Eat to live for the new year and beyond!

[LilMamiBella]

I started the etl program yesterday. I bought tons of veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. It was expensive!!! Well I did shop at Whole Foods. But anyway I'm excited. Its day 2 and I'm feeling great! Dr. Fuhrman said the first week is the hardest. I need/want to lose 60 pounds! Anyone else doing this?

[midwestmom]

I am here! I am sticking pretty closely but not perfectly. I am more in the maint phase. I still have 10 lbs to lose but I am exercising alot (training for some races) and can't go too low on my calories etc....

I did ETL in early 2008 and lost a ton of weight. I really love it. The first week or two is definitely the hardest. Welcome mama!

[Jadzia]

Good for you! ETL is the only diet I have ever lost weight on.

I did it in 2003 and lost 15 pounds. Did it again in 2008 and lost another 15 pounds. I conceived both of my children while I was in maintenance mode so I think it made me fertile.

My second (and last) baby is now 4 months. I want to lose the rest of the baby weight. I am not planning on going whole hog ETL until this Spring/summer when fresh produce is more easy to come by. However, I have cut out the dairy again (which I started eating again when I was pregnant, mostly due to laziness.) So I am going to get there gradually I think. I mainly need to just reduce the number of starches I eat and the weight will fall off.

[smallmama]

Yes! I haven't started yet, but I have read the book and been preparing mentally. I'm already vegan, but am sort of a "beige" vegetarian, really need to up the nutritional value in my diet. I'd love to hear more about your journey so far!

[LilMamiBella]

Well I lost 10 pounds in the first week! But then we went out of town and I ate what everyone else was eating and you probably know the rest.. I feel bad that I didn't stick with it for the whole 6 weeks. It seems like as soon as I get on a diet, I do well the first few days but start feeling bad because the diet is very restrictive. So then I end up giving up. I was having no problem eating tons of fruit. I love fruit. I was getting tired of eating "plain" salad every day though. The kids were eating the same way and of course they didn't like it. I tried doing his anti-cancer soup and it was gross! Not to mention I bought a ton of stuff for it and had to end up throwing it out cause no one liked it. I just don't know how I can make it more appetizing yk.

[oceanmamma]

Have you seen this blog?
http://janadrjoel.blogspot.com/
I think it is what motivated me to really try to do ETL at least 90% at home. She tries all the recipes from Eat for Health and grades them along with her SAD eating hubby.
What has made me give up every time is the stress of having the whole family eat this way, but I have finally found things that are easy and work for us, and if the kids don't like what we are eating they can grab some fruit or nuts or make a smoothie. We only keep healthy stuff in the house now, this is another key for making it work for me.
Breakfast is always green smoothies and the kids eat oatmeal as well. We are trying to find soups that we all like , and so far our favorite is a Black Bean Soup from one the the members on the Dr Furhman site. We really like bean burgers, magic loaf from the vegan lunch box website, hummous wraps, chili, and a couple times a week i make a veggie pasta dish (we live in Italy so i have to do that!) I made High Cruciferous Soup this week and that was really good, but HUGE portion, maybe try a half recipe in case you don't like it. Lettuce wraps are also good, I don't really like salads that are huge, esp. in winter so I try to put most my greens in smoothies and the other food I make. The next soup I want to try is Creamy Lentil Soup. Also you can check out Chef AJ's recipes on youtube. She makes yummy things and very simple.Tonight we are trying her lentil loaf recipe. My kids have loved all the desserts, esp. banana walnut ice cream and bluvado pie.

Hope this helps, I just try to keep moving forward, reading Disease Proof blog, and if you can afford it, the member web site is wonderful.
Also fatfreevegan has lots of ETL recipes, best wishes!
Michelle

[LilMamiBella]

Thanks Michelle i'll check out the blog. Is Eat for Health the same plan as eat to live?

[oceanmamma]

yes, Eat for Health is a 2 book set by Dr F, I don't own it but I am going to order it after reading Jana's blog I want to try a lot of the recipes. I need to lose 45 pounds so I need to stick with this. I started with breakfast, once I had that down then lunch, but dinner is hard and the holidays were a disaster! I have a little one with type 1 diabetes so she will be my reason to change the meals around here. I feel now that I have some recipes that me and the family like (and I can get the ingredients for here in Italy) I can jump into this full force. Exercise beyond walking (which I do a lot) is tough for me, and I need to work on that and giving up WINE! What is the hardest thing for you? For dh it is the salt, so I use a little herbal mix that has a bit of salt and it's working out...

[nicolelynn]

Eat for Health is much more liberal than Eat to Live. I don't own it but my Dad had it for trial period or something and I read them both. He wrote Eat for Health to appeal to more people and I think it is more balanced. If you are having a hard time sticking with ETL Eat for Health looks much easier. It allows more nuts, 1 serving of grains per day, and up to 3 servings of animal products (mainly fish, eggs or chicken) per week if you chose. It also breaks it up into phases where you work your way into it, the idea being you taste buds will change and you can stick with it in the long term.

[LilMamiBella]

How did you like the lentil loaf? I saw the video and I'd like to make it but she doesn't specify what kind of lentils and how much and what kind of oats and how long to bake?

[oceanmamma]

It was nice, but my family prefers the one from the magical loaf studio on the vegan lunch box site. I used 2 cans cooked lentils and 1 c oats because that is the amount in my other loaf recipes. The sun dried tomatoes were nice and it really tasted yummy the next day, but I am the only one who really ate it...so I think I will be sticking with the "magic" loaf from now on. So now I have lunch for the next 4-5 days, it was a big loaf!! (I used regular lentils, brown? I guess that's what they are called and I used rolled oats- the normal ones, that's all I can get here)

[susumama]

I'd recommend getting the Eat For Health set. I think it is much more realistic for the majority of the population. It has you approach the diet in 4 phases. Each phase you do for a month (or less if you are finding it easy) until you get to stage four. Phase one just concentrates on getting junk out of your diet & cutting down on salt - there are menus & all the recipes. Phase 2 starts cutting back on animal products & ups the veggies & it moves on through the phases getting healthier and healthier with phase four being the goal for long term eating.
I think this approach is much more doable and great if you have a family because it eases them into it too - and lets face it, if we don't get our kids eating this way we are just digging their graves for them. We shouldn't be denying them a healthy future (& present).
I think the main thing to realise is that this isn't a 'diet', you don't do it & then go back to eating the SAD way. It is an eating style, a life style that you should continue for life. As such take your time to progress and integrate it into your life so it becomes a habit and you change your tastes and eventually prefer eating this way. It took a long time to put on the weight so don't expect it to come off in a millisecond. Although sticking to the Eat To Live eating style does result in rapid weightloss I think more people will get sustained weightloss from his new program because it eases people into it at their own pace and eliminates that horrible withdrawl & the daunting task of changing their whole life all at once.
So give his new books (2 book set) a look - I think they are only $20 on Amazon, it's worth it. I lost 50kg (110 pounds!) and have kept it off for 2 years. I used the Eat To Live book but basically did what he is getting you to do in the new one - I eased into the lifestyle, cut junk first, added smoothies and upped the fruit and veg, lastly I cut back on filler foods like pasta, bread and rice (which I think a lot of veg*ns tend to eat) by limiting them to 1/2 cup and eating extra legumes & veggies (nutrient rich foods). I'm not special, if i can do it anyone can!
I also discovered free podcasts on itunes - they keep me motivated. I've downloaded everything by Dr Furhman & Dr Neal Barnard & Dr McDougall. I listen to them when I cook & it really inspires me to get inventive & the research on diet and child health certainly steals my will when it comes to feeding the kids. They are a great resource if you have access to an ipod.
Good luck!
PS: I can post a before and after photo of my weightloss if someone has any idea how - I am a bit computer illiterate!

[LilMamiBella]

I just have to say I love love love Amazon prime! I ordered the eat for health books on Saturday and received them today! I think this will work much better for all of us. I'd love to see a before & after. Have you tried using photobucket?

[To-Fu]

Susumama, I would love to see before-and-afters of your amazing progress! Wow.

[susumama]

Okay Ladies - I'll look into photobucket on Monday & post a link. I've had a house full of relatives for a week, they left yesterday & I have another family coming tomorrow for 4 days - so no computer time at the moment.

I have about 9 kilos to go but I'm officially in the 'normal weight' category now I haven't been there for 16 yrs. Dr F's book gives you a lower weight to strive for, for optimum longevity (women:95 pounds for the first 5ft in height & 4 pounds for every inch thereafter, which makes my goal - according to Dr F - 97 pounds or 44 kilos. I really can't imagine being that thin so I'm aiming for 120 pounds) . Having a baby has really slowed things down. I do a maintainance regime at the moment & will go back to actively trying to lose weight when he is eating more solids and not relying so heavily on breastmilk

[VeganCupcake]

Can I revive the thread? I'm diving into Eat to Live because my eating has gotten terrible since my DD was born.

Anybody still interested in a thread?

[CrunchyKnitter]

Originally Posted by VeganCupcake

Can I revive the thread? I'm diving into Eat to Live because my eating has gotten terrible since my DD was born.

Anybody still interested in a thread?

Me!! I'm in the middle of the book (and trying not to skip ahead to the diet plan!) so I haven't "officially" started yet, but I'm already cutting animal products (I'm already dairy and gluten free as of the past couple weeks) and trying to eat more fruits/veggies. This thread looks great!

I'm the same way at the OP...need to lose the baby weight from almost 8 months ago and get back on track to healthy living. Even though we pretty much only shop at Whole Foods and buy "healthy" foods, clearly that wasn't working for me! I need to lose about 40 lbs.