With these new Food Diary reports, I've realized that I'm not getting any of biotin, chloride, chromium, iodine, molybdenum in my diet naturally. So I did a little research on what these vitamins and minerals do.

Biotin: Pantothenic acid and biotin are essential to growth. They help the body break down and use food. This is called metabolism. (Well, that can't be good for my ultrametabolism diet!)

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/4649/Biotin

Chloride: Chloride is needed to keep the proper balance of body fluids. It is an essential part of digestive (stomach) juices.

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/1432/Chloride-in-diet

Chromium: Chromium is important in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.  (This also can't be good for the diet!)

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/3590/Chromium-in-diet

Iodine: Iodine is needed for the normal metabolism of cells. (Also not good!)

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/4534/Iodine-in-diet

It's amazing I'm losing any weight at all.

Food Diary

For the next 3 weeks (if I stick to it for 3 weeks) of the Ultrametabolism Diet, I have to restrict the types of foods I can eat. Below are the allowed foods and forbidden foods so that I can reference it from anywhere...

Foods Allowed:

-Fruit: All fresh fruit

-Vegetables: All vegetables

-Grains (gluten-free only): Amaranth, Buckwheat groats (kasha), brown rice, corn and sprouted corn tortillas, millet, quinoa, teff, wild rice

-Beans: Adzuki beans, Black beans, Chickpeas, Great Northern beans, red and white kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, vegetarian refried beans, plan soy milk, play soy yogurt, soybeans, edamame, split peas, tofu, white beans (cannellini or Northern)

-Fish and Seafood: U.S. farmed abalone, anchovies, artic char (U.S. and Canadian farmed), Catfish (U.S. farmed), clams, crawfish (U.S.), small Alaskan halibut, Atlantic sea herring, mackerel (Atlantic), mussels (farmed blue, New Zeland green), Oysterrs (farmed Eastern European, Pacific), Sablefish (black cod, Alaskan), salmon (wild Alaskan), sardines, scallops (farmed bay), shrimp (Northern from Newfoundland, U.S. farmed), striped bass (farmed), tilapia (U.S.)

-Poultry: chicken (skinless white breast meat), turkey (skinless white breast meat), cornish hean

-Red meat: lamb (loin)

-Nuts and seeds: All nuts except peanuts and pistachios

-Fats and oils: Almond oil, avocado oil, coconut butter and oil, flaxseeds (ground and as flaxseed oil), grapeseed oil, macadamia nut oil, olive oil (extra virgin), olives (black and green), palm fruit oil, pumpkin seed oil, sesame seed oil (plain and toasted), walnut oil

-Beverages: filtered water, decaffeinated green tea, herbal tea

-Flavorings and seasonings: All fresh and dried whole or ground herbs and spices, low-sodium organic broth (chicken or vegetable), Chinese 5-spice powder, dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa), cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, red or green curry paste, garam masala, herbamare, horseradish, kelp powder, black and white pepper, pomegranate molasses, salsa, sea salt, low-sodium and gluten-free soy sauce, wasabi powder


Forbidden Foods:

-Fruit: Dried fruit, canned fruit (syrup packed), fruit juices

-Grains: Gluten-containing grains and grain products - barley, bulgur (wheat), couscous (wheat), durum (wheat), kamut (wheat), malt, malt extract, malt flavoring, malt syrup, oats and oat bran, rye, semolina (wheat), spelt, sprouted wheat, triticale, wheat, whole wheat, wheat berries, wheat bran, wheat flours (white, wheat, enriched wheat, stone ground whole-wheat, 100% whole-wheat), wheat germ, wheat starch, white rice...and of course food products made from the above grains such as bread, bread crumbs, cake, cereal (hot and cold), cookies, crackers, matzoh, pasta, pie, rolls, tortillas (wheat), wraps

-Beans: miso, tempeh

-Dairy: all dairy products)

-Eggs: all

-Poultry: chicken (with skin on), turkey (with skin on), processed poultry products

-Beef: all cuts, fresh and processed

-Pork: all cuts (fresh and processed), bacon, ham, sausage

-Deli meats: all processed meats, organ meats

-Nuts and seeds: peanuts, peanut butter, pistachios

-Fats and Oils: canola (rapeseed) oil, peanut oil, wheat germ oil

-Flavorings and seasonings: seasoning mixes that are not whole or ground herbs and spices (e.g. taco seasoning, Ranch, southwest, creole, etc.), flavorings, soy sauce and tamari made from wheat

-Beverages: all alcohol, caffeinated beverages, chocolate drinks, coffee substitutes, fruit drinks and fruit punches, instant teas, malted beverages, regular and diet sodas

Whew! That's a lot to remember.

Food Diary

Lunch will be the hardest part of this diet to stick to if I cannot prepare meals ahead of time. Need to sit down, do some planning, and go grocery shopping. There aren't a lot of options to buy food near work...just one deli, a Subway and a bunch of Thai restaurants.

I've also been drinking green tea all day and have had very little withdrawal from coffee. That's good news...especially for everyone around me.

Food Diary

Today I will start the Ultrametabolism Diet. Over the weekend, I read the book "Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss" by Mark Hyman, M.D. I really liked the principles in the book. He doesn't believe in calorie counting or restricting calories. The diet is based on eating healthier and getting calories from better food choices.

In Week 1, we prepare for the Ultrametabolism Prescription by breaking bad habits. Starting today, the boyfriend and I will eliminate the following foods from our diet:

-Caffeine (This will be the hardest since we love our coffee...see my coffee addiction tracker).
-Processed and refined carbohydrates (white or wheat flour) and sugar...no more white rice for me. This makes me so sad.
-High-fructose corn syrup (should be easy to do)
-Hydrogenated fats and oils (shouldn't be a problem...the only thing I'm religious about is not eating trans fat).
-Processed and packaged foods (will be more problematic for the boyfriend)
-Alcohol (can be reintroduced in Phase II)

Dr. Hyman recommends cutting down the coffee intake by half the first 3 days and then cutting it out completely for the next four days. We are allowed to drink green tea in the mornings instead. In addition, we're supposed to take 1,000-2,000 mg of buffered vitamin C powder.

Dr. Hyman recommends cutting out sugar cold turkey. This shouldn't be a problem if I give up coffee. That's where I get most of my sugar anyway.

We are planning on making one modification to this plan. We're only doing this preparation phase for 5 days instead of 1 week. I'm impatient to get started and we don't have most of these bad habits anyway (except for the coffee).

Food Diary