glad you are feeling well,too...good points,Joy...

I was quite the same in my earlier years. I'm 6"4' and weighed 185-190. Some said I was too skinny etc...Though I was in great shape racing bikes and running marathons . I could eat anything and everything. I'd lose 5 pounds just sleeping. I was also eating the healthiest I ever have . No dairy, sugar, preservative, eggs, meat,poultry etc..vegan,

Then I discovered tofu, soymilk,,juiced more often ,ate more avocados,nuts,citrus(peeled the orange like a potato and ate/blended everything)all from the advice of a boxing coach. I have weighed between 218 and 250 since. Hitting 30 I think changed the metab a bit as well...now I'm pushing 50 and want to get back into bike racing again.

not sure where you live, I'd suggest a natural nutritionist and homeopathic Dr.
Or go to Chinatown and befriend a pharmacist. If you live in L.A. I know of some good sources.

I was not overly alarmed because I know many 5"9' girls/women that weigh 115 pounds.

I advise you to see that nutritionalist ...shop around though,and choose one that isn't trying to 'sell' you a bunch of stuff. We all must learn to get what we need from regular food through a balanced diet instead of depending on the coQ10s and multi vitamins of the world. Eat some blueberries and eat more colorful salads,etc!
And the best nutritionalist will teach you how to eat, not pop pills!

I have even conceded and now eat fish. Something I thought I'd never do. Though now I eat more walnuts than salmon(omegas!)

aloha...d

Hmm, I never considered food intolerence, although that definitely may be a possibility. I always can't seem to get enough grains/wheat/flour/rice. Sometimes I crave them, and when I do eat them, I can literally eat nonstop. Such carbs never fill me up, in fact they often make me even hungrier... yet no matter how much I eat, I barely gain a pound! Again, most see it as a blessing, but I see it as a health issue! I definitely would like to know where all these calories are going as it doesn't seem to be my body!

As far as my diet, well I haven't been on a normal diet in the past month as I've been on various cleansing programs, but normally it used to be fruit and oatmeal in the morning (or organic cereal), raw food bars snacked around midday (w dates & nuts), lite stir fry vegetables and/or tofo with rice for dinner, 1-2 servings of nuts (usually raw almonds, sometimes walnuts) between dinner and bed. Sometimes I'll indulge in take out food such as Subway veggie patty sanwhiches, Thai vegetable dishes, & Indian food (vertable curries, vegetable/potato wraps, & indian pizza).

This was lately, before the 4k+ calorie diet, in which I had a lot of dairy in my diet (Organic Milk, Whey Protein, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, etc). Dairy used to be my biggest ally for weight gain, as nothing honestly worked better, but in time it started creating a lot of mucous problems that were further exacerbated when I contracted Bilateral Pneumnonia 3 years ago. Let me tell you, me and my Lungs do not have a good history! I developed Excercise induced Asthma around age 11, contracted a very deadly pneumnonia virus which almost killed me (Took a year to recover, yet continued to experience symptoms and relapses afterwards) and experienced a collapsed lung a year & half ago. As I said, I suspected all the dairy I was consuming was only making matters worse, especially with all the build up of mucous and phlem I was having, so about 2 months ago I decided to quit all dairy. I stopped producing excess mucuous, started feeling better, and just recently my Asthma had disappeared! While dropping the milk may have helped, I think I cured myself more from all the physical & spiritual cleansing I had been doing lately.

My next agenda is to go on a regimine to naturally improve my eyesight back to 20/20 and make some more drastic changes in my diet once all the cleansing is done. As far as my weight goes, well I'm not longer as self-conscious about it as I had been, but I definitely feel like it's currently an issue as I don't have as much expendable energy at 115, as I did when I was in the 130s! It's something I will continue to work on to find the source of the problem. I'm actually going to try megadosing Coenzyme Q10 after detoxing, as I hear it kills Tapeworms (and is nontoxic)

I would soon like to transition to an primarily raw-food based diet (about 80/20). I also would like to add juices to my diet for good, but I know in the past I've gone on juice kicks but could never keep it up for good as I often would get lazy with time, especially due to the inconvenience and time that it takes to juice and clean up! I used to also have a good amount of flax seed each day, but that habit died out as well after I stopped drinking my 1,000 calorie shake each night, as I have yet to find something else to put it in to mask the taste (they are quite strong, and rather unpleasant tasting!). There seems to be a dilemma with all the changes I propose, b/c I know from past experience that when I go totally Nazi on my diet, it's only a matter of time before I start reverting back to old habits! It's funny because what I consider not so good, my friends and family consider very healthy! When I'm not being a health nut I'm eating mostly organic grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetable/tofu dishes, but I know I can definitely do better! While some may say I take things overboard, I can definitely say by far I've enjoyed the most energy physically, spiritually, & mentally when my Diet has been great... you feel absolutely vibrant and alive, and all that energy just seems to radiate off you for miles :)