Water With Lemon
 

If this isn't allowed either in this group (please move) or at all on 3FC (please delete)


I just finished the book "Water with Lemon" by Zonya Foco, RD and Stephen Moss. It is the first health novel in the Power of One Good Habit series. It's a sweet inspiring story about how to lose weight using 8 diet-free steps.

Now, I'm not much for reading diet books and I'm certainly not into following a specific plan. I've really been working on finding a way to lose weight that will work in my life for the rest of my life.

So, at my TOPS meeting this woman did a program on these eight steps and then asked if anyone wanted to read the book. Lots of us raised our hands and I just happened to be the lucky first one. There is nothing in the eight steps that I already didn't know or have learned from successful people here on 3FC and at my TOPS chapter who have lost their weight and kept it off. However, the story really struck me with its easy to read story, compelling characters, and sound-thinking habits that I know will produce results.

You might be asking, "Just what are these amazing 8 diet-free habits that will change my life?" Well here is the run down.

1. Drink water--it is your body's internal carwash and vital nutrient
2. Include Breakfast--and stop eating 2 to 3 hours before bed.
3. Eat Often--and include a fruit or vegetable each time
4. Tame your sweet tooth--eat more fruit and as little sugar as possible

5. Find the fat--eliminate the bad saturated fat and include the good fats
6. Replace processed, chemically enhanced foods for wholesome close-to-the-farm foods
7. Eat only until you are no longer hungry--don't stuff yourself!!!
8. Everyone once in a while, when the urge or circumstance dictates, it's all right to eat outside the guidleines of the other habits.-- this keeps you on your plan and keeps your metabolism from slowing down.

Sounds simple enough huh? Well I'm going to seriously learn these 8 habits and make them a part of my life. I'm excited and so far I'm down over 7 lbs.

I encourage y'all to read this simple little book. I plan to buy my own copy so I can highlight areas I feel are important for me. One of the quotes that really struck me was this:

"What we do is attempt to try (to lose weight), but don’t attempt to succeed (at losing weight). And so we don’t."

Wow, that really hit me hard. How many times have I tried? For over 30 years!! How many times have I attempted to succeed? Obviously never. I want to succeed this time. I have to!

If you are interested in reading an exert from the book you can check it out at http://www.waterwithlemon.com/

The second half of the list sounds similar to Geneen Roth... she's written quite a few that are pretty good reads - you might want to check her out if you liked this one :)

Thanks spixiet, I will check out Geneen Roth.

My mother just called me to tell me that she received the book last Friday and finished it and is planning on reading it again. She says it's awesome and that is a lot coming from my mother. I've not heard her this excited about losing weight and getting healthy in like forever. Go mom! :carrot:

I just read this book yesterday and am rereading it today, taking notes, and thinking of ways to make the list of 8 a reality for me. It is a great book, and one I wish I would have found the day I put my Weight Watchers scale away in the closet. I remember giving a sigh, knowing I just could not face another day of weighing food, measuring food, counting points, counting how much water I drank! I was right to quit Weight Watchers, but I should have found something to replace it. The first seven principles are all weight watchers principles, so I can't say I learned a lot from the book. It is the whole attitude of not counting calories or points, not following rules about when to eat that is different. I know I heard in Weight Watchers that it is not a diet, it is a lifestyle, but for me it was just a diet. It is not natural to write down every bite and calculate points. Healthy people don't have to do that. I desperately need to lose weight, and thought about returning to WW, but after I got out the food scale and the points book, I just knew I couldn't return to that. WW made me obsessed with food! In Water with Lemon, there is so much written about making healthy choices that blend into our lives, not overtake our lives, that really resonates with me.

Try the book "food rules". Simple and wise. Polland, I think, is the author. Michael, the one who wrote about the food industry, too in "Food, Inc.". Both will help you make choices that do it all.

don't know about the fruit...it says don't eat sugar, but eat alot of fruit? It's the same effect to your body essentially. How does that fly?

Water With Lemon shows a healthy diet with a little processed sugar - like a teaspoon in a cup of tea. I am not sure I agree with the idea that white processed sugar has the same effect to our bodies. I have read that the sugars in fruit are the kind our bodies know what to do with - that the sugar is gradually absorbed, not all at once like the processed kind.

Just wanted to say, if any of us could stop eating when we were no longer hungry, we probably wouldn't be here. So part of the challenge is to discover what "hungry" is, as compared to just wanting to eat something.

I know that for me, eating carbs, especially refined sugar, makes me want to eat more carbs. In other words, I feel hungrier. If I am tracking carbs and keeping them around 100 grams a day, and at the same time make sure I eat about the same amount of protein, I don't feel nearly as hungry.

Yes, that does mean you have to track for awhile. I'm sick of tracking, too, but I have to remind myself that I'm not "normal" in the sense of being able to eat freely without gaining weight.

The good news is that once you learn what foods and food combinations work, you don't have to track so much--just look things up now and then to check. And then making good choices is pretty automatic.

Jay

Thanks for the book idea.

I am a big fan of Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan. I read it on Kindle at the advice of a personal trainer, great advice :cool: I also checked out Why Weight? A Guide to Ending Compulsive Eating by Geneen Roth which I have yet to finish and Breaking Free From Emotional Eating.

Water with Lemon sounds great!

:)