NOTICE: New Challenge/Group Starting
 

Today is Saturday, May 13, 2006.

Junia, San*_* and I are starting a new diet challenge soon based on the book "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman (see drfuhrman.com) The book outlines an initial plant-based six-week plan eating nutrient dense foods to cleanse your system and promises dramatic weight loss. We haven't yet outlined the "terms" of our challenge and invite your input.

The plan will be very challenging for me, a voracious meat eater. It will be challenging for vegans Junia and San*_* as well. I will probably not follow the plan exactly but hopefully will achieve my goal of eating more veggies. At minimum, I expect to be healthier and lighter.

Please join us if you are interested. We will probably start our support group in the Veggie Chicks forum as it's less crowded over there.

Woo-hoo! Time to Eat to Live! I did it for two weeks, lost several pounds, and felt great. Then I went out to eat a couple of times, had to compromise, and, well... pfft. But I'm very confident in the program so I want to get back onboard. It will be great to have a place where we can share ideas and encourage each other.

Thanks, Sarah, for starting this thread!

I like a good challange and the eat 2 live book is really good I have read it and I'm up for it lets play :carrot:

San*_*'s Post from Veggie Challenged Forum
 

I had to post San's post from the Veggie Challenged forum here b/c it's too funny to be missed! Read what this funny chick wrote below:

"Here we are. Three ladies standing united against the fat. And fighting it fiercely with carrots, celery sticks and we will even violently attack with a can of low cal cooking spray if there is some sneaky flab trying to attack us in the dark hours of the night. Cherry tomatoes are our bullets and lettuce leaves our shield. I just ripped a pair of jeans yesterday, and who was to blame, yes the enemy, the flab. The war has begun....
Anyone wanting to join the team can and is most welcome to!"

Now doesn't that just make you want to join us and eat vegetables?

Absolutely! :carrot:

A friend of mine who is doing really well on her weight loss told me her slogan: "Being fat is cheap and easy... and I am NOT cheap and easy!"

I want to join you girls!
I'm new here and tried a vegan diet for a few months and LOVED the results. That's when dh was away and it was easy to change my diet without having to cook for him. Well, I've decided I'm going back to it whether he wants to eat that way or not, because I want to (and need to) do it for myself. So count me in!

Ggbdominoa and ArcticAngel welcome to the team!
San
xx

i'm starting a juice fast for today this afternoon really and tomorow then hopefully I'll be readyI'v been an ovo-lacto vegitarian since january so this wont be to differnt I've really cut back on the chesse and eggs and I'm ready to make the jump to vegan woohoo we're going to be so helthy and slim. It's nice to have a group to have support with.

oh yes check out fatfreevegan.com it has alot of eat to live recipes. some are really good lots of salads and stews

You know, I've been a vegan for a few months now... I did the Eat to Live plan for two weeks about a month ago, and since then I've been *almost* doing it (using a little oil, basically, and maybe an extra serving of grains). So my system has gotten really used to it. Well -- I was out of town here for a couple days, and had to eat a little differently because of poor options. I wound up having plain bagels with preservative-laden peanut butter, instant oatmeal, and stuff like that. Lots of processed foods. Anyway, I feel SO SICK. I'm going back on Fuhrman's plan RIGHT NOW. I tell you, if you don't have the book -- go buy it! Then read it cover to cover, and give it a chance. It sounds extreme, but man, it makes your body feel GOOD!

I'm interested in this challenge, although I don't have the book yet and not sure exactly what the diet is. I am veggie already, and recently cut out caffeine, and I feel better when I n't eat processed foods. The only question is, does it take a lot of preparation, as I don't always have much time?

Babs, the basic plan is listed below. I checked out the book from the library. Please join us! We're starting no later than Monday May 22.

UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want)
raw vegetables (goal: 1 pound daily)
cooked green vegetables (goal: 1 pound daily)
beans, legumes, bean sprouts, and tofu (1 cup daily)
fresh fruit (at least 4 daily)
eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes

LIMITED (not more than one serving per day)
cooked starchy vegetables or whole grains (butternut or acorn squash, corn potatoes,rice, cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, breads, cereals) (1 cup max. per day)
raw nuts & seeds (1 oz. max. per day)
avocado (2 oz. max. per day)
ground flaxseed (must consume 1 T per day)

OFF-LIMITS
dairy products
animal products
between-meal snacks
fruit juice, dried fruit

Questions for Junia
 

Why does Fuhrman recommend no between meal snacks? :(

In the Limited section, can we have 1 cup cooked starch plus 1 serving nuts/seeds plus 1 serving avocado per day? Or is it one serving total of that group?

Thanks our experienced one!

Sarah: I'm not sure why the limit on no between-meal snacks. I think maybe it's to accustom us to feeling hunger in a different way. Me, as I've been doing my own "semi" version of the plan, I've been snacking on the fruit or nut servings. As for the "Limited" items -- the way I read it, we're allowed to have one of each of those, and he especially encourages the flaxseed for the Omega-3 fats. Try his easy banana fluff (frozen banana blended with vanilla soymilk) topped with flaxseed. It's yummy.

Babs: I hope this sounds like something you would like to do. Ssarah listed the six-week plan above, and it will REALLY help you stick with it if you read the book. It's kind of like a detox period so that your taste buds and hunger sensations change, which makes it easier not to go back into your old habits if/when you choose to add in small amounts of oil, animal foods, etc. It doesn't require a lot of prep work, although you could do it up fancy if you wanted. The way like it is to eat a lot of salads. Also, wraps are good -- I buy pre-shredded broccoli salad mix and put it on a multi-grain tortilla spread with hummus or lentils, add some spinach, and have myself an easy lunch wrap.

ok so the fast didn't go so well. I'm haveing insuline resistance issuses and I didn't think this would bother it but I'm wiped out now blood sugar messed up. Oh well I tryed. I think the thing to rember is to keep it simple. I wonder if we really eat a pound of food would we really get hungery?

Yeah, he says to "aim for" a pound of veggies a day, but he acknowledges that we might not reach that goal. The idea is that if we're really eating all the veggies we should, we won't be hungry for the junk.

I'm sorry to hear that. I have insulin resistance from PCOS, and I'm just barely getting a little improvement from medication. One of the things I'm hopeful about with this nutritional plan is that it's supposed to improve or even reverse diabetes, which is similar in some ways to PCOS -- so I wonder if it will work with my meds to help reverse the insulin resistance. I hope so!

I don't know that I'll have time to sit down and eat a pound of veggies since I have two energetic boys. Realistically, I'll probably graze all day. Perhaps on our lawn when watching the boys play outside!:)

QUESTION: when fasting, going vegan, detoxing, or doing Fuhrman plan, does anyone take an amino acid supplement?

I'm still obsessing about adequate protein b/c I have ambitions of actually exercising (instead of just dreaming about it.) I plan on eating soybeans according to the plan but I may add eggs to ease my concerns.

Thanks, Sarah

Group Name?
 

Let me know what you want to name our group. All suggestions are welcome! Some of the ones submitted & voted on so far:

Munch Bunch
Sexy in Six
Veg Heads
Vegs Gone Wild
Abs Flab
Salad Soldiers

Other suggestions wanted please!

There is no need to worry about amino acids/protein while on a well-rounded vegan diet with enough calories. A vegan diet is very different from a fast or other temporarily restrictive diets. As a vegan, just about everything I eat has significant amounts of protein: Broccoli, pinto beans, whole wheat, everything. "Eat to Live" and "Becoming Vegan" as well as countless other books on vegan nutrition should assure you on this subject. There is no need to supplement unless you are living off of processed "fake" foods, which is a problem regardless of whether or not you choose to eat animal foods.

For anyone who is concerned about the so-called "protein-problem," please read Fuhrman's book or "Becoming Vegan" or other nutritionally-sound books on veganism. I can recommend others if you would like.

I was worried about protein too, but thought tofu has protein as well as beans, so it should be good. Thanks for the info Junia! :)

I think we should call ourselves the Eat2Lifers!

Eat2Lifers sounds good to me. I was thinking eat2livers but that made me think of organ meat :barf:

eat2livers with faba beans and a nice cenate lol

Wow, it is great to see so many people here willing to give a vegan/unprocessed food diet a shot! Good for you guys. I’m a 12 year lacto-ovo vegetarian and I’ve been dabbling in veganism for the last several months. I’m eating a lot more fruits and veggies (both raw and cooked) and have cut way back on my dairy and eggs. Right now I’m looking at starting a sort of BFL type of eating/lifting program soon so I don’t think it’s the right time for me to try Dr. Fuhrman’s plan, though I must say it does intrigue me. I think eventually I would like to “sample” a lot of different plans that have some appeal to me and in the end I will hopefully be able to take all good the bits and pieces that work for me and incorporate them into my own little healthy living plan. Good luck to you all, I’ll be lurking about these parts as you do the plan and hopefully learn something!

Thanks for your support shananigans! I assume BFL is Body for Life program but will you be modifying it to be vegan on that?

Shananigans: Thanks for stopping by! If you decide later that you want to try the Eat to Live thing, or a variation of it, c'mon back. I for one plan to be sticking with it for quite awhile and would love to hear how things are working out for you. :)

Yikes!
 

Tomorrow we start! I alternate between looking forward to it and dreading it. I know you've already started Junia, so here's my latest question- are you putting any type of dressing on your numerous salads? If so, what?

: hi ssarah,
at the back of the eat2live book there are recipes for dressings. also the FatFreeVegan.com web site I talked about earlier had lots of eat2live recipes also Annies yogart dill is E2L friendly and then theres always salasa my favorite. I think the on thing to remember is to keep it simple
Breakfast fressh fruit:coffee:
lunch salad, beans on top and more fruit:carrot:
dinner salad and two cooked veatables (1lb), fruit dessert:burger:(veggy burger)

have a wonderful day tomorow we are all goin to feel so much better we are doing our bodies a favior. :)

and just look how happy this cow is we are not eating her :moo:
G

I promise if I cheat on this diet that I will only eat non-cute animals like fish or birds or opossoms.

I've been experimenting with different non-fat, low-cal dressings. There's a brand called "Maple Farms" or something like that (I'm in the U.S.), and they have several good options. Their balsamic only has 5 calories for 2 Tbs, and they have several others that aren't a bunch worse.

I've also tried hummus on salad, and I might try salsa, too. It doesn't take a lot to flavor a salad if you toss it really well, thankfully.