Welcome to the season of EATING.  Bring it on, I’m ready!

In preparation for the holidays and upcoming Disney Double, more than six weeks ago I embarked on an eating experiment called simply enough, the UltraSimple Diet (http://ultrasimplediet.com/is/home?UID=1086143).  I bought the book on Amazon but you can download from the site for free if you don’t mind signing in.   Despite the pedestrian name, the “diet”  is centered around a beautifully straight forward and sensible idea.  If you cut out the bad things: (in my case) alcohol, sugar and coffee and instead eat only the good things: brown rice, vegetables, and fish, you will not only loose weight but you will also feel great and indeed initially I did.

This diet leads straight to the local farmers market because essentially what you can eat is fresh organic vegetables, and lots of them.   Heart of the City Farmers Market near the Civic Center BART (pictured here) is mine.  Much more colorful than nearby Safeway.  You will get through your CSA box in no time and still be ready for more.
For fish, I stock up at Cosco where they sell large bags of individually wrapped wild salmon, scallops and tilapia for your freezer (stay away from the sea bass: its rubbery) and sacks of organic brown rice that will last you much longer than you are likely to stay on the UltraSimple Diet.

Once the initial “cleansing” has passed (ten days), you can then move forward to investigate your body like a science experiment.  One by one, different targeted food groups are added back into your diet to see which one effects your body with a negative result.  Eat, listen and learn.  Corn, peanuts, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers), citrus, wheat, eggs, diary, vinegar (wine), gluten and diary slowly make their way back into your pallete.  I have timed my diet to incorporate wine just in time for Thanksgiving.  🙂

Don’t be afraid.  With plenty of protein (there is protein in at least two meals a day) it is an easy diet to follow while preparing for that post holiday race.    Who knows, maybe the best way to get through the ho ho holidays is to simply avoid the holiday fair all together in favor of the UltraSimple?