What happened when Phil Hilton, 59, tried the 21-day metabolic reset with the leading nutritionist Rhian Stephenson. Plus, how to do it, and healthy recipes.
I have tremendously sad news: giving up cheese, booze, bread, pasta, and sugar really does make you feel incredible. I have just completed a three-week metabolic-reset programme, and I’ve lost fat, I’m less anxious, I sleep better, and I have the energy levels of a 17-year-old walking through the door of his first house party.
Designed by a naturopath, nutritionist, and retired professional athlete, the 21-day programme is a combination of recipes, food recommendations, exercise, and relaxation techniques — all under the catchy name "Metabolic Reset".
Our metabolism is the way we convert food into energy, and Rhian Stephenson, the programme’s creator, says many common health issues such as stress, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic fatigue, and weight gain are hard to improve while blood sugar remains erratic.
"We all know how excess makes us feel, but few of us have thrown ourselves into healthy living with the same vigour."
The promises made on behalf of this programme (available as an ebook, The Metabolic Reset, £30) are both appealing and ambitious, and there are aspects of my wellbeing I long to fix. As I’m about to turn 60, I wake in the early hours worrying — worrying about worrying and hating myself for being such a worrier. Also, there’s the naps, the brain fuzz, the sudden lethargies.
Stephenson, 40, a former competitive swimmer, created a regime that’s rather like, I imagine, a break in a posh health farm would have been in the Eighties. You give up everything that spikes your blood sugar and which influences your brain chemistry.
I met her on a sunny winter’s day to receive my programme and I instantly knew she was one of those driven, powerful people I couldn’t argue with.
Nevertheless, I did attempt a little haggling. "What if I just fell off the wagon one night and drank some wine?" I ask. Stephenson, a super-healthy looking CEO of her second wellness business, replies in her most CEOish voice: "It’s three weeks, Phil, just do it."
It’s pretty strict, but manageable. Week one includes the immediate elimination of sugar, bread, pasta, dairy, and, of course, alcohol, and four days of intermittent fasting in the form of an eight-hour eating window. Intermittent fasting is believed to stimulate the body’s ability to burn fat. If we snack constantly we are never incentivised to use our fat stores. This means your first meal at 10am and last at 6pm.
Week two is five days of modified keto — which means a high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb diet (just 50-75g of carbohydrate a day). Week three it’s back to intermittent fasting.
Recipes are provided, such as bread replacements made without regular flour or gluten, which, Stephenson says, can cause irritation to the gut, while our love for food containing it (bread and pasta) means we are missing out on better sources of nutrition.
"We’re exposed to unnaturally high amounts of gluten in our diets because it’s added to food in a concentrated form to improve texture, shelf life, flavour, and other attributes," she explains. "Because gluten has been shown to cause irritation of the gut lining, we avoid it during the three weeks and focus on other, whole-food carbohydrate sources, such as brown rice."
The three weeks are structured to give your metabolism sufficient stimulus in the form of fasting and low-carb phases to reconnect with its natural state — that is, free from processed foods and artificial abundance, Stephenson says. The idea is that the tough part, when you really drop the carbs, comes in week two.
Before embarking on the diet, I have a full consultation, and there is an inevitable element of confession. The toughest parts are when she asks me to rate my sleep and anxiety problems on a scale of one to ten. I usually employ a repertoire of evasive, wry British understatement to edge around how I really feel. When I begin my rambling, she cuts in, "I repeat the question, how big an issue is this on a scale of one to ten?" I settle on seven and feel slightly exposed as I do so.
The programme includes some exercise (Stephenson recommends three cardio sessions and three strength sessions each week) plus regular managed breathing, but mainly it’s about not eating bad things and eating lots of healthy protein, fats, vegetables, and fruit. For 21 days I adhere completely to the do’s and don’ts and it has changed my entire view of food.
The idea behind the plan is to improve your wellbeing by ironing out the peaks and troughs of blood sugar that sap energy and degrade your ability to think clearly. The phases of intermittent fasting and carbohydrate restriction stimulate the body’s natural ability to produce energy and reduce unhealthy body fat. The diet is also rich in phytochemicals, the stuff Tim Spector, the genetics specialist who launched the Zoe gut health nutrition programme, has been popularising. Essentially, phytochemicals are the substances found in plants as a natural defence against infection and disease. They have also been shown to strengthen human defences and are believed to form a vital part of a rounded, healthy diet.
For many reading this, the one point that will have lodged is the bit about not drinking any alcohol. As my start day came around, I looked at my diary and wondered just how different a weekend away with two of my oldest friends was going to be without wine.
The answer is not as bad as I feared. In fact, by day three I am feeling the best I have felt for years. I miss the cheese and the wine, and there’s no pretending I don’t, but by the time I’m halfway through week two I’m on a high that’s unrelated to anything chemical. I am, quite simply, buzzing. When I mention this to Stephenson she seems surprised. "People often say they feel great after this programme, but it’s a pleasant surprise to me, every time, how good it makes you feel," she says.
That said, I’m also now looking forward to some toast and marmalade. I’m at the stage where, I think, I have proven to myself I can do this — live healthier for longer — and that’s a good enough result for me.