Everyday Systems

Hello. I didn't see an intro forum so I just wanna say howdy here.

I found out about The No S Diet by accident. (That is for the non-religious. If you are religious/spiritual, perhaps a higher power guided me here.)

You may be interested to hear the trail. I was reading an appreciative but critical account of NoSD on a website called Bitter Poison, which is a vegan website. She liked the idea but had a few criticisms. Her criticisms were fair so I decided to look into it.

Why was I looking on a vegan website? A few weeks ago I was dx'd prediabetes. I am only a little bit overweight but quite sedentary. This kicked me off on an orgy of research, which I'll spare you. I did bring my blood sugars into the normal range rather quickly, just for the record. But I did this by restricting my caloric intake radically, and losing 7 pounds very quickly and I know I can't keep this up. It's not natural.

As I delved into reading about diet, I became intrigued with veganism because they do say a lot that's true. But I couldn't quite go all the way for one reason: there has never been a society that has been vegan. If you read THE CHINA STUDY carefully, the author never claims that the rural Chinese who mostly are metabolically superior to Americans, are vegan. Just that they eat much less dairy and animal protein.

However - my independent reading has convinced me that massive overfeeding in general, and the massive overfeeding of fat is causing metabolic havoc in the West, as well as massive overfeeding of sugar. I had previously thought "it's the sugar, stupid."

That's where the No S Diet comes in. After thinking about it, it occurred to me that the McDougall/China Study guys, while admirable, are accomplishing nothing with their "NO FAT!" approach. Reinhard's approach is doable. Don't eat snacks. That cuts out a whopping amount of fat right there. Don't eat seconds. That takes care of the portion issue.

Anyway that's my story. I'm on Day one and frankly the idea of allowing myself a treat or two on "S" days is kind of scary. I'm accustomed to being "all or nothing." I hope to lose 10 pounds. We'll see!

Welcome! While I didn't follow the same path as you to NoS, I stayed because it is by far the most sane, most sensible, most satisfying "diet" and truly doable for life!

Enjoy the journey!

Welcome! My husband recently had a mild heart attack & was considered to be in the diabetic range. He's since lost 30 lbs and his blood sugar is in an acceptable range now. Anyway this incident also had me researching different diets including veganism.

In the end I've decided to do a combo of vegan, vegetarian & just light cooking. We've cut way back on our fat intake, upped our vegetable/fruit intake, eat mostly low glycemic carbs and healthier fats but we still make room for occasional indulgences and I think we've found a very sustainable way to eat. Of course increasing exercise is also critical to long term well being.

Nos is very adaptable to whatever you decide to eat and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do.

Gl!
Linda

lpearlmom wrote:Welcome! My husband recently had a mild heart attack & was considered to be in the diabetic range. He's since lost 30 lbs and his blood sugar is in an acceptable range now. Anyway this incident also had me researching different diets including veganism.

In the end I've decided to do a combo of vegan, vegetarian & just light cooking. We've cut way back on our fat intake, upped our vegetable/fruit intake, eat mostly low glycemic carbs and healthier fats but we still make room for occasional indulgences and I think we've found a very sustainable way to eat. Of course increasing exercise is also critical to long term well being.

Nos is very adaptable to whatever you decide to eat and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do.

Gl!
Linda

Thanks. I also have cut down on my animal protein, dairy and fat intake and I feel no deprivation. I did feel deprived when I recently lost 7 pounds because....I was depriving myself. I did some fasts and really didn't like it, although I have to say it worked. But that's no way to live. It's not sustainable.

How do you handle your "S" days? The way I'm going to do it is, I'm going to allow myself one extra serving, one small sweet, and one small snack on each "S" day.

I know that we're not supposed to count calories and weigh things but keeping a ballpark figure for the extras is helpful, as long as it doesn't get crazy-making. For me the extra serving would be a 2 ounces more meat (for example), the extra sweet or snack would be no more than 150-200 calories a piece, respectively.

Then I'll see how that works. If it doesn't work, I'll tinker.

Yeah anything extreme is definitely not going to work long-term so I think you have the right attitude.

For S days I keep to my 3 meals but add a saucer size plated snack after lunch and a dessert (same size plate as my snack) after dinner. I keep it flexible though. If we go out to a nice dinner pretty anything goes. I allow appetizers, side salad, dessert etc. I tend not to overeat in these social situations as my issue though has been more about permasnacking so it works out fine.

I don't calorie count as a general rule but sometimes I'll look at nutrition info if I'm going out to lunch somewhere with friends or eating ready made store bought food. It helps me decide between several items I like equally. I'm often surprised by caloric info. Sometimes things that appear to be lower in calories is super high and vice versa. So this is a long way of saying yes calorie counting can be a useful tool but agree only if it's not "crazy making".

Anyway if you think it might be helpful you may want to check out the daily check-in threads. A lot of us post almost daily and the support system has been indispensable to me.

Have a great weekend!

Linda

lpearlmom wrote: I'm often surprised by caloric info. Sometimes things that appear to be lower in calories is super high and vice versa.

Have a great weekend!

Linda

Yes, and weighing things is also a good way to introduce an objective measurement. I don't "go crazy" about the difference between 4 and 4.2 ounces.

An example of how weighing and calorie counting helped was to weigh how much peanut butter I was eating. I find it really difficult to measure out a tablespoon of PB, so I was guesstimating. One day I weighed my one tablespoon....and it turned out to be four.

Oops. So that's why I never could lose weight on peanut butter. For me, PB is a trigger food, it's extremely calorie dense, and I find it easier to avoid on the whole. Maybe I'll have a PB&J on my birthday.

Oh that's funny! Yeah peanut butter is just too good sometimes. I use the low fat stuff but still sparingly.

Dianamoon wrote: As I delved into reading about diet, I became intrigued with veganism because they do say a lot that's true. But I couldn't quite go all the way for one reason: there has never been a society that has been vegan. If you read THE CHINA STUDY carefully, the author never claims that the rural Chinese who mostly are metabolically superior to Americans, are vegan. Just that they eat much less dairy and animal protein.

Just adding some late thoughts to this, I was a vegan for 10 years and this is why I stopped after developing some health issues that just would not go away but immediately improved with just small additions such as butter, eggs, fish and chicken in small amounts (not foods I naturally like that much, hence the small amounts). There is a western mindset that "if X is good, more must be better" and that is my issue with the vegan promoting doctors (McDougall etc.) their argument seems to be "if eating little animal protein is good for health, then eating none at all is better" but there are many ex-vegans like me who have found otherwise.

Dianamoon wrote:I was reading an appreciative but critical account of NoSD on a website called Bitter Poison, which is a vegan website. She liked the idea but had a few criticisms. Her criticisms were fair so I decided to look into it.

What were her criticisms? Just curious.

leafy_greens wrote:What were her criticisms? Just curious.

It's a pretty well thought out critique:
http://www.bitterpoison.com/archive/the-no-s-diet/

You are preachin' t the choir here, but I never get tired of it. Your beef (pun intended) with veganism is exactly my beef with most diets and eating plans: what large populations live that way? I feel like a maverick enough just with No S. I used to live in the Third World and traveled in offbeat places. I don't want any eating plan that would starve me there. And I'm not interested in winning the "healthiest" wars. Heretical though it may sound, one or two more years alive is not worth eating so far outside the local cultural norms in my book. And that amount of extra time is probably generous, at least compared to moderation.

BTW, many feel they have beat prediabetes and diabetes using the exact opposite of veganism: paleo. And they've been right, too. Though I'm convinced that strict moderation, more exercise, and very little junk food would have done the same thing. It certainly works in slim cultures.

I think your S days mods are quite appropos of your condition. I doubt that bit of discipline will drive you off the rails, as you have plenty of incentive to stay on them. And probably plenty of pleasure in your eating, too.