One Ingredient Diet: Day 11

Still going strong. That’s how I feel in regards to the One Ingredient Diet. It couldn’t be much simpler than that.

Withdrawals Fade

In the latest update, I discussed that withdrawals with attempting this challenge have not been that difficult. This past week since has been the same. As you will see below, I addressed a few cravings through homemade salsa, energy bars and pizza.

Withdrawals fade as you dive more into the natural foods that you are combining. I have been messing around with different recipes and found ingredients that I never thought would apply to be helpful. On the flip-side, I have discovered how creative you have to be to get some bland foods (i.e. beans & brown rice) to have any true excitement.

Am I Losing Weight

One of the questions I have received from people online and off is whether this diet is really working. The short answer for now is, “ABSOLUTELY!”

I haven’t shared the results yet as I want it to be a big surprise come July 1st, but I will let you know the One Ingredient Diet is working.

Here are a few reasons why it’s working:

1. Not as much about what I am eating, but what I am not. When I take foods out of my diet, I have to analyze the pro’s and con’s. In this case, 85% of my diet pre-One Ingredient Diet was spot on. It’s the other 15% that has been removed that has helped tremendously. Do I think splurging on something bad will never happen again? Absolutely not. I plan on enjoying a not-so-healthy meal come July 1st, but removing that bad 15% for this month is doing wonders.
2. I have made it fun. As my wife can attest, I can be boring when I am focused. So, I have livened up the food options by preparing some of the previously processed foods we ate pre-diet at home. Let’s face it, we are likelier to fail the longer we prevent ourselves from working in the things we love.
3. I don’t dwell on every food option I must or can’t eat. I buy the things I like of the one ingredient foods out there. I don’t starve because I ACTIVELY find and prepare foods I like. I could sit and dwell on not being able to eat buffalo wild wings, but I choose to put that energy towards making food I will like. It’s a mindset and the sooner one commits to it, the likelier they will be to succeed.

What I’ve Been Preparing

The homemade salsa worked out extremely well and I will be making a lot more of it going forward. I have made salsa before, but the key this time was using the food processor. It certainly isn’t the greatest tool if you are looking to make pico de gallo, but it does the trick for fine salsa. I have never broken the food processor out until I started using for the energy bars (shown below).

The energy bars were awesome. I used the Ultimate Energy Bar Formula post from Matt Frazier of No Meat Athlete. If you are looking for a healthy homemade substitute to processed bars, check his guide out. I will be making more as one of the things I have missed on this diet has been Clif bars.

The pizza was fairly simple to make thanks to a great recipe from In Flora’s Kitchen. To be honest, this was one of the first items I cooked that didn’t come all that close to the real thing, but it was one way to cure the crave of pizza. I am going to take the blame for this one on the crust not really meeting expectations. It definitely is going to be something I will try to improve upon.

That’s about it for now on the update front. I have lots coming down the pipeline that I am pumped about. Soon, you will be able to join the One Ingredient Diet movement. 😉