Good luck with it.  People are going to look at you strangely when you refuse bread.  The most difficult part of any "diet" isn't the diet itself; it's the people around you.

Thanks, that's very true - bread (and starch in general) is such an essential part of life around here. Luckily my family is more or less used to this in the meantime, and I try to defuse eating out with others - salads, buffets and the like :) Guess you know about that then?

Breakfast and supper are the two meals where you'll have good control over your food; it's lunch that's difficult (I'm assuming you work outside the home).  I've found that life is easier if I make the "least bad" choice at lunchtime and don't stress over it.  If you can take your own lunch to work, all the better.

There ought to be a Weight Watchers in your area. I am sure that a member there will want to participate.

---------------------

fitness centre

Hi Sophie,

Maybe some helpful advice....try moving towards a mostly plant-based diet. Most importantly, remove dairy from your diet.  It's pretty much the worst thing you can consume, especially if you want to lose weight. afterall, cow  milk evolved to turn a tiny baby cow into a large fat animal as quickly as possible. It is loaded with natural compounds to maximize growth rate and cell division.  I recently paid a young lady to switch to a plant based diet for 3 months for a book I'm writing. She was so impressed she kept going...now going on 14 months. In one year she has lost 51kg and 18cm from her waist with no exercise. she is now off all 8 of her medications including insulin which she had been taking for 18 years.  Though I have been vegan for over 3 years and literally switched overnight form eating everything, I don't suggest you try to do anything so drastic. baby steps!  If interested, I'm more than happy to offer any advice for how to work on such a transition.  I wish you all the best and good luck! 

Best

Randy

apologies. I  meant 18 inches from her waist.  she is in the states :-).  that would convert to about 45cm

Hi Randy,

thank you very much for your reply which came at the perfect moment. In fact I have been reading a lot of books by Peter Singer, Jonathan Safran Foer and the like (the unexpected consequences of attending a seminar in bioethics :) and this has really convinced me to turn 95% vegan - the other thing will be cutting refined sugars which is something I have already done when doing low carb. (Hey, you need other subjects for your book? This would be a great motivation :) even without getting paid...)

I think I also need some nudging from time to time, I usually did whatever I did à la Lone Ranger but with switching my diet it might be helpful to have some external support aka like-minded people. A friend of mine turned vegetarian (vegan during lent) after she had been diagnosed with breat cancer and it really changed her life a lot. When I studies medicine there were several students who ate vegan but we somehow lost touch after I changed studies.

If I may ask - why did you switch over night? I was reading about Attila Hildmann who apparently did the same, after having thought a lot about life and death. Are you in/around Basel? Feel like having a coffe/tea at Café Salon or Tibitr's some time after next week? It would be great to get some practical advice... I have been trying vegan "substitutes" and found the results mostly disappointing, but whenever I'm at the Café Salon I am amazed at the food they offer. Just don't know how to do this myself, but then I'm not a great cook anyway, haha.

You can also contact me at [email protected] which may be more direct. Have a great Sunday and take care - all the best from

Sophie

Hi Sophie,

I'm more than happy to meet with you.  I enjoy helping people try to make the transition. I am in fact starting a healthy fast food burger chain that uses only plant-based ingredients.  think of it as a healthy McDonalds but using plant-based locally sourced ingrdients. And yes, I would love to have more stories for my book. 

I fully understand the need for continual support and glad to help you out.  Yes, there are many stories surfacing now of people who have cured their own cancer by moving to a whole-foods, plant-based diet. it makes perfect sense. Eating meat and dairy really stresses your immune system. you can even measure a person's body temp rise after consumption of such due to the inflammatory response. I have not been sick one day since moving to a plant-based diet and feel (and look) better at age 40 than when I was 18.  So once a persons immune system is back up to full strength it can then start to destroy the "bad cells" which our bodies have evolved to do anyway. Certainly a better first approach than flooding your body with more carcinogenic chemicals or radiation. you don't have a lot to lose at that point and everything to gain.

I read The China Study and watched the great documentary Forks Over Knives and just sort of "woke up".  I love to cook so I saw it as a fun challenge.  I just threw everything away in my kitchen that was not plant-based and began :-).

Will drop you a message and find a date to connect.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!  Life is beautiful

Randy

Hi Randy -

that sounds familiar, did you do something ith the venture lab, or startup academy recently (or soon)? I remember a flyer I saw where this was presented! To be honest, that would be great - because it also gives me a better position vis á vis my family, I have been slightly erratic (or eclectic, sounds better) with food, and now that my husband finally discovers low carb (well, above all cutting refined carbs) I am switching to something completely f´different... but if there's a book project involved it gives a) more credibility and b) more accountability for me ^^ don't know if that makes sense...

I ordered the China Study but didn't have time yet to read it. Eagerly waiting for the end of the semester to finally read all those books...

Okay, so I'm looking forward to hearing from you, take care! You're very right - life is exciting! Best from

Sophie