Day 1 - Starch Solution

I had intended to have a proper template set up by today in a similar vein to the Primal Blueprint 90 day journal. It’s a great way to capture how well a particular day went from a number of different angles. I used it briefly during my time following that lifestyle and found it pretty effective and so I want to replicate that here. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite gotten round to it yet…

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts tracking my progress on the Starch Solution and (hopefully) proving that Starch really does work!

Before I forget, here’s the stats from this morning. I might add new ones as I go through the experiment:

So I clearly have a way to go. I think my target weight is around 70-75kg or so. We’ll see how it goes :)

Drinks

Well, I used to drink a wide range of things that were pretty bad for me. Now I’m trying to make water my new best friend. I do really like fizzy drinks, so carbonated water it is. Happily it’s freely provided at work:

Breakfast

Breakfast was (and likely will be for some time) some instant gluten free oatmeal. I previously made a lot of oats with almond milk, which is of course relatively high in fat. It was tasty, but as Dr. McDougall likes to say, “the fact you eat is the fat you wear”. Ah well, this stuff seems good enough. It’s reasonably filling (kept me going until around 11:15 or so) and with a small packet of sugar (I accidentally bought the “original” flavour when I meant to buy the “maple syrup” flavour) it tastes pretty good. It is a bit different from other oats in that this contains 7 whole grains. It tastes different too, but not really in a bad day.

My plan is to use this as a staple breakfast. It’s easy to make and only takes a few minutes and I can source it locally. So far so good.

Lunch

For lunch I now have a nice home made lunch box. On the Starch Solution, eating out is something you’ll rarely be able to do, especially if you live in Hong Kong. It is doable, as is demonstrated on the 10 day program, but generally, it’s easier and safer to bring your food with you. At least then you know precisely what’s in it.

In this case, I have a box full of plain white rice and boiled broccoli. Nice and simple and, fortunately, filling. I don’t know if it will be enough to last me the whole day (I’m writing this at lunch time) but if not, then I’ll come up with a way to get more starches in the afternoon. Two small meals is better than one large one, and besides, I feel full now, so eating more is not really a good option.

Snacks

Okay, so I got hungry around 4pm. It wasn’t the usual gnawing hunger, but more a simple empty feeling. I wondered if I was just first so had more water, but after a few minutes I was hungry again. By this time it was coming up to 5pm, so I didn’t want anything too heavy. So as I had some McDougall pots sitting about (for some reason I can only get pad thai here), I had one of those. They’re vegan, gluten and basically fat free, and (for those who can’t break the habit) only 200 calories.

This happily kept me going until dinner (which ended up being around 8:20 ish), and I had a nice walk too.

Thoughts

So far so good. No real cravings, although for a brief instant I really wanted a cheese sandwich. No real hunger pains, at least not as before and so far quite satisfying. It’s only day one of course, so will have to wait and see how it goes…