One Ingredient Diet: Day #1

| Diet | 9 Comments

#Boom

Yep. That’s how the One Ingredient Diet begins. Sauce Pizza, here in Phoenix, Arizona, is amazing and truly healthy…for pizza. Not only that, but six honey bbq boneless Buffalo Wild Wings with ranch soon followed this pizza down into the belly of The Beast.

Technically, those delicious delectables were consumed (inhaled?!) the day prior (May 31) to the start of the One Ingredient Diet (June 1, 2012). I fully accepted the caloric overload as I am partaking in a test – a challenge. Now, this challenge isn’t as difficult for myself as many others. However, anytime one establishes restriction upon anything, the desire grows to have whatever is being restricted. Thus, I ate the pizza and wings with a smile on my face and an understanding that 1) I need to make some positive strides in my health after being a so-so kind of Beast for a while & 2) I need a new test in my life.

What’s the One Ingredient Diet

Though I have followed this similar idea for a long time and have generally had a diet that is contrived of foods in their most natural state, I hadn’t heard of the One Ingredient Diet until I read this killer post by Andrew Olson over at Empty Fist.

The One Ingredient Diet is the practice of only eating and combining foods that have one ingredient.

One huge misconception I had to start was that this meant each meal was one item. Like dinner was lettuce. I quickly realized that what it meant was that for dinner you might have green leaf lettuce, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, tomatos, and kidney beans as a salad, each original item being one ingredient.

Confused? It’s okay. Let me provide some examples.

Not One Ingredient Diet Material
One Ingredient Diet Material

 

There really isn’t any simpler diet. You literally just have to know that the product is in its natural state or that it isn’t and not eat the one that isn’t. No big formulas or points to worry about. Eating a proper diet truly couldn’t be any simpler. 

You Damn Hypocrite

One of the first things that came to mind when I decided to take on the One Ingredient Diet approach was, “They (Beast readers) are going to think I am a hypocrite for preaching against diets, but practicing a specified timeframe diet.” Then, I started to think more about it and I really am not faulting my diet versus dieting notion.

The key point that I find faulty about general societal understanding and acceptance of dieting is that it is about an end goal. I find that my end goal is the day I kick the bucket. Hopefully, the day I kick the bucket will be while crossing the finish line of an Ironman or something at the age of 90 – – – That’d be AWESOME! I digress. When the word dieting is brought up, it is often to reach a goal and followed by complete and utter disregard for health. I hope to change that thought here at Become a Beast so it is important that I stress that this isn’t so much a diet as a lifestyle.

How is this different than society’s idea of dieting?

Well, I currently eat a primarily One Ingredient Diet. Most of the meals I cook include foods that only contain one ingredient. I plan on continuing this going forward after the 30 day challenge. The difference comes back to the end date. I don’t have an end date to the core principles of the One Ingredient Diet. The strict focus is just a challenge to myself.

This challenge isn’t so much a drastic change as much as it is a drastic focus. My focus is going to be on cleaning up the snacking and the well-its-only-one-beer moments that end up turning into five beers.

Call me a hypocrite if you so choose. My goal is to refocus my Beast efforts towards my other goals that need me to be a lot more focused to even start attempting.

It Begins

So, today is the big day. I have gotten the bad meal out of the way and today, I start testing the One Ingredient Diet for a month.

I’ll make sure to continue updating you as to the progress (or possibly lack thereof). Pictures, recipes, and much more will be in further details in the upcoming posts.

If you are thinking this might be a good idea for you, I urge you to try it out. If you can’t handle it or think it sucks after a few days, then go back to eating whatever diet you previously were. However, you will never know if you don’t try.

Let the fun begin and good luck to you as always.

photo credit: madame.furie via photo pin cc
photo credit: ~ Abdulhai A. Al-Abdulhai~ via photo pin cc

9 Responses to One Ingredient Diet: Day #1

  1. Hey David! So excited to see you trying out this diet as well. I just finished my 30 day experiment yesterday and it was a great experience. I’ll probably continue eating this way (with minor exceptions) for the foreseeable future. A blog post with a breakdown will be up in a few days.

    Good luck!

  2. This is something that JUST MAKES SENSE!
    Before I go tossing everything in the house, I’m going to take inventory of what I actually do eat and make adjustments from there. It only stands to reason that if it’s only one ingredient, it’s much closer to where it came from and more beneficial to your health….

    Another brilliant post, sir!

    • Glad this could inspire you in a simplistic way. Often we don’t realize how much is in everything we eat. This approach allows one to not make excuses as you can’t disagree foods basic state.

      Let me know how it goes.

      D