Everyday Systems

I am starting the No S diet tomorrow and have the book and been reading here like crazy, but cannot find what "vanilla" means?

Does it mean just eating simply?

I had the same question when I started. What is means is that you stick to the diet as it reads. Sometimes people make personal modifications and changes. I personally think when you first start it is best to do vanilla.

Exactly as jellybeans said.
You'll find example of modifications to the diet in another post, I think it's sticky.

I started out allowing myself fruit at any time as a modification, once I was used to following the rest of the rules I phased that out and am now doing vanilla No S.

I think maybe I should have tried it vanilla first though, by doing it vanilla straight as it is you can see if you do need any adjustments to make it work for you. You might not even if you think you will.

Vanilla in this case does mean plain. But the ironic thing is that real vanilla flavor is a thing of sublime goodness and not bland or boring at all. Kinda like No S now that I think about it.

yes Blithe Morning, vanilla is sublime and so is NoS in it's simplicity .. but the meaning behind vanilla, besides "plain" in the NoS context is basically that *nothing is added*.... re: extra rules and mods
i guess if someone tweaked NoS enough, they could call their version, "double chocolate fudge mocha almond, with sprinkles and whipped cream" NoS

gratefuldeb67 wrote:yes Blithe Morning, vanilla is sublime and so is NoS in it's simplicity .. but the meaning behind vanilla, besides "plain" in the NoS context is basically that *nothing is added*.... re: extra rules and mods
i guess if someone tweaked NoS enough, they could call their version, "double chocolate fudge mocha almond, with sprinkles and whipped cream" NoS

I'll have some of that, Deb, if you please

I started on 5/19/11. What I am wondering is if anyone started by simply not eating snacks, seconds or sweets but then again eating foods that are not restricted as in necessarily low fat, whole grain and all the rest. I am eating what I like which sometimes is whole grain, fruits, vegetables but I also eat cheese, sauces and all the rest.

Colene wrote:I started on 5/19/11. What I am wondering is if anyone started by simply not eating snacks, seconds or sweets but then again eating foods that are not restricted as in necessarily low fat, whole grain and all the rest. I am eating what I like which sometimes is whole grain, fruits, vegetables but I also eat cheese, sauces and all the rest.

I don't limit my plates on NoS. If I want to eat a plate of high fat, high salt processed food, I will. It's not the best choice of course and I try not to that often, but especially when I was in the first week or two, I was much more focused on keeping myself full so I didn't snack or turn to sweets! I find I'm now more conscious of what I'm eating, know how much will keep me satisfied, and am making more healthy choices - I think that's a natural process.

I know there are some people here who eat an extremely healthy vegetarian or vegan diet, but the beauty of NoS is that you don't HAVE to eat diet foods if you don't want to. Even when I was stuffing my plate full in the first week or two I still felt better and lost some weight. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to follow NoS with any success if I also tried to limit what foods I could eat too rigidly. Apart from sugar of course

Then again, part of my problem has been that I never really limited the food I ate, OR how much!!

I actually think that eating 'proper' foods where you know exactly what is in them is much better than eating a 'diet' but processed food. I read a really interesting article somewhere about eating which said something like 'don't eat anything with an ingredient that you wouldn't find in a regular kitchen cupboard, or that a 6 year old couldn't pronounce'.

Colene wrote:I started on 5/19/11. What I am wondering is if anyone started by simply not eating snacks, seconds or sweets but then again eating foods that are not restricted as in necessarily low fat, whole grain and all the rest. I am eating what I like which sometimes is whole grain, fruits, vegetables but I also eat cheese, sauces and all the rest.

Yes, that's what I do. My meals are not low fat, low carb, high protein, paleo, South Beach, Atkins, Weight Watchers or anything else. What they are is made from ingredients I can pronounce, preferably - but not always - from scratch. And the "from scratch" is my own personal preference, more to do with environmental convictions than weight concerns. So, I eat cheese. I eat potatoes. I eat sauces. I eat white bread. I eat pizza. I eat ice cream (on S days). I also eat salad, fruit, lean meat and whole grains. It just depends.

I've been doing a little experiment in that I am doing strict vanilla No S, getting a reasonable amount of exercise and weighing myself daily to see what would happen. I am a 46 year old healthy woman whose BMI is currently in the normal range. I've been doing No S with varying degrees of compliance for several years. Between Christmas and May I was more non-compliant than compliant. In the three weeks I've been doing this experiment my average weekly weight has dropped 1.5 lbs.

To those who would say "Yes, but you could have lost a lot more if you hadn't eaten the (insert the bad food of your choice here)." To which I reply, number one, I wasn't planning to lose weight. I'm ok getting my BMI number a little lower, especially as I go into menopause, but this is just the result of No S. And number two, why on earth would I want to deprive myself of foods I like if I can eat them and still lose weight?

There's a lot of messed up thinking about diets and food portraying itself as conventional wisdom which we collectively refer to as Diet Head.

Blithe Morning wrote: Yes, that's what I do. My meals are not low fat, low carb, high protein, paleo, South Beach, Atkins, Weight Watchers or anything else. What they are is made from ingredients I can pronounce, preferably - but not always - from scratch. And the "from scratch" is my own personal preference, more to do with environmental convictions than weight concerns. So, I eat cheese. I eat potatoes. I eat sauces. I eat white bread. I eat pizza. I eat ice cream (on S days). I also eat salad, fruit, lean meat and whole grains. It just depends.

There's a lot of messed up thinking about diets and food portraying itself as conventional wisdom which we collectively refer to as Diet Head.

I could have written exactly what Blithe Morning wrote. I also find that I eat very seasonally. In the late fall, winter and early spring, meals are much heartier. Late spring, summer and early fall, they're lighter and concentrate much more on seasonal produce. Right now it's asparagus, spinach and other spring greens, and strawberries. In a few weeks, it will change.

I do watch portion size, except for vegetables.

Colene wrote:I started on 5/19/11. What I am wondering is if anyone started by simply not eating snacks, seconds or sweets but then again eating foods that are not restricted as in necessarily low fat, whole grain and all the rest. I am eating what I like which sometimes is whole grain, fruits, vegetables but I also eat cheese, sauces and all the rest.

Colene, one of the ideas that I find useful is "5 Degrees of Change".

If you take a line, and draw another at 5 degrees from it, at first the difference is almost imperceptible. However, over time, as you follow the lines out, the distance grows wider and wider. (And if you "stack" 5 degrees on 5 degrees - each time waiting until the new direction feels like "the norm" - you can totally reverse your direction!)

Over time, people who stick with No-S tend to start eating healthier. Not because they're trying to "diet," but because a mix of veggies and protein and carbs and fat become more satisfying once they're in better tune with their bodies. (Note: "Healthier" and "diet food" are not synonymous.)

But at the beginning... just vanilla No-S, with no further restrictions, is usually best. The 5 degrees you can do, and sustain, until it feels normal.

Don't over-think it, just do it.

Best wishes!

Colene wrote:I started on 5/19/11. What I am wondering is if anyone started by simply not eating snacks, seconds or sweets but then again eating foods that are not restricted as in necessarily low fat, whole grain and all the rest. I am eating what I like which sometimes is whole grain, fruits, vegetables but I also eat cheese, sauces and all the rest.

This is what I do. I started No S one year ago today.

The more restrictive you make your diet, the harder it is to stick to. If you don't restrict your diet at all (the No S restrictions do count as restrictions), you will continue to weigh more than you would like. No diet does you any good whatsoever if you can't stick to it. In fact, a diet you can't stick to may harm you, because it can make you think you can't do anything to improve your eating habits, and give up altogether.

These facts mean that the ideal diet is not the most restrictive, or one that's not restricted at all. The ideal is somewhere in the middle. I suspect vanilla No S, or maybe vanilla No S with more whole grains and fewer processed foods, is close to that optimal point.

People tend to overestimate how strict a diet they can stick to. This is why restrictive diets are so popular. But they can't stick to them, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of people who go on very restrictive diets end up gaining the weight back in a few years.

Changes to your diet require mental energy, to remember what you're supposed to be eating, and to say no to yourself when you want to go back to your old ways. You've only got so much mental energy. If you spread it too thin, you'll have trouble sticking to your new ways, or you'll just forget and go back to the old ways by default. Dietary changes get easier after you've done them for a while ("a while" is usually a few months), and they become habits. It's tempting to try to completely overhaul your diet all at once. But it's more effective to phase small changes in over time. You're going to be on No S the rest of your life, or at least that's the ideal. This is not the kind of diet where you totally change how you eat for a few weeks or months, lose some weight, and then go back to your old ways.

Congratulations, Nicest!

I want to chime in as another No S'er who does not restrict beyond the requirements of Vanilla No S. I always tell people that the only foods I have eliminated are the foods I don't like.

I DO eat more vegetables, especially, as I find I appreciate the taste of vegetables much more when I'm not used to stuffing myself with junk.

Thanks to all who responded to my question. I have been thinking along the lines of establishing the habits as the most important initital focus and then beginning to focus more and more on nutrition and I do hope as one of you said that it comes naturally as part of the process. Gee, this is the first time I joined a bulletin board and really appreciate the responses. By the way, I didn't lose any weight the first week but I did begin walking twenty minutes a day for at least five days.