*After The Cleanse*

[alicein1land]

Thanks, Kathy! I had wanted to go longer on the cleanse, but had a bad 7-8-9 days where I could hardly stand the lemonade and wanted desperately to eat something, anything! Figured I would go the 10 days and then try a slower detox method (raw) for a while before trying another cleanse.

I am hoping that by eliminating breads/sugar/dairy/meat, my BP will continue to drop so I can eventually get off the BP meds. Plus, of course lose more weight! I think that will come w/ continued exercise and eating lots more veggies.

[alicein1land]

OK, I finished my 3 days post-cleanse and today is my first day raw! I have lost 3 lbs since I finished the MC, for a total of 20 lbs! Woo hoo! More importantly, my BP has dropped so much that I am afraid to take my meds! It was 100/50 this morning, which is really low, and unheard of for me in the last 15 years! I do have an appt to see the Dr this afternoon to review my labwork (drawn the day before I started the MC). That should be interesting!

[Res]

Good Job Alice!!

Controversial and not for the faint of heart. Kidding sort of but I'm fired up over this and would love to discuss it with anyone who read the book - or any of you really.

Has anyone read Kevin Trudeau's book about weight loss? "The Weight Loss Cure". I just finished it and would love to discuss this with any of you. Here's something that I found incredibly interesting;

People in countries other than the U.S. eat breads and pasties but don't gain weight. We're talking UK, France, Germany etc.

A while back a guy from England was here and told me that our bread is crap. I asked him to explain and he couldn't. He just said that our breads and dairy were inferior to that of the U.K. Okay, that's fair since I've never been to the U.K and don't have anything to compare it to.

Next> Trudeau said, "In France people eat bread, cheese, butter, chocolate and drink wine. Everyone is thin. In Italy people eat pizza, pasta, gelato ice cream, bread and tons of fat. Everyone is thin. In Germany people drink beer, eat cake, sausages, bread, butter and potatoes. Everyone is thin. In Asia people eat rice, noodles, fish and drink sake. Everyone is thin. All the diet theories are myths, lies and deceptions. Throughout the world people eat tons of carbs, tons of fat, tons of salt, drink beer, wine and other alchohol, eat ice cream and other deserts, have bread with real butter, yet everyone remains thin. No one is drinking diet soda. No one eats low fat food. No one uses artificial sweetneners. They eat real food-real, full fat milk, cheese, and butter. They eat chicken and other poultry with the skin on! No one drinks light beer- they drink full carb and full calorie beer. Why are people thin in these other countries, eating large quantities of real food on a regular basis? Simple. The food is produced differently than in America. In America for example the food is injected with bovine growth hormone and loaded with antibitoticss and other drugs. The beef is fed genetcially modified, chemically produced gain and ground up dead animals. The beef produced in America is different from the beef produced in othter countries. It's not that beef makes you fat; it's the "chemicals" and growth hormones and drugs put in the American beef taht makes you fat.

The bread in America is loaded with high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose, or other man-made sweeteners that lower metabolism, increase appetite and make you fat. They also are loaded with chemical preservatives and stablizers which make you fat. In other countries bread is made with flour, water, salt and yeast. It's not that bread makes you fat; it is American bread that makes you fat. Again, the American food supply is being produced and designed to specifically and purposefully to make you fat".

Whew....and that's just the tip of the iceberg. That's nothing compared to what he says about Government and commercially grown food companies AND the medical industry. Now, *if* what he says is true in his book - 100% organic is the way to go.

So I went to the store with my son today and we took a look at the bread at Vons - now we went for the good stuff (supposedly) and found ingredient after ingredient that were preservatives and stabilizers.

THEN: we went to People's Organic Market and read the ingredients on the bread. It was flour, salt, yeast and water. V E R Y I N T E R E S T I N G. Kevin also sings the praises of "cleanses". We are doing good here.

More later or Have at it!

Love,
~Res

[mtmouse]

Res,

First, I've been in those countries, and there are plenty of fat people.

I've also lived in France, and I watched them eat, and they eat all of that stuff, in quantities of "one bite" or so each. I've seen them take a 1" slice of a baguette (maybe 2"x1" in all) and have it last a whole meal. I've seen them put the equivalent of 1/10 tsp of butter on that bread. When they ate sausage, they would have perhaps a 1" piece. Literally. Their servings of dessert are practically thin enough to see through.

All that said, I totally agree with what it sounds like this guy is saying! There's no question that in the rest of the world there is still real food, and real food is very hard to come by in this country!

[alicein1land]

Res: I have to agree with you about going organic and with what Trudeau said about American food. Every thing I have read about the American food supply has made me more determined to eat organic only. Commericially grown produce is nutrient deficient, plus it is loaded w/ pesticides and other chemicals. Commercial dairy is the same, as is the meat. I'm lucky I live in NorCal because there is a lot of organic produce, dairy, and meat available. It's all I buy. Yeah, it is more expensive, but I figure I am worth it. I read a study a couple of years ago that looked at the onset of puberty in American girls, and they found that girls now go through puberty several years earlier than they did 30+ years ago. And this was due to the hormones added in meat/poultry. Yuck!

I spent 2 weeks in Italy (mostly Rome) 3 years ago and lost 15 lbs without even trying! The hotel we stayed at had an "American"-style breakfast buffet. I ate Italian bread, Italian cheese, plenty of lattes, and fresh fruit every morning (I avoided the American breakfast cereal). I had a hearty lunch and 3-4 course dinner every night - salad, pasta, meat, and dessert (not dessert every night). Two of the nights we ate at the same restaurant and I had their black truffle lasagna. Dear God, it was fabulous! I had NO problem losing weight. Granted, we walked every day around Rome, but no other exercise. The only fat people I saw were tourists (most likely American!). One of the things that Europeans do more than Americans is walk. They walk to the metro/train/bus, walk to/from their apts to their local grocery store, to/from work, you get the idea. Plus, they eat meals instead of snacks. Americans are always eating/snacking and eat a lot more fast food than Europeans.

One thing that I found while in Rome is that I CAN eat strawberries! They had small but very sweet strawberries that I ate every morning with no problems. I quit eating strawberries 8 years ago because after eating 2 or 3, I would get sick! Nauseous etc. I thought I had developed an allergy to them. After Rome, I realized I wasn't allergic to strawberries, but was sensitive to the pesticides that the berries are exposed to. Even if you buy strawberries at a roadside "strawberry stand", those berries are grown w/ pesticides. After every crop, they cover the ground w/ plastic and run pesticides underneath to "fumigate" the soil. The fertilizers they use are all chemicals, and the end product is that you get strawberries that are not nutritionally good for you.

Sorry for the long post.

[Res]

No worries about the long post. This topic is near and dear to me.

My son worked in the produce section at a grocery store in northern California. Fruit comes in bags and those bags contain gas that ripens the fruit. They were told to open the bag facing away from them so that they wouldn't get exposed to the gas (yeah - right). This crap is happening to our food! They no longer have to tell us that food is irradiated. I remember writing my congressman eons ago about food irradiation. Guess that was a waste of time.

Does this make anyone else mad?

They can also not list preservatives, additives and stablizers to the Ingredient list. The Government approved of this. I mean - I'm so bugged knowing that my childrens food is being manipulated and has been - and I'm just now finding out about it. The thing is, some of what Kevin says has my jaw dropping. I can't imagine that the government, food and drug administration is in cahoots to do this - but "what if?" And what the heck does "food and drug" have to do with each other? Why are these two linked as the FDA? Makes ya wonder huh?

Kathy: I'm not doubting you - you lived in other countries. However my son travelled Europe for 5 weeks - England, Holland, Germany, Prague and other's and he said he never saw a fat person. The portions they serve in countries other than America are small in comparision. He said he was shocked at the amount of money he paid for the food he received - at first. He said by the time he was done eating, he felt just right instead of pushing away from the table sick and too full. It was quite an eye opener for him. So, this goes right along with what Trudeau says about America making us fat to make a profit. Doesn't that just TICK you off!?

He talks a lot about cleanses - and if you think of a car engine and everything being clean and tended to you know that the engine runs better - and it's a dumb analogy because we all know this - but geez it's so simple that it gets by me at times. He lists several cleanses and I'm really apt to do them all. I want to clean my engine but again, mentally I'm not totally prepared for it so I'm waiting until I get the green light.

Steps down off of soapbox

Love to all
~Res

[ninab64]

hi res :wave:

if i'm not mistaken, fruits naturally release gases, and when they are in an enclosed area, ie: plastic bag, the gases collect there, and the ripening process is hastened because of that. remember being told how to ripen a piece of fruit quickly -- put it in a paper bag with an apple, and crimp the paper down so the gases are trapped in the bag, the fruit ripens in a day or so -- it's a natural process

don't know what to say as to the other items. i've traveled europe as well, and would have to agree that predominately the few fat people i have seen were the american tourists.

[Res]

Hi Nina:

True, fruits and veggies do ripen when placed in bags. What I'm referring to is "gas" purposefully added to a bag of fruit/veggies to hasten the ripening process. This is very real. Washing the fruit helps a bit, but it's absorbed into the fruit so we do ingest it if we eat the fruit.

Organic fruit isn't "processed" and it isn't irradiated to last longer on the shelf. My organic apples if not eaten in a timely manner will rot - even in the fridge because it's not preserved. I just threw away Granny Smith Apples that have been in my fridge for over 5 weeks and they "look" perfect. Scary huh? I realize I may sound over-the-edge right about now, but things have happened recently in my family that I attribute to the FDA, hospitals, and goverment and I'm really in a "What if?" state after reading Trudeau's books.

Love,
~Res

[MCconvert]

hey all...haven't been here in a long time and am loving going back and reading and getting inspired to eat well, better, organic, raw....
so i have a question for you experienced cleansers/senior members....i completed my 1st cleanse in april--loved it and plan to do it again regularly, loved and appreciated immensely this bb and support group.... and then three days off the cleanse i....um....got pregnant. my 1st worry is, of course, that i conceived a child three days after the most intense cleanse/toxin release my body has ever experienced--should i be worried that i was only three days post cleanse? here's the other concern--i've been really sick, nauseous, can't find much to eat that sounds good except fruit, so i spend the better part of most days drinking.....lemonade!! it's the only thing that sounds good all the time, that keeps my blood sugar from getting too low, that i don't just barf right back up. i don't think it would have the same cleansing effect, since by about dinner i do manage to gag down some real food every day, but do you think this is okay? any opinions? any advice would be appreciated....till then, i love reading your experiences and thoughts about everything else...you are a great group!

[MCconvert]

jenfoo--
just reading back and wanted to add something--
since the cleanse i've noticed a bigtime sensitivity to anything with gluten---wheat, oat, barley....just makes me feel bloated, in ways i never noticed before....so i've cut back or cut out and feel MUCH better....maybe something you might want to try. good luck!!