[Tea Time]

Hi,

I'm new here but have been trying to eat along the Mediterranean lifestyle for a while now. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my physician's assistant said that the fruits and vegetables are an ideal way to handle this disease. I have gained quite a bit of weight over the last 3 years with prednisone and illness, plus laziness, I'll be honest here
I started eating this way earlier this year and have lost about 20 pounds but have around 40-50 more to lose. It would be really nice to be in a group of people who are eating the same way and have similar goals.

Ann

[petra65]

Welcome. This isn't a very large group at this point but please jump right in. Are you following the plan in the book or are you doing a more Mediterranean plan (less structured)?

[Tea Time]

I don't have a book, just lots of internet Mediterranean sites. so, less structured but careful. My main goal right now is to increase the vegetables and fruits and eat small amounts of fish and chicken.

Thank you for the welcome. I am looking forward to the group!
Ann

[LindaT]

Welcome Ann. Sorry I didn't get a chance to get to you yesterday, but I was swamped at work.

I am sure you'll love eating the Med. way. I sure do. The food is so tasty. It makes me wonder what I ever saw in fast food or all the processed stuff.

I also never bought a book and you can indeed find everything you need online to eat that way. Glad to have you on board.

[offthecouch]

Hi Ann,

Congrats on the 20 lbs. That's terrific.

Eating this way has dramatically increased my fruit and vegetable consumption. And I got out of the rut of just four or five different kinds of vegies. It's been fun trying eggplant and new ways of fixing zucchini and chard.

There's so many wonderful recipes online. For healthy food, it sure tastes good!

[Tea Time]

Thank you Linda and Mary too! Sorry it took me a while to respond. My internet kept kicking me off this morning and I only got a couple of posts in! Hopefully the problem is solved.....

Anyway, I feel good about this way of eating. I low carbed for years and while I felt great, I was concerned about long term effects. I know some believe that it's great long term, and it may well be, but I felt I was eating too much meats and saturated fat for my body. With this way of eating, I don't have as much arthritis pain and I even got the ok to taper off prednisone last week!!

Nice to meet you all!!
Ann

[ckatgo]

Hello Ann!

I decided to say hi here instead of the other thread. 20 lbs! WOW! that is great! When I saw this plan it knew it was the one I could stick with. I love the food, and I have to love the food. low carbing is fun for a while, but then after that I gotta have some grains..LOL.

Its nice to hear people in the medical establishment recommending this plan, even though I never laid much faith in anything they said. LOL. The rebel in me I guess.

welcome aboard!

[ckatgo]

ps...link me to some of those sites! I love good sites!