HCG P3 - stabilizing

My, it has been two years since I have written a post on this blog!

I recently lost 20 pounds on HCG. I have found that P3 has been very challenging for me - I am three weeks in and my weight has not yet stabilized. To correct this, I have been using www.fitday.com to track and monitor my foods. I have not eaten any sugar or starches, but I have found eating too much or the wrong kind of dairy, nuts, and fruit can cause the weight to jump overnight.

Here are the foods that I am finding make my body the happiest:

fat

animal protein

some vegetables, esp leafy greens

So what am I eating?

Heavy whipping cream in my coffee

butter

eggs

spinach, lettuce, and other leafy greens

chicken - skin on! White and dark meat!

meat

salad dressing: EVOO with balsamic, sea salt, and dijon mustard

What isn't working?

skim milk, 2%, whole, or half and half (too much sugar!)

ricotta cheese

sliced cheese

yogurt (I will be testing full fat Greek yogurt this week)

too many nuts, peanuts, trail mix (I will be testing raw almonds and unsalted, natural peanut butter this week)

You can see I've taken out all foods with sugar, and am only getting carbs from my vegetables. This week, one day at a time, I will add fruit, nuts, and full fat Greek yogurt back in and watch the scale to see what happens. I would like to get to a point where I have a full list of healthy foods to eat, and an occasional cheat won't do me in.

Do you find that eating lots of healthy fats, animal protein, and vegetables works for you? What has worked and what has failed?

Superfood Granola recipe

1 T flaxmeal
1 T raw cacao nibs
1 T sesame seeds
1 T goji berries
1 t maca powder
1 t agave
1 t coconut oil
1 T chopped dates

Combine and add unsweetened almond milk for a delicious breakfast!

Day 10 Master Cleanse

Yesterday, day 9 of my master cleanse, I felt stressed out and hungry. I wanted to eat anything and everything! Today, day 10, I've only had 4 servings of the cocktail and I feel fine. Great actually! The coating is disappearing from my tongue and I suspect if I were to continue for another few days I would lose the excess weight I still would like to lose and detox entirely, but I don't have the time. I will have to see how the NR diet treats me and do this again in a few months if I desire. As part of the NR diet, I will be juice fasting/feasting one day a week.

I went for a colonic today. The moment the water started flushing inside me I felt really high and totally blissed out. It last for a little more than half of the session. I now feel so damn clean inside! I went to Wet Moore in Berkeley, which was a very different experience from Body Therapy in SF. A great deal more privacy, and the machines don't have a clear tube where you can see what is coming out. Plus, today they had already added cleaning chemicals to my waste so when I took a peek, you couldn't really tell what was going on. Lisa did say I should do two days of psyillium to really get the walls of the colon clean, so I will take that this evening and tomorrow am and pm. I bought ten navel oranges to put in my Breville juicer tomorrow. I plan to just drink that throughout the day. Thursday will be more for breakfast and lunch and then vegetable broth for dinner. Friday I plan on getting back on the Natalia Rose Life Force Energy Diet.

Here is my plan for the next few days and the soup recipe:

First day after the fast:
4 ounces fresh orange juice mixed with 4 ounces water. Sip slowly,
every three hours.

Second day after the fast:
Breakfast: 8 ounces fresh orange juice
Lunch: 8 ounces fresh orange juice
Dinner: 8 ounces vegetable broth

Vegetable Stock

2 onions, chopped
2 potatoes, diced
1 parsnip, sliced
1 turnip, sliced
2 pieces of kombu
fresh parsley
fresh thyme
fresh or dry bay leaf
mushrooms to taste or preference (about six crimini did it for me)

Fry two chopped onions, 2 diced potatoes and 2 celery sticks.
Stir in 1 sliced parsnip, 1 sliced turnip, and 2 pts of water.
Put in the bouquet garni (traditionally fresh parsley, fresh or dried
thyme, and bay leaf), bring to the boil, then heat and simmer for one
hour. Strain the broth from the solids using a colander.

Note: I will not be frying the onions and I may just simmer and not boil the soup.

I did it! 10 days, WOW. My aha moment was when I realized what an amazing willpower I have. I would like to carry this with me, as I hope it will help with my eating past fullness habit. Always a healthy eater, I simply eat too much and too much of a good thing is still too much. So to remember: I HAVE WILLPOWER!

Almost done Master Cleanse

I'm near the end of Day 7 on my Master Cleanse. I look and feel great. I am going 10 days, so Wednesday I will toss a bunch of oranges in the juicer and drink that for an entire day. Going forward, I plan on following Natalia Rose with a vengance. I want to lose more weight and get healthier, and not undue all this hard work (which really isn't that hard). This will include a one day per week juice fast. I'm excited. I feel like I have a really good plan.

Next Saturday I will be out of the country for a week, which I am a little concerned about. But if I stick with fresh juices and fruits for breakfast, avocado on whole grain with a salad or fruit or avocado salad for lunch, fruit mid afternoon and steamed fish and veggies for dinner, I should be just fine. Not sure I want to bring the 70% dark chocolate bars NR recommends with me, that seems like a slippery slope.

I can do this.

RAW Uncooking fun!

I am having SO MUCH FUN!

Uncooking is really enjoyable. I currently have raw ice cream with chocolate sauce thawing next to me that I made last night. This evening, after a great bowl of kelp noodles with tomatoes and basil and a cucumber avocado bell pepper alfalfa sprout salad, I whipped up a batch of cinnamon rolls, currently in the fridge. Normally I would be terrified to eat this because it's all nuts, but I know how to combine it now (with other nuts or dried fruits and lots of veggies) so I am not worried.

Cafe Gratitude is opening at my Whole Foods in a few weeks! Have I mentioned this yet? I am SO excited! All that luscious, raw food right here in Oakland.

My dermatologist put me in aldactone today, I start it tomorrow. She says it will help with my oily skin, occasional cystic acne and inconsistent periods. It's typically used for high blood pressure, never an issue of mine. It's a weak diuretic. The instructions say to minimize high potasium foods like bananas. Acck! I'll have to find new fruits to eat in the morning. Which, I guess, is not really a bad thing. For the past few years I have had trouble with my adrenal gland regulating my hormones, so hopefully this will help.

RAW Food Combining

I've lost some weight and learned a lot in the last few days. I want to share that wisdom here.

There are four categories, and they all mix with raw vegetables:

1. Starches (Whole grains, brown rice, sweet potatoes, young coconuts, avocados, legumes and cooked corn)
2. Flesh (Fish, eggs, dairy, meat, poultry)
3. Nuts/Seeds/Dried Fruit (includes mature coconuts & bananas)
4. Fresh Fruits

Here are the combining rules:

Wait three hours between categories.

Raw vegetables mix with any category

Avocados are a fruit but combine as a starch and can combine with dried fruits but not nuts

Only eat fruit on an empty stomach (at least 3 hours) and wait 30 minutes before eating anything else.

Bananas need a 45 minute wait.

If you must miscombine, only do it at dinner so your body has the whole night to deal with it without other foods being eaten.

If you are still hungry, better to eat from within the same category then mix. For example, have a second avocado rather than a handful of nuts after a meal of guacamole.

Best and worst foods, starting with best:

BEST

Raw fruits and veggies

Lightly steamed, low starch veggies with maple syrup or raw agave

Organic nuts and seeds

Stone or Cold Pressed plant oils

Cooked starchy vegetables

Raw Dairy (goat or sheep are best)

Whole grains (brown rice, millet, wheat, buckwheat)

Pastuerized animal flesh

Not whole grains

Cooked animal flesh

Chemicals, artificial sweeteners

WORST

What are good fats? 

Raw fats. It's that simple. Of course, plant based are best, like cold pressed oils, avocados, nuts, coconut and coconut butter.

RAW Natalia Rose's book

Today was the second day of the Natalia Rose book. This morning I checked the scale and I had lost the excess weight I picked up since we returned from skiing a week ago. The diet seems high in fat and I have gas and am bloated, but I think that's just adjustment. Will be curious to check the scale again tomorrow. many raw fooders say high fat doesn't work for them, but I wonder if that's a food combination thing. I have a feeling high fat works well for me. Time will tell.

Here's what's been super interesting: eating breakfast. I've been conditioned to wake up and eat, regardless of how I feel. Yesterday I wasn't hungry and didn't have anything but water till lunch at 12:30. Today I was hungry and had two bananas at 8:30 am. Why would I always wake up and eat, rather than **listen to my body**? Isn't that what it's all about?

I loved the salad I had this afternoon, with avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, agave and romaine, followed by raw chocolate pudding. Tonight's dinner was also great - coconut soup with shitake mushrooms and basil, and an avocado, zucchini, carrots and cabbage with an almond butter based thai sauce. The sauce was incredible! Not sure if I can post the recipe since it's from a published book. Anyone know?