Bean Diet

S. had a power dinner out last night, so the kids and I enjoyed a one-pot meal of ramen, mixed veggies, and eggs.

Once again, my husband is trying to banish the 10 pounds that have crept back over the last year or two with another diet/fitness regimen.  (Don't make fun -- of course he looks good now too, but he does indeed have 10 pounds he could lose if he so desires.)

We've done P90X, and I vowed never to cook that way again -- the micromanagement of portions and recipes in addition to the time and cost about killed me.  But, I'm still trying to work out how to reconcile the fact that it clearly worked with my nutritional worldview.  I'd much rather rely on whole foods (including grains) than fake soy sausages, so I wasn't sure what to make of the results S. got.

Enter Tim Ferriss's plan, for which he used himself as a scientific guinea pig over the course of about 10 years and using lots of painful tests.   (This guy is crazy, it goes without saying.)  But he really was scientific about it, not just stupidly obsessed, and it fits nearly perfectly into our lifestyle, or at least as perfectly as a rather strict low-carb diet can.  No portion control or preset recipes, nothing as complex as counting calories or balancing food groups or banning fats -- boiled very, very, far down it's eating as much beans, veggies, eggs, and meat as you need to be full.  And taking lots of really cold showers.  (Seriously.  If you could lose fat, without exercising any extra, just by taking frigid showers, would you?  S. thinks it's worth a try, we'll let you know if it works.  Oddly enough, I think it will.)

The things I like about this diet: beans.  Have I mentioned how much I like beans?  And how many ways I already know to cook them?  Also, the diet specifically avoids fake soy stuff but allows butter, oils, etc. without any scare tactics.  And, let me say again, beans.  Plus I almost forgot, one total binge day a week is required, eat crap all day until you're sick if you want.

But on most days, no dairy, potatoes, grains, or fruit at all, with the one exception of cottage cheese.  That does make breakfast a little hard, since most people don't eat beans for breakfast.  But if we can just do omelettes and salads and beans for the three main meals, I think we can sustain that.

If it works, I think I'd even be willing to jump on board and try it myself.  How's that for crazy?