Monday, February 06, 2012

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.

11 comments:

The Imbiber said...

I'm on a 3-day alcohol cleanse. But that's only because I have a blood test coming up and it's required. Your plan doesn't like a lot of fun for the big guy.

Steve Edwards said...

C'mon. If friggin' James Bond can do it...

Steve Edwards said...

Wait a minute! Aren't you trying to break through a weight plateau? This is just the kick start you need! Sheesh, the three days you're doing is by far the worst. You can probably even slide on the coffee and just cut down on it.

Steve Edwards said...

Oh, and once back in college I was doing this with someone while rooming with Dave Grams and he'd give us shit about the coffee part. "That other stuff I can understand," he'd say. "But coffee? It's performance enHANCING! You guys are just hurting yourselves."

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't classify coffee as a toxin, unless it's Folgers.

Brent said...

How do you fill up on a cleansing week? Salads, Fruit, etc only goes so far for me. Beans for every meal?

Brent said...

How do you fill up on a week with this diet? Not drinking alcohol and coffee isn't an issue for me cause I don't drink it anyway. But I can only eat so much veggie and fruit. Beans?

Josh said...

#1) Romney is only 15? Friggin' Utah.

And B), Anon, even bad coffee is better than no coffee.

And thirdly) why is no alcohol part of a cleanse? alcohol has anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties, not to mention it tastes good and makes me invincible.

And so, in conclusion, alcohol should be a part of any clean-living lifestyle.

j

bob banks said...

I've been on an alcohol cleanse for the last 20 or so years. Never felt better.

Steve Edwards said...

Beans, rice, quinoa, oats, potato, avocado, other grains like amaranth, bulgar et al. All kinds of seeds. I always eat a lot of chia. Nuts, always a staple as well. We have a vitmix and turn veggies and potatoes and lentils into hearty soups. It's really not all that limiting for me, food wise. I just makes it hard to eat in restaurants.

Josh said...

Wait a minute. Isn't Romney a vegan? What exactly is she cleansing?