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A patient came to me who had some concerns and questions and said they were on Dr Essy's program and even told me they were his patient and following his program 100%. After speaking with them for a while, it was quite evident that they were doing about 60-75% of it at best. (Sometimes I have seen people who have told me this and if they were at 25%, they were lucky).
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People always underestimate how many calories they eat. Many studies have shown that even peoples best attempts to estimate how many calories they eat is not just off but way off, and always underestimates their caloric intake, even when attempted by trained health professionals, by 30% or more. I've seen them underestimated up to 50% or more. One has to weigh each and every bite of the food & beverages they consume to really begin to come close. Estimates based on volume never work.
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You asked about our diet. We have been following, and fine-tuning, the same lifestyle for over 10 years. It is a health-promoting and disease-preventing nutrition plan, not a weight loss diet to drop a few pounds, although weight loss is a natural result. I lost 70 pounds originally, and have maintained my weight mostly in the "normal" range for the last decade, while my closest family members are morbidly obese. We do go through periods where we get lazy or busy, exercise less, drink too much wine, eat too many treats, and as a result put on a few pounds. Currently we are both being more mindful of our diet and exercise, and we've both lost our "holiday" weight.
How we arrived at the program we follow was due to my research after I lost my mother to multiple sclerosis and breast cancer (she had both, and died at age 59). I wanted to find out what was the best preventative strategy for avoiding those diseases. It turned out that there was overwhelming evidence, in study after study, linking a whole-food, low-fat, plant-based diet to lower rates of nearly every chronic disease, including cancer, autoimmune disease, heart disease, and diabetes. We learned about Dr. John McDougall's impressive track record of healing people with food (http://www.drmcdougall.com/) and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's work on reversing heart disease through diet (http://www.heartattackproof.com/excerpt.htm ). Another book that opened our eyes to the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet was The China Study: http://www.thechinastudy.com/the-china-study/about/. Since then, a wonderful documentary called Forks Over Knives has become available, and I consider it to be a must-watch for anyone interested in improving their health: http://www.forksoverknives.com/
In a nutshell, the program we follow is this. Eat whole plant foods, base the majority of your caloric intake on unrefined or minimally processed starches (such as rice, sweet and white potatoes, corn, beans, and whole grains), avoid animal products, eat no added oils or fats, limit high fat plant foods (like nuts, seeds, and avocados), avoid excess sugar and salt, and control weight by adjusting the amount of green and yellow vegetables that you combine with your whole starches. Ensure regular and adequate sunshine (for Vitamin D) and maintain a moderately active lifestyle. That's about it!
The food we eat is delicious, and we eat a lot of it. Tacos, lasagna, veggie burgers and baked fries, chili and cornbread, stir-fries, pizza, burritos, loaded baked potatoes, veggie sushi, and curry dishes are some of our favorites. There is a bit of a learning curve involved, and it does take some time to get used to eating this way, but the rewards are so substantial that it is well worth the effort.
I know that is probably more than you wanted to know, but I do have a lot to say on this topic because I am passionate about it. I believe that most of the illnesses which take our loved ones from us and cause so much suffering, need never exist.
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