Nothing but Vega for a while?????

Comment

Comment by Charlene Tomlinson on April 30, 2010 at 8:57am

Hi Erika! I'm curious to know...what does your diet look like? What goes into your smoothies? Are you getting enough fats?
I'm a mostly raw vegan, and I'm actually doing a cleanse right now that has made me feel great! The link for the cleanse is here: http://www.sexyfoodtherapy.com/sft/?p=2136
Also, I write a vegan, mostly raw food blog that could help give you recipe ideas. Everything I make takes seconds, because when I want food, I want it now! haha. There is a wide variety of dishes on there; I hope you like them :)
http://charskitchen.blogspot.com/
Best of luck to you on your journey! And feel free to message me with any questions you may have

Comment by Erika on April 26, 2010 at 5:49am

I have type 2 diabetes.

Comment by Jay Crawford on April 25, 2010 at 10:36pm

Erika,

What stage or degree is your diabetes at? If you are simply insulin ressistant, which is often the case for overweight people that can be turned around quite easily. The girls are right! Dr. Cousens is doing some amazing work.

I am a male that carried my excess weight in a band around my waste...that is insulin ressistance in the mail! and sure enough thats exactly where I ended up. I've been on Metformin for about two and a half years. I had been eating reasonably well, well rounded meals and portion controling...counting calories...etc. It took years to loose 20 lbs. but I still ended up pre-diabetic. My blood sugars were averaging 8.9 and my Doc said I had to take the Metformin. She figured with diet control and exercise I would loose some weight. We set my goal at 30-40 lbs to get back to a 'managable zone'. A workplace accident put me out of the exercise program for nearly two years. I lost a few more pounds reducing my meat and dairy intake and discovered Vega WFHO...which led to Thrive! My blood sugar (A1C) last sumer was 6.8 and then 5.9 in December. My blood sugar monitor had a 14 day average at Christmas of 7.8 (I like to test when I think it will be up to get an honest look mat my peaks). January 4 I started Thrive, strictly, after reading the book. Using the twelve week meal plan as my 'recalibration', I initially set out to get rid of my dependance on cafeine and balance my PH. I hoped an increase in energy would follow. What really happened was amazing!

At the end of twelve weeks I had lost a total of 36 lbs. and my energy levels have gone through the roof! My blood glucose monitor 14 day average was at 5.8! I only started the exercise program in week 8 where I actually platoed my weight. I'm now converting fat to muscle so I'm hovering at 251-255 lbs. (I used to be a really large strength athlete so it seems muscle memory has me putting muscles back on rapidly, so i'm not worried about the weight 'stalling'.) I have NO cravings for junk at all! When I'm hungry I'm looking for salad and fruits...they seem so satisfying that I can't imagine eating a burger or bag of chips...it's true your body will lose the taste for foods that poison it and make it fat!

I've been listening to alot of people here and continue to be inspired all the time. Vega community is my support system and alot of great people have a lot to offer here. I tried some of the ideas I've read about from people eating more all fruit diets, there seems to be alot of people happy with it. The previous week to this I ate more meals that were just fruit, only to find my blood sugar spiking and my average went up to 7.8. Thats a two point jump in only a few meals so NO! all-fruit diets are not good for blood sugar and diabetics...and potentially dangerous if you are insulin dependant! The high fibre and plant fat diet of Thrive balances sugar levels amazingly and puts the body in a fat burning mode with tons of energy to get you up and active...burning more weight again. I put my mother on the program because she had a plethora of health issues...hypothyroidism, anemia, depression and overweight with no energy to exercise! She's averaging 2.5 lbs per week of weight-loss and has dropped the depression meds. Mom claims she feels ten years younger and people at work are telling her she looks it. She's been out all weekend replacing her wardrobe 'cause everything looks like a tent on her now' :) I haven't seen her this happy in years! She used to be quite a gardener, but lost interest and the energy to do it in past years. I've taken her to the nursery 5 times already this year...she plans to be really busy outside in her flower beds this year!

Frances was right on the money suggesting that health requires focus on more than just food! You must balance all aspects of your life! I have a suggestion for you: If you haven't read Thrive Nutrition buy and read it! It sounds like you are determined to make a change...thats good... use this determination to focus on making the lifestyle changes to give Thrive a try. Commit to it for at least three months..in that time your energies will escalate and you will have the hang of the raw-whole food lifestyle so you can then focus your energies on something you love... a hobby or something that will give your mind and soul some nurishment. Happiness is the key to success...you have to enjoy what your doing to gain from it. Trying to live on just Vega smoothie's for an extended period of time may take the joy out of a program and end in failure! The raw food lifestyle of Thrive is full of flavour and variety...making the change can be adventurous and fun so it will keep you interested long enough to see some results that will reinforce your determination.

Stick with us and we'll help. Follow Lisa and Frances' posts because these are two well read gals that have lots of good stuff to share. Frances has shared with the community a lot of things she learned in the area of self improvement...find her blogs! Lisa has a great sense for creativity! She's posted a few awesome salad recipes...you'll never get bored of the varieties to be had with this lifestyle. It would be so cool for you to be posting some amazing results here in the coming months!

Brendan is a really great guy who would like to see more people benefit from a healthy lifestyle and he put a lot of work into this program. Thrive is not just for high performance athletisism, but for high performance living!

Comment by Lisa on April 25, 2010 at 6:37pm

Great suggestion, Frances. The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Centre is an amazing place in Patagonia, AZ (which I dream of visiting). Dr. Gabriel Cousens has been working with people who have diabetes for years. The documentary Frances mentioned is called "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days". It follows 6 people from various backgrounds as they go through the 30-day program at the Tree. I watched it a couple of weekends ago and the results are astounding. The Raw Food Diet is extremely powerful in reversing diabetes. However, what is very clear in the film is that, for the diabetic participants, no fruit is consumed (someone eats a couple of apples at one point and it is clearly a big no-no). Also, in addition to coming off of their insulin, the participants also experienced significant weight loss. I would recommend reading Dr. Cousens book "There is a Cure for Diabetes". Good luck, Erika!

Comment by Frances Worster on April 25, 2010 at 5:26pm

May I suggest you look into Gabriel Cousins? He has cured many people of diabetes and has special diets (raw, vegan). In the states he helped to found an institute (I think it's called the Tree of Life). There's also a movie about curing people of diabetes through raw diet, exercise, etc.
I am under the impression that fruit can be safe for diabetics, but I suggest that you inform yourself (ie. check out Cousins' eating plan) and ensure that you have a doctor's guidance. Also, I suggest being careful of things like juices, as the lack of fibre means that you have sugar just spiking like crazy in your system. Maybe Jay in this community has some info? He seems well-informed/well-researched on just about everything! Keep in mind that if you are drastically changing the quality AND quantity in your diet, your body is going to react STRONGLY - and it won't be a comfortable experience. Slow and steady might be a good option. Don't forget that weight-loss and health is a 4-D issue: you need to treat the body, emotions, intellect and spirit. That means integrating all kinds of things: exercise, diet, breathing, relaxation, goal-setting (not just health, but career and personal-wise), etc. Best of luck!

Comment by Erika on April 25, 2010 at 4:33pm

Even with diabetes?? I need to keep that in mind.