Eat To Live

Hello!

Well, as usual (lately anyways) this post is overdue.  I've had some changes happen over the past few months and I've been way off schedule. And sidetracked.  And distracted.

However, I've had a little more time to get back to doing a little more work now that my kiddos are both in preschool a few mornings a week.  It's not a lot of time, but I have been able to reclaim a little "me" time which has been very nice.

As you know from reading this blog (or if you're just joining me, welcome!) then you know that I'm somewhat of a diet hopper.  It's pretty safe to say that if dieting and I were family we'd be beyond dysfunctional.  This post is coming about three weeks into my latest "diet" craze on a lifestyle called Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Furhman.

Image courtesy of diseaseproof.com

Dr. Furhman has been featured in the documentary Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, on the Dr. Oz Show a few times and is highly respected in the medical community.  You may be thinking along the lines of Doctors writing books - aka Dr. Atkins of the Atkins Diet, Dr. Agaston of South Beach Diet, etc.  I thought along the same lines also - another Doctor with some miracle diet - blah blah.

Until I read the book.

It totally made sense.  In an easy to read and follow type of way.  The diet itself is another story.  It's NOT an easy diet to follow if you're not used to eating this way at all.  Especially when you have two small children who are somewhat picky and a husband who likely won't consider eating this way.

Luckily, I had already been drinking green smoothies and eating more of a vegetarian style diet for some time now after seeing a few documentaries, reading some articles and talking to some people.

Okay, back to the point...

According to Dr. Furhman and some other people recently - like Michael Pollen...this way of eating isn't or should not really be a short term thing.  Dr. Furhman  has said that weight and health have to go hand in hand.  They are very much intertwined.  This book promotes healing diseases such as diabetes (among other things) with the foods you eat.  This book promotes a vegan lifestyle for six weeks and in that six weeks you can lose up to 20 pounds or more.  There are non-vegan or vegetarian options you may follow but the results may vary.

I highly suggest reading the book, but in case you can't or just don't want to and would like the lowdown on the diet, here it is in a nutshell:

UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want):

• All raw vegetables, including raw carrots (goal: 1 lb. daily)
• Cooked green vegetables (goal 1 lb. daily)
• Beans, legumes, bean sprouts, or *tofu (minimum 1 cup daily in total of these)
• Fresh fruit (at least 4 daily).
• Eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomato and other non-starchy vegetables, cooked and raw (unlimited) (Dr. Furhman calls these GBOMBS on a Dr. Oz show)

*Beans should be eaten daily; tofu should be eaten less frequently.

LIMITED (not more than one serving):

• Cooked starchy vegetables OR whole grains–Maximum 1 cup per day (butternut or acorn squash, corn, sweet potato, brown rice, cooked carrots, whole grain breads*, whole grain cereals*)
• Raw nuts and seeds (1 oz. or 28.5 grams a day) or 2 ounces avocado
• Ground flaxseed (1 tablespoon a day)
• Soymilk, low-sugar preferred–Maximum 1 cup a day (I've been using unsweetened Almond Milk)

*avoid breads and cereals as much as possible

OFF-LIMITS:

• Dairy products
• Animal products
• Snacks between meals
• Fruit juice or dried fruits
• Salt
• Sugar

Sound confusing or crazy to eat that many veggies and avoid all that other stuff?  Glorious bread, sugar, sweets, chicken, cheese?  Yes.  It is.

Image courtesy of myself

At first.  At some point in the book it is mentioned that it's recommended to eat that much veggies, but not necessary.  He does say the more greens and veggies you eat the more weight you will lose.  I think I maybe have eaten the full two pounds of veggies a few days out of the past few weeks.  But still, I've been eating a lot of vegetables.  A lot.

So, going on week 3 how am I doing.  You're dying to know, right?  

Well, after my escapades in weight loss this year - Weight Watchers, Cinch, etc...I was nearly back up to my original weight when I started dieting!  

Frustrating.  Annoying.  Insert expletive here.

I've been yo-yo dieting all year.  Since I've started this plan, as of 5 days ago I've lost 5.8 pounds!  Yes, I've been tracking what I eat still on MyFitnessPal.  And yes, I count cleaning as cardio these days :)  It's extra and it counts.

Is the weight loss miraculous?  No.  Do I feel really awesome and amazing? Yes.  I can't tell you how good I feel cutting out a lot of the Standard American Diet (SAD).  So, again, this was as of 5 days ago and I haven't weighed in since so it may be more at this point.  

Have I stuck to the plan exactly?  No, not as I would have liked to in a "perfect" world where there are no cheddar bunnies to tempt me or heavenly smelling chocolate chip cookies I baked for a cookie swap coming up.  So, yes I have "cheated" a bit on this plan - I had a sprinkle or two of some cheese on a few things and I did have a turkey burger (all natural) the other night.  I did in fact taste test the cookies to make sure they were tasty.  So by no means have I been perfect.  I even had some cake for my son's 3rd birthday this past weekend.  I passed on the pizza but just could not pass on having some cake :)  

Again, this diet Dr. Furhman promotes is all about healthy weight loss that can be sustained over time.  I have really enjoyed this diet so far and I plan to continue. 

Do you know anyone who follows this diet?

By the way, feel free to add me as a friend on MyFitnessPal - I'm duckycarly!

~Carly