The Plan – Megan Noll Photography

A few days ago, I wrote a status on my personal facebook page:

Today is Day 1 of The Plan. Let’s do this!

I had a lot of questions about what The Plan is, and people wanting to hear how it is working for me. I just finished the detox, and thought I’d write a little update for you all!

First, what is it? The Plan is a philosophy that food IS medicine. The theory is that, while you may not be eyes-swollen-puffy-lipped allergic to a certain food, doesn’t mean that the food you are eating is working well with your body chemistry. For someone like me, with a laundry list of stomach issues, I started this with the hopes of figuring out how to fix it. I have had a lot of friends do this plan, and it helped with medical conditions from chronic migraines to symptoms of auto-immune disorders.

When you hear me talk about The Plan, I reference the pounds I’ve lost. I do that because The Plan has you use your digital scale as your data gathering tool. Have you ever weigh yourself in the morning, and when you weigh yourself the next morning, you are 3 pounds heavier? If you are like me, you probably thought that you ATE 3 pounds of food or something. I didn’t know that those crazy weight jumps are from your body’s inflammatory response system kicking into gear. In The Plan, they teach you to weigh yourself to see if you have had a reaction to the food you’ve eaten.

The Plan is aimed at reducing your inflammatory response to food. To do that, you start off with a three day detox. In retrospect, I’m really thankful Brian is the one that did the prep work for the first day, because I think I would have looked at the menu, and been like “yeaaaaaah that’s not happening.” It’s brutal. Sautéed Kale, Beet and Carrot salad, and flaxseed. It’s crying-into-your-kale-at-the-dinner-table hard (guilty).

The only thing that kept me gong was the results. I lost 3.6 pounds the first day, and a total of 7 by the time the three days was up. My stomach was noticeably less bloated, and on Day 4, Brian just said I seemed happier. I certainly felt happier too. All this was great, but the real kicker is this: I haven’t been having my stomach issues.

The good news is this – there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You are not relegated to a life of kale and no french fries. Once you are out of the detox, you get to go to the testing phase. You test a food, then weigh yourself the next day. If you go down (according to The Plan, you are supposed to lose a 1/2 pound a day until you reach your body’s ideal healthy weight), you are not reactive to that food. If you gain you are reactive. Being reactive doesn’t mean you never get to have that food, but it just lets you know that it may be a better “treat” verses and everyday thing. A lot of the most reactive foods are “health foods” like salmon! That blew my mind!

I am not much farther than that, but here are my suggestions and observations thus far:

• I have not been hungry.
The book tells you to “eat until you are full” in most cases. This isn’t a starvation thing, because I get way to hangry for that non-sense.

• If you don’t have a friend that has done it, you should text me.
I’ll send you encouragement, because you’ll need it those first three days! (I’m looking at you, Stacy! Thanks for getting me through it, boo!)

• Look ahead for which foods you get to try.
Seeing that chicken on the menu of night three was glorious! Cheese, wine and chocolate on Day 4…even better!

• Reminding myself of how miserable I am when my stomach issues are acting up really kept me focused.
I kept selling myself that feeling “deprived” for 3 days is totally worth it to figure out how to not have issues for the rest of my life. It’s an investment in me

• The meal prep does take a long time.
Plan accordingly!

• Brian and I both agree: the change to our palette’s has been INCREDIBLE!
I have heard about vegans having their tastebuds reset, but I wasn’t expecting how quickly it happens. Yesterday, we made roasted veggies, and I was having a fit over how good they were. I was like RAVING about VEGETABLES! What have I become?! Also, with those palette changes, don’t be afraid to try new things! I have never been a red wine lover, but it tasted so good tonight! 🙂

• If you can, find someone to do it with you.
Thankfully, Brian is a super good sport, and did this with me, and I wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have without him doing it too.

• It’s okay to remove yourself from tempting situations.
I was a bit grumpy the first two days, so I just stayed away from situations where food would be a social thing. Take the time to share this information with friends so they can support you in it!

I guess that’s all I have for now! I’ll update you as I can! Let me know if you have any questions! 🙂

Update: I have gone through the full 30 day plan twice now! I have no stomach issues at all anymore.

The first time through I found out that any type of processed food was making me sick. For me deli meat, chicken nuggets, and hotdogs were the types of things giving my body so many issues. That feels gross to write out, because I really didn’t eat those foods everyday but when I did, I was miserable.

I noticed I was okay most of the time after that, but there were still times sporadically where I would get really sick. That made me decide to go through The Plan again and figure out the culprit. The second time, I found out that shellfish also gives me trouble. Because I don’t eat shellfish everyday, it was hard to nail down. When I thought back to the times I got sick, it always was after I had eaten a seafood meal. I LOVE shellfish, so that was hard at first. Now, because I know it’s what causes that pain, I don’t even want it because it’s honestly not worth it!

This diet has honestly been a game changer for my life and has kept me from unnecessarily medicating myself for years. I highly recommend!