Food Rules?!?!

[JaneV2.0]

What BB is doing. - not to put too fine a point on it - is a style of veganism. I follow a FOK eating plan, which stands for Forks Over Knives. There is a documentary of that name available on Netflix. It's based on the China Study.

I eat nuts and seeds, wheat and avocados. Otherwise, much the same. This way of eating is actually very sustainable. I've been following for six months, and see no reason to stop.

The China Study, as reported by T Colin Whatsisname, bears little resemblance to the findings of the actual study. See Denise Minger's excellent analysis.

John McDougall's book is the only one I've ever actually thrown away. In the recycling bin. Torn up.

[bigbear]

To answer Teacher Terry's question, I have been doing this for 2 1/2 months. A helpful side effect of the diet is that I get physically ill when I consume anything off the diet. After I had eaten this way for two weeks, my best friend and I went to a restaurant. I had a big bowl of potato soup and a smoothie. After I got home, I felt stomach pain for hours and has slight chest pain which is something I have never had before. Additionally, the edema immediately after this one meal got dramatically worse. Apparently, the potato soup had cream (dairy) and salt (I'd mentioned I didn't know how to cook so I didn't know this). At times, I think it would be nice to occasionally cheat on the diet, but that experience taught me I can't.

I'm glad lmerullo mentioned the documentary "Forks over Knives" as it helped me also. Another documentary along those same lines can be purchased and downloaded from the website eatingyoualive.com. Dr. Michael Greger's book "How Not to Die" is also great along with Dean Ornish's work. I also recommend Chef AJ's hour long presentation on YouTube about how she changed her eating habits and why called "From Fat Vegan to Skinny Bitch."

So far, this way of eating has been a lot easier than I thought it would be when I started. It was hard at the beginning and for the first three weeks or so but after I got over the hump, it has been great. It's a little inconvenient at times and it can take some time but I mostly eat salads with vegetables. I'll add frozen peas that I microwave to the salads or some kind of beans that I make in my Instant Pot. Sometimes, I'll eat brown rice and salad together and I eat a lot of baked potatoes.

It helps that my best friend is also eating this way so we're helping each other.

In my case, I really do believe that only fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes (along with the nuts, seeds and avocado that I don't eat for high fat and calorie content) are food. Everything else (meat, dairy, processed foods, oils, salt, sugar, etc) I now see as drugs. I think it is like alcoholism. Some people are born with great sensitivity to it whereas others can have a little bit and stop. I never had a problem stopping with alcohol but the foods just seemed to have an effect on my brain that made calorie control different. So, I wanted to add this post in response to Ultralight's question in hopes it might prove as helpful to others as this information has been to me.

[KayLR]

In my case, I really do believe that only fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes (along with the nuts, seeds and avocado that I don't eat for high fat and calorie content) are food. Everything else (meat, dairy, processed foods, oils, salt, sugar, etc) I now see as drugs. I think it is like alcoholism. Some people are born with great sensitivity to it whereas others can have a little bit and stop. I never had a problem stopping with alcohol but the foods just seemed to have an effect on my brain that made calorie control different. So, I wanted to add this post in response to Ultralight's question in hopes it might prove as helpful to others as this information has been to me.

Interesting---since you do not consume any fats at all, how do you get the benefit of fat-soluble vitamins?

[bigbear]

It is my understanding that there is some fat in the fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes that I consume and that it is enough. I don't take any medications but I do take vitamin B-12 as that is the only vitamin not present in plant based foods.