I recently send out a questionnaire to some of my clients and want to share with you a question that I asked them.  The question was HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STRUGGLING TO LOSE WEIGHT.  (How would you answer this question?)

If you are like the many responses I received you probably have a similar situation ranging from “I AM ALWAYS TRYING TO LOSE THAT EXTRA 10 pounds” to “I have been struggling with overweight MY WHOLE LIFE”.

If I am honest about it, I suffered the same DIS- EASE, obsessively trying to control my weight which never seemed to be right for my body and head…I accomplished major weight losses throughout my life by  deprivation dieting or excessive exercising only to find myself back in the “FAT ZONE” and feeling even more miserable. Firstly because I had broken my promise that I would never be fat and again and secondly because I felt out of control with my food. Deprivation dieting and excessive exercising left me just plain miserable and in an unsustainable position.  I mean how long can you really last on steamed broccoli and grilled chicken before you turn into a starving binge eating carbo-holic? And how many hours can you hang out in the gym before your boss notices you are late for work everyday?

So I made some discoveries and some changes

• I turned my pain into my passion. Reading, writing, learning and experiencing FOOD and what actually works.

• I used my own body as a science project and tried many different ways of eating, discovering that most were unsustainable and the weight gain followed.

• Uncovered my own “issues” (not food related) that were keeping me weighed down and fat.

Regardless of whether I went to WEIGHT PROGRAM meeting (there are many and you know them well) or labeled myself as vegetarian, vegan, raw… it didn’t work for long.  My biggest discovery is that I removed all labels from my eating. I EAT FOR HEALTH (and surprisingly enough NATURAL WEIGHT LOSS is a side effect of that!)

We’ll continue to talk about what exactly eating for health really means and my biggest pet peeve, which is the myth that eating healthy has to be boring and that you would be sacrificing all the good stuff.

So ask yourself :

• Are you happy at your current weight?
• How would you feel if you could lose weight NATURALLY?
• How would you feel if you really loved the food you ate every day?

TO BE CONTINUED: ( we need to talk) What does eating for health really mean, How can you do it sustainably, How can you make simple, quick and easy recipes that will excite your palette, and How can you get out of the diet traps that leave you FAT.

Recently I had an experience with Dr Fuhrman than once again solidified my certainty that there is no better value for health and nutritional excellence on the entire Internet than DrFuhrman’s Members Support.

Membership Benefits & Join

I was working with a client who has type 2 diabetes who I sent to DrFuhrman’s member site. Here’s some of the dialogue from the member center.

And I might I point out, this advice, which is just the tip of the iceberg and certainly not limited to someone who has diabetes, is less then ten bucks a month. Go and find a doctor of Dr Fuhrman’s caliber who will even know you exist for that, let alone give you life changing answers to your question.

Here was the exchange.

From: Dr. Fuhrman [ Joel Fuhrman M.D]
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 6:08 AM

Hi Cindy,

Yes, I think endocrinologist are dangerous and starting a type two diabetic on insulin when diet and exercise could have lowered the glucose and the weight is malpractice.
Insulin causes weight gain, worsens the diabetes, promotes vulnerable plaque and takes a person at borderline risk if heart attack or stroke and makes them high risk. This has already be demonstrated in various studies to increase death rate. I am so glad you have decided not to take it and to solve the real problem instead. If you made a drastic switch and your glucose skyrocketed, then you did not do what I recommend. That is why I have the member forum, so you can communicate with me to prevent errors and customize the recommendations to your needs to assure success.

In the Ask The Doctor forum, show me what medications you are taking, what exercise you do, voice your concerns there, write out your proposed diet for me to tweak and explain more and let’s get started on the road to becoming non-diabetic. Looking forward to the exciting opportunity to working with you and helping you conquer these health challenges.

Warmly,

Dr Fuhrman

From: Cindy
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:12 PM
To: ‘Dr. Fuhrman’
Cc: ‘John Allen Mollenhauer’
Subject: My Diabetes

Dr. Fuhrman:

Do you think that if my endocrinologist thought I would have a heart attack or stroke by starting me on insulin that she ever would have given it to me?

I happen to be a professional writer who has a tremendous desire to research everything. That makes me a very informed consumer/patient. I spent the first 44 years of my life without an ailment and have spent the last 4 years waking up every day in pain and worried about some new condition that has been thrust upon me. Asking for help is, by far, the hardest thing I have ever had to do. So the questions I ask, I do not ask out of idle curiosity. I ask them to gain insight from someone who knows far more than I on the subject, and to better understand a condition or circumstance.

I have opted to stop the insulin because of my unwillingness to be dependent on it and the fear of what it will do to my body. My focus is now 100% on my eating regimen, uncovering what can and will turn my condition around, and making the required changes a permanent part of my life. However, when you have very few good days, a drastic dietary change can only make that situation worse. The last time I made a drastic switch to the diet you recommend, my blood sugar skyrocketed to over 450 and almost put me in the hospital. Thus, my resistance is not a resistance to the change: it is out of fear that I could have a repeat of what happened before – which no one could explain!

Membership Benefits & Join

This exchange, is invaluable, and probably just changed Cindy’s life, you can count on DrFuhrman giving it to you straight. If you haven’t read Eat for Health, today’s your day to start.

John Allen Mollenhauer

Joel Fuhrman MD

Tune in to watch Dr. Fuhrman interviewed on
NBC’s “First Look” as he discusses the health benefits of juicing
________________________________________
NBC “First Look” TV show
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time: 7:30 PM (EDT) and again following Saturday Night Live (at 1:00 am on 4/19)

The 7:30 pm segment will air only in the New York tri-state area.
The segment following Saturday Night Live will be broadcast nationwide at 1:00 AM (on 4/19)