Hi, I'm new to the forum, in fact I just stumbled acrossed this site while searching info on another diet plan. I'm interested in the Sonoma Diet, I've been on Fat Flush on and off for a number of years and I'm tired of all the rules and the expense. Everything had to be organic or soaked in bleach water to kill possible bacteria/pesticides and there was a vitamin and supplement regimine that could only be purchased on a related website. I tried to match the vitamin ratios on my own to save money (through either sales at local drug stores or by mail order, but I had to keep up with ordering & taking so many things it was so time consuming & expensive that way too). On FF you also have to drink a required amount of organic unsweetened cranberry juice (costing about $7-8 a bottle, or make your own with frozen cranberries which are season, I have a freezer full of them as we speak)mixed with purified water, plus twice a day drink it with psyllium husks. You also had to take Flaxseed oil which added to the expense and and also GLA oil supplements to boot. Although the plan was strict, and I did stick with it for quite a while, and I felt guilty spending all that money. I got tired of always checking with the diet bible everytime I ate anything. Although I was successful in losing all the weight that I wanted, I have since gotten into my 40's, now my hormones are out of wack, my cravings are out of control, and I've gained it all back and then some ! I've tried numerous times to get back on the FF program, but somehow I keep falling off the wagon. I've decided to look around for something else. I bought the Perricone Weightloss Diet book, and for the most part alot of his guidelines made sense. But when I got to the part about vitamins and supplements, well they are even more expensive than FF. So I bailed out of that book too. I'm just looking for healthy eating that is easy shop for, prepare and is satisfying without paying a load of money to some diet guru for vitamins & supplements.

So is this Somona diet something that I could comfortably afford? I've got 3nearly grown kids, 2 of which my husband & I are paying college tuition for as we speak. I'd like get away from all the specialty diet foods I had to purchase in the past at the Whole Foods store 40 minutes away. I don't mind exploring the produce aisle so to speak and a occasional trip to the HF store is OK, (FF plan even had restrictions the brand of many of organic foods which meant they were either hard to find, or you had to mail order them!). I also would like it if I didn't have to make a separate meal for myself, (it was too expensive to feed the whole family on FF plan, and besides it was greatly objected to!!). I just want to live a semi normal life again, stop spending so much time abiding by the FF rules, and just eat healthy, sensibly, affordably and still lose & maintain a healthy weight. So I hope someone could advise me on this Sonoma diet plan.

I'm not in the States so I couldn't comment on cost, but the Sonoma diet is just healthy eating. Loads of veggies, lean meat, beans, wholegrains....

Have a look at some of the recipes in the recipes thread- there aren't any of the restrictions that you seem to have had on the fat flush plan.

Just good wholesome home cooking (and it doesn't feel like a diet at all!)

Hi,

All the food that I buy is at the grocery store, and a occasional trip to the healthfood store for a couple things I have wanted to try. The meals are easy and family friendly, made with common everyday items. So it is very easy for the whole family to eat the same meals. My husband and daughter eat the same meals that I do for dinner, and my husband has told me that he is going to start the program with me the beginning of February, because he likes the food.

There isn't a slew (sp) of vitamins that you are required to take, the book does suggest that you take a multi vitamin. I personally take the Weight Smart by One a Day.

A suggestion I would make is that if you have a Barnes and Noble or Borders books near where you live, go in find the book grab one of their comfortable chairs and look through it and read the beginning of it, there are recipes in the back of the book, so it will give you an idea if it is foods that your family would like. There are also lists stickied in this forum, that has a list of the right food choices for the different waves.

Hope you will be joining us.

Thanks for your reply. Does the book have any notations on vitamins/supplements that are required on the plan?

I think I only remember reading that the book suggested you take a multi-vitamin, but that's it.

Sorry, your post must have just beat my last reply... if all that is needed is a multi easily bought from from local drug store that would be wonderful. My daughter jokingly would comment on all the "drugs" that I took everyday (meaning vitamins of course). I had to have those little vitamin sorter containers to keep track of all the tablets I took everyday. So thanks for your reply also and I will definately check out the book at the bookstore.

Also take a look at the recipes here in the thread, the ones that I have tried are really good.

Yes, I was checking them out they do look really good. Could you tell me if there were any magazine articles that featured the Sonoma Diet? I thought I had read something refering to one somewhere on this site but now I can't find that thread. Thanks

The current Ladies Home Journal, with Dr. Phil on the cover, has a good article about the diet. You'll probably have to check the newstands quickly, since they will probably replace them with the February issues soon. I wrote more about the diet here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71128

And to chime in on the rest of the topic, you won't have to buy anything special for this diet, just good quality food. I think that some diet books were written just as gimmicks to sell supplements. Dieting shouldn't be so extreme, and should be based on the foods you find in the real world.

lilbtrsweet-I can't believe you followed FF that religiously. I have jokingly said I would have take 2 weeks off from work just to do the 2 week induction part of that plan. You deserve a gold medal for that. The only supplement I remember her being crazy about when I read that book was GLA but I might have to get the book out and look at it again. I don't remember it being an overwhelming number of supplements. The cranberry juice thing is interesting. Anyway, I had a patient come to see me last night who wants to lose weight and was asking me for advice. She was telling me that she needs a VERY structured diet plan and I told her that the most structured diet I know is FF, LOL. Anne Louise Gittleman practically tells you when to go to the bathroom in there. I also gave her some advice about trying to find something she can live with for the rest of her life.

Sonoma is a very livable diet based on excellent nutritional principles. I think you will find it much easier to live with and you will be able to make food the whole family will eat. Check out the book and the forum. Good luck.

petra65,
In the FF book, the vitamins required were the multi dieter's formula & weight loss formula, chromium, L-carnitine, methionine, choline, inosital, lipase, lecithin, and GLA supplements, plus flaxseed oil and psyllium husks. Plus there was also 'lipotropic herbs' supplements. Later, in the next phase 3, you also add CLA. I tried to recreate the dieter's multi & weight loss formula because they were expensive to order from their related website. I just added as much of the vitamin ratios to my multi that I purchased in grocery store so that it came close to their formula. That's why I needed to organize my vitamins in containers every day.

Suzanne, I looked on LHJ.com and searched the Sonoma Diet and it took me to what I believed to be summaries of their article. Thanks for referring me to that magazine.

DH is thinking that it is more expensive to live Sonoma than eating whatever else we bought in the past, but I keep telling him it balances out because we aren't buying the junk we used to. I'm also getting used to buy groceries once a week instead of a load once a month-all filled with preservatives to keep it going all month long!

Really this is super easy. The most cost I've invested food wise really is a larger bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of the small bottles I usually buy that lasted forever. We've also picked up a few extra things that we wanted to try, but mostly tried to stick with store brands. Organic things would work very well with this type of diet, but thankfully not neccesary! I would NEVER be able to afford it otherwise!

Tammie,

Thanks for giving me more insight on this plan. It sounds just like I've been looking for. I've alway like the mediterranean type of diet, I know that Dr. Andrew Weil (Eating Well for Optimum Health) refers to it and from what I gather, he bases his diet recommendations on it. I'm glad that someone has actually put all those concepts into a step by step plan. I'm going to look for the book at area bookstores. Thanks again. I hope to also be a Somona Diet endorser myself !!

I found the multi vitamin information on page 74 suggests a multi-vitamin and 500 mg of Calcium. Dairy is limited in Wave 1, so they suggest a calcium supplement.

DonnaS, I'll check it out , Thanks so much.