Tomorrow is the last day of our Perricone diet. We have taken a truck load of supplements, eaten more seafood than we have in years and basically just maintained where we are. The diet should have been easier than the detox diet but it was actually more difficult. I think it was TOO close to our normal diet for one thing. We never felt like we were actually on a diet. It was difficult to follow from another sense. We are not used to eating a big breakfast. We simply do not have the time. We stuck with out power shake for breakfast on the weekdays then Dr Perricone's suggestions for the weekends. The meals prescribed were actually more food than what we are used to eating. The combinations were a little strange as well. Having Salmon and yogurt together for a meal as an example. I ended up making a curry flavored yogurt and using it as a sauce for the salmon. It turned out well but I had to think outside of the box. Finally, there was nothing convenient about the diet. Every meal required advance planning. Several times we ended up buying a roasted chicken and salad to make a quick meal. We did not have fruit at every meal and snack as suggested. The diet was all about having a protein, good fat, a low sugar vegetable and then a fruit five times a day.
All of that being said, I saw another 14 day diet in a Clean Living magazine. It actually had the entire 14 days complete with the entire menu, broken down by calories, fat, carbs, etc., as well as a complete shopping list. I scanned the menu's and quickly realized it was more of the same. A very strict combination of ingredients regardless of how well they went together. I don't know when I would ever want to put a kiwi, maple syrup, oatmeal, cottage cheese and pistacio's together in one meal except in an episode of chopped. Snacks need to be something you can grab and go... not something you have to prepare. Now I figured I could have toasted the oatmeal and pistacios together and make a parfait from the ingredients, but that is beside the point.
Another issue we had was when to take the supplements. It was suggested to take the supplements with meals. We have breakfast around 7:30 every morning and lunch at noon. We don't eat dinner until about 8 PM. So we have one or two snacks in the afternoon. Taking a round of supplements with the afternoon snack didn't seem like it would help much. Often we skipped at least one round of the supplements.
At the end of this diet, we did not feel better like we had with the detox diet. Our health dramatically improved with the detox diet. With Dr Perricone's diet, our blood pressure continued to impreve but we were reverting back to some of our previous health issues. Harry's tinitus returned. We both started having congestion and sinus issues the last week of the diet. Finally, my daily headaches returned. We contribute this to the dairy that we introduced back into our diets. I saw an ad that made me laugh. It is known that dairy is not consumed in Japan and Japan has the lowest rate of cancers. The ad was of a japanese woman holding a huge piece of cheese. The caption was, full fat cheese may prevent diabetes! Well the dairy association has to come up with something! While I can say, I don't miss milk that much, I do like my cheese. Dr Perricone allows cheese on his diet, but sparingly. I should be in a CAA group. Cheese-aholics anonymous. I can't just eat a few crumbs of cheese.
I can't say if Dr Perricone's diet would have worked or not because there were too many things we were not able to follow as he mapped it out. Our diet has to fit our schedule and our schedule is built around our jobs like everyone else! While I am looking for a diet to lose weight with, I ultimately want that same diet to maintain my weight when I reach my goal. Kind of like Weight Watcher's. With Weight Watcher's, you continually reduce the number of food points you can consume as your weight goes down. Weight Watcher's was very successful for me and I lost 55 pounds in 4 months on that diet. However I finally reached a target of 20 points a day and it was difficult to maintain, much less continue dropping weight. 20 points is not much food.
This next week, we plan to take our supplements but maybe twice a day instead of three. We will "coast" for the week as we have several parties to attend and Memorial weekend to enjoy. Starting June 5, we will revert back to a slightly modified detox diet. We don't plan to do the juice fast again, but we may incorporate juicing for a snack or something. I also plan to take white bean extract before every meal or snack. White bean extract does not allow carbohydrates to convert to sugar. Basically it is a natural carb blocker.
I will keep you posted!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Safe cosmetics
I just ran across this website and want to share it.
www.safecosmeics.org is a website all about what is in your cosmetics, bath products, etc.
I learned that my lipstick has lead which was very frightening. Any amount of lead is dangerous. Many of the other products I use every day are carcingenic and the companies that sell them KNOW this. The FDA won't do anything either.
Check out the site and join the fight. It is bad enough the food we eat is riddled with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, arsenic, toxins and chemicals. And food is "regulated" by the FDA!.
I guess it should not be surprising that since cosmetics and personal products have NO regulation that it would be a free for all!
www.safecosmeics.org is a website all about what is in your cosmetics, bath products, etc.
I learned that my lipstick has lead which was very frightening. Any amount of lead is dangerous. Many of the other products I use every day are carcingenic and the companies that sell them KNOW this. The FDA won't do anything either.
Check out the site and join the fight. It is bad enough the food we eat is riddled with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, arsenic, toxins and chemicals. And food is "regulated" by the FDA!.
I guess it should not be surprising that since cosmetics and personal products have NO regulation that it would be a free for all!
My daughter won the contest
Chris was in a contest to lose weight over an 8 week period. She won last night with a loss of 13.8 percent of her body weight. Weigh to go! (Pun intended).
This last week she lost 7 pounds. She worked really hard at it. Rode the bike 85 miles (not 100 like I said earlier), but 85 miles??????? Wow. I might make it around the block if it was all down hill.
Her goal is to get back the body she had at 29! That's been my goal since I hit 40. I am still working at it. Now I am working on 45. I might stand a better chance of hitting that.
On the flip side, I have some older friends I would like to comment on. Elaine celebrated her 75th birthday last summer, and her husband Julian is coming up on 80 this July. They get around pretty well. Elaine even has a jewelry business and has shows all year long. I worry about them though because they are not healthy. They see the doctors a lot. Julian is fighting cancer right now and having a hard time with the chemo. Now this same man had a pork chop last week that Fred Flintstone would have shared with his family. I mentioned the detox diet - less the juicing, as I really think this could reverse the cancer. At the very least, it would not hurt! Their response was to have us over for hamburgers. I am sure they enjoyed them but they eat beef and pork frequently. Even one day a week vegetarian might make a difference.
I met up with my husband's ex brother in law this weekend. He believed he got arthritis from taking Lipitor and then cancer from taking the drugs prescribed for the arthritis. I have no doubt he was right. He was clear of cancer, and surprisingly the arthritis seemed to be gone. However, he is still a heavy man! So is his wife. They clearly need to change their diet but can't imagine eating vegetarian even for a little while.
My other in-laws asked about the weight loss diet we were on. I told them about some tacos I made with bulgar wheat, mushroom and onion. That was enough. They don't like mushrooms. So much for the diet!
My hat is off to my daughter because she is doing something for her health without any more motivation than wanting to look good and be healthy. Well, the $500 didn't hurt either, but she was working hard long before the contest. Sometimes people have to wait until they loose their health and their looks. Sometimes they never get the wake up call at all.
I can't judge anyone for their decisions because I had a hard time myself. When I finally felt so bad I was willing to make a change, I was physically too ill to make it. However I fought back with the detox as a start to get me past the illness enough that I could then start on a diet to get healthier and lose weight.
Harry asked me today how much our diet impacted our allergies. My Doctor gave me a chart once and there was only two weeks out of the year there was not an allergen I was allergic to. Literally year round I had various degrees of a cough, red eyes and flu like symptoms. We went to the farm this weekend when allergens come out and attack you like baseball bats in full swing. Not a sniffle. Obviously our immune system has strengthened so much that our allergies are not a problem.
Neither is the acid reflux, diverticulitis or high cholesterol, but that is beside the point.
I can't believe that a vegetarian diet for the short time we were on it made such an impact. Keep in mind, we were vegetarian for 3 weeks, juice fast for one week, then we gradually added back animal protein over a two week period. After that we had a month of eating vegetarian and occasionally going out to dinner for what ever we had a yen for. This detox was a powerful diet!
Our current diet, the Dr Perricone diet has been compromised somewhat but we have held off any weight gain. We will have to see what happens this week now that we are following it better.
I guess I am a little puzzled why people would rather be sick than eat right. What motivates people to change. If we could bottle that motivation, we would all be healthy!
This last week she lost 7 pounds. She worked really hard at it. Rode the bike 85 miles (not 100 like I said earlier), but 85 miles??????? Wow. I might make it around the block if it was all down hill.
Her goal is to get back the body she had at 29! That's been my goal since I hit 40. I am still working at it. Now I am working on 45. I might stand a better chance of hitting that.
On the flip side, I have some older friends I would like to comment on. Elaine celebrated her 75th birthday last summer, and her husband Julian is coming up on 80 this July. They get around pretty well. Elaine even has a jewelry business and has shows all year long. I worry about them though because they are not healthy. They see the doctors a lot. Julian is fighting cancer right now and having a hard time with the chemo. Now this same man had a pork chop last week that Fred Flintstone would have shared with his family. I mentioned the detox diet - less the juicing, as I really think this could reverse the cancer. At the very least, it would not hurt! Their response was to have us over for hamburgers. I am sure they enjoyed them but they eat beef and pork frequently. Even one day a week vegetarian might make a difference.
I met up with my husband's ex brother in law this weekend. He believed he got arthritis from taking Lipitor and then cancer from taking the drugs prescribed for the arthritis. I have no doubt he was right. He was clear of cancer, and surprisingly the arthritis seemed to be gone. However, he is still a heavy man! So is his wife. They clearly need to change their diet but can't imagine eating vegetarian even for a little while.
My other in-laws asked about the weight loss diet we were on. I told them about some tacos I made with bulgar wheat, mushroom and onion. That was enough. They don't like mushrooms. So much for the diet!
My hat is off to my daughter because she is doing something for her health without any more motivation than wanting to look good and be healthy. Well, the $500 didn't hurt either, but she was working hard long before the contest. Sometimes people have to wait until they loose their health and their looks. Sometimes they never get the wake up call at all.
I can't judge anyone for their decisions because I had a hard time myself. When I finally felt so bad I was willing to make a change, I was physically too ill to make it. However I fought back with the detox as a start to get me past the illness enough that I could then start on a diet to get healthier and lose weight.
Harry asked me today how much our diet impacted our allergies. My Doctor gave me a chart once and there was only two weeks out of the year there was not an allergen I was allergic to. Literally year round I had various degrees of a cough, red eyes and flu like symptoms. We went to the farm this weekend when allergens come out and attack you like baseball bats in full swing. Not a sniffle. Obviously our immune system has strengthened so much that our allergies are not a problem.
Neither is the acid reflux, diverticulitis or high cholesterol, but that is beside the point.
I can't believe that a vegetarian diet for the short time we were on it made such an impact. Keep in mind, we were vegetarian for 3 weeks, juice fast for one week, then we gradually added back animal protein over a two week period. After that we had a month of eating vegetarian and occasionally going out to dinner for what ever we had a yen for. This detox was a powerful diet!
Our current diet, the Dr Perricone diet has been compromised somewhat but we have held off any weight gain. We will have to see what happens this week now that we are following it better.
I guess I am a little puzzled why people would rather be sick than eat right. What motivates people to change. If we could bottle that motivation, we would all be healthy!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
What is a detox plan
Some people at work have been asking me about my detox plan. One person asked what drug I was trying to get out of my system. Another showed pity on me because "I could not eat the processed food they loved". My daughter is in a contest for weight loss and has done some extreme things to get her weight down. She tried the salt water flush and then drinking nothing but lemon juice with cayenne pepper and maple syrup for a few days. She gave up after three days because she was feeling really bad and "looked gray". She is also riding her bike about 100 miles a week and working out at the gym every day. I think she is going to win! I am worried about her and very glad her contest ends soon. I am also very proud of her because I know how hard this is for her.
Detox plans seem to be the rage. However it seems there are many plans out there all labeled as detox and some are outright dangerous. There are many supplements and weight loss formulas that simply don't work and have the potential to impair one's health. When the buzz goes down, they are simply repacked with a new name and ad campaign. A different "popular today" ingredient is slapped on the label and everyone plops down the money for another failure. Rarely does anyone google the supplement or look for fraud or complaints about them. I do this for every single thing I take.
Don Colbert's detox plan is a modified version of his life style diet plan. He adds supplements that support the liver function and then finishes off the plan with a 7 day juice fast. We are not talking Minute Maid or Cranberry juice cocktail here. The juice fast requires a whole produce basket of fruits and vegetables blended with phyto-nutrients to give you plenty of energy at the lowest caloric intake. Once the detox is over, you can add a few foods back into the diet and be on his life style plan full time. It was not intended to be a weight loss diet but the 10% drop in weight and 40 point drop in cholesterol were an undeniable bonus. We also accomplished our ultimate goal and that was to get toxins out of our bodies that were making us sick. I don't cough all the time anymore and I don't get sick every time my grandsons come over. That was my #1 goal and the plan worked for us!
On this detox plan, I did not take laxatives, diuretics, 64 oz of salt water or any of those fads. I did incorporate a detox tea, but only a cup a day. We did not limit our caloric intake. However when eating all vegetables, you can certainly have a lot more volume. I did not realize until after this diet that we were eating barley grains most days that were 500 calories for a 1/2 cup serving. We were eating avocados, nuts and olives most days and they are relatively high in calories and "the good fats". We lost weight in spite of the calories.
We actually ate more than we have in years. The meals were interesting and flavorful and we feel better than we have in a long time. I think we could easily sustain this eating plan and embark on an occasional side step and be healthy.
The detox plan got us healthy. Now Dr Perricone's weight loss diet should help us with the weight. Again, Dr Perricone's diet is also a modified version of his life style plan. The negative side of this is the truck load of supplements we have to take, but the majority of them are only necessary for the weight loss. My daughter started taking the supplements this last week. She lowered her carbs a bit more on her already sugar free diet. She lost 7 pounds this week. Harry and I have not been so successful but we cannot blame the diet. For about 7 meals this week, we ate out. Not take-out, but as close to possible what the diet would allow. We got interesting looks when we asked for the entry (protien) first and salad last, but we stuck with it. Restaurant food always has additives of oils, fats, butter, flavor enhancers, sugar, salt, white flour, etc that we do not have on our diet. At home we can ensure we are using the right oils, Himalayan salt, no sugar, msg, chemical laden ingredients, etc. In spite of the restaurant food, Harry lost three pounds. I was down two pounds durng the week but ended where I started. Next week will be better. According to the diet, we are only eating about 1/2 the servings of fish and chicken that we are allowed. I never thought I would have to eat MORE to make a diet work.
Im summation, whatever plan you select, whether it is plan to get heathier, lose weight, or even fight a disease, the thing to ask yourself is if the transition to a lifestyle plan would be easy and minimal. Anything radical would not be the way to go.
Detox plans seem to be the rage. However it seems there are many plans out there all labeled as detox and some are outright dangerous. There are many supplements and weight loss formulas that simply don't work and have the potential to impair one's health. When the buzz goes down, they are simply repacked with a new name and ad campaign. A different "popular today" ingredient is slapped on the label and everyone plops down the money for another failure. Rarely does anyone google the supplement or look for fraud or complaints about them. I do this for every single thing I take.
Don Colbert's detox plan is a modified version of his life style diet plan. He adds supplements that support the liver function and then finishes off the plan with a 7 day juice fast. We are not talking Minute Maid or Cranberry juice cocktail here. The juice fast requires a whole produce basket of fruits and vegetables blended with phyto-nutrients to give you plenty of energy at the lowest caloric intake. Once the detox is over, you can add a few foods back into the diet and be on his life style plan full time. It was not intended to be a weight loss diet but the 10% drop in weight and 40 point drop in cholesterol were an undeniable bonus. We also accomplished our ultimate goal and that was to get toxins out of our bodies that were making us sick. I don't cough all the time anymore and I don't get sick every time my grandsons come over. That was my #1 goal and the plan worked for us!
On this detox plan, I did not take laxatives, diuretics, 64 oz of salt water or any of those fads. I did incorporate a detox tea, but only a cup a day. We did not limit our caloric intake. However when eating all vegetables, you can certainly have a lot more volume. I did not realize until after this diet that we were eating barley grains most days that were 500 calories for a 1/2 cup serving. We were eating avocados, nuts and olives most days and they are relatively high in calories and "the good fats". We lost weight in spite of the calories.
We actually ate more than we have in years. The meals were interesting and flavorful and we feel better than we have in a long time. I think we could easily sustain this eating plan and embark on an occasional side step and be healthy.
The detox plan got us healthy. Now Dr Perricone's weight loss diet should help us with the weight. Again, Dr Perricone's diet is also a modified version of his life style plan. The negative side of this is the truck load of supplements we have to take, but the majority of them are only necessary for the weight loss. My daughter started taking the supplements this last week. She lowered her carbs a bit more on her already sugar free diet. She lost 7 pounds this week. Harry and I have not been so successful but we cannot blame the diet. For about 7 meals this week, we ate out. Not take-out, but as close to possible what the diet would allow. We got interesting looks when we asked for the entry (protien) first and salad last, but we stuck with it. Restaurant food always has additives of oils, fats, butter, flavor enhancers, sugar, salt, white flour, etc that we do not have on our diet. At home we can ensure we are using the right oils, Himalayan salt, no sugar, msg, chemical laden ingredients, etc. In spite of the restaurant food, Harry lost three pounds. I was down two pounds durng the week but ended where I started. Next week will be better. According to the diet, we are only eating about 1/2 the servings of fish and chicken that we are allowed. I never thought I would have to eat MORE to make a diet work.
Im summation, whatever plan you select, whether it is plan to get heathier, lose weight, or even fight a disease, the thing to ask yourself is if the transition to a lifestyle plan would be easy and minimal. Anything radical would not be the way to go.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
New six week plan starting Monday 5/9/11
I mentioned Dr Perricone as my inspiration for trying a new weight loss diet.
Now my pursuit is for a diet we can live with that will make us healthy and be incorporated into our new life style. Before we can have a maintenance diet, we need to get where we want to be to maintain.
The detox diet helped us rid our body of a lot of junk in our system that should help our bodies be more receptive to a proper diet. It was very successful for the short period we were on it. We felt much better, our bronchial issues went away. Our blood pressure went down. Our cholesterol dropped 40 points. We both lost 10% of our body weight. The best part is that we both really enjoyed being on it, up until the week of juicing. The juicing part was rewarding in a lot of ways but not sustainable. It was not intended to be. We were hungry most of the time and the sheer amount of fruits and vegetables for the juice was cost prohibitive to continue for long. Also I think we reaped most of the before that week of juicing.
This Perricone weight loss diet was something we thought we would do for a month. His diet book recommends 2 weeks. Since Harry and I need to lose quite a bit more, Two weeks of any program is not going to get us there. Also because our detox diet was so successful, I want to incorporate it somehow into our plans.
The similarities between the diets are this. Total elimination of processed foods, fast foods, sugar, artificial flavors and condiments with names we don't recognize as a food. Both diets promote fresh vegetables and fruits, good fats such as olive oil, avocados and nuts, and healthy whole grains.
Dr Perricone's diet says to get the majority of protein from seafood, fowl and eggs. Low fat cheese can be consumed in moderation. He also allows turkey bacon, which I disagree with because of the nitrates. Yogurt and Kifer can be consumed on a daily basis. Since the protein is coming from animal products, beans and grains are treated as simple carbohydrates and to be limited. He allows agave syrup, stevia and something called Zsweet as the only added sweeteners. His key is to consume 20 grams of protein for each meal, consume the protein first and any fruit last. He prescribes 5 meals a day, lots of water, lots of spices. He then goes on to recommend specific foods and spices such as wild salmon, watercress, blueberries, cinnamon and turmeric to be staples in the diet. He also prescribes 12 supplements which add considerable cost to the diet. More about that later.
The detox diet totally eliminates animal protein of all kinds. Instead Dr Colbert prescribes a combination of beans or whole grains with seeds or nuts to supply the protein at each meal. He is less precise about how much to eat at each sitting, or how many meals to eat. He is more interested in the quality of the food and the cooking techniques used to prepare it. For example, if I start cooking animal protein, I will be careful to use grapeseed or macadamia oil for the preparation and use olive oil for salad dressing. Most oil breaks down and becomes carcinogenic at the temperatures required to prepare food properly. While on the detox diet, we added a high protein shake in the morning. It was a 20 mg rice protein drink with 60 calories, no carbs and no sugar. We also added Brewer's yeast and lecithin to provide the B vitamins that we would not be able to achieve with an all vegetarian diet. The supplements he prescribed were more for the detox affect as they were important for liver support. The NAC he prescribed is not something I think one would continually take, but it would be prudent to take maybe one week a month or after an illness.
We decided we alternate Dr Perricone's and Dr Colbert's plans a seven week period and take the supplements prescribed by Dr Perricone for the entire time. We will start with Dr Perricone for three weeks, have a one week break, and then finish with Dr Colbert's plan. The week break will be right during the Memorial day weekend. W have plans that week that I don't want to have restricted with a specific diet.
Dr Perricone's supplements are all about fat burning, metabolism, and basically reducing the body's ability to protect the fat. I really can't see anything is his plan that would allow one diet plan to work over the other with these supplements.
Dr Perricone's weight loss diet is also an anti-aging diet that helps the brain and skin. Again, I think the Omega 3 and DMAE he prescribes could be used with both diets.
In a nutshell and this is a big shell, this is the breakdown of the supplements.
Omega 3 from fish oil or Evening Primrose oil 1000mg - 3000mg 3x daily
Anti-inflammatory, accelerate loss of body fat
Stabilizes blood sugar, lowers insulin levels, improves skin.
May assist with memory, reduce eczema and relieves rheumatoid arthritis.
Alpha Lipoic Acid 150 mg 3x daily
Universal antioxidant. Insulin sensitizing. Converts carbs to energy.
Blocks Nfkb which causes cancer. Boosts Glutathione levels.
Must be taken with Acetyl L-Carnatine to be effective.
Anataxathin (From eggplant skin or microalgae) 2 mg 3x daily
Improves vision, may prevent cataracts, protects cell membrane,
protects muscle, increases endurance, reduces wrinkles and age spots.
L-Carnatine 250 mg 2x daily, not in evening
Converts fat to energy, prevents muscle loss, protects liver function.
Acetyl L-Carnatine 500 - 1000 mg 2x daily, not in evening
Prevents neurological decline, improves cholesterol, reduces triglycerides.
Necessary for Alpha Lipoic acid to be effective.
Conjugated Linoleic acid - CLA 1000 mg 3x daily (up to 4000 mg)
Decreases visceral (mid-section) fat, blocks absorption of fat and sugar
into cells, reduces size of fat cells. (Hallelujah!)
More effective when taken with sesame seeds.
CoQ10 or Coenzyme Q10 100 mg 3x daily
In general, heart heath. Regulates blood sugar and insulin sensitivity.
Chromium 200 mcg 1x daily
Unlocks fat cells, normalizes cholesterol and triglycerides.
Cardio protective. Should not be taken with grains, nuts, seeds, milk.
I imagine this should be taken upon rising with all of the morning
supplements taken 30 minutes later, or an hour before a meal.
Gamma Linoleic acid (GLA) 200 - 400 3x daily to 1000mg.
This is an Omega-6 fatty acid that regulates blood pressure.
Creates a powerful anti-inflammatory hormone.
Glutamine This is a powder. 1 serving 3x daily with meals. Make fresh.
Prevents muscle breakdown. Helps weight loss without losing muscle mass.
Assists with the metabolic process and delivers essential nitrogen to cells.
Prevents damage from alcohol and reduces cravings.
Maitake SX Fraction Grifron brand recommended, 3x daily, 30 minutes after meals.
Natural weight loss supplement. Controls blood sugar, regulates blood
pressure. Increase insulin sensitivity.
DMAE 50 - 100 mg daily
Optimum brain and beauty health. May take 200 mg daily to lower cholesterol.
Like I said, these are a lot of supplements. They are easy to get. As for the Omega-3, Dr Perricone recommends 3000mg to 9000 mg daily while in the weight loss diet. Otherwise 3000 mg is sufficient. Since Omega-3 is also present in seafood, I would reduce the supplement to compensate for what is consumed.
Foods to eat: Wild or sockeye Salmon, Sablefish (if you can find it), sardines, anchovies, clams, cod, flounder, lobster, halibut, tuna, other oily fish, chicken, turkey, Cornish hens, raw foods and sprouts, green or white tea, dark chocolate in moderation, fiber 20-30 grams daily, spices, nuts and seeds.
All vegetables but potatoes, corn and beans in moderation. Whole fruits are preferred to juice. Kefir, eggs, yogurt (no sugar), oatmeal, lentils, barley, buckwheat, Acai, POM juice and tea. LOTS of water.
Every meal has protein, low glycemic carbs, 1 tbsp essential fatty acids, protein eaten first and fruits last.
This should be FUN!
Now my pursuit is for a diet we can live with that will make us healthy and be incorporated into our new life style. Before we can have a maintenance diet, we need to get where we want to be to maintain.
The detox diet helped us rid our body of a lot of junk in our system that should help our bodies be more receptive to a proper diet. It was very successful for the short period we were on it. We felt much better, our bronchial issues went away. Our blood pressure went down. Our cholesterol dropped 40 points. We both lost 10% of our body weight. The best part is that we both really enjoyed being on it, up until the week of juicing. The juicing part was rewarding in a lot of ways but not sustainable. It was not intended to be. We were hungry most of the time and the sheer amount of fruits and vegetables for the juice was cost prohibitive to continue for long. Also I think we reaped most of the before that week of juicing.
This Perricone weight loss diet was something we thought we would do for a month. His diet book recommends 2 weeks. Since Harry and I need to lose quite a bit more, Two weeks of any program is not going to get us there. Also because our detox diet was so successful, I want to incorporate it somehow into our plans.
The similarities between the diets are this. Total elimination of processed foods, fast foods, sugar, artificial flavors and condiments with names we don't recognize as a food. Both diets promote fresh vegetables and fruits, good fats such as olive oil, avocados and nuts, and healthy whole grains.
Dr Perricone's diet says to get the majority of protein from seafood, fowl and eggs. Low fat cheese can be consumed in moderation. He also allows turkey bacon, which I disagree with because of the nitrates. Yogurt and Kifer can be consumed on a daily basis. Since the protein is coming from animal products, beans and grains are treated as simple carbohydrates and to be limited. He allows agave syrup, stevia and something called Zsweet as the only added sweeteners. His key is to consume 20 grams of protein for each meal, consume the protein first and any fruit last. He prescribes 5 meals a day, lots of water, lots of spices. He then goes on to recommend specific foods and spices such as wild salmon, watercress, blueberries, cinnamon and turmeric to be staples in the diet. He also prescribes 12 supplements which add considerable cost to the diet. More about that later.
The detox diet totally eliminates animal protein of all kinds. Instead Dr Colbert prescribes a combination of beans or whole grains with seeds or nuts to supply the protein at each meal. He is less precise about how much to eat at each sitting, or how many meals to eat. He is more interested in the quality of the food and the cooking techniques used to prepare it. For example, if I start cooking animal protein, I will be careful to use grapeseed or macadamia oil for the preparation and use olive oil for salad dressing. Most oil breaks down and becomes carcinogenic at the temperatures required to prepare food properly. While on the detox diet, we added a high protein shake in the morning. It was a 20 mg rice protein drink with 60 calories, no carbs and no sugar. We also added Brewer's yeast and lecithin to provide the B vitamins that we would not be able to achieve with an all vegetarian diet. The supplements he prescribed were more for the detox affect as they were important for liver support. The NAC he prescribed is not something I think one would continually take, but it would be prudent to take maybe one week a month or after an illness.
We decided we alternate Dr Perricone's and Dr Colbert's plans a seven week period and take the supplements prescribed by Dr Perricone for the entire time. We will start with Dr Perricone for three weeks, have a one week break, and then finish with Dr Colbert's plan. The week break will be right during the Memorial day weekend. W have plans that week that I don't want to have restricted with a specific diet.
Dr Perricone's supplements are all about fat burning, metabolism, and basically reducing the body's ability to protect the fat. I really can't see anything is his plan that would allow one diet plan to work over the other with these supplements.
Dr Perricone's weight loss diet is also an anti-aging diet that helps the brain and skin. Again, I think the Omega 3 and DMAE he prescribes could be used with both diets.
In a nutshell and this is a big shell, this is the breakdown of the supplements.
Omega 3 from fish oil or Evening Primrose oil 1000mg - 3000mg 3x daily
Anti-inflammatory, accelerate loss of body fat
Stabilizes blood sugar, lowers insulin levels, improves skin.
May assist with memory, reduce eczema and relieves rheumatoid arthritis.
Alpha Lipoic Acid 150 mg 3x daily
Universal antioxidant. Insulin sensitizing. Converts carbs to energy.
Blocks Nfkb which causes cancer. Boosts Glutathione levels.
Must be taken with Acetyl L-Carnatine to be effective.
Anataxathin (From eggplant skin or microalgae) 2 mg 3x daily
Improves vision, may prevent cataracts, protects cell membrane,
protects muscle, increases endurance, reduces wrinkles and age spots.
L-Carnatine 250 mg 2x daily, not in evening
Converts fat to energy, prevents muscle loss, protects liver function.
Acetyl L-Carnatine 500 - 1000 mg 2x daily, not in evening
Prevents neurological decline, improves cholesterol, reduces triglycerides.
Necessary for Alpha Lipoic acid to be effective.
Conjugated Linoleic acid - CLA 1000 mg 3x daily (up to 4000 mg)
Decreases visceral (mid-section) fat, blocks absorption of fat and sugar
into cells, reduces size of fat cells. (Hallelujah!)
More effective when taken with sesame seeds.
CoQ10 or Coenzyme Q10 100 mg 3x daily
In general, heart heath. Regulates blood sugar and insulin sensitivity.
Chromium 200 mcg 1x daily
Unlocks fat cells, normalizes cholesterol and triglycerides.
Cardio protective. Should not be taken with grains, nuts, seeds, milk.
I imagine this should be taken upon rising with all of the morning
supplements taken 30 minutes later, or an hour before a meal.
Gamma Linoleic acid (GLA) 200 - 400 3x daily to 1000mg.
This is an Omega-6 fatty acid that regulates blood pressure.
Creates a powerful anti-inflammatory hormone.
Glutamine This is a powder. 1 serving 3x daily with meals. Make fresh.
Prevents muscle breakdown. Helps weight loss without losing muscle mass.
Assists with the metabolic process and delivers essential nitrogen to cells.
Prevents damage from alcohol and reduces cravings.
Maitake SX Fraction Grifron brand recommended, 3x daily, 30 minutes after meals.
Natural weight loss supplement. Controls blood sugar, regulates blood
pressure. Increase insulin sensitivity.
DMAE 50 - 100 mg daily
Optimum brain and beauty health. May take 200 mg daily to lower cholesterol.
Like I said, these are a lot of supplements. They are easy to get. As for the Omega-3, Dr Perricone recommends 3000mg to 9000 mg daily while in the weight loss diet. Otherwise 3000 mg is sufficient. Since Omega-3 is also present in seafood, I would reduce the supplement to compensate for what is consumed.
Foods to eat: Wild or sockeye Salmon, Sablefish (if you can find it), sardines, anchovies, clams, cod, flounder, lobster, halibut, tuna, other oily fish, chicken, turkey, Cornish hens, raw foods and sprouts, green or white tea, dark chocolate in moderation, fiber 20-30 grams daily, spices, nuts and seeds.
All vegetables but potatoes, corn and beans in moderation. Whole fruits are preferred to juice. Kefir, eggs, yogurt (no sugar), oatmeal, lentils, barley, buckwheat, Acai, POM juice and tea. LOTS of water.
Every meal has protein, low glycemic carbs, 1 tbsp essential fatty acids, protein eaten first and fruits last.
This should be FUN!
Clindamycin set back - wow
I have not posted a blog for two weeks. After a dental visit, I was prescribed some antibiotics to assist with the unexpected root canal I had to have.
I was prescribed 300mg Clindamycin HCL and on the third day I was suffering from quite a few side effects. I scanned the internet and found this antibiotic is usually prescribed long term for acne as well as dental infections.
I really don't want to go into details about how bad this set me back. For the most part I had flu like symptoms, chills, fever, weakness and so forth along with an intense headache and abdominal issues. I managed to work half days from home for two days and then all day from home for two days. I have been in the office since then but even yesterday, 12 days after stopping this drug, I was having issues. I am amazed that a drug can have side effects like that and I can't help but wonder what it would have done to me had I not been on a detox program just prior.
This drug obviously will not affect everyone the same way but from what I read from persons who have taken it, it can cause major gastro intestinal problems. It can lead to problems as long as 3 months after taking it, and cause problems that may result in surgery, organ failure and even death.
I urge anyone who has taken any drug and suffered side effects to log into http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm and report it.
For too long the drug companies have been able to push drugs through by pressuring or simply out lobbying the FDA. New drugs are presented to our physican's who get free samples and possibly kickbacks for prescribing them. I have been guilty of taking free samples myself but I think there is a lot to be said for drugs that have been around for years as opposed to something that just hit the market.
For the last 10 days, since I didn't feel good and we have not been on a specific diet, we have relaxed our standards of what we eat. One night we even bought a hamburger from a new chain that has been opening up in Texas. We cheated on a few meals here and there but stuck with veggies and fruits in between. I am happy to say we have not regained our lost weight, but we have not lost any either.
It only convinces me more that a diet based on fresh vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds an whole unprocessed grains is the way to go. I am a little concerned about going on a diet that stresses animal protein for weight loss but I am curious enough to give it a try. We have all the supplements we need now and will start that on Monday, but that is another topic.
I was prescribed 300mg Clindamycin HCL and on the third day I was suffering from quite a few side effects. I scanned the internet and found this antibiotic is usually prescribed long term for acne as well as dental infections.
I really don't want to go into details about how bad this set me back. For the most part I had flu like symptoms, chills, fever, weakness and so forth along with an intense headache and abdominal issues. I managed to work half days from home for two days and then all day from home for two days. I have been in the office since then but even yesterday, 12 days after stopping this drug, I was having issues. I am amazed that a drug can have side effects like that and I can't help but wonder what it would have done to me had I not been on a detox program just prior.
This drug obviously will not affect everyone the same way but from what I read from persons who have taken it, it can cause major gastro intestinal problems. It can lead to problems as long as 3 months after taking it, and cause problems that may result in surgery, organ failure and even death.
I urge anyone who has taken any drug and suffered side effects to log into http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm and report it.
For too long the drug companies have been able to push drugs through by pressuring or simply out lobbying the FDA. New drugs are presented to our physican's who get free samples and possibly kickbacks for prescribing them. I have been guilty of taking free samples myself but I think there is a lot to be said for drugs that have been around for years as opposed to something that just hit the market.
For the last 10 days, since I didn't feel good and we have not been on a specific diet, we have relaxed our standards of what we eat. One night we even bought a hamburger from a new chain that has been opening up in Texas. We cheated on a few meals here and there but stuck with veggies and fruits in between. I am happy to say we have not regained our lost weight, but we have not lost any either.
It only convinces me more that a diet based on fresh vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds an whole unprocessed grains is the way to go. I am a little concerned about going on a diet that stresses animal protein for weight loss but I am curious enough to give it a try. We have all the supplements we need now and will start that on Monday, but that is another topic.
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