Last Monday was our last full day on the Clean Diet (Tuesday we could eat what we wanted). So, here are some final thoughts of a four-week diet:

– It’s expensive to eat healthily: I think our weekly grocery bill about tripled. Mer and I have long noticed that college students from wealthy families are rarely fat, and I think at least some of that is because upper-middle-class families and rich families can eat better.

– My knee and back felt better: This may just be from losing weight (that helps my back) and from not pounding on my knee (I did not have the energy to run much during February), so the jury is out on the restorative effects of the diet.

– My energy levels did level out: Most days during February I did not have my early-afternoon energy fade, and that may be from the diet. Also, when I was tired, I tended to be tired all day, and that was generally from too little sleep.

– I lost a ton of weight: For the four weeks of February that we were on the diet, I lost 17 pounds, which is remarkable.

All in all, I would not do the exact diet again – it was very difficult, especially having to turn away social offers because we could not be sure if food was involved. If I start to put the weight back on, I would do a modified Clean diet since the weight loss was so drastic. I would eat the big meal in the evening, which is more enjoyable for me, and I would allow exceptions on the diet when invited out to eat by my friends and families.

The diet also made “normal” food taste really really good. That was a nice perk. I have also decided to keep making and drinking smoothies so that I can get more fruit in my diet. I also am back to being able to run normally – I had a good-feeling ten-mile run today (Saturday) for the first time since last December. Not having the extra holiday-birthday weight to carry around is helpful with the longer runs.

I am glad I tried the diet, and although I would not do the strict diet again, it has made me reevaluate my diet. I am trying to eat more organic foods, and we still have our drinking water filtering system, so that cannot hurt. The experiment was successful.