I am ready to change my diet

Joyce -

My recommendation would be to start like this:

1. Cut out EVERYTHING that contains high fructose corn syrup. Read the labels on all of your food - you will be AMAZED, HFCS is in EVERYTHING.

2. Next switch from white bread to whole grain bread (that doesn't contain HFCS) and from white enriched flour to a whole wheat flour and from white rice to brown rice.

3. Drink 3-4 liters (that's about a gallon) of water a day - jazz it up with some fresh squeezed lemon or lime - that's great for creating an alkaline environment in your body (which cancer hates)

4. Eat fresh (organic) avacados and tomatoes. Also help alkalineize the blood.

5. Allow yourself one single piece of something sweet when you have a craving (as long as you don't get like 20 "cravings" a day) and allow yourself to have it as a reward for doing something healthy.

5. Eat 10-15 almonds throughout the day. they will help with those sweet cravings and the fiber combined with the water you're drinking will help make you feel full.

7. Start juicing, but do it in addition to your regular meals and then start to scale-back your meals to smaller portions because you won't feel as hungry.

8. try to eat 6-8 little "meals" throughout the day as opposed to 2-3 big ones.

Hope this helps.

Some changes I have made in my diet include:

a) Eating more often throughout the day
b) Continue to exercise regularly
c) Eating more fiber and protien. I like Kashi brand cereals and breakfast bars.
d) Eating more fruits vegs. I like broccoli. I have not switched to organic yet.
e) I drink anywhere from 64oz to 96oz of water per day. I rarely drink sodas anymore and if I do, I open one take a few sips and don't finish.
f) I do eat sweets, but not as often.

A Day's Menu

BREAKFAST
Kashi breakfast bar and coffee

Lunch
Usually a salad but some days fruits, vegs and rice.

Dinner
I usually eat a pretty good dinner, but if I am busy will have yogurt.

Dinner and lunch should be opposite. I should eat more at lunch and less at dinner, but I am hoping to get around this.

Make sure you DRINK plenty of water everyday and exercise.

Hi Joyce,

You have definitely come to the right place!!! You have already gotten great advice and I agree with all of it. My dad has seen a naturopath a couple of times and some basic recommendations she gave us were:

-cut out red meats and try to eat more fish

-snack more often on high protein foods, i.e., nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc..)

-definitely eat more dark, leafy green lettuce

-drink lots of water (64 oz per day)

-cut out sugar, white flour, enriched pasta, and white bread (switch to spelt bread or rye bread, brown rice pasta, and brown rice or spelt flour)

-eat more fruits that are red and blue like blueberries and rasberries

She also recommended more diet changes and supplements. I'd be happy to share them with you if you want to e-mail me.

Take care,

-Lee-

Hi Joyce -
So thrilled to hear your enthusiasm for changing your diet. Don't worry about the 'overwhelmed part'. I know you can work all of the changes that will work for you right into your routine. Most importantly, you will be amazed how empowered you will feel when you are making changes on your own behalf for your health.
As for the diet changes, there is a WEALTH of info here, in books and good sources on the internet to weed through. Diet changes can be logical and one step at a time so that you like what you are doing and enjoy the food and the process!
If you want juicing thoughts, concoctions, you have at least about six to 10 people here to chime in with ideas; everything seems to start with juicing carrots and then adding other veggies, some fruits and then some protein powder and maybe few other additions...
In terms of your question of what to do first, I would really look first at your diet; supplements with a really poor diet is sort of like a Band-Aid...ya know? Think about the good dietarty habits listed in Quillin's book. He notes that the food we eat is primary to our health - not the supplements - so you might let that be your guide while things are still new to you.
The opinions so far have been super and you can work with your own likes to get started. Just about everything is about creating a more healthy, plant-based diet, with foods in their natural, unporocessed state or cooked, prepared or packaged in a healthy manner - with as little junk as possible. Following an alkaline diet as much as possible is probably a good start. If that word is scary or confusing, don't let it be. It is really a healthy way to choose foods with a healthy pH for our system (which cancer doesn't like)...and your local Health Food store should have a great listing (or ranking) of foods and how they fall; the internet should have one as well; just Google 'alkaline diet'.
This stuff really isn't rocket science, so don't become worried. Just tackle on thing at a time. You can even plan to add changes weekly (or at some interval that works for you).
Bottom line is that any change will bea good one!!! Take care and you will have many things to take the place of white sugar!
Happy Holidays - Maura

scouty said:

Hi Joyce,

I can relate so much to the overwhelmed feeling you are having. I remember my first trip to a health food store. The only thing I bought was the Oprah magazine!!!!!!! I was there for hours the next time reading labels and learning name brands. I took a notepad and took notes and wrote down prices for comparision shopping. Start slow and do a little more every week or so. If you want to take the easy route, find a naturopathic doctor (preferably one with a PhD in Clinical Nutrition) that will spell it out for you (diet and supplements). Send me your personal email on the email here and I will send you what I did and some of my reasonings behind it. It is too much to put on this site and one is an attachment.

Lisa P.

Lisa, I laughed out loud when I read your response - I did almost the exact same thing! The first time I went to the health food store, I got nervous and left. The second time I was in there forever!

Joyce, I wanted to add that one good thing to do is seriously COUNT how many fruits and vegetables you are eating throughout the day. It's truly surprising. We thought we were eating healthy until we realized that we were only having one or two servings of fruits and veggies a day - normally a veggie with dinner and maybe one at lunch. If you follow the government food pyramid (5 a day) you'll be getting off to a great start.

Uh, and one more thing - when you up your veggie dosage, you can count on more gas. It's a hard truth to accept. No one gets excited when I fart. The nurses all applaude when my semi-colon farts!

Kate