The Virgin Diet | Poppy's Style

By diet I don’t mean diet as in losing weight, I mean changing the nutritional content and fabric of my daily food intake. I have to say I’m always very skeptical about diets that remove items or restrict foods – like the Atkins diet etc. – but I’ve recently been reading a lot about food intolerance. As a scientist I have to say some of the data and reasoning is quite compelling. So I thought I’d give it a try. After speaking to my doctor about it she recommended trying the Virgin diet where you remove gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, soy, corn and sugar from your diet, then add each one back into the mix to see which, if any you react too. Our food can impact all sorts of things – obviously our physical health, but also our mood and energy levels. Even though it sounds a bit fadish I thought I’d give it a go – nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I’m quite lazy, though not terribly unhealthy, when it comes to food – a quick bowl of pasta for example. I lack inspiration. One of the unexpected positive effects of trying this diet is that I have to plan my meals in advance, meaning I am much more prepared at meal time, ultimately resulting in far more enjoyment from cooking and eating.

I’ve only been following the plan for 3 days and yesterday I was EXHAUSTED. I could barely keep my eyes open and I started to question the alleged benefits. Today, however, I feel AMAZING. I have so much energy and feel so alert – and that was at 7am this morning. I’m starting to believe there may be something to this food intolerance stuff.

For you nay sayers who claim it is boring – ok it’s only been 3 days – but I am really enjoying eating fabulous fresh fruits and veg and great lean meat, and I’m tasting all the flavor. I’m using Gwyneth Paltrow’s “It’s All Good“ (recommended by a friend – thanks S!) for inspiration. I can’t say enough great things about this book – I always think of Gwyneth as being a bit up herself and self-righteous – but in the book she comes across as a lovely, down to earth mom – dare I say just like us? All thanks to great editing and PR I’m sure – but still I am really enjoying this book.

I’d love to hear if any of you have tried eliminating certain foods from your diet. How did you feel? Did you stick with it? Do you think it’s a fad?

Another benefit is that I already feel less bloated – my clothes are a little looser already. Apparently it can also make your skin look years younger…we’ll see.