DIET COUNSEL

I WAS TALKING TO AN OLD FRIEND TODAY AND SHE REMINDED ME OF THE DIET I GAVE HER THAT GAVE HER AN EASY WAY TO SHED TWENTY POUNDS.
I think I am about 10-12 years older than most people at this site. I mention it simply to say, while we all may have been struggling with healthy living issues, and have found our own successes and failures, my way perhaps is a little deeper since I have been at it a little bit longer, observing working models over time, that's all.

Mine came about while I was living in France (Province/Mediterranean) and doing my own cooking from scratch for over a year. I always gained twenty or so pounds in the winter I didn't like and always seemed to shed them in the summer. The French eat a lot of cheese, sausage, drink lots of red wine, etc., but aren't as plump as other mediterranean types/Italian/Greek. Why? I wondered. I found out (I think, I'm not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination) their red wines have more tannin in them than does the greek and italian wines, and the people in province eat A LOT of raw vegetables called crudities (grated carrots, cauli, broccoli, cabbages, etc.) and lots of raw spinach and parsley. Spinach and parsley have natural ephedrine, are diuretic (for people with water-soluble fatty tissue issues-many women) AND they use a lot of lemon juice.

This said to me, maybe the lemon(acidic acid) juice breaks down sugar and water-soluble greens like spinach (ephedrine-diuretic) addresses fatty acids. Whether that's true or not, I told my friend Bernadette (who always asked me how I stayed so thin) try to eat as many crudities you want, include lots of spinach and parsley (both of which she loved) and eat whatever else you want. But above all: TAKE 2 TABLESPOONS OF LEMON OR GRAPEFRUIT JUICE IN YOUR MOUTH BEFORE YOU EAT ANYTHING, PERIOD.

She lost a pound a day for three weeks and still is slim on this diet today as we speak. I can't say its the Mediterranean diet, but something there. I also lose my winter fat (mostly due to eating more than usual comfort food) every Spring this way.

If any of you nurse/medical folks out there find this un-usual or contradictory to what you know, please add to this thread. My only contribution is that this has worked for me and many friends, especially women. Be well! Aho!

That is very cool, WD. I wonder if pickle juice will suffice? I'm actually going to try that.

Spring, we need a big pickle emoticon! lol

yeah, yeah! Pickle runs up to cocktail glass, jumps in, celery stick beats the pickle silly, pickle flips out, lands on the carpet, gets up, starts trying to jump into the cocktail glass again.....

oh, and we could have a lot of Olives running 'round in circles watching!

Wild Dove, both lemon and grapefruit juice are alkaline in the body, if the body is alkaline it is easier to lose weight, that could have something to do with it. I've also heard to mix a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of honey in a glass of water and drink 30 minutes prior to a meal to lose weight. Eating more veggies and fuits just makes sense, they burn more calories digesting than they put in, unless of course you load them with dip and/or salad dressing which most of us americans tend to do. Thanks for the post.

That does make more sense than focusing on acidic acid (which confuses people/shiing away from sour/acidic food) vinegar and honey----hey BTM, maybe there is some truth in your "pickle juice" snippet. I really have been a pickle freak all my life. Guess my body is akaline because of it....Yawoo! Listening to body without the medical knowledge has just taken another leap! Thanks for the med advice/counsel MID!!!

ScienceDaily (May 27, 2008) — Fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals and fiber that are key to good health… Now, a newly released study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists suggests plant foods also may help preserve muscle mass in older men and women

The study was led by physician and nutrition specialist Bess Dawson-Hughes at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Mass

The typical American diet is rich in protein, cereal grains and other acid-producing foods… In general, such diets generate tiny amounts of acid each day… With aging, a mild but slowly increasing metabolic "acidosis" develops, according to the researchers

Acidosis appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response… So the researchers looked at links between measures of lean body mass and diets relatively high in potassium-rich, alkaline-residue producing fruits and vegetables… Such diets could help neutralize acidosis… Foods can be considered alkaline or acidic based on the residues they produce in the body, rather than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves… For example, acidic grapefruits are metabolized to alkaline residues

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis on a subset of nearly 400 male and female volunteers aged 65 or older who had completed a three-year osteoporosis intervention trial… The volunteers' physical activity, height and weight, and percentage of lean body mass were measured at the start of the study and at three years… Their urinary potassium was measured at the start of the study, and their dietary data was collected at 18 months

Based on regression models, volunteers whose diets were rich in potassium could expect to have 3 point 6 more pounds of lean tissue mass than volunteers with half the higher potassium intake… That almost offsets the 4 point 4 pounds of lean tissue that is typically lost in a decade in healthy men and women aged 65 and above, according to authors

Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, can lead to falls due to weakened leg muscles… The authors encourage future studies that look into the effects of increasing overall intake of foods that metabolize to alkaline residues on muscle mass and functionality

The study was published in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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Adapted from materials provided by US Department of Agriculture

http://www. sciencedaily. com­ /releases/2008/05/080527121104.

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:laugh: wonder if pickle might have caught sarcopenia, too, or was in need of PMEP (preliminary male extension pills, before he falls out on the floor along with all those scared celery sticks.....)

Spring, can I get a case of those? LOL

But BTM, you already have a case of two :laugh:

ROFLMAO! Indeed I do!

:laugh4: