Re: Healthy Eating (edit2)

Hi Jackie, I am sticking to the rules as far as I know, and I appear to be losing weight, but unlike when fasting, my body weight tends to vary from day to day and hour to hour so I really need to leave it at least 3 or 4 days longer to make sure it's working.

Changes I have made are cut out salt, dairy, bread, meat and all processed foods completely. I have started to eat nuts, seeds, beans and much more fresh green vegetables which I often cook into soups. I eat lots of kale in the soups, which is one of the most nutritionally dense foods there is. Plus I eat fresh fruit and salad, as I did when I was refeeding after fasts. Oh and berries, I make sure I eat berries now. During the period of weight loss I am avoiding any excess of starchy vegetables. All this involves a bit of planning and cooking, but you know what? I quite like doing that.

I do "snack" between meals, but on things like lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and maybe the odd fruit. However I seem to be doing this less as the days pass, and I always feel full. I feel quite stuffed at the moment, after eating some delicious soup. Home made, obviously! :)

OK here's a link to my weight chart http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticker/weight_loss.php/wjfZGk0
as you can see it appears to be dropping, but too soon to tell yet.

What I have noticed is that since I started fasting in November 2007, the graph has followed a generally downward trend. The fasts - indicated by deep Vs in the graph - appear to be almost incidental to the otherwise steady weight loss. But the graph went up over Christmas, after my diet drifted a bit, and it would have gone on to increase more, had I not taken action.

What I conclude from that is that fasting taught me to eat healthily, and I did eat healthily between fasts, but it's easy to forget those patterns. I also conclude from that graph that my weight loss was more to do with the new foods I had become used to eating rather than the number of days I fasted. I can see how easily my weight would have sky rocketed if I hadn't made an effort on the eating side!

My first fasts though were a great experience, just knowing that your body can do that was a fantastic feeling, and it sure gave me a great jump start. And the one best thing it did was to reset my taste buds and remind me what good food is. Although in reality, this has to complimented by accessibility to good food and some knowledge of nutrition. If you start eating processed food containing bad and addictive stuff, you can lose sight of that awareness so you have to be careful, though the odd indulgence (at a later stage for me) will be OK.

Now my aim is to become more nutritionally aware. Our ancestors were, but I am afraid these days our knowledge of food is based largely on TV adverts. That is a joke, as is the advice our governments give us.

Anyway rant off, that was a bit more than what you asked. Yes I feel great, and I am following it in principal but I am not using the specific menus in the book, I am making my own up. If the weight loss doesn't work, I will fine tune it and increase my exercise. From what I have read, this way of eating is both health giving and detoxifying, so I am very happy with it.

By the way I have now got "Eating for Health", which is a mighty fine book and more thorough and detailed than the "Eat to Live". I will get round to reading it eventually. See http://www.drfuhrman.com/ for more info