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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 30 April 2011 06:42 pm |
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Hello! I have been reading up and lurking some E2L forums the last week, and bought a copy of E2L on eBay, which I'm anxiously awaiting. In the meantime, I am aware I needed to do some sort of detox/cleanse as I have been feeling rundown, heavy and just a bit 'gunked up'. Additionally I've managed to put on about 25 lbs in the last 3 years, and would really like to slim down over the next few months.
Although I'm sure I won't be doing E2L to a T (until I get the book at least), I'm going to do my best to utilize Dr. Fuhrman's concepts to guide me on my cleanse. My goal is to do 1 week fairly strictly, and by then I anticipate receiving the book and carrying on!
I will post here my progress each day. Note I'm 30 years old, 5'2 and goal weight is 125.
April 30
Weight: 157.4
Breakfast: Large green salad with cucumber, tomato, kidney beans, a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar.
Lunch: Green smoothie (soy milk, frozen berries, banana, spinach)& quinoa, veggie, nut salad
Dinner: Steamed broccoli, asparagus, courgette. Large salad (greens, tomato, cucumber, peppers) with kidney beans & red wine vinegar. Raspberries for dessert
Snacks: handful of cashews, carrot sticks & hummus, banana
Energy Level: Normal
Notes: Felt a bit of a headache in the afternoon. Definitely craving salty and fatty food. Need to work to get more water in. I did have herbal tea in the afternoon as well.
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 1 May 2011 08:40 pm |
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May 1
Weight: 156
Breakfast: Few cashews. Smoothie (soy milk, frozen berries, spinach, banana, water, soy protein powder)
Lunch: Coconut curried vegetables, brown rice, fruit salad
Dinner: Green salad with oil and balsamic vinegar, Indian curried vegetables and lentils
Snacks: Bowl of steamed veg (courgette, asparagus, broccoli), hummus & carrots, plain popcorn, tangerine
Energy Level: Normal
Notes: Headache dissipated today
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 2 May 2011 06:20 pm |
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May 2
Weight: 156.2
Breakfast: Green Smoothie (soy milk, frozen berries, spinach, banana, water, ground flax)
Lunch: Green salad & packaged quinoa, nut and vegetable salad
Dinner: Large green salad with cucumber, tomato, asparagus and oil/vinegar, small bowl lentil curry and veg (Indian curried eggplant, cauliflower, carrot, parsnip, lentils and peas)
Snacks: Blueberries, hummus & carrots, handful of nuts
Energy Level: Normal-high
Notes: Feel pretty awesome today. Was surprised that the smoothie at 730 then the handful of nuts at about 10am could keep me feeling so satisfied, I had lunch at about noon and generally do not feel hungry at all today. Feeling good!
If anyone has any tips or comments I'd love to hear them!
Note I got in 20 minutes on the treadmill today, and plan on doing gym the rest of the week.
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 3 May 2011 05:53 am |
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Here's something weird that happened last night:
I went out with a friend and got a soy latte (I know, no coffee meant on this diet but I splurged). I actually have a bit of a lactose intolerance so normally order soy drinks instead of milk. When it arrived the waitress put it down and said specifically 'soy latte' but when I drank it, I mentioned to my friend that it tasted like milk. I didn't say anything since they specified soy when they served it, but I did distinctly think it seemed like milk.
I got home, and a few hours later my stomach was in bits. Not only did the caffeine have an unusually strong affect on me, but I was literally sick to my stomach and ended up vomiting. This is weird. I would never vomit from drinking milk, I normally might get a bit crampy or something, but nothing that severe.
Is this the result of the detox - I can more easily recognize foods I'm sensitive to and have a stronger reaction?
Thoughts/comments?
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 3 May 2011 07:50 pm |
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May 3
Weight: 154.4
Breakfast: Oatmeal with honey and melon
Lunch: Green salad with vinaigrette and topped with mixed beans
Dinner: Indian vegetables and lentils, spinach and green salad
Snacks: Banana, nectarine, clementine, handful of cashews, green bean & soy bean salad
Energy Level: Normal
Last edited on 3 May 2011 07:52 pm by freshfig
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 5 May 2011 05:58 am |
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May 4
Weight: 154.4
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Green salad with peppers, cucumber, tomato & prepared quinoa, nut, bean veggie salad
Dinner: Quorn fillet and steamed broccoli and green beans
Snacks: Handful nuts, carrot sticks, clementine
Energy Level: Low today
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 8 June 2011 02:31 pm |
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| Hey, I started ETL a couple of days ago... you still doing it?
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 2 July 2011 11:42 pm |
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Hello! Wow, someone was reading my posts! Yes, I was following it for several weeks and overall lost about 10 lbs. Moving countries and visiting a lot of people has dampened my resolve, and I've gained back about 3 lbs. But I have to tell you, while I was doing the diet, I felt amazing. My excema cleared up, I had a lot of energy, my gastro problems decreased, I was getting up earlier in the morning feeling refreshed, and I felt light on my feet. I really did feel amazing. My father is in his mid-60's, and has been overweight most his adult life. He is diabetic and suffers from chronic pain and severe arthritis in his spine. He gained additional weight in the last year and overall had about 75 lbs to lose (or more!). After my success with E2L, I gave him all the info and recommended he try it. In under a month he has lost 17 lbs. 17 lbs!!! I am so very happy and am encouraging him to continue with it. I have the E2L book that I will give him when I visit home next month and I am hopeful he will shed the weight for good and get the diabetes under control.
Are you doing it? How are you coming along? I have some tasty recipes I am using on E2L if you are interested.
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 3 July 2011 12:13 am |
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Hi there, I was following E2L, only I was eating a lot more fruit, I think he recommends 4 fruit only. I also tried the cup of grain/beans which I quit years ago because I was doing low carb, unfortunately I had terrible joint stiffness, I never ever had joint stiffness before, so cut out the grains and beans. Which left me with veg and fruit, which is not enough and I got too low on energy and started eating bits of this and that, so trying to be good but not totally on plan. I really should go back on plan, but need to find a way to get some energy without resorting to grains or beans. Perhaps the potatoes. I will get my book out again and re-read again.
Yes it would be cool if we support each other here.
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freshfig
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Posted: 3 July 2011 12:58 am |
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OK, I really don't recommend cutting out some grains and definitely not the beans/lentils - they are very important for energy. Limit starchy veg and grains but don't cut them out entirely, I think your energy would be too low. Just fruit and veg isn't enough to sustain you. More fruit is ok, it's recommended minimum 4 but as much as you like, but to limit the really sugary ones like banana, melons, etc. Apples, pears, plums, berries are good choices. If you are going to do potato, limit it. I would definitely include the nuts each day but no more than a handful, and I would also have limited whole grains (mostly quinoa or brown rice) Here's a basic plan I'd follow each day:
Morning: Green smoothie
Midmorning: Fruit/nuts
Lunch: Large salad, usually accompanied by beans, or some grains/nuts
Afternoon: Fruit and/or veg/hummus
Dinner: Something savory like a stirfry, or ratatouille with kidney beans, or a lentil stew. Here is a tasty recipe:
http://www.theppk.com/2010/12/red-lentil-thai-chili/
Also, I recently typed this other recipe up for my dad, it's not exact because I just kind of throw everything together, but it's really tasty and it freezes well:
1 small to medium cauliflower
1 medium to large eggplant
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
Several carrots, 3-4
1 parsnips
Curry powder
Tumeric, cumin, garam masala, mustard seeds, chili powder, cinnamon stick (or a dash of powder if you dont have it)
Frozen peas
Corriander
Olive oil
Veggie bouillon
lentils (green or brown)
Tomato paste
Cut all the veg into rough chunks, the onion can be diced a little finer; dice garlic. Heat oil, add about a tablespoon of mustard seeds, fry until they start popping, then add onions and fry a minute or so. Add carrots, parsnips and cauliflower and a dash of water. Fry up a couple mins with about a tablespoon of curry powder (sometimes I do a little more) and a teaspoon each of the other spices.
Add the eggplant and garlic, and cover with water/veggie bouillon until everything's just barely covered. I usually need 2 Knorr soft bullion cubes for this. Add about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste,stir in. Add about a cup or cup and a half of uncooked rinsed lentils and stir them in so they're covered with water. Throw in cinnamon.
Bring to a boil, then let simmer for about an hour. Near the end add in some frozen peas, and serve with fresh chopped coriander. The whole thing gets better when it sits overnight or so, and the recipe is forgiving, so you can mess around with all the spices if you want more or less flavor. The bullion cubes and spices add enough flavor so don't need to add salt.
Let me know what you think!
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 3 July 2011 03:07 pm |
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Thanks Freshfig, when I started the grains and beans I got sudden joint ache, stiffness, this is the first time it happens, not sure if it was a coincidence or what. I am taking a lot of omega 3 capsules now and the pain is getting better.
So I got scared, and I also tried to do high volume fruit (801010 style) that really put me in no man land, and I don't think it suits me as I gained loads of weight on that.
I will start again tomorrow, I love greens and can do a quick stir-fry (using stock no fat) and have that for lunch, plus salads.
I do have a lot of green smoothies, but which fruit do you add to your greens? I normally add a banana and berries. I also wondered if the too much spinach (extra oxalic) caused my joint pain!!
OK, so tomorrow, I start new:
B: green smoothie (spinach with berries)
L: big stirfry veg + salad with thai sweet chilli dressing
D: salad with tahini dressing, or same as lunch depends on my mood.
Not sure about snacks.
I started doing this trick to increase my raw (as well as the salad and green smoothies) as stirfry shredded veg with lots of spices is one of my favorite meals, I usually stirfry these veg for only 2-3 minutes, and leave the rest raw, then I mix the cooked with the raw, really I don't notice the difference and this way half of my portion was raw.
I love veg soups casserols as well.
Do you have dressing recipes? I need some for when I am at work, I got one bought thai sweet chilli dressing, but one of those brands gave me issues (a mini alergic reaction) and I don't want to prep fruit dressing first thing in the mornings before I go to work - its bad enough to prepare lunch and snacks :)
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freshfig
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 3 July 2011 03:21 pm |
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Hey, great to hear you are starting up again! Here's what I do for my smoothie:
1 banana
1 handful spinach
Cup of soy milk
Tablespoon ground flax
1 handful frozen berries
1 handful fresh berries
Into the blender, and it comes out amazingly creamy, icy, and sweet.
Perhaps your body is adjusting to the beans/grain - maybe ease them in? Are you doing lentils as well? Maybe they would be easier than beans.
Re: Omega 3 - are you doing the ground flax? You're meant to do 1 tablespoon a day for your omega 3 and its promoted as the best way to do it on ETL (as opposed to supplements) but if you're finding you're getting relief with pills then that's great. Maybe also try out the flax and see if you can gradually replace supplements with flax?
Your stirfry sounds great; one thing I started getting into was putting a few raw cashews on top of my stirfry, love the crunch and it's a way to get some protein into it. I found that I would not be satisfied with any stew, salad or stirfry without a bit of protein like some nuts, lentils or beans, and those are great at filling you up and keeping you satisfied. Do you usually throw any beans or anything on top of your salads? I found without it I would be very hungry very fast.
I don't have dressing recipes, I usually use various vinegars. Do you have the ETL book? There are salad dressing recipes in there.
Good luck and let's keep each other updated! I'm going to try to be more strict on my diet, even though I'm on holiday. Just now I had breakfast: Quinoa with cinnamon, soy milk and banana, and a plate of orange and cantaloupe slices. Yum! I made that lentil stew I gave you the recipe for last night so I'll have that today as well as salad.
Let me know how you get on!
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 3 July 2011 04:34 pm |
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Yes, will keep you updated:)
I neglected the flax before, but now I will add it to my smoothies and will continue with the capsules.
I had lentils today, but unfortunately I also had a PB sandwich, tomorrow hopefully I will start the day right.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 July 2011 07:52 pm |
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Hi ladies - here are a bunch of random notes,
quick summary of the plan here http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/01/01/eat-to-live-6-week-plan/
If you join Dr Fuhrman's free mailing list you can download one free Newsletter. There is one newsletter about auto-immune disease which explains that certain people (with MS, I think?) do better when they exclude legumes (which are beans, peas, lentils) but for most people legumes are the go-to food for calories, protein, fibre and more besides. Their 'nutrient score' is higher than that of fruit and certain starchy vegetables. I believe that in the 6-week plan beans are UNLIMITED with a one cup MINIMUM. It will certainly be interesting to try them again and see if they work out for you.
Grains are a different story. If you're in for weight loss you don't need them at all. If you need weight gain then certain "intact" grains like oats are better for you. Wheat, even wholewheat, isn't that great when it has been milled into a flour. Grains are optional - feel free to forget them.
4 fruit is the minimum (it is also pretty much the maximum if you have diabetes) but I wouldn't go 'nuts' on fruit. In terms of where calories should come from there is some flexibity, fruit could be as little as 10% or as much as 40% of overall calories.
Don't forget about your "one ounce of seeds and/or nuts".
It is probably worth mentioning that also Dr Fuhrman makes fruit and beans into UNLIMITED foods that you cannot have too much of, he is adressing "normal" people. If, like me, you are an over-eater who likes to eat until they are stuffed then yes, it is possible to eat too many calories from fruit or from beans. It is your choice - either keep portion sizes within reason, or COUNT your calories to see that you are eating a sensible amount (a first guess would be somewhere in the 1200-1600 range). Dr Fuhrman has clarified that food is UNLIMITED but that you shold not "over-eat" and ideally you should manage to be HUNGRY (true hunger) for your next meal!
How much spinach did you eat? At some point I picked up a guideline of not eating more than 400 grams a day, though of course now I do better - I only eat it raw in salads which means I will never reach that number.
The two of you are braver than I. I've had a pineapple/banana sorbet this afternoon and have been known to 'beef it up' with jerusalem artichokes but it is years since I added any greens to a smoothie - I just eat them in salads. I never hit the 1:1 ratio for raw-to-cooked - I eat more raw than cooked. Only cook certain things (for example spring greens, swede, marrow, beans, sweet potato). I didn't start like this - I used to like almost everything cooked (for example broccoli, courgettes, rhubarb etc.) but I keep trying things raw and preferring them that way - more crunchy.
Another recent suggestion that Dr Fuhrman makes which wasn't in the original printing of the book is to eat the seeds and avocado WITH THE SALAD - it makes the micronutrients in the salad much more absorbable. (so your tahini dressing is just the ticket)
When I first joined the forum, Peter (the website's founder) suggested reading the book but explained that he never makes any of the recipes - mostly eats the food plain - and that's pretty much what I do. I used to eat all the vegetables separate from each other. Over the last 1.5 years I started mixing them up into one enormous salad - so I guess that is almost a recipe - but the key point is that you don't need ANY recipes in order to folow the plan. That's just extra work for you to make things tastier.
As far as Omega 3: everyone should be on one tablespoon of flaxseeds per day - and according to the supplement 'advisor' http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/VAdvisor.aspx also his DHA (fish oil for those depression or anxiety). Again there are newsletters for specific problems and fish oil is recommended for specific conditions where the benefits of the fish oil outweigh the risk from mercury poisoning etc.
What I 'throw' on my salads (well, mix into them) in addition to low calorie vegetables: beans (300 grams), cooked sweet potatos and white potatos, assorted seeds (including flax), berries and other chopped-up fruit
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freshfig
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| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 3 July 2011 09:38 pm |
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| Thanks! Everyone I tell about my green smoothie is a skeptic, until I have them taste it. The berries cover up any green color so the spinach is totally undetectable, and the banana/berries give it a sweetness. I was out of banana one day and made one without it and it was not nearly as good; the texture and sweetness just weren't as nice. So banana it up all the way!
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 4 July 2011 09:42 am |
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Thanks for all this information Nir. I came from a very low carb background, I really love the E2L plan, however I am not losing any weight on it though, which is odd as I can lose a lot of weight on high fat low veg, but perhaps that is wate weight, also it could be my body is adjusting to eating all these vegetables. In any case, now I am more focusing into health than weight loss. I have been avoiding the scales, but I think I weigh around 140lb, I was less than that, but unfortunately I tried to follow the 80/10/10 on 30bananasAday, and that was a disaster for me and I think I gained 10lbs on it.
I may have eaten 300 to 400 grams of spinach in my smoothies and salad, but not every day, I alternate it with using lettuce in my green smoothies, I will try to keep it to around 200grams.
In the last few days, my sore ankle and hand were getting better, yesterday I had lentils and rice, I noted my ankle is feeling worse this morning, so maybe pulses and grains do not suit me at all. However, I am thinking what I can use for energy instead? I can add more raw nuts, but I heard that is not really good for health either. I will just stop pulses/grains/legumes for a while and see if I get better. Not sure about potatoes, I think they could be OK, but I hear all that talk about them being nightshades and all.
I was originally thinking of having a small amount of fish daily, like salmon sashimi, I know meat is not recommended daily, but I am worried I will just fail on the E2L plan if I only eat raw/cooked veg.
I must admit I am so worried about this joints stiffness issues, I’ve never had it in my life before, it could be a coincidence that I had it as I started this eating plan, I will phone my GP tomorrow for an appointment, I tried today, but I couldn’t get a place.
Anyway, today’s menu:
1- B: Green smoothie, raw spinach, mixed frozen berries, small banana
2- L: 400 grams of stir fry veg, will also get a big raw salad, I will use my Thai sweet chilli dressing today, but perhaps I should prepare a tahani dressing and bring it to work, thing is not sure how long tahini dressing lasts, I suppose I can just use in pure tahini, this does last for a very long time
3- Dinner, most likely more stir fry veg.
For a snack I will have walnuts today. I also like carrot sticks, but end up eating like 400 grams at one sitting lol
Thanks again Nir, for all the links :) Hope you'll be able to pop here now and agian to give us some guidance.
Last edited on 4 July 2011 09:49 am by Hotmail
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Hotmail
New Member
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 4 July 2011 06:42 pm |
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Changed the menu for dinner, when I got home from work I didn't fancy any more veg, so I had homemade fruit sorbet, banana and frozen berries blended.
Other things that I am doing that are not on plan include salt, I still haven't quit salt and am not sure its a good idea to do so now. I don't drink coffee, but I I have the occasional green tea, not sure if that fits in the plan but I expect not.
So I get today I must've done the 1lb raw and 1lb cooked veg. The fruit I expect must be a bit more than 4, and I did use about 3 bananas, one for morning smoothie, the others in the fruit sorbet.
My joint pain got better through the day, I am quite worried about it. I read today that many cured the pain by fasting, but I expect if I do something like fruit juice fast and it was cured, I won't know what caused it.
I will try to weigh myself tomorrow and track the results, I am dreading it, but perhaps if I feel that my weight is stabling/going down on this plan, this would encourage me to stick with it.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 5 July 2011 01:04 am |
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> I tried to follow the 80/10/10 on 30 bananas-A-day
> and that was a disaster for me and I think I gained 10lbs on it.
30 bananas would be 3000 to 4000 calories.
Calories do matter, even on Eat To Live.
COUNTING calories whilst doing Eat To Live will NOT make it any less effective - it will show you whether you are over-eating.
Remember that Dr Fuhrman does not have disordered eating - when he isn't hungry he does not eat and he enjoys getting a little hungry before his meal, so some of his advice needs a bit of "fine tuning" if you have a different personality
If you're eating more than 1600 calories on ETL (whilst trying to lose weight), you're probably doing something wrong
> I will just stop pulses/grains/legumes for a while and see if I get better.
if you need to do a legumes-exclusion experiment for now, go ahead, but do try them again in a while. As you keep coupling them with GRAINS though, you are depriving yourself of the vital experiment of whether you are sensitive to legumes or grains. Why don't you isolate, just introduce legumes on their own WITHOUT GRAINS and see if you are affected. If the nutrient score of legumes is 48, whole-grains is 22 and refined-grains is 2, it does not make sense to lump legumes and grains together as if they are one food group. (and in case I didn't get through to you, I will be prepared to write this once more later on...)
> Not sure about potatoes, I think they could be OK, but [..] nightshades
alternative Fuhrman-friend sources of calories (to highlight what to do without legumes and grains):
avocado
garden peas (unless you consider them as legumes?)
fruit (like mango, kiwi etc.) and dried fruit (like dates)
starchy vegetables like SWEEET potato, plantain, butternut squash, sweetcorn
raw seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, pine, sesame etc.
raw nuts like walnuts, almonds, macademia etc.
white potato in a LOWER category, all by itself
> I was originally thinking of having a small amount of fish daily, like salmon sashimi,
> I know meat is not recommended daily, but I am worried I will just fail
> on the E2L plan if I only eat raw/cooked veg.
Well, today I had a small amount (less than 25 grams) of fish. These days I typically have a couple such tiny servings of fish and/or meat throughout a typical week. Sometimes I have none, ocassionally I have more.
This was not the case in 2006. For some reason back then I had a "protein fixation" and wanted to eat a lot more each and every day. In fact to such an extent that I was debtating whether I could to "eat to live" at all. A veteran helpfully suggested that I should try to be as "eat to live" as I can in every other respect and that doing that plus my extra animal products was still better than a non ETL junk food diet. That advice was useful. As I became more aware of the protein in my other foods (for example green vegetables) and become less fixated on body-building-style eating, my protein obsession faded away with subsequent re-reading of the book and more personaly research (such as reading the lengthy World Health Organisation guidelines on protein consumption). Dr Fuhrman offers lots of individualised recommendations. For example weak elederly folks may have absorbtion issues and may benefit from animal protein.
Getting individualised advice from Dr Fuhrman: if you can 'stomach' the monthly fees, interacting with Dr Fuhrman directly through the Ask The Doctor forum on the 'Member Center' is quite the experience.
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Hotmail
New Member
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Posted: 5 July 2011 08:57 am |
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Thank you for your useful post Nir.
Yes 30BaD was very high calorie, but I couldn’t manage 3000 to 4000 calories, mostly I was around 1800 to 2000, on days when I had a lot of dates I managed 2300, those days I was in a lot of pain, my digestion was going on and on all the time, and I just didn’t have energy because my body’s resources was focused on processing all the food and fibre. Many there claim to be successful on that plan, the idea is when you are 100% raw one needs a lot more calories than if you eat cooked. Anyway, that didn’t work for me, I wasn’t 100%raw, and I was tiered, looking pregnant (distended tummy) all the time. Plus I put on loads of weight.
I prefer the eating to hunger, not constantly stuffing myself as I did on 30BaD, I like feeling full and never feeling too hungry, but reaching 3000 calories on fruit was impossible for me.
Must admit I am not really successful when it comes to counting calories, I prefer to find a simple formulae that would work for me, perhaps if I know roughly the calories in a few dishes I will figure out a plan. I am not a firm believer in the calorie theory, on low carb I lost weight so easily on very high calories. But its easy to go high calories when one is eating fat, with plant based plan, its hard to achieve such high calorie intake.
You are right about the legume, I class them with grains because of my low carb background where anything carby is classed together, but need to change my mindset, I soaked some chickpeas and some dried broad beans so will cook and eat them in isolation to see their effect. I hate tin beans, I think a lot of additive added, so preparing the dried ones take a lot of planning, hence I get too lazy. Btw a while ago I noticed Tesco sold frozen beans and chickpeas, I will see if they still sell them, also if I find frozen green broad beans that would be great.
The alternative food sources is excellent, thanks so much for the list, that really made it look so much better for me.
Thanks about the protein advise, like you I intend to do E2L the best I can, and see the results.
I wanted to get at least a couple of months on E2L under my belt before I subscribe to his forum, just want to see if I am able to stick with it and achieve results first J
Thanks, please feel free to correct me or offer advise anytime, we really need the support here :)
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Hotmail
New Member
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 5 July 2011 09:05 am |
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Update on me, last night I increased the fish oil, so took 4 capsules yesterday, and I also too glucosamine, this morning I got up feeling very good, tiny stiffness in my right hand fingers which disappeared after a few minutes. My ankle feeling a lot better, no pain felt unless I rotate my foot in a strange position. I made an appointment with the GP just in case, not sure if they can do any tests. I am hoping this is just an inflammation flare-up due to something I ate.
I weighed this morning, I am a whooping 142.2lbs, thanks 30BaD, two years ago I was 120lbs on a low carb diet, but I got a lot of heartburn and coughing due to too much protein/fat, so last year I moved to a fruit and veg, mainly a lot of veg soups, I gained some water weight, but still fitted in the same clothes, however, after 30BaD experiment, I am so much heavier and have a distended tummy all the time, I look 4 months pregnant !!
Anyway lets hope things move down with a proper E2L plan.
This morning I did a green smoothie using ¾ head of lettuce, mixed frozen berries and one banana. Not sure if I am still using too much fruit. If my weight doesn’t go down in a few days time, I will look into changing my morning smoothies.
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Hotmail
New Member
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Posted: 6 July 2011 06:11 am |
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Freshfig, where art though? Are you leaving me to do this alone :(
Bad news my weight is up by a lb 143.2lbs this morning, very frustrating, the only thing I did different is add the beans, so yesterday I had 2 cups of mixed broad beans/chickpeas.
My menu was like this:
B: 3/4 head of lettuce with two handful of frozen berries and 1 banana
L: 350 grams of mixed stir fry veg, and 250g of mixed salad (greens, shreded carrots etc)
D: 3 cups of broad beans (fava beans) and chickpeas, half head of roasted cauliflower, fruit sorbet made of one frozen banana and two cups of frozen cherries.
I snacked on about 30 gm of walnuts. I know snacking is not allowed, but I do get hungry between breakfast and lunch, because I have breakfast quite early before going to work, this is the only way I can fit a green smoothie, else am not sure what else to have for breakfast, and I think smoothies are supposed to be drunk shortly after making, so I shouldn't take it to work and drink it at a later time.
I put my food into fitday and it came to 1605 calories, I didn’t feel the volume of the food was too much, I think the beans increase the calories quite a bit, however, I believe I should have at least stayed the same weight, not actually gained,.
If anyone had a suggestion of a breakfast that I can take with me and eat about 9 am, instead of having it around 6 or 7 am, then that would be great.
Anyhow, no idea why I am gaining weight, I have gained over 20lbs since I moved on from a low carb diet, on the LC diet I did eliminate all caffeine, and any processed foods plus beans/grains.
I can cut out the walnuts and the beans again, but I am not sure if I can sustain a diet which is made out of veg/salads for a long term, the other thing I can do is skip dinner and just have breakfast and lunch, but not sure if this is going to work long term, even if I lose weight while I am cutting the calories like that, I’d gain the weight back as soon as I add the calories.
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freshfig
New Member
| Joined: | 30 April 2011 |
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| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: 6 July 2011 02:02 pm |
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I am here! Jeez, that sounds really frustrating. It doesn't sound like you're deviating much from his recommendations so I'm not sure what's happening...maybe try replacing beans with lentils and see how your body reacts? Like you said it would be hard to sustain yourself with just fruits and veg. Are you adding much salt into your diet? I find when I cut it out completely the weight falls off quicker. I dont think skipping meals is ever a good idea...maybe try experimenting and stick with one thing for a few days, if it doesn't work eliminate one food (like perhaps the chickpeas) and replace with another (like lentils) and try that for a few days so you can over time sort out what works for you?
As for breakfast ideas, I really love quinoa as a breakfast cereal, I have it with chopped up fruit (banana, berries, or apple works well), some splenda and cinnamon, and a dash of soy milk. It works well both cold and hot, so perhaps that's something you could bring with you to eat.
I had an interesting experience yesterday. I stuck with the diet for most of the day, and in the evening I was seriously craving meat. I eat primarily vegetarian at this point; my partner is veggie, and since adopting E2L I cut out the minimal meat I was eating for the most part. Anyways, we went to a Greek restaurant and I ordered lamb shish-kabab; I found after seriously a few bites of meat that I didn't want any more. Not that I was disgusted with it or anything, just that I felt satisfied. Previously I would have wolfed that whole thing down! But I was more drawn to my salad and veg on the plate. I love that! I don't think I'd ever go FULL veggie, but it's nice to know that when I do have some fish or meat I can have a very small amount and feel satisfied.
In any case, I am on 2 months holiday out of country and I have been eating out quite a bit, plus going out a lot with friends and the like. I knew it would be difficult to stick to the diet plan, and as such my weight has stayed hovering around the same mark, give or take about 2 lbs. I am currently at 153, and I want to get down to 125. I am going to do my best to be restrained the next few weeks, and when I get back home in August I am going to really need to knuckle down.
I see my dad in a few weeks so I'll update you on how he's getting on. He's lost close to 20 lbs in a month and his health is improving on the diet so I'm really hoping he sticks to it.
Let me know how you get on,
-Freshfig
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 July 2011 02:35 pm |
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Hi
The source of my banana-related confusion: I thought you said you ate 30 bananas in a day; according to http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1846/2 one medium banana is 105 calories (121 calories for a large banana, 135 calories for extra large, 90 for small, 72 extra small), 105 x 30 = 3,150. So I guess you were deliberately picking the smallest ones you could find? (Having spent a few minutes on 30bananasaday.com I feel these are minutes I'll never get back...)
Anecdotally I had a major deviation from the plan (mostly for December and January) whilst continuing to count calories and can report that even when eating 100 fewer calories, the calories from processed refined foods are more easily absorbed than those from minimally processed whole foods (cooked or raw). In my case I would estimate the difference of switching from healthy diet to unealthy diet to be the effect of adding 10-30% extra calories. This meant that my meticulous calorie counting was helpless because I couldn't swap 100s of healthy calories for 100s of unhealthy calories and expect the same result. A calorie is not a calorie. (I saw sense in time).
It does not help to twist things and say "I'm eating healthy, I deserve more", that could be a recipe for disaster.
Yes soaking the beans half a day in advance is a bit of a pain, but I freeze then in handy 100g portions - and for the last six months I own a pressure cooker which speeds up and saves on energy costs (cheaper than canned and avoiding added sodium too). I'm still not clear about whether garden peas count as veggies or legumes they are very similar and obiously they're sold frozen, never seen other frozen legumes but it'll be interesting to know. I have "back up stock" of red kidney beans (19p a tin) but have not dug into them for a while with my cooked-and-frozen solution.
>Must admit I am not really successful when it comes to counting calories
personally after the obvious initial rebellion against counting calories (because it slows down cafeteria-style eating-for-pleasure, as does any form of food diarising) I embraced it so strongly for a few years and for the last year or so have been finding "shortcuts" to calorie-counting. It clearly "works" but if I can get identical results for just calorie-counting certain types of food or at certain times of the day then that is preferable. For me it was about achieving results first, and then worrying about the inconvenience of calorie-counting second. Those were my priorities.
> I am not a firm believer in the calorie theory, on low carb
when I did Atkins back in 2003/4 I thought his 'metabolic advantage' was BS so I deliberately calorie-counted and ate higher calories even if I wasn't hungry, to make the experience into an experiment. Of course back then I knew next to nothing about health and nutrition. My ideas of 'high calorie' were skewed. I thought 1800 calories was high - what would I have eaten if I wanted to go low calorie? I saved myself from myself there.
So right now I am counting exactly 2000 calories of very high calorie density foods (like oats, raw peanuts, air-popped popcorn) which I need to maintain my weight (125lb) (given my 1.5-2 hours of exercise per day) and am not counting my "shoebox salad" (1.5 kilos by weight, 3 litres by volume, in addition to the vegetables it also contains 300 grams legumes, various fruit, a potato, half an avocado and a few teaspoons of seeds and nuts) - I'm pretty sure my salad is somewhere in the 500-1000 range but not sure where. The key is that I'm happy enough with my results so I don't need to know.
> Bad news my weight is up by a lb 143.2lbs this morning, very frustrating
To gain 1lb of fat one needs to over-eat 3500 calories so clearly you did not get 1lb of fat.
Yet consider that you might not need 1,605 calories - certainly not if you want to lose weight are not particularly active. I would suggest starting with 1300-1400. (I am assuming you're between 5' and 6' and between 35 and 50). Remember that eating less calories is the only way to increase health and lifespan. (though of course if you needed more calories for exercise you could eat them and exercise is a good idea)
Everyone should be eating at least one ounce of nuts/seeds (in addition to the tablespoon of flax seeds) even if in a weight loss phase, so those walnuts can stay if they are the first ounce. So it makes more sense to make your adjustment by having a little fewer beans or fewer fruit
Personally I eat my extra 2000 calories last thing at night. So I know that if I needed to I would be perfectly satisfied with "just one shoebox" of food per day (500-1000 calories). You should be able to make 1300-1400 calories to seem like plenty, to be able to stretch it out and make it bulky plentiful, have variety and be appealing.
As far as skipping meals, that is an "advanced" concept in Eat To Live, we start by trying for 3 meals with no snacks (I started from the opposite direction, I only ate ONE meal a day - that's right a meal starting when I woke up and ending at bedtime with no breaks!!). Once your body has sufficiently detoxified you feel true hunger not toxic hunger and it makes it easier to go longer stretches between meals (which is helpful to your body). For example Dr Fuhrman was describing a typical day in which he had a light breakfast of fruit and a heavier post-workout late lunch and nothing else for the day (=2 meals). If you like 3 meals there is nothing intrinsicly wrong with that keep at it. I've only transitioned to 2 meals relatively recently.
Do I feel hunger? I felt a bit hungry at 9.25am. I made myself a black decaff coffee and 15 minutes later I was thinking "hunger? what hunger?".
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Hotmail
New Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2011 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: 6 July 2011 05:11 pm |
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Hey Freshfig, thanks for login in even though you are on holiday, I forgot about that J keep doing your best. Funnily I too craved meat today, even though I haven’t eaten any for ages, perhaps I ate fish once in the last few months! I had lamb moussaka, so I expect I messed up a bit today, but I am not giving up, I was just too hungry.
I went to the GP for my joint pain, typically today I didn’t have any pain lol , and she said its probably nothing as most people do get aches and pains, but to ease my mind she ordered a few blood tests, not sure if drawing of the blood is what made me crave meat or not?
Nir, thanks very much, but FYI, 30 bananas a day is a name of a website forum http://www.30bananasaday.com, when I say I was doing 30BaD, I meant I was trying to do that diet plan, it doesn't mean I was actually eating 30 bananas a day, the diet plan is all vegan raw, mainly fruit and greens, they follow the 80/10/10 , they suggest people have very high intake around 3000 calories, I was trying to do that, but failed. This plan works for many members, many show their success stories / before and after photos, many lost a lot of weight on 3000 calories a day and eating mainly fruit +1lb of greens a day. I wasn't successful on it, firstly I wasn't able to increase my calories by that much, my body just couldn't process so much fibre. And as I wasn’t' 100% raw (the idea is you transition gradually) I ended up gaining. Anyway, I wasn't eating 30 bananas literally, most people eat a variety of fruit, the reason they chose bananas, because its such an easy fruit, available all year round, you can easily tell when its properly ripened, and even the organic variety is still cheap enough for most people to exist on.
Anyway, I am not giving up, but I do love my fruit I must admit, I will try to cut the calories one way or another, I like snacking on carrots, so that maybe a good start.
I gave up decaf coffee, this is because I can’t have it without cream or milk, so as dairy is not part of this plan am not having any, so when I get hungry I can’t trick my system with decaf or tea.
Tomorrow is another day.
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50lbs2lose
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 July 2011 01:55 pm |
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anyone still doing this? I am starting again this week.
would loke some input.
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50lbs2lose
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 July 2011 05:55 pm |
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| Nir, when you first stared ETL were you very overweght? And did you follow the principles exactly?
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 July 2011 02:59 pm |
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I'm 5'5"
I started weight loss at 165lb.
When I first read ETL I was down to about 132lb.
after adopting it I got down to 109lb before deciding to U turn, today I'm 126lb.
Ironically, the ideal weight formula in the book predicts my best weight at 130lb (though when I was 132lb I probably had too much fat and not enough muscle to be healthy)
my compliance has improved over time. The basics (large amount of produce) came in immediately, elimination of various things was a gradual process taking years to iron out
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webbeccjo
New Member
| Joined: | 24 August 2011 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: 24 August 2011 08:42 pm |
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I wonder if gluten could have anything to do with your joint pain?
maybe if you stuck with rice millet and corn for your grains that might help with the pain?
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