Phase 1

We’d like to share a post with you from one of our readers. Gary M. is a moderator for our active Facebook Community and has also shared his AH journey in the past as a reader story. With our input as well as input from all of the moderators, he composed this post to discuss how the Always Hungry Solution has evolved over the last few years. His focus here is Phase 1.

If you’re on Facebook and haven’t yet joined our group, we highly recommend it! It is of course not mandatory in any way, however, it is a wonderfully supportive and loving community. While you may find great success without participating in social media, we also love having a community of like-minded people to make the journey a little easier and more enjoyable.

Has The Always Hungry Solution Changed?

This was originally published in the Official Always Hungry? Book Community on Facebook. Reading the book and following this WOE (way of eating) has been a transformative step for so many people. However, the AH program has evolved during the nearly 4 years since the book was initially published in January 2016 – largely due to the participation of moderators, members and David Ludwig and Dawn Ludwig in our Facebook group.

Phase 1

The current state of P1 thinking hasn’t changed very much from the original concepts.

The book describes a Phase 1 that is designed with allowable foods and precise macronutrient ratios (Fat, Carbs, and Protein) to support some goals that are crucial to your first 2 weeks on the program:

– Avoiding any sense of deprivation

– Reducing insulin resistance

– Improving satiety

– Reducing cravings

– Resetting metabolism

– Reducing inflammation

– and others

Maximizing The Success of Phase 1

To maximize the odds of success, it is helpful to think of the book’s original P1 guidance as rules that shouldn’t be broken – especially during that first 2 weeks. This is the reset phase when you really want to get your body back on track. You will learn so much as you try the various recipes and eat in a way that makes your body’s signals more trustworthy. It’s a time when you really want to get it right. It’s only for two weeks. After the reset, then you can continue with Phase 1 as you listen to what your body needs or move to experimenting with Phase 2.

The book does provide some flexibility in following those rules. It mentions switching out any meals in the plan that don’t appeal to you as well as repeating any meals that you especially enjoy. This works because every P1 meal plan in the book was crafted to precisely meet the P1 ratios and to include only P1 allowable foods, so they are completely interchangeable.

We also have the follow-up book Always Delicious now. The new book gives Phase 1, 2, & 3 meals plans for almost every recipe. So, please substitute any of these meals in to add a bit of variety to your weekly menus.

Always Hungry? also mentions making your own menus using the meal builder table on p. 152 … but recommends strict adherence to the ratios and allowable foods during your 2-week start-up. We now have some great visuals, tables, and charts to help you make your own meals and menus. Download these from the Resources tab on our website.

It is still recommended to avoid refined sugar and natural and artificial sweeteners of any kind – except the sugar in 70% or higher dark chocolate.

How Phase 1 Has Evolved Over Time

A couple of things HAVE evolved beyond what is explicitly written in the book:

  1. This community has embraced the term “slow carbs” to refer to the non-starchy carbohydrates described in Column 4 of that table on p. 152. I recommend marking up your copy accordingly.
  2. We have found that a common stumbling block for new readers is that they think of AH as “getting rid of carbs”, so they forget to add their slow carb to each meal. We continually remind readers by asking “where is your slow carb in this meal?”. Click here to read more about slow carb vs. low carb.
  3. Additionally, the book discusses moving from P1 to P2 at the start of your third week. It’s important to stay in P1 for AT LEAST your first 2 weeks. But, it is perfectly fine to stay in a strict P1 regimen for as long as you’d like. Many members have been very successful staying in P1 indefinitely. Click here to read a little more about transitioning between Phases. 

Next week we’ll discuss Phase 2!