The Ape Diet

[Engel]

My diet has been pretty poor my whole life.  Eating bad has always been one of my vices.  The closest thing to a diet I have ever done is I quit drinking soda for about 3 months last year and I felt great.  Eventually I cheated and slowly got back to drinking them (but at a much smaller quantity).  I was working out often during this time and my weight got down to about 183 lbs.  My normal weight (without diet and exercise) hovers around 200 lbs which I am currently at.  Recently within the last couple months I have been working out almost every day and drinking a lot of water with the occaisional soda.  I lost about 5 pounds but then gained it right back after not being able to make it to the gym for a week due to long hours at work.  Anywho I saw this "ape diet" or evo/raw food diet on Oprah and it seems like a good idea and with some pretty amazing results.  The theory behind it sounds solid, you eat about every two hours.  Plants and natural foods digest faster so your metabolism goes up and your cholesteral and all that other bad stuff goes down.  People have described a euphoric high energy feeling from this diet.

http://www.naturalnews.com/021451.html

A co-worker and I decided to try it; we start tomorrow Monday June 14th.  Tonight I bought 77$ worth of food that most of it I would never eat unless I was starving to death.  It will be easier to do it with a partner.  I am going to try to keep a blog on here with everything  I eat and let everyone know how it is going.  I will also be working out every day if possible doing circuit training for 20 minutes and running for 20 minutes.  Since this diet is so high fiber I know I am going to be pooping water the first day or two while my body goes through detox and gets rid of all of the trash that is in all of the processed foods we all eat.  My goal weight to 180.  However I only bought about a weeks worth of food so if after a week I feel I can't go on then I will call it quits.  The no caffene part is going to kill me.  What I want to gain out of this diet is a love for foods that I normally don't eat and let them carry on after I stop the diet.

Oh yeah, you are supposed to eat 11 pounds of food a day or at least try.

[nicklz]

Good luck with that, but the guy they interviewed probably would have done all he did just eliminating the "bacon, sausage and egg sandwiches and deep-fried fish and chips" from his diet. He basically said he ate no vegetables.
I think one of the best weight reducers is just to use a smaller plate and don't go back for seconds.
Don't forget, Engel, that muscle weighs more than fat.
I think it's rather amusing that they're using a study of people that obviously died out except for in those damned Geico commercials.
Give it a whorl and see what happens. I'll read your blog.

[Engel]

Well let me start by saying that this diet is way tougher than I thought.  I am thinking maybe I should have eased into it instead of jumping head on.  My body isn't reacting very well to all of these new foods.  I do eat fruits and vegetables but never at this quantity.

Breakfast: 1/2 a baby watermelon and a bannana
Snack: peanuts and sunflower seeds
lunch: cherries, grapes, celery, dates raisins, fig, peanuts, sunflower seeds, strawberry
snack: bannana smoothie
Dinner: Potatoes and leeks

This diet is too hard to follow all the rules.  I am going to have to modify it to make it practical.  I can't eat raw stuff all the time.  I had bad gas today and I and had cold sweats with nasea and dizziness.  I think I am not eating something that I am supposed to.  Oh yeah btw after 11 lbs of food today I still havent had a bowel movement. 

[Engel]

The 2nd day was much like the 3rd day.  Many of the same foods.  My wife made a vegetarian chili for dinner... I know it's not  raw but whatever.  I wasn't about to complain.  I also drank a cup of Korean tea that is supposed to cleanse your colon and oh... my... god.  It worked, EXTREMELY well.  I felt bowel exiting from the depths behind my ribs.  I decided to quit the diet early after weighing myself on the morning of the 3rd day.  I have lost 7 pounds.  It can't be healthy to lose that much in 2 days.  I do feel great though and no, I am not dehydrated.  I think most of the weight loss was from the tea.  Either way I feel good and my stomach feels tight.  My abs are showing through again.  Easing back into eating regular food will be the hardest part.  I had a salad today for lunch with light dressing and it was making my stomach do flips.  My appetite is smaller too so that is always a good thing.  All in all it was a good learning experience.  I am pretty sure this diet isn't for people with a physical lifestyle.  The people in the study didn't exercise or work full time.  The gym was rough in my weak state.  This experience has made me more conscience of what I eat and especially the portions.

[nicklz]

What was in that tea? That sounds pretty scary! Yeah, that's way too much to lose in that short of a time.

[Engel]

chinese mallow (malta) and senna.

[nicklz]

I looked up both and the mallow is for stamina and libido and the senna said "The leaves and pods of the senna plant contain compounds called anthraquinones, which are powerful laxatives. " No wonder you lost 7 pounds! It's surprising you didn't lose your intestines, too.

[Engel]

Since I started the ape diet nearly a month and a half ago it has made me more health conscience.  I have been doing really good since then.  I actually tried to eat fast food last weekend as a treat and I puked it all up.  My body didn't want it.  I went from something that I ate every day to not even being able to stomach it.  I eat so much healthier now.  I have to have fresh fruit.  I don't drink anything accept water.  I am afraid to drink tea because I don't want the caffene addiction to come back (that was probably the hardest to break).  I still do go to the gym but not as often as I would like.  I went from about 3-4 times a week to 1-2 and the intensity isn't as much since I switched to nightshift and don't get to work out with my gym buddy.  I just bought an iron gym doorway pullup bar and have been working out more at home though.  I went from being able to do about 10 pullups to 30.  This week my gym buds and I are aquiring a used backhoe tire to workout with.

Anywho,
2 months ago: 200 lbs
currently: 188 lbs

I wish I would have took before and after pictures.  My wife is so excited to see me slim down to a easier to shop for pants size.   

and about the korean tea... I have a whole box and I think I will be ready for another cup in about a month.

[nicklz]

Cool. I wondered how that was going. Have you ever tried kettle bells for something different to work out with?

[Engel]

Cool. I wondered how that was going. Have you ever tried kettle bells for something different to work out with?

No never kettle bells but I occaisionally use a medicine ball at the gym.  I hate doing exercises that isolate muscle groups.  I'm more of a full body workout.  I want to build muscle that would be practical in real life situations.  For example, you are never going to be in a situation where you have to lay on your back and push strait up unless your batman and raz algul burns your mansion down and a burning rafter falls on you.

[nicklz]

Hey, my neighbor was working under his car and the jack slipped. It might have come in handy for him. Luckily, the neighbor next door had called paramedics because she'd messed up her leg playing sports in the back yard so when the car fell they took her off the gurney and went to him and picked the car off his chest. He'd used the last of his air to call for help. They put him on the gurney and she rode along to the hospital. That was a blessing it happened the way it had or it might have been tragic.
I guess it depends on the situation.

[Engel]

Hey, my neighbor was working under his car and the jack slipped. It might have come in handy for him. Luckily, the neighbor next door had called paramedics because she'd messed up her leg playing sports in the back yard so when the car fell they took her off the gurney and went to him and picked the car off his chest. He'd used the last of his air to call for help. They put him on the gurney and she rode along to the hospital. That was a blessing it happened the way it had or it might have been tragic.
I guess it depends on the situation.

No offense to your neighbor but if he had jacked the car up properly it wouldn't have fallen.  I guarantee you he didn't have the vehicle chocked and resting on jack stands with the emergency brake on.  He probably had the emergency jack, the one that your never supposed to use for maintenance with no jack stands.

[nicklz]

I think he probably knew what he was doing. He was a middle aged farmer type hillbilly. It could have been from ground shift or faulty equipment. I don't remember if that driveway was asphalt, stone, or dirt at the time. Any of those could shift it. I really don't know the details, but he was very lucky. His wife had had a stroke and couldn't talk so she wouldn't have been much help.

[Engel]

I think he probably knew what he was doing. He was a middle aged farmer type hillbilly. It could have been from ground shift or faulty equipment. I don't remember if that driveway was asphalt, stone, or dirt at the time. Any of those could shift it. I really don't know the details, but he was very lucky. His wife had had a stroke and couldn't talk so she wouldn't have been much help.

That's what jack stands are for.