The Virgin Diet (author JJ Virgin)
 

Anyone heard about this? I DVR'd this on PBS tonight. Haven't watched it all, but the basics are that for 21 days you completely cut 7 foods from your WOE.
They are:
Soy
Peanuts
Sugar and AS
Corn
Eggs
Dairy
Gluten

Her reasoning is that these are the main offenders in the area of food allergies. You cut these from your WOE for 3 weeks, then slowly add them back one at a time to see if you have a reaction to them. She's a big believer that undetechted food allergies add to our inflammation and cause all sorts ills including the inability to lose weight. Most of her people drop 7 pounds the first week.

May give this a stab after the holidays. I have a butt load of allergies; food allergies would not be a surprise.

Yes, sounds like a standard elimination diet. Nothing wrong with those, they're very helpful for folks who have either tested for specific sensitivities or want to slowly reintroduce foods to determine if they cause an issue. I did not do that specific diet, but something to that effect, after my blood panel indicated my major food sensitivities. And to a lesser extent that is the purpose of Atkins induction - the primary food offenders except dairy and eggs are ousted, and then the slow reintroduction of them in OWL allows for a critical examination of whether or not your body can tolerate them.

I'm all for elimination diets when persistent health problems or weight stalls are occurring. Oftentimes the food is in fact a contributor to the malaise.

Yeah, she was featured on Jimmy Moore's site last month. She even had a free giveaway to her new book (IIRC, the first 1000 people?), you were only responsible for S&H. I am not sure if the offer is still in effect or not. I didn't order it.

ETA: Just checked JM site and the free offer has expired but she is offering bonuses if you purchase the book and email the receipt. Just go to Jimmy's site and type in "Virgin Diet" and click on her podcast link/summary and you will see the "free" book offer link (still active but no longer free though) for the details on the bonus offer.

I just read a sample of her book.

If I'm correct it's all about food intolerance and how even the slightest exposure to those sorts of foods can set you back.

Interesting read, especially from the LC perspective, I might buy the whole book.

I haven't read the book, but I'm doing a variation of that due to certain foods causing me nausea/vomiting after eating them and stalled weight loss. I'm seeing results along with a decrease in appetite which was something I didn't expect. My diet elimination consists of no dairy, nuts/seeds, eggs, nightshades (peppers, eggplant, tomato), alcohol, sugar (except soy-free dark chocolate). I've since reintroduced dairy (decided not to have it except on rare occasions because I noticed it caused swelling) and alcohol (except on rare occasions because it, too, caused me to swell..weird). My weight is SLOWLY started to go down...plus, I added exercise. ;)

This is interesting and I've thought about doing some kind of elimination diet recently but I am just wondering - since I'm doing low carb (Atkins) what would I eat without using those foods on her list that would take the place of eggs and dairy? Daily I now use eggs and ff Greek yogurt. And I was wondering if no sugar includes no berries? Just wondering.

I follow A Paleo template. My carbs are not induction levels so it includes 1-2 pieces fruit daily, squash, sweet potato. Of course I eat other veggies, but my carbs range from 50-75g. I exercise, too, which helps me a lot in terms of processing those carbs. I'm not sure about Atkins and an elimination diet. It would probably be meats and veggies only.

The induction phase is absolutely an elimination diet, just not a total one (and neither is Virgin's, there are allergens that are still somewhat common and not on that list :)). The types of dairy he allows, for example, are not the biggest culprits in inflammation except for those truly allergic to casein and lactose. Fermented cheeses are not nearly so inflammatory as milk and yogurt. Eggs, too, are often not inflammatory for many folks when the cofactors like oats or wheat are eliminated first, as has been my experience.

You absolutely can do induction as a total elimination diet and he essentially recommend that for when candida becomes an issue, but as is the amount of elimination prescribed in induction is sufficient to clear up the majority of inflammatory responses in most dieters (though not all!).

Is anyone interested in doing this? I plan on starting tomorrow, and could use support, recipes, menu ideas etc. I've done Atkins (but got stuck at 150 lbs), and HCG (and lost a lot of weight, but was starving, and gained it all back). My scale is broken, but I'll probably pick one up Tuesday. So, I'll have to post current stats in a couple days.
I heard JJ Virgin on Jimmy Moore's podcasts a couple times, and this diet makes sense to me. I think she's got some really good ideas.

I also have a problem with these foods and eat very similiar to you!:)

Our local PBS had the JJ Virgin show on about two weeks ago...I thought that it makes good sense to check and see if certain foods can cause problems..I suspected I was gluten intolerant, so I used her list and stopped everything except potatoes..after another week I can try the gluten again , but since I'm noticing an improvement in inflammation..I may not.

I like the idea of doing an elimination diet, however, it looks like she also sells her own protein shakes and so on. From what I've read on her website, she advocates protein shakes, lean meats, and green veggies. That's not sustainable for me.

So, I won't buy her book, but I might do an elimination diet for three weeks. Probably not until January, though. And I'd need to figure out what I would eat. Dairy is currently a staple for me.

I've read the book and have done the diet for about 10 days now. Down 5 pounds. I use unsweetened coconut milk and almond milk in place of other dairy. After the first 3 weeks, you add back the foods to see how you react to them. Some like sugar, artificial sweeteners, soy and peanuts aren't really recommended as healthy anyway. Dairy and eggs are the only 2 I hope to add back and don't think I will react to them. I've always been able to eat them without problems losing weight. Over all you eat lots of low carb vegetables, limited higher carb vegetables, limited gluten free grains, up to 2 fruites a day, mostly berries, lean proteins, and some fats such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil and coconut oil at each meal. 3 meals and one snack are allowed. The shakes do make it easier.

Thanks for the summary, stilldews. Can you give me an idea of what you are eating for breakfast? I usually have yogurt and nuts. Looks like almonds and walnuts would still be okay.

I haven't read the book, but through trial and error over the years, I have my own elimination list, foods that I can't tolerate for one reason or other.

For me it is alcohol, sugar, aspatarme, soybeans in bean form but not all soy products, sugar alcohols (polyols), grains, cabbage, dairy & cheese except Greek yogurt, caffeine, chocolate, potato, sweet potatoes, corn, beans & legumes.

I enjoy meat, soymilk & TVP, fish, eggs along with most fruit and veggies, small seeds, salad dressings and oil. I can get quite creative with that much.

I started this today, just a mild headache so far , but I'm really hoping to figure out what makes me feel bad and to drop a few lbs. by few I mean 40-50 ;0)

And the billion dollar weight loss business beat goes on, thanks to you guys :shake:

Is anyone else doing this? What has your results been so far?

My FIL has been doing this WOE for the past 2 or 3 months and loves it. He is down at least 25 lbs and has more energy than he's had in YEARS (he is 67). He was able to stop taking BP meds (with his Dr's approval).

I am going to try it soon too, once I am over this UTI :(

I too am interested in hearing if anyone else here is doing it and the results :)

Day 23 for me and I'm down 12.8 lbs. I'm testing eggs today.

That's fantastic! :shake:

How did the egg testing go?

nightshades? can you tell me about this a bit more? never heard of this.

Hi All, I'm new to this forum but I saw this thread and had to respond.

I just started the Virgin Diet 5 days ago and so far, I'm loving it! It hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be due to all the restrictions for the first 3 weeks.

I've been low carbing for a couple years now and I always hit those stalls where no matter what I do, I can't keep the scale moving down and I end up sliding back up the scale. I saw JJ Virgin on TV and I never considered that food intolerance could be an issue for me but it made sense so I decided to give it a try.

I've lost 5lbs in 5 days and I know most of that was water but if I can lose 2-3 lbs a week for the remainder of the 3 week initial phase, then I'm all in.

It will be interesting to see if my weight loss stalls in this 3 week period. If it doesn't, and I start introducing some of the banned foods back in, and then stall, then maybe she's onto something.

It's too soon for me to give this plan a thumbs up or a thumbs down but so far, it's okay. I'm surprised because I thought this was going to be really hard to follow.

I'm curious if anyone is still following this plan past the 3 week "cleanse" phase, and if so, how is it going for you?

Curious........are you still following this plan? My daughter started it in the middle of March and she looks amazing. She is so dedicated to it! I'm considering giving it a try, but can't get past the idea of eating carbs and losing weight. I've been staying around 150 for the past 6 months. She was about the same when she started. She does shakes, apples, gluten/grain free bars, quinoa, etc.

I'm still reading the book.