Totally agree with you on this one. Although this diet is pricey, I keep thinking of saved medical bills, less weight for my knees and ankles to carry around, etc. I am sure it will pay for itself tenfold. And if I think about the "price per pound" of my weight loss, it also makes me really feel that it's worth it. I think I'd be willing to pay upwards of $100 per pound if it is going to be kept off long term.;)

Hi everyone. Week one and 8 pounds gone! Official weigh in is tomorrow (day 8). I have been reading past posts every day, going back to the beginning, and have FINALLY made it to the end!! whew... I feel like I know all of you already :) Anyhoo, looking forward to getting to really know all of you.

I remember someone noticing that. Way cool that you remembered and asked! :bravo:

Yogurt
 

That's a relief- I just bought a box for this week!:dizzy:

[QUOTE=PRINCASS;3182656]Wyosky.
I totally agree with you.
The thing is, I was under the impression that the "newlife" shakes are the same as "IP" shakes because the ingredients read the same.

Princass,
You know I am looking at this and you are correct, the IP UHT Ready Made Shakes and New Lifestyle Ready to Drink Shakes are identical. I am looking at the packaging on a vanilla IP UHT right now. It is curious. The packaging is very generic and DOES NOT SAY Ideal Protein or New Life Style on it anywhere. I does say it is made in Canada (and that's good). I am getting the impression that this product is possibly manufactured by Ideal Protein, but more likely a third company in Canada but it is distributed through Ideal Protein and New Lifestyle. Thus the reason no brand name is given. UHT I think means "Ultra high temperature" which is a processing term.

So yes, I think these ready to drink shakes are the same from either place you buy them. But for the other products on the New Lifestyle diet that come in the packets and are boxed, they are not the same as Ideal Protein ingredient wise as far as I can tell. I do see that NLD offers now many products that are aspertame free (me no likey the aspertame) which is favorable but they are made in the USA so I don't know the quality of the ingredients....an example: as in soy isolate, is that really soy isolate or geo-modified soy isolate? There IS a difference that could effect your health

I agree! I love the yogurt and I wish they had some more flavors. Also, they need to come out with some more jelly flavors - I don't mind the raspberry but it's such a nice "normal" treat and would be great if there was variety.

Love the soapbox Wyo! You said it better than I could have. I'm an RN and have been interested in nutrition for a long time. I became a vegetarian in the 1980's and gained most of my weight then because I was eating off- the-shelf products full of chemicals (plus desserts:nono:)

After all my reading, thinking and observation here is the bottom line:

When we eat all the cr%p that you mentioned in your post our bodies react by becoming "inflamed." Another way to think about inflammation is "irritated."

The inflammatory process is our bodies effort to get rid of any foreign substances that go into them.

On a big scale: Think of people that receive organ transplants. They have received a foreign substance/object into their bodies and will have to be on immune suppressive drugs for the rest of their lives. These drugs suppress the inflammatory process which is designed to "get rid of" the "offending" substance.

On a smaller scale: think of a splinter in your finger. It becomes red & swollen (the inflammatory process) in order to "push out" and get rid of the foreign object.

Any disease that ends with the letters "itis" is in reference to the inflammatory nature of the disease.

Allerigic rhinitis: swollen, runny nose trying to remove pollens.

Hepatitis: inflamed liver trying to get rid of the virus (Hep C, etc)

Arthritis: an auto-immune disease (unknown cause), inflammation of the joints.

I could go on with a long list of "itis" words from the medical terminology list.

My point is that processed sugar and man-made chemicals are some of the the worst substances to ingest because they are "seen" by our bodies as foreign and something they must "get rid of " which starts the inflammatory response. They irritate our tissues causing swelling (water retention) and a host of chemical reactions in our body's effort to "get rid of" the foreign substance! This is weird but remember that sugar is a tiny crystal with sharp edges that probably "cuts" the lining of our membranes and causes the irritation. Whilst protein and fat molecules are round and smooth and easily slide against and through our membranes. Unless our membranes are irritated and then the cholesterol tries to "patch up" these areas by sticking to them!

Our organs can become so overwhelmed that they start to fail. Diabetes is really organ failure from eating too many carbs. The pancreas (starts producing more and more insulin) can no longer keep up with the onslaught of a high carb. diet. The receiving cells throughout our body become insulin resistant in an effort to "lock out" the extra sugar. The sugar level in the blood stream rises leading to a diagnosis of diabetes. It's a vicious cycle!

The American Diabetic Association finally caught on and started recommending carb. counting for diabetics instead of just limiting calories and "exchanging" foods.

Just before discovering IP, my doctor and I had been trying to come up with a diet plan exactly like it! Adequate protein, low fat, low carb. But the best we came up with was non-fat cottage cheese for breakfast, chicken and fish the rest of the day (with non-starchy vegetables.) Doesn't sound bad now that I look at it again. LOL.

So I highly recommend IP products for their relative purity and diversity of products and amount of research that has been put into them. It teaches you how to eat a healthy diet if nothing else!

And I really believe that my "organs" are no longer inflamed and are processing food in a much more normal way. I used to feel "swollen and bloated" constantly. All my clothes felt binding. And now I feel light and slender and can digest my food more easily (I don't feel stuffed after I eat a regular meal.)

And it is expensive! But think of the health care costs you will be avoiding if you kick obesity and all its complications to the curb once and forever!

Okay, that was my soapbox. Hope this helps/inspires all of you to stick with it. It's a healthy diet! It's temporary! You will get to maintenance and the world of choices will open up again.

Welcome! I lost one pound per day the first week also. Amazing, huh?

Very well explained Lilita175! Some of us here are looking for more than the temporary fix... yes, we want to lose weight but also to experience the other benefits that come with it from a health perspective. ;)

P.S. regarding MSG.

My son-in-law has worked in many restaurant kitchens starting as a busboy and working up to head chef. The good news: most kitchens are clean. The bad news, some of the cooks will secretly use MSG to enhance the flavor of another wise mediocre dish. They keep the bottle of MSG in the pocket of their chef coats. Especially true in Chinese restaurants.

Enough said.

I was just on the ideal protein website - looking at food - i noticed that they have a strawberry pudding listed. is this new or did i miss it before?

does anyone know when Dr. Tran's new book on maintenance is actually coming out?

Mom22 - my coach said the Strawberry pudding and a couple of new drinks including an orange one that tastes like a dreamcicle are coming out right away, she said they've been working on them for a while and now they're going to be available :)

I've been on IP since Jan. 25 and have lost 14.5 lbs. I've been dealing with bad constipation for the last 2 wks & starting last night pain in my flank (right side under rib in my back). Today I saw my doctor and she told me that any diet high in protein and fat and low in fibre, vegetables and whole grains can lead to excess of uric acid which in turn can lead to kidney stones. She stressed that a high protein diet isn't for everyone and that excessive amounts of protein quite often cause other health problems, for some people potentially serious ones. While she ran some tests she brought in a nutritionist, who also warned me that because my consumption of fats and proteins is proportionately greater because of the elimination of most carbs, I am in a danger of liver and kidney damage. Well they've given me a lot to think about because I really want to keep on this diet but of course not at the risk of damaging my kidneys or having these pains.
The nutritionist knew right away what diet I was on and said that in recent months the clinic had seen an increase of visits from people with bowel and kidney problems, who've been on the IP diet. I live in a small town and the wellness centre is very new and only introduced this diet last fall.

I don’t want to scare anyone, and I won’t go into detail about the symptoms I’ve had the last few days, but they are not pleasant. I've been given meds for pain (a first for me) and tomorrow I'm booked for an ultrasound as they suspect I have a kidney stone. I've been told to stop eating the IP packs until they can determine what is going on.
I've been drinking in excess of 64oz of water a day and eating tons of veggies along with 2-3 IP paks per day. I had to stop the cal-mags because they gave me indigestion. Saturday I stopped eating the restricted items and have been only having the puddings, soups and shakes and this is when my problems started with my urinary tract and kidneys.

I'm not sure if it's diet related or not....I just want to get feeling better again.

I was having the same old discussion with someone about the IP diet - they're convinced it's a high protein diet. Of course i said that no, it's a low carb, low calorie diet that is balanced for protein. So how do you know how much protein you need in a day - For anyone else getting asked this quesion - the basic two step formula is:

1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg
2. Weight in kg x 0.8-1.8 gm/kg = protein gm.

Use a lower number if you are in good health and are sedentary (i.e., 0.8). Use a higher number (between 1 and 1.8) if you are under stress, are pregnant, are recovering from an illness, or if you are involved in consistent and intense weight or endurance training.

Example: 154 lb male who is a regular exerciser and lifts weights
154 lbs/2.2 = 70kg
70kg x 1.5 = 105 gm protein/day


fyi

went back to the IP website and yes, see the orange drink listed - sounds yummy!