The James Bond Diet: An Athlete’s Cleanse

Last night Romney mentioned cleansing until her birthday (15th), which reminded me that it’s annually the time where I start to get more serious about diet. The Shakeology Cleanse, which is really more of a lean, clean-eating plan, has been the cornerstone of the last two February’s “rid-myself-of-winter-indulgence diets”. Prior to Shakeology I’d do variations of different cleanse methodologies. This year I’ll combine a few of those, along with some elements of a new product we’ll be bringing to market, with a goal of detoxing while still training. It’s something I call the James Bond diet.

The Bond diet goes way back for me. To college, specifically, when life was living was hard, fast and decidedly unhealthy. When it got too bad I’d take a week away, usually alone, to revitalize myself by eating well, resting, and exercising. You probably don’t know this side of Bond unless you’ve read the old Ian Fleming novels but this is what he’d do after a bout of assignments, drinking, womanizing, and thwarting sinister bad guys’ ridiculous plans for kaos. Usually he’d be on an island in the Caribbean, so I always tried to get away, but that’s not practical at the moment so I’ll be doing this version mainly at home.

I’m sure Fleming knew nothing of actual cleansing but his Bond plan wasn’t bad. 007 would eschew all his favorite vices, (smoking, drinking, woman) and spend his days swimming, running, lounging on the beach and eating fresh fruit until he felt revitalized or, at least, until someone bent on world domination tried to kill him. Anyway, it was always inspiring to me. I figured if a guy like Bond could go cold turkey so could I. And even though it’s a made up scenario for a fictional character, with no scientific underpinnings whatsoever, it always worked like a charm.

bond befuddles an evil temptress

This version, Bond 2.0 if you will, consists of a traditional week and a modern week. The first consists of simple elimination of processed foods (except Shakeology which I don't consider to be part of this category), animal products (except the whey in Shakeology unless I can procure an early bag of the vegan version), coffee and alcohol. Week 2 will be more strict, adding supplements and specializing the diet.

I’ll specify on week two later. Week one has no caloric restrictions at all. I’m training and need to recover. The goal is only eliminating toxins and revamping mindset and lifestyle. I’ll take my Shakeology shaken, not stirred.