Anyone tried the sirtfood diet?

[Miloarmadillo1]

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

Hi all, I'm on day 22 and have repeated the first week 3 times. I can't decide whether I think the diet is good or not, in light of the cost and the amount of prep. Lost just under 4 lbs the first week, 2 more in the 2nd week and then a measly 1/8 lb last week. Cannot decide whether it's good or not - my weight goes down a lot after the first 3 days of the week 1 plan, then rises quite a bit when the food is increased on days 4-7 so the overall weekly loss ends up being less than hoped! At the end of week 1 decided the increase to 3 meals a day wouldn't work for me, and that's why I decided to keep doing week 1 (plus it's an excuse to eat the chocolate again!)
I ended up buying a juicer after the nutribullet plus nut milk bag and for those wanting to do this long term would recommend it, since you can bulk prepare the juice. I'd like to stay on this instead of going back to my usual ADF (which puts me in a terrible mood with the family!) but will probably see how another week goes. Am starting to miss a few foods now - agree with others re porridge and would kill for a slice of cake!!
I did initially feel quite healthy/lively on this diet though and can't decide whether it's gin or if I'm now just taking it for granted!
Almost scared to come off the juice in case end up back at square one though!
Really useful to hear how others are finding this - thanks all.

Ps it should say gone instead of gin in my post just now!!! (Although gin sounds much more exciting!!!)

Hello. I'm on day 3, cooking aromatic chicken and blah as I type, done it all by the book and I'm down about 4.5lbs so far. It's not been too bad but I am pretty murderous with hunger come 4pm and have a permanent headache.

Looking forward to less juice tomorrow though I have been doing what others suggested and chucking an extra apple and some ginger in to make it taste nicer. I got my juicer from Argos this week - a Cookworks one. Was only £29 and does the job brilliantly. I too have been victim of the national buckwheat shortage (#firstworldproblems) and couldn't get the cereals. I've opted for Eat Natural Toasted Buckwheat Muesli instead and picked out all the raisins, added in the recipe stuff. Hoping that will be good enough but we'll see! So many bloody dates....

I've got a question though - I thought frying in extra virgin olive oil was considered dodgy these days, carcinogenic or something? Or is that just roasting in it??

I have found a juice improvement - had a load of frozen blackberries (after a day of picking these as a family, daughter refused to eat them as apparently they may have 'spider droppings' on them. Apparently she saw a spider on one of the blackberry bushes. I know....) so added these instead of extra apple. Wouldn't say it tastes nice - but definitely less composty. Mind that is after tasting a measly spoonful. Lets see how I feel 500 mls down tomorrow.

Re the question on olive oil, yes I have had it is unstable at high temperatures and that you should use rapeseed oil instead. But on the other hand - mediterranean cultures fry everything in it and don't have high cancer rates so I will ignore that.

re Olive Oil, I am a glutton for anything Dr Michael Mosley broadcasts or writes & in the recent series of Trust me, I'm a Doctor, Olive Oil was given a really good rating, however I do know that if you burn ie create black smoke with any oil, it creates nasties, so the secret is to cook without creating smoke. I think Fuzzywig 1 has the right idea, they cook everything with it in Greece & have some of the healthiest, oldest communities in the world. My fear is dates, I have put on so much weight that I am concerned about my blood sugar, one reason for doing Sirt, but according to Dr Mosley .....eating 2 dates has the same effect on your blood sugar as eating 2 large punnets of strawberries......I know the authors of the Sirt diet quote some medical studies about the effects of dates on blood sugars, but I'm not sure how robust these papers are or if they stand up to scrutiny. Anyway, I am eating dates but half what it says in Sirt & not in the strawberry buckwheat tabbouleh, which I find a really weird dish anyway, i mean, strawberries & turmeric, with capers.... not my favourite meal!!!

OOPS PS: Tryingtocatchup 1 and others who have been on the diet for 3 weeks or more & are noticing a slowing up of weight loss, are you getting more toned, which is what the diet says happens? Muscle weighs more than fat, so are you looking more trim despite not shifting as much weight as you wanted in the later weeks of dieting?

Thanks for info about olive oil everyone. I'll stop worrying now!

I had the sirt muesli today and enjoyed it. Ridiculously huge portion though, and given the calorific load of all those ingredients I reduced it down to about 2/3 portion with a couple of dollops of yoghurt and a few strawberries. I too will be skipping the strawberry tabouleh. Sounds vile.

Another 1/2 lb of today though, so that's 5lb in total in 4 days. I've never had such a good result with any previous diet attempt, and can definitely see and feel the results. Fascinated to see if it stays this was now I'm on two meals a day though. Also it's my birthday next week and there's lots of big meals planned which should derail things. Going to keep having the juices and try and include sirt ingredients wherever possible, and sticking to red instead of white wine.

H3I3naGraham I'm getting v sceptical about whether it's a magical diet or not - in the first week I think you do notice quite a change in feeling much slimmer/rapid results on the scales particularly in the first few days, but I'm wondering whether the juice essentially keeps water down and as we've all been noticing, the calorie content of the meals isn't particularly low. I'm getting a bit impatient now after all this effort (and I've even cut down the meals quite about in the last 14 days - reducing dates/walnuts/buckwheat) wanting clothes to feel looser/improvement on the scales but am wondering whether now have to fiddle with the plan a bit and create some kind of 5:2 or 4:3 plan using the sirtfoods but including juices on the 500 cal days. I was googling a but last night in the KX club website which is where this plan was launched, and it talks about the Sirtfood Intermittent Fasting programme for the most rapid weight loss. Anyone else had any other ideas?
Confess I do think I feel much healthier than I normally do though, particularly when dieting.
And yes re dates - I read a warning in the book that one date is 60 cals so they warn off snacking on them. It's one if the few treats though and even a single date in the salad makes it more interesting!

Hello Tryingtocatchup1, It has taken me over 2 weeks to start to lose weight, closer to 3 to be honest and after my original wk1, i'd only lost 1lb. I started wk2 but shifted zilch, lost the plot last Saturday & started again on wk1 this week and FINALLY, the weight is starting to move. As of today I am a total of 6lbs down over 3 weeks; not unreasonable & I am happy with that. However you are not alone in being concerned at the food quantities in weeks 2-3 and then the 3 meals a day thereafter. It's interesting that the founders are now talking 5:2 (which I find virtually impossible, DH is tolerant but I don't want to totally trash my marriage....) which makes me suspect that there is a plateau in the Sirt diet.....

I am also trying to eat in a tighter window, breakfast at 9.30, dinner by 7, this works fine without a social life (!!), but then again, there has to be flexibility with any eating plan, this is after all, meant to be about a food-lifestyle change.

However I picked up & read (virtually finished it) Michael Mosley's 8 week Blood Sugar Diet yesterday & to be honest I think I shall be shifting onto this next week when DH returns from 9 weeks trip to NZ. Why? It is a 4 wk low carb/calorie diet which also tries to re-educate eating patterns away from carbohydrates but has a more generous calorie allowance than the 5:2 diet & the food is very varied. It's also something I believe DH could do, as there's no way with his lifestyle that the juicing would work. Mosley's is a food-plan which looks at preventing diabetes and with the 'state of the nation' I think it should be widely read. Many foodstuffs cross over with the Sirt diet & there is also high weight loss within the 1st month. Red wine is semi-permitted as is 85-95% quality chocolate after the "bedding in period". I will probably work out some form of balancing act between the 2 as this juicing malarky is not a lifestyle choice for me.....but Sirt has introduced me to some tasty nutritious 'diet' food & some devious ideas with buckwheat which i'd never used before, I shall even try savoury buckwheat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday!!

H3I3naGraham - so interested in your post that I've just ordered that book!!! Keen to find something that DH could do as well - not that I think he could stomach the green juice but he has v little time and I really couldn't face making 2 lots of it each day!!! L

Looking forward to that book arriving now!

Hats off to those managing to "enjoy" the Green Juice! I can't help feeling a must have missed a vital, delicious ingredient out? I can only manage it in small amounts and the best way was on a rivita...but I guess that's not the idea butter it's better than adding gin! Only just started so glad to know how you all get on too.

Pleased to help Tryingtocatchup1, it's a fascinating read, honest! At my stage in life, I need to look at long-term eating choices; sure, it's fine to eat daft foods every now & again & drink lots of lovely wine, but my body has turned into a warehouse as opposed to a temple......now it's telling me to eat more carefully!! DH's body is also telling him to eat less/more carefully but he's been ignoring it lately....

Bundlesgolf01, what can I say... you are managing to spread it on Ryvita... Good grief....I suspect you have the sludge my blender makes, before I strain it through a nut milk bag, it's worth the green fingernails, not to have to chomp my way through it un-strained!

I do 5;2 with approx 1300 -1500 cals which prevents me from weight gain.
I am very active .
This is excellent to add to 5;2 as you can have more cals, if you are struggling with hunger on your 600 cals then these menus are a big help .

Think the real gain for this is to prevent muscle loss when you are cutting back. Add / substitute these foods to your normal diet. Presumably good for a bit of a crash diet as not so harmful. I go to Aldi to buy all the veg and make 3 days worth of juice ( sage plus juicer) which sits in fridge , DH has noticeable drop in blood pressure and hes been on one large glass juice each morning. I make his porridge 50 buckwheat flakes and 50 oats - its delicious . It is a bit of a faff making the juice - there is no way you could eat all the juice ingredients - you would be chewing all day .

I am coming to the end of week 1 (4lbs down and 2 days to go) and am wondering likewise if I will actually lose weight once i go to 3 meals a day. I think i might stick with 2 meals and 2 juices for now..

Bundlesgolf1: i found the juice fine at first but started to make me nearly sick by glass 3 each day. I have now added blackberries rather than additional apple (they are on the secondary sirtfood list as is apple so though no harm as they are v low cal) and also on somebody else's advice added fizzy water. Find it fine now. Might be worth trying various additions to make it palatable but it also sounds like you are blending rather than juicing which i think people have found quite 'challenging'

I will check my blood pressure after reading that, will be extra motivation!

trying to catch up- how many weeks have you done ? Did you lose any weight after the first week? Have you been doing 3 meals a day after week 1?

Sorry trying to catch up - looked back and read your earlier post and I saw you have been doing week 1 for 3 weeks.

On a standard 1250 cals diet fat loss should be about 1 1/2 lb a week - so it doesnt really seem that marvellous compared to normal calorie reduction (especially if you discount about 2lbs as lower food/water in your body). I suppose though their argument is that you are not losing muscle at the same time.

I will check body fat % when I finish the week and see if it is any better than on previous low calorie diets for similar loss.

Hi Everyone
I've done the 3 weeks now & very pleased with the weight loss. 8lbs in week 1, 2 1/2 in week 2 and 2lbs in week 3. So seems to be working for me.I did stick to it to the letter though. ( I tried the 5:2 and that wasn't great for me). Still find the green juice (#grass cuttings) awful, But I've been using a nutribullet and not bothered straining it so the texture is really grim. May invest in a juicer. Any recommendations that don't break the bank?
I'm starting week one again, so will be interesting to see what I lose compared to first time round.(really not looking forward to 3 juices a day again) My target is 12 more pounds, so fingers crossed not too many more weeks...
H3l3naGraham - hows its going now? Has it been better this time round?

Good morning cakebaker, Fluckle bought a juicer (in this stream) for 29 quid at Argos, so if you didn't want to strain the compost through a nut milk bag (7 quid on Amazon) like I do, I think that she has found a bargain! You really have motivated me, your weight loss is brilliant! I am hovering around 6lbs, so starting wk1 again did kick start my metabolism, but like many others I am nervous about 3 meals a day and might just stick to 2 meals with one juice (perhaps 2), as it's taken so long to shift this amount, I don't want to take a step backwards! I am still toying with the Blood Sugar Diet and might try this if I plateau next week.

Just to let people know that I have just repeated phase 1 after not losing that much when I did phase 1 the first time at the start of January. I lost 6lbs this time around and am going to stick to SIRT-ing but no more than one juice per day and then two sirt meals, hoping to lose at least 2lbs a week. Think that is realistic.

Hello Purplepants5, it's strange isn't it, I had to do phase 1 twice too, before I started to lose weight. Do let us know how your diet modification works, 2lbs a week does sound realistic & eminently do-able.

I've just repeated week 1. (first time round I lost 8lbs in wk 1,) this time round I've lost 2 1/2 lbs. I'm going to carry on with 2 juices & 2 sirt meals a day from now on & see how it goes.

I lost 8.5lbs in the first week and nothing on the second (week 1 of maintenance diet) even though i followrd it religiously so feeling a little disheartened. Am persevering with week 2 of the maintenance but still no weight loss yet

I think the maintenance with 3 meals is just too much food, I am sorry to say. I think it is about 2000 cals so whilst the SIRT elements may mean you lose over time it will be gradual? I think?? I have been doing 1 juice two meals since Sunday and have continued to lose. Have lost 4.2lbs since started 8 days ago. Not amazing but i had already been dieting in Jan when started so had done the 'first few days lose 3lbs' thing that always happens when you stop scoffing too much! So I am pretty pleased and will carry on.

I bought a juicer on Amazon for £50 but that £29 one sounds a bargain and seems to work well.

Hi Fuzzywig1, I have internet again, been down for a while. Having re-looked at the intervews with the developers of this diet & the journalists who have been on it, it appears to me that there's an awful lot of gym going on.....So I do wonder if the maintenance part will provide too many calories for people like me who aren't as fit as the original sample. I try to go on a good walk at least 4 times a week, but arthritis has put paid to the gym, I will swim again once the weather improves, but 2,000 cals a day is way over what I should eat if I want to lose weight. Other contributors also seem to be struggling on the maintenance part, so I have decided to do what you are doing, 1 juice, 2 meals from Thursday. If that doesn't work & I plateau I am going onto the Blood Sugar Diet which does have Sirt foods in it, a plenty. Tryingtocatchup1 - are you on week 1 again, or have you decided to adapt the diet as well? Fluckle - hope you had a good birthday, how are you doing on 2 meals a day now?