Anyone tried the sirtfood diet?

[Miloarmadillo1]

www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/magazine/article4647459.ece

H3l3na - I like the recipes too. At least on this diet the food is tasty, and healthy. For the last couple of days I have been trying out the food on DH, DS (20, vegetarian), and DD (2 - modifying a bit for her). Yesterday DH saw his dinner and said 'ooh, that looks great', which is unusual as he will eat whatever he is given, but rarely comments. DS made a beeline for his and demolished it, and DD said we were having 'party food' for dinner It was basically salad, salsa, chicken/veggie substitute, and for them, some baked sweet potato. It looked quite colourful and pretty. DH loved the sirtfood muesli I fed him for lunch too. DD snaffled a fair quantity of mine. DH is not a fan of kale though. Even before we had to clean the kale juice out of the carpet. I have yet to figure out the cost difference between our usual shopping and a family diet higher in sirt foods.

Now for the bad news....(big sigh) I have been on week 1 for two and half weeks. In the first two weeks I lost 9 pounds (4.5 pounds each week), but I have not lost anything this week. I have stuck to the diet, but the question is: should I continue? Has anyone else experienced the same problem?

Hi all :-) I'm on day 5, so coming towards the end of Phase 1. I'm aiming for a loss of about 3 stones over the coming months, not sure if I'm sticking to the sirt food diet to do that or mixing things up a bit.

I've had good results so far - weigh-in this morning showed 8lbs down (lots and lots of water loss contributing to that, especially in the first 3 days). Energy levels have been good, I've still been exercising.

Plus points of this diet imo are the quick results, the delicious meals and the dark chocolate treat in the first three days. I also like the 'moderate fasting' approach, with fewer meals - I find it handy not to think about what to eat, rather than having lots of 'danger points' in the day where I might make the wrong food choices or overeat.

Downside is the prep time - it takes me ages to make up the juice, even though I've started doing it in batches because the book says that if kept in the dark and refrigerated, the benefits can last for 3 days before sirtuin-activating levels start to drop.

I'll post some pics of the meals I've had, they have almost all been absolutely delicious and the sort of thing I'd be happy to eat, diet or not.

For those using a blender and not losing as much as they hoped - is it possible you could buy or borrow a juicer to see if that makes a difference? Assuming that you're following the same meals, that's got to be the critical difference right?

Here are my meals from the first 3 days:
Asian king prawn stir-fry with buckwheat noodles - delicious and filling
Kale and red onion dhal with buckwheat - not much to look at but very tasty
Aromatic chicken breast with kale and red onions and a tomato and chilli salsa - really delicious and satisfying, lots of variety on this plate!

Here are the other meals I've tried:
Day 4 sirt muesli - I didn't have buckwheat flakes so just slightly increased the buckwheat puffs amount. This bowl is half the quantity in the recipe.
Tuscan bean stew with buckwheat - this is the only meal I've not been overly impressed with. It needed extra seasoning. This is a much smaller portion than the recipe (for the bean stew part). I doubled it up to make it for two people, but it ended up being enough to feed a family.
Miso marinated baked cod with stir-fried greens and sesame - really delicious. I used brown miso to marinate the cod.
I didn't have the other meal that was on the menu today - strawberry buckwheat tabbouleh - as I'm worried about stunting the weight loss when I increase meals!

Hello all! Back from my marathon train journey, thank heavens that M&S do a range of SIRT-friendly food or it would have been even more challenging. NB I am making juice since my nut milk bag arrived mid 1st week, it's not a smoothie any more. I am a person who likes kale, I always have, love my vegetables more than fruit, perhaps I need to stick on the 1st phase for longer if my body, like IrritableBitchSyndrome's is more used to this type of food...? PS love the photo's PlumpFiction, thank you!

Hey H3l3naGraham I am going to follow your lead and repeat phase 1 next week also, will be really strict and see what the scales say. As for proper juicing well I am juicing celery and apple then blending the rest with some water and sieving the results before adding to the celery and apple, matcha and lemon juice. Can't find a juicer that juices kale well so not sure how to improve things on the juice front.
By the way with the meals I can highly recommend the sirt super salad as well. I am not a salady person unless it's 30 degrees in the shade so it was very surprising that I would like this which is why I mention it. I even substitute the rocket for baby kale sometimes-they sell it at Tescos.
Thanks for the pics plumpfiction, always good to see how others meals look. Good luck everyone, keep sirt-ing this weekend

Sirt super salad with added olives

Cod in miso with kale and buckwheat noodles

By the way is it true that you only have the choccy hit on days 1-3?

That salad does look nice, I'll try that.

Yes the chocolate is only included in days 1-3. However I went a bit off-piste last night with my remaining dark chocolate and a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir. Oops. I enjoyed it at the time, and I'm back to the plan today.

Marking place - this diet looks interesting. I like most of the foods on the sirt list anyway. Bought kale today (never eaten it before), very nice in a stir-fry.

I'm on week 3 of the diet. Lost 8lbs in the first week and 2 1/2 lbs in week 2. Getting a bit fed up with the kale juice...still makes me wretch a bit! But the diet seems to be working for me - I've never lost that much in 2 weeks before :)

That's a great result cakebaker; I am starting week 1 again today to see if it helps kick start my metabolism, if I don't lose any more than the current measly 1lb I have managed to shift so far, then I will have to go back to the drawing board, poss doing 5:2 with Sirtfood ingredients. Main trouble with 5:2 is my temper & the impact upon my relationship with DH.....Anyway, just swallowed the 1st juice of the day & off to bulk buy more kale, there seems to be a shortage of matcha tea.......perhaps the inventors of this diet have shares in kale farms & matcha tea production!!!!

PS my Olive magazine has just arrived; has a lovely recipe for kale & paneer stuffed naan....... I must resist.....!

just finished 3 weeks/21 days, and really pleased with weight loss. Key learning points if it helps others - I have lost about 8lbs in 3 weeks, and have lost during the second 2 weeks as well as the first although not as much. Although this isn't as much as some others or as the book suggests I'm still very pleased with that as its the best weight loss I've ever had in the period of time and also the easiest diet to stick with I've done. I have stuck to it I'd say about 90% of the time, and when eating out have done my best to make a really healthy/low cal choice off the menu even though it wasn't strictly sirt food. Also doing dry January which is probably helping. I have gone down to just under 10 stone this morning and definitely also feel leaner. Down a dress size and can get back into most of my suits. I'm generally quite a healthy eater and exercise regularly, although could not do so on first 3 days which I found really tough, very very hungry - respect to people doing those days again - for me was hard!
I have switched meals around especially in weeks 2 and 3, and have batch cooked a few things to freeze. Have also experimented and made a few of my own meals sticking to sirt principles but adding a greater variety of vegetables and protein, and some different fruit into the smoothies, has all helped with the interest!
Agree with others that it is quite hard work but am getting the hang of juicing every couple of days making a bit jugful and keeping in the fridge. Also, if you don't like the taste of the juice which frankly I don't, I find if you add more lemon juice than the recipe says, and top up with equal quantity sparkling water, it really improves it. Have also added a bit more apple juice latterly which makes it delicious - although will of course add to the calories.
also - I'm so excited - my lovage is growing !!! :)

conclusion - I'm going to keep on with this as per the plan for the next couple of weeks and then take it from there. I am actually not missing sugar, crisps, wine, cheese and some of the other crap i used to eat as much as I thought so I do think there is something in the sirt science.
Good luck everyone. x

Thank you Chickenlips, very helpful indeed, having had a kitchen accident with the juice this morning, i think I might take a leaf (!!) out of your book & batch-process the juice, on the basis that the less often you make it, the projectile, green sludge missile-factor reduces...... 8lbs in 3 weeks sounds brilliant to me & is a sensible amount, ie not an unrealistic amount of weight loss to keep off, well done! on the cravings front I miss crispbreads (texture) but more than that, I miss my morning porridge, so once my 3 week phase is over I shall be making buckwheat groat porridge like another dieter on this stream has posted. IrritablebitchSyndrome, how is it going? BlueHisqmt, you have been on Week 1 for what must be 3 weeks now, any further progress?

Thanks chickenlips for tips to make the juice more palatable, I'll definitely give it a go. I've stuck it out so far because I'm having good results with the weight loss but can't say that when I open my fridge each morning to be greeted by my jug of green juice that I feel overjoyed!I must have consumed an entire field of kale by now.
H3l3naGraham - did you only lose 1lb in week 1? Thats tough after all that kale :( Let me know how you get on when you repeat it. I did well the first time round & I'm thinking of repeating the 3 week cycle gain at the end of my 3rd week. I miss my porridge too. Might give the buckwheat a go as well.

Funny how when my 4 children raid the fridge they don't touch my green juice...

Hello cakebaker, yes, unfortunately I only lost 1lb in wk1.....actually after 9 long days....so I took last Sat off Sirt (& really went for it........) & started again on Sunday with Phase 1. So far so good, I have lost another 2lbs, so 3 in total, seems to be kick-starting my metabolism, or perhaps my skinny-gene has come back after a long holiday!! I am keeping my fingers well & truly crossed that the momentum continues in the right direction. Have ordered some buckwheat groats from my local healthfood shop as do plan on introducing some form of porridge into this regime in the future. A hot brekkie helps me start my day in the winter!

I've started day 1 this morning, my various ingredients arrived ŷesterday after having ordered them a week ago.

I have to say, the green juice is revolting! I have a nutribullet so used that and then squeezed the pulp through a muslin bag, those of you also using a nutribullet, how much water do you add in order for the NB to be able to blend it?

I started this diet on Sunday and am really "enjoying it " have lost 2.5 pounds on the first day and 1/2 pound on the second day no loss today :( Lets see how it goes!

Hi ClareFraser, my Salter is very, very similar to a Nutribullet & I use a tablespoon of water to enable smooth blending, I strain it too. Add a touch more apple, it makes it a bit more palatable. Good luck!

I am on day 3. The weight loss is good (3 lbs in 2 days)although am sure a lot is water (though had already lost a bit before while waiting for my bleeding juicer to arrive from a despatch company that will only deliver to a neighbour if you give them ID!!)

I have to say I am quite used to drinking juices and healthy food but the quantity of this green juice is making me feel ill. I am fine with the first one - the second one is a bit offputting but the 3rd of the day I have to hold my nose and swallow down whilst thinking i am going to be sick.

I have cheated today - have had one and another beauty is nestling in my bag its aluminium cup for later but i have brought celery sticks, an apple, strawberries and rocket for a luxury lunch.

Surely it wont make that much difference....

I have seen the tip about the water but think that will just prolong the pain - my juicer seems very efficient and I get about 3/4 of a litre of juice.
Anybody tried anything else that makes it more palatable - mint? ginger??

its the general taste of grass I cant handle.....

Hello Fuzzywig1, i struggled hugely before I found a tip on this stream about straining the more-smoothy type liquid my blender was producing through a nut-milk bag, this reduced the thick consistency & large volume of liquid into a more manageable glassful. Others on this stream have added extra apple which does help, I can't see any reason why you couldn't add ginger & it would help with the compost taste, but for me it's the smell....... I had to wait 2 weeks for the diet book to arrive so improvised with what I read in magazines. The only naughty treats I have had have been a couple of strawberries, 3 walnut halves & an extra date, if i get desperate I look towards Sirtfoods for treats as opposed to anything too off-piste. Despite needing to lose 3 stone (am gunning for 2 down by the summer & know the 3rd will take longer) I have a relatively low sugar diet (except for wine.....) and can imagine that it must be tough if someone's going cold-turkey from refined sugar, cereals etc Good luck!

Mine is definitely juice rather than smoothie - have a cold press juicer rather than a blender and it does work but there is a lot by the time I have put in 6 handfuls of Kale etc.

I actually don't eat a lot of sugar but like you I do have a wine habit... and combined with Christmas I need to lose about a stone - or a bit more. I work in an agency that deals with food and drink clients so have gradually put on about 1 1/2 stone in the 5 years i have worked here. I used to deal with cosmetics, much less troublesome.

I did eat 3 walnut halves and a stick of celery last night as I was cooking my dahl. The meal portions are huge so I dont eat all of them.

I agree the smell is pretty rank and compost is a great description. Somebody suggested mint, think that might help (and it is a sirt food too!)