New to No-S, with some quick questions

manwithaplan23 · Post by **manwithaplan23** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:24 pm

Hey guys,

I'm new to the no-s diet, and am starting this week, but I had a few questions I wanted to get some clarification on:

1. When it comes to drinks, is something like having 1 green tea or some other semi-healthy drink a day on N-days fine? I will keep tabs on myself so that doesn't turn into soda or something like that, I just wanted to see if drinks like that and coffee aren't a big deal.

2. I know where my biggest weakness is when it comes to snacking: middle of the day between Lunch and Dinner. Is it fine to have a piece of fruit and something to drink in the middle of this time, or is that too close to snacking that I should really just stay away from it entirely?

Looking forward to your answers, as well as implementing this into my lifestyle. Thanks guys!

wrigleyj · Post by **wrigleyj** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:02 pm

Hi,

I'm also pretty new to No S, but I think I can answer your questions:

1) Reinhard specifically OKs coffee and tea, and you shouldn't be TOO worried about adding a teaspoon of sugar to your coffee. Sugary soda is obviously not good and diet soda does nasty things to your body (doesn't stop me). Things like hot chocolate are really classed as S foods unless you have it Aztec style. Essentially, most drinks are "free" and can help stave off the appetite (even milk) but the basic rule that applies to sweets can apply to drinks; if you're not sure whether it's a sweet, it's probably OK, but your taste buds should be able to tell you.

2) According to "vanilla" No S (i.e. following the very limited rules that Reinhard specifies) anything you eat between a plated meal is a snack, whatever it is. Some people make modification to the rules, but from my reading of the forums I have seen a lot of "this is my Nth attempt at No S after getting bogged down in mods" and the consensus seems to be that you should build the habits first before you contemplate adding extra layers of complexity. After all, it's the simplicity of No S that really appeals.

Hope that helps, I'm sure some of the old hands can correct me if I'm wrong about any of this

Joe

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:37 pm

Joe is right on target.

However, I will add that some of us did "phase in" habits by doing what you described - having a limited scope of choices for the one "hard snack." I did that while other habits were being established, then dropped the last snack. Worked well.

Good luck!

manwithaplan23 · Post by **manwithaplan23** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:56 pm

Got it. Sounds like something I should hold off on til I have the main habits down. Thanks guys!

Post by **reinhard** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:17 pm

Welcome, slyce23!

Some people make modification to the rules, but from my reading of the forums I have seen a lot of "this is my Nth attempt at No S after getting bogged down in mods" and the consensus seems to be that you should build the habits first before you contemplate adding extra layers of complexity.

Amen, Joe.

If after a good solid try (or tries -- it usually does take a few) you do find that vanilla isn't cutting it (or think you'll have more success KCCC's phased approach) check out the mods and intelligent dietary defaults threads at the top of the no-s general discussion forum.

Reinhard

manwithaplan23 · Post by **manwithaplan23** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:10 pm

Thanks, Reinhard. I think I've found a routine that's gonne work for me, at least for now. When I get the between lunch and dinner blues, I'm going to have my white tea, and that should stave me off til dinner.

As for exercise, I'm going to work on walking for large chunks of everyday. I've got a hard drive full of audiobooks and church sermons that I've always meant to listen to, so i think that'll be a good way for me to be entertained while walking. We'll see how it goes as I'm starting my long walks today. Will post my daily entry tonight once the day is done.