Harper has asked me to provide the information on my diet as it has been so successful for me. So here it is:
I don't think that what I do would constitute a diet more of a change in my eating habits. It started late January 2005 with a visit with my Dr to discuss the results of my blood tests prior to starting HRT. Everything was great except for my cholesterol which was dangerously high. The doctor said that she didn't want to prescribe HRT until I had my cholesterol under control. She would test again in three months but she felt that it would take at least six months to have it down to an acceptable level. A bit of incentive...
So facing a delay with starting HRT I decided that I have to change my eating habits. Remember I didn't have a weight problem just cholesterol. I am 5'8" tall and was 170lbs.
I thought that the best way to get my cholesterol down was to cut out those foods that contain the ingredients that produce it or contribute to its production. These being saturated fats, and trans fats (ironic I had to get rid of "Trans" fats) I won't go into what each of these do when you have too much of them but it's not good.
So I started to read food labels. Anything that contained saturated or trans fats was left on the shelf. I cut out ALL dairy products, and ALL fast food, I limited red meat to once per week and then only very lean cuts, I ate lots of skinless chicken, either BBQ'd or baked, lots of fish, but cut out all other sea food. I started to eat salads every day, lots of oranges and apples, kiwi's and pineapple, lots of vegetables, and lots of rice. I cut out regular potatoes and switched to sweet potatoes.
I replaced the dairy products with products made form soy (what I call) fake cheese, fake sliced meats, soy drinks, and soy puddings. And of course I ate yogurts. I changed my bread to Ezekiel Bread <sp> and changed my cereal to whole grain Kashi cereal, sprinkled with ground flax.
So this is really not a diet where you have measure amounts, count calories etc... as I eat three meals a day that generally include the following from the list above:
Breakfast - Kashi cereal, flax, and orange juice.
Lunch - a sandwich made from ezekiel bread, sliced soy cheese and soy meat, yogurt, and an orange.
Dinner - either chicken skinless chicken breast, fish (or a red meat such as pork or beef if it's that time), brightly colored veg, rice or sweet potatoes), salad, an orange, and a soy pudding, with a glass of wine (occasional).
No snacks except for nachos and salsa occasionally.
So that's it. Remember that none of the above contains any saturated fats or trans fats - read the labels. I went from 170lbs to 125lbs. It worked for me and as this is just plain and simple healthy eating, it should work for anyone else. But you should contact your doctor first.
Steph
