The Plan

My husband was intrigued by a discussion of The Plan by author Lyn-Genet Recitas on the Dr. Oz Show.  Apparently he was not the only one – when we went to our local Barnes & Noble to buy the book it was sold out.  We ordered it online and waited the two weeks for it to ship.

We both read the book.  The Plan presents an interesting philosophy on food and weight gain.  Per Ms. Recitas, who quotes multiple case studies to back up this theory, weight gain is the result of inflammation caused by foods that are reactive to your body.  She states, “Weight gain is nothing more than a reflection of your body’s chemical reaction to foods.”   It’s personal – foods that I react to may be perfectly fine for you to eat, and vice-versa. 

She goes on to tell us, “Aging itself is an inflammatory process.”  Ouch – I could have gone all my life without hearing this, but it does make sense.  I've known lots of people who could eat anything they wanted – until they turned 40.  Myself included. 

After reading the book, my husband decided he wanted to try The Plan’s 20-day testing protocol.  That’s right – it’s a testing protocol, not a diet.  The first three days are designed to cleanse and detox the body using foods that are friendly for 90% of the author’s test population.  The cleansing phase sets a neutral baseline for your body to begin testing foods that could be more reactive.  The menus are set, with recipes included in the book.

I looked over the menus, and decided to go on The Plan.  While I don’t need to lose weight, wouldn't it be great to know if there are certain foods that cause inflammation for me?  Then I could avoid those foods, or at least, know that inflammation was coming and be prepared to deal with it.  And of course, I wanted to support my husband’s goal of dropping the extra 20 pounds that have eluded him for years.

We started The Plan yesterday – day 1 of the three-day cleanse.