The Starch Solution - Take 2

So I've been following Plantiful Kiki on YouTube and Instagram and she lost over 65lbs with Dr. McDougall's program The Starch Solution. Seriously check her out, she's adorable and so inspiring. Plus she makes her whole family eat like this so she's definitely a superstar to me! She has a lot of great meal ideas and goes through full days of what she eats. In her videos she outlines the basic principles and how she got results which I found very helpful because I guess when I listened to the audio of the book there were some things I missed. Here's a link to my first attempt (which was a few months ago). I think where I went wrong was trying to follow all the recipes so Kiki's method simplifies all that. Don't get me wrong, I did lose 10lbs but I'm hoping Kiki's method will keep me on track for longer. I'm going to outline what Kiki mentioned that I am incorporating this time round...

The basic principles are still there, eat only plant based whole foods (no caffeine and alcohol) but in the weight loss stage there are some important factors I missed;

1. No fat. I knew that meant oil/butter etc but I didn't realise that also includes fatty whole foods like avocados (my babies!!!) and nuts. You can add these back in moderation once you hit your healthy goal weight.
2. There are three different ways to organize your plate to optimized your weight loss that involves how much starchy vs non-starchy vegetables to eat. The 50/50 plate is the most common and the one Kiki used for her weight loss. 50/50 will get your there, you just have to be patient. This is a change of lifestyle and routine to take control of your weight and health, not a crash diet. 
3. Eat the non-starchy side first, always! You can have seconds, thirds, fourths until your full or satisfied but every time eat the non-starchy vegetables first.

Here's a crude diagram and list of starchy vs non-starchy foods; 

STARCHY

NON-STARCHY

Beans (kidney, navy, pinto, black, cannellini) Butternut squash Chickpeas Corn Lentils Parsnips Peas Potatoes Sweet potatoes Taro Yams

Amaranth or Chinese spinach Artichoke Artichoke hearts Asparagus        Baby corn Bamboo shoots Beans (green, wax, Italian) Bean sprouts Beets Brussels sprouts Broccoli Cabbage (green, bok choy, Chinese) Carrots Cauliflower Celery Chayote Coleslaw (packaged, no dressing) Cucumber Daikon Eggplant Greens (collard, kale, mustard, turnip) Hearts of palm Jicama Kohlrabi Leeks Mushrooms Okra Onions Pea pods Peppers Radishes Rutabaga Salad greens (chicory, endive, escarole, lettuce, romaine, spinach, arugula, radicchio, watercress) Sprouts Squash (cushaw, summer, crookneck, spaghetti, zucchini) Sugar snap peas Swiss chard Tomato Turnips Water chestnuts Yard-long beans

Trying to keep it simple this time round, here's some examples of how I was eating.;

Sauteed Mushrooms and Spinach with Brown rice

Baked potatoes, baked Sweet Potatoes with a spinach and cherry tomato salad.

Split Pea & Potato Soup with Salad

Tomatoes, Onions & Peppers cooked in water with already baked potatoes.

Sweet potato, steamed baby spinach, fresh yellow capsicum peppers and pinto beans.

Baked apples with cinnamon and maple syrup were an occasional treat when needing a dessert (kids shared them with me, I didn't eat three apples LOL)

Pumpkin Soup with cooked butternut squash, steamed spinach and broccoli.

Makeshift latin flavored salad; romaine lettuce, baked sweet potatoes, black beans, olives, fresh cilantro and lime juice.

Simple pumpkin soup and salad.

I hate oatmeal but I was struggling with breakfast ideas and this tangy oatmeal I had had in a diet a long time ago (I have forgotten the source) but this is actually pretty good so I stuck with this (sans walnuts of course).

I think this was a lame attempt at hashbrowns with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and steamed spinach. I bought a Walmart brand of frozen fat free potato hash. Apparently hard to cook without oil (oven didn't work either)

Whatever was in the fridge salad; brown rice, corn, carrots, spinach, cilantro and lime juice.

Strawberries with chocolate balsamic vinegar for those sweet after dinner cravings.

Baked zucchini, yellow and butternut squash with white acre peas and baked potato. I ended up using some random spices I had in the drawer, I think moroccan and cajun.

This raspberry balsamic is AMAZING!!!

Cock a Leekie soup (sans pasta/rice) and salad with romaine lettuce, figs, cherry tomatoes, red onion and balsamic vinegar. I probably shouldn't have had the TVP in the soup but anyway!

Oil free Hungarian Hunters Stew (sans vegan sausage and sour cream) with rice (I know that's a lot of starch but I had a salad afterwards)

On mornings when I really couldn't handle oatmeal (like I said I'm not a big fan) I put together a fry up with only the oil that was used to season my cast iron pan after it's last use, so maybe 1/2 tpsn. Premade oilless hash browns were easy from the freezer then I added frozen spinach, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, onions. Whatever I had in the fridge I thought would go.

Steamed broccoli and bok choy over borna rice with vegan oyster sauce.

Another latin inspired bowl; brown rice, olives, cilantro, sweet potato, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, red onions with a squeeze of lime juice.

Bake cauliflower with salt and smoked paprika with sweet potato and potato mash.

Bit of a weekend morning fry up (like before just using the oil that seasoned the pan). Pre bought root vegetable blend hash browns, spinach with garlic, onion and mushrooms

Garlic spinach with baked potato pieces, red onion and green peppers, all in the pan together.

Tomato and herb soup.

  

Two weeks in I did start to crave fat and processed foods but the only setbacks I had were the occasional piece of chocolate.

With a week to go I lost motivation big time. I was down to 143lbs which was awesome but I craved the bad stuff all the time so I strayed a couple of times and ate something fatty or processed but I tried to make my next meals all count and stuck to the 50/50 principle. 

I was 164lbs before starting the original cleanse and I was around 152lbs when I started this 30 day cleanse. About half way into the cleanse I had lost 5lbs and 3" from my waist which was motivating enough to keep going. I was also walking as much as possible, around 5-6 miles 3-5 times a week. Here are my final results!

Day 1 (20 August 2020) Weight: 152lbs Waist: 37" Hips: 42" Chest: 39" Thigh: 23"

Day 30 (20 September 2020) Weight: 143lbs Waist: 34.5" Hips: 40" Chest: 37" Thigh: 22.5"

So there it is, if you can eat this way long term it works! Here are some tips that helped me;

• You can use frozen and canned vegetables. 
• Don't feel like you have to eat raw, you don't. Just don't use fat to cook. Try blanching, steaming, sauteing and baking. If you have an air fryer that works well too! 
• I love my slow cooker so I used that. 
• I used oil free seasonings and condiments to make it more interesting. I especially loved using balsamic vinegar (good quality like Mountain Town Olive Oil Company-try their raspberry or 15 year aged....amazing), Garlic Salt, Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel Seasoning, Tabasco, Chinese Five Spice, Mustard, fresh herbs & Coconut Aminos. 
• My new favorite thing on almost everything is garlic salt and nutritional yeast.
• Calorie free seltzer water like Bubly helped me a lot when I was on the go to full me up but mostly at night when I'd normally want a glass of wine.
• Having prepared foods helped a lot too, another great tip from Plantiful Kiki! Baking a bunch of potatoes & sweet potatoes once or twice a week and keeping them in the fridge helped make the meals times go smoothly. I love my rice maker but I also keep the Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice microwave pouches in the freezer for quick rice when I need it.

Now that the cleanse is over I intend to keep the main principles of the 50/50 plate and add in the occasional treat when I really feel like it so I don't feel as restricted. My goal weight is 132lbs so fingers crossed! If I get there I will update! The last 12 lbs I want to lose will take time because health wise I wouldn't want to be lower than that, those last few are hard to budge

Finally the end and my final weight is 143lbs so I didn't lose any in the last week but didn't gain either which was good. I’m definitely going to keep doing the 50/50 for as long as I can but add in the occasional processed treat. Moderation and all that, not something I’ve ever been very good at :)

Fat Free Tomato & Herb Soup

 I came up with this one on a whim while on the Starch Solution cleanse. Probably shouldn't have used the flour but it needed a bit of thickening! Use whatever herbs you like, it was good with basil and parsley which is what I had! You can also add onion powder to replace frying onions, or just sautee your onions in water.

Fat Free Tomato & Herb Soup

Ingredients

400g tin crushed tomatoes

2 Tbls Chopped Parsley

2-4 Tbls Chopped Basil

1/4 tsp fresh black pepper

1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tbls sugar

1 Tbls rice flour + 1-2 Tbls water

Method

Add all ingredients except the flour/water combination to a large pot and bring to a boil.

Lower to a simmer for 20 minutes, covering if necessary.

Let soup cool slightly and ladle in batches into a blender to blend smooth.

Add smooth soup back to pot and add in flour/water combination.

Turn heat to medium until soup has thickened slightly.