Has anyone tried the Virgin Diet?

mizzie1980

Careful friend, folks around here don't take to kindly to telling them to eat fat and not carbs... Shhhhh....

I eat both! I just finished a peanut butter sandwich, with full fat, non organic, processed peanut butter. *runs and hides*

Melo1966

I started drinking "Just Tart Cherry Juice" for joint pain and fit in squats when I can to build up the muscles around my knees feeling a lot better with this.

wlyfan222

I'm with you.Just had Dr.'s appt.last week and she wants me to take cymbalta for fibomyalgia and try diet and exercise.I dont think the Cymbalta is for me!,I tried one pill and it made me feel really wierd .I work in a daycare with infants so I cant be feeling like that. So I was watching Rachael Ray the other night and JJ Virgin was on talking about her Virgin Diet. sounds like sonmething I want to try.dont know much about it but you can buy the book from Walmart for like $15. I'm going to get one tomorrow.If you hav ebeen doing it since your last post .it is supposed to help you try to figure out what is the food keeping you from losing the weight .Hopefully it will help some of us.Any recipes out there?

wlyfan222

Blood Sugar and Diabetics

The name "sweet potatoes" is misleading because it makes it seem like a food that is going to be intolerable for certain people, such as diabetics. However, research has demonstrated that sweet potatoes are anything but: sweet potatoes have been shown to stabilize the blood sugar levels and also to lower resistance to insulin. Consequently, diabetics may be interested in adding sweet potatoes to their diet or already increasing their intake quantities, if they already are consuming them. The reason may be the presence of soluble fiber in sweet potatoes, which itself acts to lower both cholesterol and blood sugar.


please read carefully

natiefuentes

I am trying it right now. I just finished my first week. I think it went well. I stocked to the smoothie in the morning, almond milk, berries, a banana... You can add baby spinach, avocado too. I also got some rice protein powder that is "all" free. You can have all the fruits and veggies you want and I also have fish, salmon, tilapia, shrimp, and chicken breast. Sometimes at night I have another shake.

Cate1898

I am on day 1 of this JJ Virgin Diet. I was tested years ago for food sensitivities and gluten, dairy, eggs and soy all showed up as food sensitivities for me. So based on that, I am trying this in the hopes that it will work. It makes sense. I usually eat a lot of regular wheat pasta and the more I eat, the more I want. She writes about this and how it creates a chain reaction due to I believe antibodies your body makes to fight off the food you have ingested that you are sensitive to. The more you eat, the more antibodies you make and they in turn cause you to crave the very food you are intolerant to.

Anybody else been on this more specifically for a week or more? Any success? Did the hunger go away? Do you stop craving things you shouldn't eat? Lose any weight?

pikachuFL

From the description, I think I prefer the Promiscuous Diet.

dibs813

New here. I am on day 3. A week ago went through allergy testing trying to figure out what is causing this horrible eczema on my hands. Tested positive for wheat (I expected that one), dairy and eggs. UGH. Allergist was little help. Basically said "good luck". Started searching online for recipes, etc. and came across JJ Virgin. I also tested positive for soy and corn years ago so decided to give it all a try.
Today has been the worst so far. Can't concentrate and feel VERY distracted. Did not get nearly enough done at work today. Determined to stick it out though.

VickieMW

I very disappointed in the "Adults" that can't seem to respect peoples right to choose a diet that they want to be on. If someone takes the time to research it and then makes the commitment to go on a diet, others should not put people down or make fun of the name of the diet.

Be encouraging or go somewhere else. Vickie

IronSmasher

I very disappointed in the "Adults" that can't seem to respect peoples right to choose a diet that they want to be on. If someone takes the time to research it and then makes the commitment to go on a diet, others should not put people down or make fun of the name of the diet.

Be encouraging or go somewhere else. Vickie

This sounds like a pro anorexic post to me.

bearwith

What is it about? I have not heard about it.

EatingWellToo

Hi, I am on Day 19 of the Virgin Diet. Sad to say, I have only lost 3-3.5 pounds, but then again, I really only had 10-12 to lose to begin with. My problem is slowly accumulating belly fat, and blood sugar creeping up into the pre-diabetic zone, over the past few years. So I really think the people who lose "7 pounds in 7 days" on this thing are probably really reactive to the 7 foods, or really have a lot to lose (my BMI is well within the normal range now; I just don't want the belly). I don't think I have high FI (food intolerance) to any of the 7 foods. OK, enough background. I had been vegan for a few years and had a family member with wheat intolerance, so a lot of the weird kinds of food (non-dairy "milk", nutritional yeast, non-gluten grains) is pretty familiar to me. One thing I have found is hemp protein powder from Bob's RedMill. It is nutritionally the same (or better) than the stuff JJ Virgin is marketing, and far cheaper, and you are supporting a good company. For a breakfast shake I make this: 1/3 c Bob's RedMill hemp protein powder, 2 T nutritional yeast, 1 T coca powder, 1/4 t vanilla, 1 c strawberries or other berries, and 1 c coconut milk (NOT the traditional canned kind with all the fat). And maybe a tiny bit of stevia. This holds me until lunch; I might have 1/2 green apple and 10 almonds for a snack. For lunch I have a big salad with left-over salmon or chicken, and 1/2 cup of her "low glycemic" carbs - something brown rice, quinoa, sprouted buckwheat groats, chick peas, cooked lentils - 1/2 an avocado or 1 T sunflower seeds, and a little fruit (diced apples, sliced strawberries). Afternoon snack a few nut-rice crackers and 1/4 c hummus. Dinner: 4-6 oz animal protein in some kind of recipe, but never more than 1/4 dry of the grain or legumes (e.g. quinoa again) - sometimes sweet potato, and cooked greens.

I have made it to Day 19 without cheating, meaning, I have not eaten wheat, soy, corn, egg, dairy, peanuts or the hardest for me - SUGAR - at all! I HAVE cheated (frequently) with red wine, which is probably sabotaging the weight loss, even though she allows red wine in Cycle 3. I am going to stick with this diet because I never thought I could give up sugar, which I (prior to the diet) absolutely craved, and binged on in the evening. I think giving up all these things is SO radical that I have not had a chance to miss the sugar. I recommend that you emphasize recipes using ingredients like avocados, tahini, coconut milk, cashews/almonds, chick pea flour, etc. Another great find has been Blue Diamond Nut Thins (nut & rice crackers) to eat with guacamole (which you can cut with cooked peas to keep the flavor, up the nutrition, and lower the fat) or hummus. They have a miniscule amount of "natural butter flavor" but it's a trace.

I have just joined this forum and will look around to see if there is a place to post recipes; there are a few other things I can share. But look for the hemp protein powder, and good luck!

tigersword

You say you aren't craving sugar. That's because you're eating sugar. Plenty of sugar in the fruit and coconut milk in your smoothies, plus whatever other fruit you eat during the day. The human body doesn't care where the sugar comes from, it all gets converted into glucose, anyway.

purple_tux1

I very disappointed in the "Adults" that can't seem to respect peoples right to choose a diet that they want to be on. If someone takes the time to research it and then makes the commitment to go on a diet, others should not put people down or make fun of the name of the diet.

Be encouraging or go somewhere else. Vickie

You know what, we're all in this awful situation called being fat. It's nice to be able to cut through the serious stuff and have a chuckle now and then, eh?

Who knows, laughing may even burn calories? :laugh:

EatingWellToo

Hi, thanks for your wisdom. My point is, I am eating FAR less sugar than I was before when I would binge at night looking for the stuff in all my cabinets: I am not eating cookies, biscotti, dark chocolate bars, things like this that are baked with sugar. I am eating 2 servings of fruit instead of 4 and not juicing the lovely oranges from my San Diego garden. And my carb count is way down, which is important for pre-diabetics like me.

Here is another recipe contributed in reply to the original post. My version of Whole Food's garlicky kale salad (which has soy so not for the Virgin Diet). I eat this for lunch at my desk and it keeps me all day:

4 cups kale, de-ribbed and sliced thinly into ribbons (if you don't like raw kale, microwave for 30 sec).
Toss well with this dressing, made by whisking or blending:
2 T sesame tahini
1 T nutritional yeast
2 T non-sweetened hemp milk or water, just to thin it out
1 T lemon juice
i large clove of garlic
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
374 calories, 33 g carb, 22 g fat, 18 g protein

ColoradoJojo

Let me start off my saying I am a sick person. I have EE am allergic to Seafood Milk Beef Pork Lamb Sage, Mugwort, Mold Nearly every species of tree grass and stinging insect out there. I have a ungodly amount of allergies, experience asthma attacks regularly, because of which I don't exercise great, or that often. Frankly I wasn't looking to give up more food from my already limited diet, but I actually found out about this through the Mayo Clinic newsletter. My new years resolution was to just try and follow what they said.

I actually did this diet unbeknownst it had the name the"virgin diet". Instead they Mayo Clinic called it a Anti Allergy diet suggested removing all common allergy foods which happen to be these seven. To get things to a better level of control.

This type of fast, works.

I'm doing it again starting the month of Feb. to provide support for my hubby. He's full blown diabetic, has a lot of pain due to a war amputation always has inflammation. He has high cholesterol crazy high triglides. Since it worked for me in some incredible ways he's willing to try it.

Reality is this not JJ's diet, it was actually developed by the mayo clinic, to help people with immune deficiency issues. Like Asthma, Allergies, Inflammation, EE, Celiac disease, IBS, a host of other diseases related to excess inflammation. They found it helped nearly 90% of the people who participated in the study. This chick is claiming she did the research reality those amazing folks up at mayo clinic did, all she added a smoothie to the regimine. (Really poorly made smoothie)

You can find a great deal of medical mumbo jumbo on mayo clinic site about there study, its a lot more helpful. Pull it up by typing anti allergy diet. This lady JJ was just smart enough to capitalize on there work.

I'm not going to lie to you 1 week alone in this was hard. I wanted bread, pasta, and pizza and I was ready to shoot the tv, for airing all those yummy food commercials at night. I did it right after Christmas this year, lost the thirteen pounds, I had gained over the holidays. Now I'm actually happy to be doing it again, I honestly feel better eating this way. I'm actually overjoyed at being able to splurge and eat a hamburger now and then. Not worry about if I'm going to go into aniflaxic shock. Its a weird feeling actually, kind of scary one to be able to have food you haven't had in over five years. I'm still a little skeptical and scared about digging in to some of those allergy foods I had once thought were off limits. After another panel of allergy testing I think I feel a bit better about cheating more. But until than I still have to be careful.

I don't want to get you hopes up but I lost a embarrassing amount of weight really fast. My energy levels shot through the roof. I've never felt brain muddle, (tg) so I can't tell you if this will help you think more clearly. what I can tell you is what happened to me. My allergies and asthma toned down, and I am able to have some of the above mentioned foods I couldn't have before in small quantities. This is a big deal for some one who has to take rescue inhaler at least five times a week.

What this diet really does is gives your body several weeks of not making histamines, or producing crazy hormones that make you hold weight, and feel pain. It reset my allergies significantly, and helped with joint pain. It will clear up digestive issues, you know those ugly digestive issues you don't want to mention in good company.

It eliminated my high cholesterol, high triglides, in a dang month! Which is insane because I have been struggling with that over 5 years and been on medicine for it that didn't budge my numbers. Now according to my PCM I am no longer pre-diabetic. (when I got my blood labs last Thursday I freaked) because for the first time in my adult life, I'm normal.


So to sum this up. If you have allergies especially food allergies, this can help a great deal. It gives your body time to rest. and for some reason it fixed things for me like no pill ever could. The only thing you have to remember is its only for three weeks. After three weeks when you see how much you feel better, you will probably want to go back on it for vanity purposes. Like shedding extra pounds.

What you can expect from this diet, is you will be eating a lot of potatoes and rice, and beans....(you will still lose weight amazing enough) Carbs don't seem to matter at all. You will not have bread, pasta unless it grain corn and soy and gluten free. (Vietnamese celephane noodles are these things) honestly I hate them! too chewy.

You can have pizza, if you make it yourself with Daiya cheese you make the crust without sugar, use rice based crust.) You will be cooking at home a lot. You can not eat out because of cross contamination.

Easiest meal to prepare, is mashed potatoes (made with almond milk) and sliced meat with gluten free gravy. Its quick and easy.

You will be reading labels alot. I'll save you some time. For Cheese-- Daiya is your best bet.
Amy's has a lot of frozen stuff thats not bad for you. Stay away from the soy products read the labels.
Milk-- Almond Breeze,
If you need yogurt Sugar free almond yogurt out there.
If you have to have butter try coconut oil. ---I know its weird. but it works in a pinch.
At the time I used Earth balance its what the mayo clinic said to use, because it is allergy safe. If you following Virgin diet its off limits.
all commercial coconut milk out has sugar in it so you can't rely on it unless you feel like cracking your own coconut milk.

Red beans and rice....another great meal thats on the diet, easy to make in the crock pot.
Meat and veggies are your friends.
I did quite a bit of stir frys.

I did not buy her protein shake stuff. (I'm actually allergic to several of the ingredients in her magic milk shake) I did not drink smoothies of any sort, even know she suggest to. ---there is no science behind the powdered smoothie phenomenon I frankly think this was just a way for JJ to put her face on a product to make additional money.

This being said the original mayo study did suggest juicing, for breakfast. ( I was honestly to lazy to do this Kale and banana's might taste great to some folks but it scares me slightly)
If its all fruit and veggie its OK.

NRSPAM

I haven't ever heard of it...but raw food is supposed to help with all of that: I try to eat 50-75% raw daily. I will tell you I feel much better the more raw fruits and vegetables I eat and I feel worse when I eat a lot of cooked foods, gluten and dairy.

I can tell you right now I feel like crying at even commercials....and I've had way too much gluten, dairy and cooked/processed foods in the last few days because of Thanksgiving. I know once I have more raw in my body, I will feel much better.

There are studies, that show higher or even a complete raw vegan life style is more healthy for you, as it does create a more alkaline ph balance in your body where disease and cancers do not thrive (they thrive in acidic ph).

Here are some sites you can look at:



http://drleonardcoldwell.com/ -- this was how I got started

http://anydoubtleaveitout.com/

http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/

http://hippocratesinst.com/

http://www.wellwithu.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Formula-Health-Paul-Nison/dp/1570672164 -- I bought his book as well as another one

And took a 16 week course from the Raw Gourmet (link below)

http://www.RawFoodfortheRealWorld.com

Do any of these sources mention the fact that Raw Vegans have the same life expectancy and disease risk of people eating a cooked omnivorous diet? None of them are unbiased sites, they are all pushing a product and agenda. You may want to do some real research. Cooking food is what allowed us humans to evolve our intelligence, and our digestive systems really aren't equipped to handle raw foods very well anymore, since we started cooking foods (a few hundred thousand years ago) our digestive system has shrunk, which allowed our brain sizes to increase. We now use far more energy on our brain, and much less energy in our digestive tract, so cooking is a rather necessary part of eating. As for the pH of your body, it is very tightly controlled by several different systems, and what you eat has absolutely no effect on your body's pH level. If your body slips just slightly out of it's normal pH of 7.35-7.4 you die, pretty much instantly without emergency medical help.

The pH thing isn't exactly accurate, lol. It's true, you will definately die if your pH is too far off, but it can be greater or less than normal, and at first, your body will compensate by releasing or decreasing bicarb, or increasing/decreasing respiratory rate, which adjusts acidic CO2. By that point, you will likely know that something is wrong, and hopefully seek medical attention.

cpc95118

It seems awfully secretive. You have to buy the book to get any details but I didn't get the impression it's a raw diet. I thought you just had to avoid specific foods like yogurt and egg whites. I saw an ad for it but it sounded a bit too good to be true. One review I read, said it was very restrictive which makes it difficult for a lot of people to stick with it.

ColoradoJojo

You don't have to buy the book just follow a no-allergen diet. Its exactly the same.

tigersword

There's really no such thing as "no-allergen." Every single food can be a potential allergen. Heck, people have been born allergic to water, and even sunlight. That's what makes diets like this rather silly, it gives a completely arbitrary answer to a very individualized issue.

norcal_yogi

I just looked it up. The seven foods are: Soy, Corn, Gluten, Dairy, Sugar and artificial sweeteners, Eggs, and Peanuts.

Gah! no Fage greek yogurt or hard boiled eggs?! i don't know....

ellenoel1981

I just finished Day 4 on the Virgin Diet, but I think it will probably be my last. I've actually felt pretty good physically the last couple days, but from a psychological point of view, its restrictiveness can reek havoc on one's willpower. What has pushed me over the edge is that the scale is not budging an ounce. I know I haven't given it a "fair shot" with only 4 days, but I'm 151lbs, 5' 6" and 31 years old, and my body is pretty responsive to diets and binges. It doesn't take long for the scale to tip in either direction.

I've been following the suggested first week approach of 2 shakes (organic berries; pea protein powder; spinach; chia seeds and coconut milk blended) a day and one meal (large spinach/romaine salad with half organic chicken breast, broccoli, bell peppers, sprouted pumpkin seeds, olive oil and lemon). I've also added one apple and 1 tbsp almond butter daily. And that's it! I'm a usual wine drinker and a habitual nonfat or soy latte drinker, both of which I eliminated for 4 days. And still nada!

I should say I normally eat fairly well, but do have a sweet tooth and love my vino (as I mentioned above). I yo yo a lot, but typically only about 20lbs. I've recently lost about 15 lbs, but am getting married in little over a month, and would like to at least lose 5 more, and ideally 10. I've been really exasperated though that I've shed nothing on this "diet." The only thing I can put it down to is that I'm eating more fat than I typically do. That's not to say that I count fat grams or follow any kind of "no fat" diet typically - I definitely don't. But between the coconut milk, chia, almonds, pumpkin seeds, etc., I wonder if I'm not just consuming more fat than usual.

In any event, perhaps I was about to turn a miraculous corner and lose the 7lbs promised over the next 3 days, but I kind of doubt it. I think the only way somebody would lose that amount of weight in 1 week is if they are usually eating pancakes and bacon for breakfast, cheeseburgers and fries for lunch, spaghetti alfredo for dinner, and snickers for lunch. THEN I could see a massive drop, but as much as I hate, and I mean hate, to admit it, something like Atkins or Dukan is way more effective for a fast, considerable weight loss. The trouble with those diets is they're depressing and make you feel crazy, but apart from that, they're brilliant.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to go back to the hellish, tried and true counting calories and exercising my butt off. I know it won't deliver the same gimmicky promises, but I feel like it has a better shot of working that the virgin diet.

RainHoward

Here I thought this was another "eating out" thread. :huh:

damn you, you made me laugh so hard it hurt.

jenlatham

Might I suggest you look into gluten/wheat allergy and get tested, best to do the test before you go GF its easier to test for !

A lot of the symptoms you listed are signs of a gluten allergy. I suffered for years with depression/stomach pains etc until I found out it was an allergy. It took about 2 weeks but all is well and I am depression free !

Same thing worked for me. You're beyter off eliminating one potential allergen at a time, two weeks apiece, to see which you feel better without. Dropping wheat gluten changed my life. Good luck!

EatingWellToo

If you've invested 4 days, why not hang in there until you've cleared 7? I had variable weigh-ins with the Virgin Diet; there could be several days with nothing, then a dramatic drop. Also, your body could be resisting the change and getting ready to shed. I would suggest logging your foods in the fitnesspal tracker to see how much you're really eating - once I started doing that it helped me a lot. For me, even though I exceeded the fat gram allocation in the tracker (and still do, most days) I still lost weight.

G__Force

I tasted a virgin once. Then her dad made me spit it out!

Lyerin

Eating virgins will probably cause problems with the authorities...

Um, virgins don't like to be eaten?

Well, how would they know that if they haven't tried it?

In any event, if you want to try a restricted diet and you're still getting nutrients, etc., try it. You should talk with a qualified medical professional first though, before you start any kind of diet, given your medical issues. Best of luck.

Kitsune12

I am on day 2 and feeling fantastic! I am not hungry at all, I am missing my soda but that wasn't very healthy for me anyway, right???

I chose this course because it made sense to me. I think that we all have underlying food intolerances that aren't deadly, but our body says, "if you insist on eating that then I am going to rebel!"

I'm currently locating some recipes and found a few on pinterest.

Good luck!

MudRunLvr

Something tells me that society would really frown on a diet of virgins alone.

I try to eat clean. But a few *kitten* always find their way in anyway...

_SusieQ_

Something tells me that society would really frown on a diet of virgins alone.

I try to eat clean. But a few *kitten* always find their way in anyway...