Benefits of The Virgin Diet: It’s Never Too Late!

 

(Just so you know…this isn’t a pitch for a diet or weight loss program for anyone – just my personal experience with the benefits of the Virgin Diet)

Several weeks ago I started a new diet called the JJ Virgin Diet. Like most women my age, my weight has become a constant, nagging issue, along with what I had considered to be age-related aches and pains – something I just had to live with. My job is sedentary….long hours inside at the computer may not seem to be physically taxing, but at the end of the day, the energy level is completely zapped.

I started the JJ Virgin Diet because I saw a snippet on Rachel Ray. My weight was wearing on me…summer is coming and I felt I had to so something because I just felt so crappy. But…I don’t like to be hungry, and unlike some diets, this one seemed to have that little issue covered. So I bought the book and checked it out.

The basis of the diet is that we have allergies to the foods we eat, and eliminating those at the beginning is where it begins. After the first 21-day cycle, you begin to reintroduce the foods one at a time to see which ones may give you an adverse reaction. The seven foods completely eliminated from your diet for the first 21 days:

• Gluten
• Soy
• Corn
• Peanuts
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Sugar and artificial sweeteners

This was a stretch for me, I was skeptical – and nervous. I LOVE pasta and ice cream….peanut butter and yogurt and cream in my morning coffee. But, I’m committed now. How hard can it be for three weeks? So…off I march went to the health food store and my grocery store to get all the stuff I needed. Weird things I’d never tried, like vegan protein powder and coconut oil and chia seeds. Along with that were lots of veggies and healthy protein-rich meats – all good so far.

To make a long story short, I’m into the Virgin Diet four weeks now. Hunger? Not a problem. Weight loss? Yes…pretty amazing. But the accompanying benefits to this way of eating are nothing short of incredible. Also gone are the aching muscles when I go to bed and wake up in the morning. The swollen fingers. The throat clearing that was driving me crazy. The veil of lethargy that had seemed to overcome me completely and left me without the energy or desire to do much of anything at all.

After the first week, I began to feel lighter, somehow, and not just because I lost a few pounds. I’ve done that before without feeling this great! I actually have a pretty busy life, but don’t keep to a regular exercise schedule. Yet right now it’s like my energy is back. I’ve jettisoned that pervasive feeling of lethargy I didn’t even know I had! I’ve lost about 7 pounds, and I feel, in a word, so amazing I can’t believe it. The weight loss is secondary to me right now – I don’t care if I lose another pound as long as I can continue to enjoy this feeling of health and vigor.

This isn’t a pitch for the diet or the book or anything…it’s just that it worked so well for me I simply had to write about it. I’ll keep you posted!