I have pdfs of all Lye McDonald's books. But the only one I have read is the "Guide to Flexible Dieting." I have a lot of books -- like over 2000 physical books. Don't have time to read them all!

The brain uses glucose for fuel. My understanding is that it takes a few days (like 3) for the body to adapt and use protein for brain fuel instead. I too was a bit lightheaded for the first few days. Then it totally went away. However, I did not experience the no-energy or flu-like symptoms at any point. Are you sure you are getting enough water, salt, and potassium?

Hi Skittles! I also am Canadian, from Toronto. I've lived in the US most of my life though... I am glad you are recovering (probably recovered by now!) from your surgery. As you can tell, I just jumped onto this thread since I am in maintenance and I think I actually inadvertently follow the no Flour, No Sugar diet. I haven't had rice, flour, potatoes or sugar since before Jan 25 (before I started IP). I have too look up more about that specific diet since you all seem to love it! Also, I love my morning peanut butter - it is all natural and the only ingredient is peanuts. It really is one of the best things I have ever tasted in my life! I loved it before IP and I love it now!

I am glad to see I'm not the only one walking around writing in my IP journal still! It really helps me!

I think a major problem with IP is that you walk around feeling so deprived! It's not a healthy outlook. Birman, I love your outlook because the IP packets really are NOT the key to the diet according to Dr. Tran. My boyfriend just finished his 5th week of IP (weigh in today) and he wants to start phase 2 because he is sick of eating those darn packets! He wants to eat "real food" again. I am going to encourage him to do it even if the clinic says no to him. They just started offering this diet in Janurary so their answer to everything is- follow the Phase 1 sheet and NO. Back to the feeling deprived feeling - now that I'm eating a healthy diet again, I don't want the junk. At all. I enjoy the fruit and other small things such as peanut butter. It feels like such an indulgence and it's healthy!

You all are great and I still have to catch up on the rest of your posts. Have a wonderful day and week everyone!

Hi Everyone, It's been awhile since I've posted, as some of you know I had surgery on March 19th to remove, what was found to be non-cancerous tumours from both breasts, and I'm almost 100 percent....feeling great.
I started IP on Jan. 25th and stayed on it faithfully for 7 weeks and lost 15 pounds. I started feeling really crappy, bad headaches, stomachaches and really bad constipation. I decided that I needed to get feeling better before my surgery and staying on the IP diet wasn't going to do that for me....well I was lucky because the day of surgery they ran additional blood work (over an above what was done at my pre-op appt a week prior) because I told my nurse that I was having shakes, tremors, bad headaches and stomach cramps. I was told that my electrolytes were WAYY out of whack and although they went ahead with surgery apparently the low potassium, iron and something else (??) put a strain on my heart and it was good for them to know this before surgery in case there were problems. The anestigolist (spellings bad) spoke to me before surgery and said...YOU NEED to get off that diet and find a healthier way to lose weight.
So...I had already started the No Flour, No Sugar diet and have stuck to it and have now lost 28 lbs. I'm combining it with the Mediterreain Diet and I'm thoroughly enjoying it and not feeling deprived at all. I haven't had potatoes, pasta, rice, breads and sugars in any form since January and I don't even want them now.
I really do enjoy some of the IP packs and still have a drawer full of them and eat them occasionally. I love the spaghetti, bars, puddings and drinks and will keep purchasing them to have on hand BUT I'll also have carrots, grapefruit, apples, banana's, feta cheese, tomatoes (whenever I want them) and a glass of wine occassionally. It just isn't healthy for us NOT to have these things in our diet. I do use skim milk for everything now and I only eat whole grain (no flour) breads and tortilla's (as per the No Flour, No Sugar diet).
I want to say that the IP diet was the absolute BEST thing for me and helped me get through that difficult time and into I guess what they call Ketosis....I do not have cravings and no binge eating...I truly feel good about eating healthy and IP got me on the right track. It isn't for everyone but for a period of time (and for me it was 5-6 wks) it is the perfect program. It may be costly but the investment for those wks was worth every penny to get me where I am today.

Okay....I'm taking a break and sorry everyone for rambling. I hope to hear from you all and see how you are doing and I'll check back.

PS I'm not re-reading this for typo's either lol.

So Cin Sparkles...you live in Toronto. I was born and raised there but live north of Barrie now near Wasaga Beach area.

Hugs everyone.
Trish

CinnamonSparkles, I honestly don't see much of a difference between IP Phase 1 and Phase 2 if one is carefully watching their nutrient levels. As I've mentioned earlier, whenever I'm on IP I'm always doing Phase 2 -- and it works great! Today I was catching up on some of the posts on the main thread and seeing a woman who was having an IP bar every day and wondering why she wasn't losing weight. Goodness -- that's 16 or 17 net carbs, most of which is crap. I ate 19 net carbs today in TOTAL -- and that was from healthy stuff like spinach, mushrooms, and asparagus. Which is better for our diet AND our health -- to get carbs from vegetables, or get carbs from malitol syrup, sugar, organic cane sugar and sucrose? I vote for vegetables!

And, I too agree with you about the not wanting to eat junk. Well, admitedly I do want to eat a LITTLE bit of junk, but not like I used to. I've been recalibrated.

Skittles, nice to see you back! I'm glad you're feeling better.

I'm about to start maintenace, on Friday, Cinnamon and Birman, and anyone else, I was hoping you might be able to give me some tips, maybe books to read or websites to look at to get a good idea of healthy carbs, fats, etc. I eat whole grains and eggs and all that good stuff, and did before IP, but sometimes it's hard to determine if something is healthy or not. Thank you!

Happy to help if I can, Babs! Sounds like the No Flour, No Sugar book mentioned above might be worth getting.

I'm wondering if there is a link to Dr. Tran's book. I hope I spelled his name right!! Thanks!

Where oh where has everyone gone??

Looking around in all of those new IP threads!!

This is my second time on IP. The first time I lost 20lbs and kept it off for a year. This second time I lost 12lbs. I find summer hard, love fresh fruits! So I am stopping and transitioning to "the 17 day diet" low carb but allows dairy and fruit. I too will keep IP in my arsenault and jump back on if I need motivation. Also want to mention that this blog was VERY helpful, my coach not so much.