Lab Values --Woo Hoo!

It's been a bit over a year since I started Body Ecology... and the results are in. This is the first year I did not receive a warning from my doctor about my borderline blood pressure and my high cholesterol. The first time in 28 years, my friends. My triglicerides went from 167 to 68 (normal is 40 to 100). That is the direct result from getting off sugar.

Based on reactions from friends and co-workers, most people think it is just nuts completely eliminating sugar from my diet. This is table sugar... note that I do get naturally occurring sugars from starchy vegetables and fruits, etc. But the lab values speak for themselves. It was horrible for a few weeks and is now effortless.

As soon as you can get yourself to do it... just bite the bullet and give that poison up!

IDK Why

People are always asking why I don't eat this or that. Why no tomatoes... why red peppers and not green peppers... why no apples or pears... why not combine starchy foods with animal proteins. I do not always have the answers to such questions at my finger-tips. I read a lot about nutrition and ways to manage IBS. If something makes sense to me, I try it and it works... that's good enough for me.

I retain what I need to do more than why I am doing it. If you need to prove it to yourself read the books. My two bibles are IBS Free at Last and the Body Ecology Diet.

Speaking of Sweet...

Speaking of sweet, you can turn fruit into a candy-like-food for your tongue for about 30 minutes at a time. Miracle berries come from a plant. They make tablets out of it. If you let them dissolve on your tongue, it makes some kind of coating that makes sour fruit taste super sweet. You can seriously bite into a lemon and it tastes like some kind of amazing candy.

I've read a small percentage of people can't get it to work. That can be due to a coating on the person's tongue and that can be remedied by brushing the tongue before letting the tablet dissolve. You can find these little gems at Amazon.

Just remember you can make yourself sick with too much lemon. If not for common sense that prevails after a time, I could probably pack away an entire bag of lemons. I once had to physically restrain my child from the lemons in order to save her from herself. Okay, okay the physical restraint part my be a bit of an exaggeration, but I am telling you she REALLY wanted those lemons.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article about it, if you'd like to know more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

One Good Sweetener Deserves Another

A little something sweet is critical to success. If you're running around craving sweets all the time you'll never stick with it. If you don't stick with it, you'll eat something to make you feel lousy. If you feel lousy you'll want to eat more sweets-- that's how it works. It is so worth making the effort to convert to natural low/no calorie sweeteners we are lucky to have access to these days.

 Another good sweetener is Lakanto, which is also known as Monk Fruit. It's nearly calorie free and delicious. Stevia is great for tea, kefir and other beverages and for sprinkling over berries. Monk Fruit is nice for more solid foods like butternut squash with butter.

Sometimes Lakonto is combined with a sugar alcohol called Erythritol. This is the one sugar alcohol that does not tend to set off people with IBS. I have yet to find a use for this combination. I get the sense it would be good for baking as it's quite granular and seems to take a lot of heat in order to dissolve. It's just that I no longer do any baking. If I think of something, you'll be the first to know.

When combined together Stevia and Monk fruit often make an even better sweetener. I put them together in kefir and Coconut Kefir "cheese" (a fermented food, that I use as a dessert, made with the soft meat from young coconuts), I also like those foods with cinnamon and (alcohol free) vanilla.

Sprouted Nuts and Seeds

The Body Ecology Diet recommends eating only nuts and seeds that have been sprouted. This involves soaking them in water for 8 to 24 hours. I have read that this makes nuts and seeds easier to digest. It seems to work for me, though does involve a bit of extra effort. If you want to try some before putting in any effort, pick up sprouted almonds at Whole Foods --they are quite delicious. Whole Foods has other sprouted nuts and seeds; however, I do not care for them.

Unfortunately, if you buy them already sprouted they cost about twice as much as garden variety nuts. Thankfully, making them takes only a bit of extra effort. I buy raw nuts and seeds, soak overnight, let them dry out for a few hours, and then roast on a low temperature until they are crunchy again. They get a little sweeter after soaking. I generally skip the salt, as I do not find it necessary even though I really love salt.

Detox

The first two weeks I followed the Body Ecology Diet, I felt simply awful. It was truly a detoxification of sorts. I was filled with overwhelming fatigue, headache, muscle aches, the list goes on and on. The book advised this was likely to occur. After the first week I was ready to give up, thinking, "It just isn't worth it!"

I decided to give it another week... hanging on by my finger nails.

At the end of two weeks I started to feel just a little wonderful. Weight was falling off of me. It's gotten better and better ever since. Join me, life is just easier this way.

Stevia, Stevia the Wonderful "Food"

Stevia comes from a plant. In the past I dismissed it as being rather bitter and well, mostly disgusting. If you give up sugar completely, stevia grows on you quickly... I promise. Please be aware there are different kinds of stevia. The quality really varies.

For the best, look for liquid stevia suspended in glycerin (alcohol is not recommended). My absolute favorite is Better Stevia. I buy it on Amazon, though I have found it in some healthfood stores. It is stupidly expensive, but hey, it lasts a long time.

If you buy the larger quantity (8 ounces), find a little bottle with an eye dropper to use for manageable serving sizes as it tends to come out too quickly from the larger bottle.