Eating to Live

So....I read this book -- Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I think I heard about the book on Peertrainer, where a friend and I belong to a group. Anyway, I read it, returned it to the library because I thought it sounded too radical, but checked it out and read it again. In the meantime, my doctor's office called me to ask if I was taking my cholesterol medication. Apparently, the insurance company called them to tattle that I wasn't refilling it enough to be taking it daily. Big brother, indeed.

I hate taking medication. I can't even really say why, except that I've always prided myself on being so healthy that I rarely even get a cold. The last time I had the 'flu was when I was a kid. I just don't like taking it. In his book, Dr. F tells of people being able to go off all sorts of medications for all sorts of maladies after they've been eating per his advice for several months. I couldn't stop thinking about that. Could I do it? Could I change my "familial" high cholesterol, reduce my risk of heart disease, and maybe lose some weight in the bargain? Hmmmm. I decided to try it. I started trying to ease into it by incorporating more vegetables and fruits, and eating fewer grains. That was okay, except for the days when I threw a virtual tantrum and ate several helpings of crap food. I waffled, but in the end, I want to try it. If I don't, I'll always wonder if I could have.

Today was day 1 of his initial six week plan. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I did get quite hungry around 4pm and had difficulty concentrating on my work by 4:30pm, so I need to either take an afternoon snack or eat a bigger lunch. I felt satisfied after lunch, though, so maybe a snack is in order -- at least temporarily. Dr. F frowns on snacks because your body needs to be empty for a while in order to let it do its work in cleansing everything. Or something like that.

A day in his 6 week start looks like this:
1 lb of raw non-starchy vegetables
1 lb of cooked non-starchy vegetables
(he stresses greens for both kinds)
4 servings of fruit
1 cup of whole grains or starchy vegetable
at least 1 cup of beans
1 T ground flaxseed
1 or 2 oz nuts or natural nut butter
there might be some mention of 1/4 avocado somewhere in there too
no (or very limited amounts) meat, fish, dairy, sugar (or honey or agave or syrup, etc)

I didn't stick STRICTLY to this. I had a greek yogurt to use up, and forgot about the nuts. This is what I ate:

breakfast (I did walk the dog a mile and do the elliptical for 30 min before eating and felt okay): smoothie with 3 oz baby spinach, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, small (85g) banana, cup of mixed berries (black, blue, rasp), T ground flaxseed, and 1/2 c of cannellini beans. I think the beans added some staying power, because I was okay until noon. I ate the smoothie in a bowl a la Kath, which made it seem more like a meal of soup. I sprinkled on 1/4 c of Kashi GoLean for some crunch.

lunch: leftover eggplant "mash" I'd made last weekend (eggplant, garlic, onion, diced tomatoes, peas), a container of plain 0% Oikos greek yogurt, and an orange.

dinner: Veggie Enchilada Pasta, 1/8 of a small cantaloupe, and a few baby carrots, celery, and cauliflower florets...along with 2 bites of dd's pizza crust.

Right now, I feel good about my day. I really didn't eat very many calories -- 1300 maybe? But I wasn't overly hungry, didn't dwell on food all day, and liked what I ate.