[Momofsteel]

Hi. My crew and I need to eat healthier. Three of us definitely need to drop 15+ lbs. The guys are more meat & potatoes, but would do a salad with chicken.

I have a few questions:

- overall, how would you rate this plan? Have you seen some success? Is it difficult to follow or maintain?

I've done the follow plans with a short rate of success: South Beach, WW, Fat Blast or whatever its called. Maintaining is very challenging. I picked up Jorge Cruise's new book but already I have a headache.

- Is it expensive?

- Would a teen (13) and preteen enjoy the foods on this plan?

- Are there smooties for breakfast (13 yr old likes protein bars or smoothies for breakfast - not a huge breakfast person - neither am I)?

- Should I pick up the cook book for a max amount of recipes AND a guide to the plan or just the Plan book?

Thanks! Momofsteel.....

[CPTSayrah]

Hello! To be honest, this is the best diet that I've ever been on. I've tried WW and my points value for each day were so low (19!) that I felt like I was starving and I got REALLY neurotic about what I was eating. I've also tried becoming a vegan a la the Skinny ***** books, but it really didn't work for me. Giving up meat was fine, but giving up cheese just about killed me, as well as making me feel neurotic, again. This is the second time I've been on the sonoma diet; the first time I lost 20 lbs. and kept it off for three years, but when I got married, my eating habits changed to reflect my husbands and I've put on about 12 lbs. We've been on the diet now for about 3 weeks: I've lost 8 lbs. and he has lost 12. It can be difficult to stay on the plan if you eat out a lot (many restaurants don't serve whole grains, but some do.) We've found that we're generally making better tasting food at home than going out.

As far as is it expensive, you will be buying whole grain breads, whole grain cereals, fresh veggies (frozen are ok too) lean meats like chicken breast, flank steak and all sorts of fish. I don't feel like I'm paying more for groceries now than I was before. The things you'll buy aren't really expensive, just a lot healthier.

I would've liked these foods as a teenager, but I really like veggies, so I guess it would depend on your kids taste. To me, this is one of the only diets that is really family friendly. Its not hard for everyone to sit down at the table and enjoy what they are eating whether they are on the diet or not, because really its just good food that happens to be good for you. As far as breakfast goes, I don't know that smoothies and powerbars are really on plan. We tend to eat either boiled eggs and whole wheat toast or kashi goLean cereal with skim milk. I'm not a big breakfast eater either, but if I boil the eggs ahead of time, it's not too much of a hassle.

I just bought the cookbook, the first time on the diet I didn't have it, but I think it is really making a difference this time around. There are a lot of recipes in the diet book, but the cookbook gives you A LOT of options, so I would recommend getting them together.

This was long, but I hope it helps. Honestly this really is the best diet out there IMO and it definitely works. Most days I don't even feel like I'm on a diet, which is great. I hope you try it!

[Hyacinth]

I think the Mediterranean/Sonoma plans are great. I lost 80 pounds by following a Mediterranean diet a few years ago. The foods can accommodate an entire family very easily. Sonoma seems like it provides a little more structure than Mediterranean.

As far as smoothies go, I think it depends. Sonoma seems to promote grains and protein for breakfast, which doesn't seem very smoothie-like. But the Mediterranean is more flexible. What are you putting in your smoothie? If you use plain lowfat yogurt, fresh or frozen non-sweetened berries, and little else, I think that would be healthy for any diet. If you're using yogurts that are pre-sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, or adding a bunch of sugar or ice cream, you could make a smoothie have as many calories as a milkshake.

The nice thing about the Mediterranean/Sonoma is that if you make a dinner of chicken, vegetables and rice, you can follow the Sonoma plate portions, and if your husband or son wants to be more "meat and potatoes", they can have extra portions of chicken and rice. It would still be pretty healthy.

[Momofsteel]

Thanks all. I will give it a spin. I too can't live without cheese but I think I eat too much of it so a break would be good for me.

WW was frustrating with the points - I felt like I was constantly doing math at each meal.

Thx Again....Sue