Hello everyone. It has been quite a long time since I last posted on this blog. Since my last post, I’ve undergone two surgeries and the associated recovery periods. Most of last year I’ve been focused on rebuilding my business and getting back into the rhythm of things. During all of these events, I must admit that I fell off the weight-loss wagon so to speak. I went back to eating dairy, poultry and fish (I haven’t ate red meat or pork for over 30 years), and I also continued to eat desserts. It was in moderation of course, but the end result was I did not loose much weight during this time. The good news is that I didn’t gain too much either.
On March 8th I made a decision that seems right for my body. I decided to transition to a vegan diet. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing people who eat meat. But for me, I’ve noticed that my body doesn’t metabolize animal based foods well.
About four years ago I decided to try a raw vegan diet and I must admit, I had more energy and felt great. Then I started traveling for work and was gone 3 weeks out of each month. I started eating at restaurants and went back to eating poultry, dairy and fish in addition the fruits and veggies. It’s much easier to order chicken or fish sandwich then a veggie plate when you’re on the run. Everyone who was around me, felt that I ate healthy. And based upon what you read in the papers and magazines, I was eating “healthy”. However, for my body, it was not the best I could do.
So in the past 15 days my diet has been about 90% vegan and my body is responding well. I’ve been eating about 50% raw fruits, veggies and salads and I plan to increase the percentage to 70%. I start out each day with a green smoothie. For those of you who’ve never heard of a green smoothie; it is basically fresh or frozen fruit mixed with organic spinach and liquid that can be water, juice or almond milk. I have greatly reduced my intake of refined sugar foods as well. I’ve lost 7 pounds over the past two weeks.
I’m interested in hearing if any of you are vegan or eat a raw food diet. I’m also interested in hearing from those who eat a more traditional diet but are achieving weight loss success. I definitely feel that the success of your diet (and I mean that in the generic sense of the word) depends upon your body chemistry and makeup, and that biochemistry impacts the way that you metabolize food.
I hope you are still out there, and if you are, please give me a shout out.
And, feel free to share your recipes. We’re in this together
Lori
April 1, 2011 at 2:10 am
really good site, loose weight
March 2, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Lori, you are a good example to follow with your diet changes. I’d like to suggest to everyone interested in ways to stay healthy to focus on alkaline food, food with a pH value of 7.0 and above. Organic food is good but we must not stop there when we search for nutritious foods to eat. Organic Alkaline food is best. If you read the new book Sojourn to Honduras Sojourn to Healing you’ll find an alkaline food chart, recipes with alkaline food. Not only that, you’ll find creative tasty ways to wean yourself off of acid food. For example, the book suggests using cayenne pepper instead of black pepper, make mashed chickpeas instead of mashed potatoes, make mushroom bacon instead of meat bacon. Use maple sugar and maple syrup as sweeteners. Good luck and good eating.
October 19, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Weight loss can be simple: Eat less, of higher quality foods. Get up and MOVE more. Take supplements to get “over the hump” when needed. Unfortunately, most supplements do one of 2 things: 1. trick your body into thinking you’re full when you’re not. This is starvation. 2. rev up your metabolism, and we’ve all read about how dangerous this can be. A new set of supplements uses Leptin – the hormone your cells release to tell your brain “we’re full”. Our modern lives – stress,poor eating, etc. – mess with our body chemistry, and sometimes those messages don’t get through. Leptin supplements, like Mandura TRIM, help cut through the ‘clutter’ and make sure your brain knows when to stop eating. Naturally. Safe, effective, and Clinically Proven.
October 14, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I think this really a good diet gone through veggies but for this try to do some cleansing your body by detoxifying it to get rid off from the chemicals of the veggies you’ve ate raw.
October 4, 2010 at 10:29 am
I follow a vegan diet for weight loss for 2 years. At the beginning only did two simple things. First I changed the way I cooked vegetables. Boil or fry in olive oil is better. Second, increase the amount and variety of vegetables consumed. Proved a different color of vegetables every day of the week. Add more seasoning instead of oil. Most condiments have zero calories. Pepper and paprika for example, can be added to any vegetable. With these small changes I lost 40 pounds in the last two years.
September 20, 2010 at 4:24 pm
This is such an eductive post. It is true the type of food ones eats affects their weigt. I am talking from my point of veiw I started eating more veges in my mean be it lunch or dinner. This has enhanced my well being that I miss it.
This calls for self discipline and can work. You use the vegetables which you like and there it goes. Avoid alot of seasoning as most of them contain alot of sodium and the rest.
September 12, 2010 at 4:18 pm
my father is a doctor and he says it comed down to the big three -eat right – exercise – everything in moderation…
August 19, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Great site. Thanks for the post.
July 28, 2010 at 7:50 am
Really good blog on weight loss. It good to see an honest account and you talking real sense too. Great!
March 28, 2010 at 11:07 am
Thanks so much for sharing Lori. I have been following your website closely and noticed your post because so many patients ask me about this. I think your personal story makes this real. Personally, I am going to make a committment to increasing raw fruits and vegetables daily. Can you tell me more about almond milk?
April 2, 2010 at 8:22 am
Hi Moshe,
Thanks for the encouraging words. You ask a good question about Almond Milk. To be perfectly honest, I was looking for a milk alternative and was told by a nutritionist that almond milk or hemp milk was the best. As everyone who’s been looking at my blog knows, this is a journey for me, and I am learning as I go. I have tried hemp milk, but found it a little grainy and it does not have the consistency of “milk”; it takes a little more getting use to. So I settled on Almond Milk. Prompted by your question, I found this article http://tinyurl.com/4o5cee, that discusses the three most popular milk alternatives and you may want to take a look at it. I will say that making your own almond milk, using organic almonds and water, is by far the best and healthiest for you. I looked the Almond Milk carton that you can buy in the stores and there’s sugar and other additives, so if you drink that, don’t drink a lot of it.
The bottom line is that as I incorporate more raw vegetables and fruits into my diet, I’m finding the need for a milk alternative less and less. The primary reason for drinking it was to have it with cereal or after a piece of cake. But as I cut out or cut down on processed foods, like cereals and baked goods, I’m finding that I don’t need the milk.
If you find out more about almond milk, or any of the other milk alternatives, please let me know. The more information we have, the more informed we all will be.
March 24, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I’m on the opposite diet of you, eating more meats. But I still eat a good portion of fresh fruits and veggies. I supposed it’s a more balanced diet all around. Compared to others, my metabolism must run really high. I can burn off one to two pounds per day on about 800-1200 calories of food each day, with little to no exercise.
BTW, I tried eating lots of more fruits and vegetables, and less meat, only to find that I get weaker. I think it’s due to lack of sodium. I have a blood pressure monitor, and I find in those times, my blood pressure gets pretty low. Hence, I’m back to more meats.
March 25, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Steve, thanks for sharing your perspective. I agree that it is easy to feel weaker when you only eat fruits and veggies unless you combine your foods correctly and make sure you get the proper amount of protein which is possible in a vegan diet. I also have noticed that my blood pressure is lower, which in my case is a good thing, although I’ve never had hypertension. I have noticed that I crave salty foods sometimes, and when that happens I listen to my body and eat something salty.
I think the important thing is to listen to your body. Which you are obviously doing.
Here’s to your continued health, and thanks for your comments.