Life is just one big experiment! Don't ya think? We're constantly trying things and seeing what happens as a result. Hopefully, we're doing this consciously.

If we're wanting things to be different than we need to try new things until we find the result we're looking for. Take it from me, hoping and praying that things will magically change will never work. You have to DO things differently.

Today I want to share the results of a self-imposed 7-day food experiment.

I talked about rotating foods and eating 50 different whole foods per week right here.

My plan was to incorporate several different food philosophies that make the most amount of sense to me based on what I know about how the body gets sick and how it heals.

My Favorite Food Philosophies:

1. "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates (Father of modern medicine)

2. "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."  - Michael Pollan  (Author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defence of Food)

3. "Rotate or React." - Lyn-Genet Recitas. (Author of The Metabolism Plan)

4. Paleo - Popularized by Dr. Loren Cordain (Author of The Paleo Diet)

5. "Eat 50 different whole foods per week." - Dr. Bill Code (Author of Solving the Brain Puzzle)

Watch this video to learn:

• How I incorporated all the ideas listed above into my eating strategy for the week

• My dog's fail-proof strategy for letting her go outside

• The 4 main PHYSICAL results I noticed after my week-long experiment (SPOILER: I could have called this article how I lost 5 pounds in 7 days, but I already have an article called, "How I lost 7 pounds in 20 days")

• The truth about saying, "I didn't have a choice."

• Why it's important to vary your food intake

• How I managed social engagements and planned functions

• The 80/20 rule when it comes to eating and how those numbers actually break down

• My commitment to myself moving forward

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE

The video is a bit garbled at the end so I'll quickly describe the 80/20 rule:

When patients are stabilized with respect to their health goals then I recommend eating in a way that works for them as individuals 80% of the time and enjoying some flexibility with their eating 20% of the time.

Here's how the math breaks down: 

3 meals per day x 7 days per week = 21 meals per week

80% of 21 = 17 clean, good, healthy, low reactive meals per week

20% of 21 = 4 more flexible, slightly  higher reactive, indulgences per week

(Of course, everyone will have a different tolerance for this ratio - for example, some people need to stick to a 90/10 or a 95/5 ratio.)

Here is the list of foods I ate (in order of appearance)*:

1. coconut milk

2. blueberries

3. chia seeds

4. fig

5. raw cacao powder

6. turmeric

7. ginger

8. ceylon cinnamon

9. turkey stock

10. broccoli

11. carrots

12. celery

13. radish

14. parsnips

15. almonds in the form of: almond butter, ground, whole

16. cannelloni beans

17. garlic

18. red pepper

19. kale

20. red cabbage

21. curly endive

22. chicken

23. lemongrass

24. hemp seeds

25. romaine lettuce

26. cherry tomatoes

27. oat milk

28. nutritional yeast

29. beats: dehydrated and fresh

30. paprika: normal and smoked

31. parsley

32. cranberries: frozen and dried

33. blackberries

34. broccoli sprouts

35. avocado

36. olive oil

37. lemon juice

38. lemon zest

39. spearmint

40. pumpkin seeds

41. sunflower seeds

42. Brussels sprouts

43. apple

44. balsamic vinegar

45. radicchio

46. cucumber

47. basil

48. salmon

49. spaghetti squash

50. lamb

51. chorizo

52. cilantro

53. onion

54. pineapple

55. grapes

56. apricot: dried

57. raisins

58. peanut butter

59. dates

60. rice: wrap and noodles

61. coconut meat: flour, flakes

62. white cabbage

63. cauliflower

64. yam

65. zucchini

66. cumin

67. buckwheat flour

68. black pepper

69. chipotle powder

70. eggs

71. pistachio

72. mango

73. capers

74. olives

75. sunflower sprouts

76. pea sprouts

77. fava bean sprouts

78. kale sprouts

79. radish sprouts

80. fenugreek sprouts

81. bok choi sprouts

82. pac choi sprouts

83. achillea ptarmica

84. hyssop

85. sage

86. galangal

87. wile thyme

88. I know I said 88... but I had beets on there twice... so 87 it is!

*As far as I know this is a complete and inclusive list - if it's not on here, I didn't eat it.

Why did I decide to do this experiment?

That's a good story and I'm going to leave that one for another time.

Let me know what you think!

Have you done any food experiments? What did you discover as a result of your trial? Let me know in the comments below.

To your healthy, happy, delightful life,