Choosing a diet is hard in a world of mass diet options. The Harcombe Diet has potentially cropped up in your dieting options and it should for good reason as its a decent diet. I hope the review that follows enhances your understanding on what this diet has to offer and if you should put it at the top of your list.

What is the Harcombe Diet?

Developed by Zoë Harcombe and aims to combat cravings and hunger without the compromise of eating less, just eating clever. Eating real food and not fake processed stuff.

It comprises of three phases with phase one concentrating on having an impact against Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia. The full on significant weight loss phase.

Phase two, a more varied diet and continues on from Phase one against Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia. This phase is all about how long you want to loose weight for. Maintain this phase for as long as you can as it will make a significant impact on weight loss.

Phase three, all about maintaining the hard work done in the first two phases enabling you to control your food cravings and maintaining the weight you have reached.

So what did I think and how did I get on with it

The first week (phase 1) was tough, really tough. I found it difficult to maintain focus at work as I was craving badly. This was not due to the lack of food as you could eat as much of the “allowed” foods as you wanted. The Candida was clearly high in my system which made it harder but I persevered and getting to the second week “Phase 2” felt like a great achievement. I also suffered head aches but this was mainly due to the lack of caffeine which I had too much of in my previous diet so this part was actually needed, a detox and diet in one which is what Phase one really is.

Phase 2 was not as difficult as phase one but it was still hard to maintain the will power to carry on in the loosing weight stage. 2 weeks into this stage I was ready to give up as I lacked the concentration required for my job and struggled with choosing the correct foods to eat to keep my cravings down.

 

Verdict

No doubt you will loose serious weight on his diet however you need to have the will power to carry on with it. “Don’t you need will power for all diets?” Yes you do however this one in particular. This was one of the first diets I tried and would I have a go again…yes I would actually as it worked and I am mentally in a more prepared spot to tackle it.

I see this diet as that massive hill on your morning run you avoid but you know it’s good for you as once you reach the top you know you’ve nailed it. This diet is that hill for me. It was in this diet I completely scrapped sugar in hot drinks, considering I would have 6 a day (client and site visits all day, hard to say no to a cup of tea) this was significant. The Harcombe diet also taught me about caffeine, which I know now from other health experts that coffee in particular can be beneficial to health but in moderation.

Top Tip: Don’t start a new diet when you have just started a new job. Maybe this my own naivety and it massively affected my relationship with this diet as I needed to be on point and I just wasn’t.

Difficulty: 9/10

Weight Loss: 9/10

Featured Image by photographer Christine Siracusa on Unsplash