Day One....

Hola....so I am starting this blog as a way to keep myself accountable & to share my experience with others. Thanks to celebrity songstress Alanis Morissette, I heard about this book called "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I went to his website, http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx and checked it out. Then on to Borders, to pick up the book.

It has taken me awhile to get through it, but last night was the night. It is finished, and I am ready to start my new "lifestyle." The key to this change is health. Weight loss is an added bonus.

The basics of this way of eating are as follows: 1 lb a day of raw GREEN vegetables. 1 lb a day of steamed/cooked veggies, 1 c. of beans/legumes, 4+ fruits per day (yay!!) limited raw nuts (2oz or 200 calories). NO salt, animal protein, no dairy, no oils. Wish me luck!

I have printed and posted 3 mantras around the house:

1. "commitment to achieve wellness"
2. "a commitment is a promise you stick with no matter what"
3. "the salad is the main dish"

So this morning I got on the scale, and here is the TRUTH: I weigh 145.8 lbs, my body fat percentage is 34.5% and my water weight is 46%.

Yesterday I made two soups to help get me through the week, black bean chili and potato leek. The vegetable broth I used has salt in it, so I am already being naughty. Next time I will by sodium free, I promise!!

One of the hard things about essentially becoming a fat-free vegan is finding recipes....basically oil can be omitted when sauteing veggies...just use the exact same amount your recipe calls for and exchange with veg. broth.

Here are two sites that have some good recipes:

whfoods.org

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/etl/index.shtml

Today breakfast was a banana and an orange. I'm getting hungry, so will head for a salad with tangerine balsamic vinegar as the dressing (http://www.oldtownoil.com/) AMAZING! and some of the black bean chili.