wheat from your diet overnight is like removing a splinter:
"Remove wheat, like removing a splinter that makes your finger hot, sore, and open to infection, and the body needs to readjust to this new lifestyle." -- http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/ on January 12, 2013 blog entry entitled Nutritional supplements in the wake of wheat elimination

My original dietitian in 2009 tried to get me to follow a similar method for bowel health. SHAPE magazine author, Jennipher Walter says:
"Don't be fooled by wheat-bread products. If the package doesn't specifically say "100-percent whole wheat,” then it's probably mostly white bread with just a little wheat flour mixed in for marketing. Also: Make sure each slice has at least 2 grams of fiber—another mark of a truly healthy bread." -- http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/50-seemingly-healthy-foods-are-bad-you?page=22, SHAPE Magazine.

Even Dr. Oz is jumping into this fray of the Wheat Wars, with a November 2012 article about Dr. William Davis's book stating:
"Whether it comes in the form of organic, sprouted multigrain bread, a squishy white loaf or a strand of spaghetti, all wheat is bad for you, says cardiologist William Davis, MD, author of the bestselling book Wheat Belly. Davis claims that today’s wheat is both addictive and toxic. By eliminating what he calls “Frankenwheat” from your diet, you’ll dramatically shrink your belly and also ward off or reverse myriad health problems." -- http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/todays-wheat-making-you-gain-weight, DoctorOz.com

 It has been suggested to me that as a migraine sufferer I should eliminate the gluten and all wheat products as well. Well that's a challenge, isn't it. I do have a loaf of millet bread in the fridge for the upcoming week to try … I'll tell you what I think of it, and I will see if I can't eliminate wheat from my diet and see if it makes a difference. In the mean time, the war rages on and here's a funny from Stephen Colbert (warning, it is a little crass, not suitable for all ages):

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Thought for Food - Wheat Addictions
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Day 18: Focus on Change, Not the Results

What happened to day 7-17? Life.
I stayed with my program and I've lost 3 lbs. It's been hard to get back into the swing of things, but I think I've found my rhythm. I was going to do a safety edition of my daily posts, but I've decided it should be a Royale Decree™.

Anyhow, I am not here to talk about food or safety. I'm here to talk about challenges -- medical challenges to be more specific. I spoke of a challenge I would be facing this year and it is a medical one. I am having surgery on Monday, and though I am not concerned about the surgery itself, I am concerned about sitting around on my backside for a few days. Unlike a cold or the flu, I know this is coming, so I am going to have to prepare.

I want to be sure that I don't get up often on my recovery day and that all my food and drink are healthy and nutritious -- and easily accessible. I am doing this, because I know my surgery might affect my metabolism. I don't know if this is a biological fact, but it seems that everything I do affects my metabolism. So part of me wouldn't be surprised if surgery does … hold on let's see what the interwebs say … according to Toshiedar L at http://www.traineo.com/topics/3540, my surgery will cause stress no matter what, emotional stress is what it sounds like. Toshiedar L suggests that I focus on keeping my vitamins and nutrients high and invest in things that decrease inflammation, speed wound healing and increase my immune system. Keep all my meals small but frequent.

Good advice for any diet, I imagine. So hopefully this small bump in the road won't make it harder to reach my goal. However a "goal" that focuses on just the results will distract me from what I really want, which is "change." I heard a quote the other day that I've thought about for days now:


"If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results."
–– Jack Dixon

So my new "goal" is the "change" I am going to to make for my body and my life. I want to change the way I eat, drink and live, so I can change into a healthier and leaner me with fewer health problems — and that's a good plan. Period.

Photo by miqueias at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/971651

Royale Decree™ #12

Dreaming Away Your Fat
Disclaimer: I am no expert, and some of my tip is experimental, but you are welcome to try it. Do not attempt this trick if you are allergic to water (sarcasm) or are unable to sweat. Actually, I know someone who can't sweat … however, water is still good for you. It may not work for everybody. I give this trick no guarantee of success, but it is worth trying. This trick can help you lose extra pounds of fat so long as you are eating right, not cheating on you plan, and exercising daily.

It is a scientific fact that when you lose weight, the lost fat or "burned" fat leaves the body in three ways: sweat, urine and vapor when you exhale carbon dioxide (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/lost-weight1.htm).

In the same way water turns into steam when you heat it up, your fat transforms into sweat, urine and vapor when you exhale carbon dioxide allowing it to leave the body (which is why it is good to stay hydrated with pure water and exercise often).

So here's the weird fat burning tip: I used to do this all the time when I was trying to burn fat in 2010-2011. I called it "dreaming away your fat." I would drink as much water as I could before I went to sleep each night. I made sure that I got 8 house of sleep and if I had to get up in the middle of the night to relieve myself of all that water I drank before bed, I made sure to drink as much water as I could before I went back to bed. This trick always helped me burn 0.5-1 or more pounds of fat (especially if I didn't cheat on my plan, ate right, and exercised during the day).

In addition to this trick, I sometimes wore as many clothes as I could before I went to bed so I could sweat in my sleep. This can be hard and uncomfortable to do. This trick always helped me burn ANOTHER 0.5-1 or more pounds of fat, in addition to the water trick.

So give it a whirl, you never know how much you can lose, in your dreams!

Photo by nkzs at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/966608