Someone pretty much asked this question last week, though he was asking on behalf of his wife. A lot of people found my answer helpful, so I'll repost it here:

I've been vegan for two years, running for two and a half. Things I love:

Curries. Yellow, red, green, all of them. Very versatile, put whatever veggies float your boat. My favorites are yellow potatoes, carrots, peas, bell peppers, onions. Tofu is a MUST for me in curries. Press the excess liquid out (honestly, if your wife is serious about plant-based eating, an actual tofu press is WAAAAY better than using towels and heavy pans) and cube it up. No need to cook it before you throw it into your curry. Also, sometimes I stir in some chunky peanut butter right before I eat it. Serve with white rice, brown rice, quinoa, whatevs. Or just by itself.

Tofu scrambles. These were absolutely essential for me during marathon training last summer. Very quick, easy as hell to make, versatile, and packed with protein, calcium, and iron. Also, one of the few tofu recipes where you really don't have to press the tofu. Getting the excess liquid out is a good idea, but no need to let it press for more than five minutes while you prep your veggies. A good tofu scramble may take a few tries to get the hang of, so I recommend starting with a recipe (like this, for example) but once you've got the hang of it, mix up your veggies and spices to find your favorite combo. I also highly recommend finding some black salt to give your egg-inspired dishes that sulphur-y flavor. ONLY A LITTLE BIT IS NEEDED TO GET THE FLAVOR. Too much, and you and your wife will have the WORST GAS OF YOUR LIVES.

Speaking of eggy stuff, Chickpea salad sandwiches are BOMB. Depending on what spices you use, you can make this more eggy or more chicken-y, or more tuna-y, depending on your mood. My favorite recipe so far has been Thug Kitchen's smoked almond and chickpea salad sandwiches (here) but you can make it way simpler by not bothering with all the almond stuff and just going super basic. This is a tuna-inspired version I love.

I could really go on and on about vegan food, but perhaps the best way to get you and your wife in the right direction is to recommend a few books for you. I have....god, probably like 20 vegan cook books. My top three favorites are:

America's Test Kitchen: Vegan for Everybody - Great pictures, great recipes, and a lot of information on "why this works/why this doesn't work" in vegan cooking. I have been vegan for two years and just recently got this book and it has taught me a lot that I wish I had known all along.

Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a Fuck - The first vegan cook book I ever got, a gift from my husband about a week after I went vegan, and still to this day one of my very favorites. So much basic info (like wtf is nooch), seriously tasty food, and hilariously written (NSFW language). I can't make up my mind whether I recommend this one or the ATK book more, but I'm leaning towards this one.

Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking - someone has already mentioned her blog, which I absolutely recommend as well, but there is SO MUCH on that blog, it can be hard to just find something to make. Dana's cook book takes care of that problem by having 101 of her very best recipes in a really beautiful and well-thought out book. Her recipes are always fun and inspired, and she has some of the tastiest vegan desserts I've ever had the pleasure of making.

Last thought: as far as "vegan recipes for runners" goes, one of the beautiful things about eating a whole foods, plant-based diet is that it's all really good food for runners. As long as you stay mostly away from processed stuff (fake meats made of soy protein isolate, vegan cheeses made of practically nothing but oil), then a vegan diet is going to be beneficial to your wife as a runner. There is a place in your kitchen for some Tofurky deli slices and vegan mayo (my favorite is Hampton Creek's Just Mayo) but keep it mostly whole foods and you really can't go wrong.

I hope this helps.

So what is interesting is there seem to be a lot of ways to react to foods. I have seen intolerance mean both autoimmune symptoms and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. Allergy seems to mean something to the effect of celiac or a peanut allergy which can be immediately life threatening. For me I have autoimmune symptoms to almost all of the foods I have problems with. Depending on what it is I'll get headaches pretty immediately after eating and then I'll get joint swelling in different parts of my body. Now after I got through all that the Doctor had me try the FODMAP diet as an elimination diet and I have found that there are a small number of foods that I eat regularly that actually are causing gastrointestinal issues. In my situation my doctor is of the opinion that my small intestine is more permeable due to damage that has happened. That the best way to let it heal is to get things out of my diet that cause distress... so figuring out things that cause gastrointestinal issues is important.

The reason this is hard to figure out is if the problems feel normal to you then you don't realize they are a problem. The elimination diets help because you remove things for a period and reintroduce them. It's basically a science experiment to see if you are having issues with any of those foods.

In my experience I have learned new things about my body and my issues for each diet. They do take a lot of energy to get into because it really does require a lot of attention. By the last ones though I'm pretty used to this and the payoff has been huge for me.

• Increased energy. Being able to exercise without hating life, being able to focus, work long days if i need too.
  
  
• Cognitive focus increased. I can sit and focus on work or a project far longer without being exhausted.
  
  
• Less dependance on meal time. I could not push meal time without becoming really short tempered. It cause me a lot of anxiety and I would keep snacks around in case something happened. I can pretty much skip snacking now and even skip a meal if i need to without it completely wiping me out.
  
  
• Weight loss. I have been trying to lose weight because I was obese for the last 8 years. I was making progress but it was so incredibly hard and painful. Changing my diet without cutting calories and minimal exercise (walking) I lost 25lbs this past year without really trying at all.
  
  
• Improved emotional stability. In my other comment I had written about my mood issues. Getting on thyroid meds helped a lot for the first 5 years or so but the last year with the diets have made a huge difference in my overall patience and ability to stay focused on calm.
  
  I'm not trying to push these at all I am just relating my experience so you can weigh out if it is something that you think might be worthwhile. These are the ones I have tried (in order of what I tried):
  
  
• IMF Elimination Diet Is a good first step.
  
  
• Whole30 I really recommend the book for the recipes, food planning, and cooking intro) there is also a subreddit for support
  
  
• Autoimmune Protocol - There are lots of online resources. This is a great intro book
  
  
• I also had this food sensitivity blood test done which while overwhelming at the time (because I reacted to like 40 things) was really helpful because I found out I had reactions to things like black pepper. You can also use this to do your own elimination diet so you can learn how your body reacts to those foods. It was also a great relief to know I could modify the Autoimmune Protocol diet... which for me was the hardest.
  
  
• FODMAP elimination diet. The Monash University app for iPhone or Android is very helpful for starting the diet.
  
  Anyway I know that is a ton to take in. Sorry for writing a book. I wish you the best luck and hugs* because its very hard when you are first starting out and trying to figure out what works for you. You are doing great to start reaching out and looking though. Keep searching, it will get better!
  

One Green Planet has some info on how to make veggies and vegan meat in the smoker. That website is also a good recipe resource.

Your dad should try throwing these portobello mushroom burgers on the grill. They are seriously tasty when eaten alone alone, on burger buns (especially if you add a flavored mayonnaise - check out Just Mayo for all of his mayonnaise needs), in pasta salads, and on top of salads.

This isn't a recipe for the grill, but it is one for BBQ tofu. I love cooking tofu cubes in the oven because they get nice and chewy, especially if you drain and freeze the tofu first.

If he ends up really missing meat on this diet, he should check out the cookbook Seitan and Beyond. Seitan is an excellent replacement for meat and this cookbook is the most delicious and comprehensive collection of seitan recipes. The author of the cookbook also runs an active Facebook group to offer support to people cooking from his cookbooks (just search "The Gentle Chef" on Facebook). Also, Gardein makes amazing meat replacements that are excellent store-bought options if he's missing meat.

My favorite place to find consistently tasty recipes for everything from Pad Thai to Mac and Cheese, though, is Isa Chandra Moskowitz's website. She's a cookbook author who's shared a good amount of her recipes online. If either you or your dad is willing to invest in a cookbook, try Isa Does It. It's my favorite cookbook and covers everything from soups to weeknight meals to desserts.

As for Italian food, tell him to check out this caesar salad recipe. I don't use the kale, parmesan, or chickpea croutons that the recipe suggests. I make my own croutons in the oven and just use romaine lettuce in my salad. The dressing is why I linked to that recipe. I've tried a lot of vegan caesar dressings and it is hands-down the best. Chloe Coscarelli is the queen of vegan Italian food in my opinion. She's shared a few recipes from her cookbook Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen on her website (even a recipe for tiramisu that's pretty tasty). Again, if you're willing to invest in some cookbooks, this is one of the ones to get along with Isa Does It. Then if he wants to branch out into more complex vegan cooking he should check out Seitan and Beyond and the rest of Skye Conroy's cookbooks.

Here are some of my favorite websites that I think you should check out for more free recipes:

Hot For Food

Oh She Glows

Chocolate Covered Katie (healthy dessert blog that's mostly vegan)

Keepin' It Kind

Healthy Happy Life

Minimalist Baker

If he's missing any specific dishes, let me know. I have a lot of recipes up my sleeve!

Martin Berkhan - creator of Leangains.

Mark Rippetoe - Strength coach and lover of hip drahve.

Best books and blogs? Martin's leangains book is a top recommendation here for obvious reasons. It's a good book to be your foundational approach to training and dieting. Though, the training section of the book essentially just directs you here: https://leangains.com/reverse-pyramid-training-guide/

Depends on what you're looking for honestly. For training, there's tons of blogs out there. I'll just share some of my favorites.

/u/GZCL blog - http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.com/

Jujimufu's blog is essentially dead, but I love it anyway. I also love his books - http://acrobolix.com/blog/

/u/mythicalstrength blog - http://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/

Greg Nuckols articles - https://www.strongerbyscience.com/

But I'll say this: most of that reading is unnecessary to successfully reach your health goals. Masterfully apply the basics of training, dieting, and recovery everyday and you'll be successful.

Any program that fits these parameters will be good for strength/hypertrophy. Throw in 20-30 minutes of cardio like 3 days per week for fun/cardio health and you're good. Not saying cardio is necessary at all, but it's good if you'd also like to be a bit athletic. Just play a sport your enjoy a few times per week. Programs that work: Martin's RPT, stronglifts, any program based on GZCL method, 5/3/1, nsuns, PPL.

For nutrition, hit your macros with mostly whole foods. This article covers everything you need to calculate your macros. His other articles are good to read.

For supplements, they're unnecessary if you're eating a good diet. Things that can help: protein powder (if you happen to not get enough protein in your diet on a particular day), caffeine, omega 3 (fish oil or flaxseed oil), creatine monohydrate, vitamin d, multivitamin. But again, unnecessary if eating a well balanced diet with mostly whole foods.

For recovery, this article covers it well. Pretty much: sleep a lot, eat well, minimize stress, have fun.

GLHF!

I went to one AA meeting when I first got clean and never went back. I understand people have found support and success in it but to me, personally, I felt it only increased the stigma of drug addicts as these broken hopeless people barely hanging on by a thread. It's an outdated system that relies on little science or attempting to progress the participants and relies more on holding people in place and focusing on the past. Instead I just worked towards becoming a normal person. Here are some of the resources I used:

r/Fitness - Getting Started: Exercise is probably the #1 thing that will aid you in recovering. It can help your brain learn to produce normal quantities of dopamine again as well as improve your heath, mood, well being and confidence.

Meetup: You can use this site to find people in your area with similar interests. I found a hiking group and a D&D group on here which I still regularly join.

Craigslist: Same as above - look for groups, activities, volunteer work, whatever.

Diet

This will be the other major player in your recovery. Understanding your diet will allow you to improve your health,mood, energy, and help recover whatever damage the drugs may have done to your body.

How Not To Die Cookbook

Life Changing Foods

The Plant Paradox

Power Foods For The Brain

Mental Health

Understand whats going on inside your head and how to deal with it is also an important step to not only recovery but enjoying life as a whole.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

The Emotional Life Of Your Brain

Furiously Happy

The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works

Educational

If you are like me you probably felt like a dumbass when you first got clean. I think retraining your brain on learning, relearning things you may have forgot after long term drug use, and just learning new things in general will all help you in recovery. Knowledge is power and the more you learn the more confident in yourself and future learning tasks you become.

Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse

Why Nations Fails

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century

Thinking, Fast and Slow

The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health

Continued Education / Skills Development

EdX: Take tons of free college courses.

Udemy: Tons of onine courses ranging from writing to marketing to design, all kinds of stuff.

Cybrary: Teach yourself everything from IT to Network Security skills

Khan Academy: Refresh on pretty much anything from highschool/early college.

There are many more resources available these are just ones I myself have used over the past couple years of fixing my life. Remember you don't have to let your past be a monkey on your back throughout the future. There are plenty of resources available now-a-days to take matters into your own hands.

*Disclaimer: I am not here to argue about anyone's personal feelings on AA**

I don't really have advice on your original post, but I used to be just like you when it came to cooking. Cooking for me consisted of throwing a piece of chicken on my George Foreman grill until it was burnt (no salmonella for me!) and eating raw vegetables because they required no cooking.

There is so, so SO much info out there on how to cook. If you love watching videos, look up videos on YouTube. If you love reading, invest in some cookbooks. If you have a friend who loves to cook and does it well, ask him/her for some basic lessons.

Aside from my boyfriend who loves to cook (thankfully), I've learned the majority of my cooking skills through some great cookbooks. The Whole30 book has so many great beginner tips and delicious, obviously healthy recipes; even when I'm not doing Whole30, I constantly refer to this book for recipes! If you're a science/chemistry person, The Food Lab is pretty amazing.

I think a lot of people get scared of cooking because YES it can totally be daunting and time-consuming and hard! But it doesn't have to be. You don't need to make gourmet meals for yourself every night; just figure out some flavor profiles you love and recipes that are easy.

I'm happy to help. Now I'll re-address your second set of questions. :)

1. Recovery is as important as working out. Light days are fine, but sometimes not doing anything is better. I fear you may not be getting the calories you need to recover adequately eating vegan, but I'm sure you take calcium-magnesium supplements (which will help a lot) and that you eat lots of nuts. Like, lots. Peanut butter is also great. I'll talk more about that in number 3 and 5.
   
   
2. Want to make Body Step more intense? Try doing it with a weighted vest. 10 lbs. for the first week, then keep stepping it up in 5 lb. increments each week. Then the 6-7 workouts a week will sound a little more insane. It's definitely better to run outside the gym than inside, but really, running is not that good for you. It increases your cortisol levels (the stress hormone in your body that causes inflammation) and takes your heart rate up to 130-150, but then it's just steady there, which doesn't really train your heart to deal with stress very well. A much better option is to do high-intensity intervals, such as sprints. So instead of running 3 miles, you run 10 X 100 meter sprints, with 30 seconds rest inbetween. It doesn't sound like much, but you will feel a lot different at the end of that 1000 meters than you do at the end of your 3-mile run. If not, you're not sprinting hard enough. Give it a shot, and see what you think. To make it harder, lower the rest time.
   
   
3. If you've made any changes to your diet at all, you're probably going to lose weight simply because now you are exercising as well. Really, people obsess way too much over diet, and since you already have a proclivity to anxiety, I would say that it's not something worth obsessing over. Exercise is going to have a positive effect on you. You might not lose 40 pounds this month, or even 10 pounds this month, but you will feel better, your anxiety will be less overwhelming and you will be in a better mood. The simple diet plan is to shop around the edges of the grocery store (where all the fresh food is) and avoid the middle aisles (where all the processed food is) as much as possible. Being a vegan, I imagine you're relying a lot on pasta/breads/potatoes to get your calories. I would submit that you should rely more on nuts and healthy fats like avocado (fruit or oil), olive oil, coconut oil, etc.
   
   
4. I also have an anxiety problem, and I want to tell you that caffeine makes it worse. Exercise is a great tool for overcoming anxiety, and another is sunlight. If you live in a place where it's too cold to work outside, please do yourself a favor and buy a desktop sun lamp. That has helped my anxiety SO much, I can't even tell you.
   
   
5. Focus on what you can change, and take care of the rest when you have no doubts about what you're pinching between your fingers.
   
   
6. Eggs are awesome. They're the perfect food. A person can live on eggs and avocado alone. I'm totally serious. A great book you may want to read (it's a hefty tome, but worth it) is Good Calories, Bad Calories. Your views on the idea that eating cholesterol is bad for your heart, and that fats are bad may change. I highly recommend the book and I highly recommend eggs.
   
   
7. You didn't ask a seventh question, but I have an additional thought for you. Hypnotherapy has gone a long way in helping me overcome my anxiety. You might want to look into it. At the very least, you can download some anti-anxiety hypnosis sessions from the internet and try it out for a low cost/free.
   
   Good luck!

I'm not incredibly bulky or anything, but I am pretty lean. I eat a whole-food plant-based diet (no oil), so it's actually incredibly easy to maintain this level of body fat. I don't count calories or macros. I just easy healthy foods, and as much as I want.

From a detailed post I made about what I eat and what my gym routine:
___

I eat a whole-food plant based diet, and I don't use oil when I cook. I'm essentially basing everything off of Dr. Gregor's daily dozen (get the app!). You might be surprised to hear that I don't count macros or calories, but I have put in my food into cronometer on occation to check out my vitamin/nutrient intakes.

I have a big bowl of oatmeal every morning with

• a banana
  
• cup or so of frozen mixed barries
  
• walnuts/peacans
  
• cocoa powder (see Nutritionfacts' recent series on cocoa and acne)
  
• 2-3 dates
  
• amla powder
  
• cinnamon and/or nutmeg
  
• Sometimes I'll add soymilk for creaminess and I might also throw in whatever seasonal fruit I have laying around.
  
  I usually eat a lot of fruit throughout the day, and I like to eat raw veggies, sometimes with hummus (homemade!). After workouts, I'll usually have a smoothie with:
  
  
• 1 or 1.5 frozen bananas
  
• A cup of frozen strawberries
  
• Maybe a half cup of soy milk
  
• Protein powder (I've been using Orgain organic, b/c Amazon prime members get a great price on it)
  
• 2 heaping TBs of ground flaxseed
  
• Maybe a TB of chia seeds
  
• the rest of the blender packed with spinach and kale
  
  I also have a teaspoon of tumueric with pepper mixed up with a big glass of water everyday (not in the smoothie!).
  
  With dinners, I almost always have some kind of legume as the base of the meal with lots of veggies and a side of grains (rice/quinoa/barley etc). I eat tofu or tempeh maybe every 3rd day, but it's not like I'm keeping track. Sometimes I'll make a big batch of baked tofu and go through it for the next few days. The things that I make most often are chana masala, bean salads, mexican food, and thai curries, although I make new things all the time. Recently, I've been going through the recipes in Dr. Gregor's How Not to Die cookbook, which I highly recommend! I also try to eat a big (think mixing bowl size) kale/spinach/cabbage salad most days with various shit in it, like tomatoes, onion, peppers, nuts/seeds, beets, etc. I make my own dressings with PB, avocados, or tahini as the base. If you search 'oil free vegan dressings' you'll find tons of ideas online, but I make a spicy peanut-sauce dressing most often. I'll throw in some fresh ginger, garlic, PB (either normal or powdered), sambal or sriracha, rice vinegar, half a peeled lemon, and soy sauce/liquid aminos into a single serving blender thing (like a magic bullet). Works great
  
  
  Oh, and I've been eating a TON of sweet potatoes lately. I usually go for normal orange-flesh ones, but I've been using purple-flesh ones more and more, and OH GOD are they good.
  
  
  That's kind of it. I'm not following a meal plan or keeping track of anything. I just eat healthy foods, as much as I want. Cutting out garbage (including oil!) makes a huge difference.
  
  Hopefully this is helpful! Let me know if you have any questions!
  
  EDIT: I forgot to mention that I snack on different nuts and seeds some days, and I like using TVP in meals. That's a great way to increase protein intake. Here's an example of what I eat in a day

As someone who has done a couple of rounds of the Stronglifts 5x5 programme (the Stronglifts app is fantastic, makes everything supper simple) I would say no to your trainer's advice. It's more bro-science than anything else.
With the Stronglifts programme for the first 2-3 weeks it will be light and easy but the point of that is perfect your form especially on the squats. If you have access to a trainer again use them to check your squat form, making sure you pass parallel and keep the butt wink in check. The second time I did the Stronglifts programme I used this time to do some extra pec flyes but to each their own. Very quickly you will be hitting max lift goals.
5x5 programmes are more of a marathon on their own. Generally cardio is not recommended as the recovery time is required after heavy lifts and cardio is too strenuous. You will be doing very heavy lifts 3x's a week in no time at all and will need the recovery time to keep the lift gains going strong.
You will need to increase you protein grams to maintain lift advancement. Adding some complex carbohydrates on lift days are not a bad thing but definitely not the simple sugars of gummy bears. You will most likely need to increase you daily calorie intake on lift days by about 250-500 calories. You will see the fat slip away while the scale increases.
Good luck and keep the good work! As someone with shit cardio due to childhood asthma I give mad respect to any marathon runners.

Edit. Also if you hit some weight loss plateau's, try cycle some carbs. Not allot, one day a week. Once may be all you need. And not crap carbs but complex carbs like some multi-grain bread with coconut oil or butter with your breakfast and/or sweet potato or yams with dinner. Again not over doing it just one serving per meal for one day. Keto takes us as close to our evolutionary eating profile but we have still evolved I eat carbs just not in the excess of today diet.
A book that I recently gifted to my sister is ”The Keto Diet" https://www.amazon.ca/Keto-Diet-Complete-Delectable-Confidence/dp/1628600160
It's written by a women for women on keto with an incredible amount of recipes. I'm a guy and my wife and I really appreciate and enjoy the book and my sister loves it as well. My only complaint is that the author is also dairy free which is reflected is all o the recipes but nothing to get updates about.

I meal prep breakfast and work-snack items. I get up really early to go to work and I'm not a morning person so I'll never cook in the mornings. On Sunday (I work m-f) I cook a quiche, and then eat a slice for breakfast on the way to work. I also pick a snack to have at work for the week so I'm not tempted by the vending machine on my break. Last week I made keto egg muffins; this week it's hard boiled eggs. I'm getting tired of eggs haha.

For the other meals, I cook. Lunch is fish because it's fast, and then dinner is usually a protein plus veggies. But I only work part time; if I were still working full time I'd have to figure out something different for lunch.

I also make sure I have some stuff in the fridge that I can grab and eat quick if need be. Cheese, hot dogs (I love Nathan's hot dogs, only 1g of carbs a piece I think), lunch meat, stuff like that, because there are definitely times I don't feel like cooking. So I think for me, I cook when I can because fresh stuff always tastes better but I do meal prep for the meals I know I'm not going to have time for. I think it works pretty well :)

There is a keto recipe subreddit /r/ketorecipes and tons of blogs/sites/etc online for more resources. This is the book I bought and so far it seems really nice. Most of the meals are pretty easy and she has a lot of great information about keto in there as well. There is also a section at the beginning where she makes a 7 day meal plan with a corresponding shopping list which is nice, though too expensive looking for me haha.

edit: I also really like pickles for snacks. Mostly because of the salt and crunchiness

I've been purchasing keto cookbooks for my library system and have been reading through them as they come in. Here's a little list:

Sweet & Savory Fat Bombs by Martina Slajerova
https://www.amazon.ca/Sweet-Savory-Fat-Bombs-Delicious/dp/1592337287/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1480350212&sr=1-1
Haven't made anything from it yet, but I have this one checked out right now. I am going to try the recipe for their Toasted Coconut Cups today. The ingredient lists seems semi reasonable and it's great for squares, chocolate, spreads, and little treats if you're into that kind of thing.

The KetoDiet Cookbook by Martina Slajerova
https://www.amazon.ca/KetoDiet-Cookbook-Grain-Free-Sugar-Free-Starch-Free/dp/1592337015/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480350335&sr=1-1&keywords=ketodiet+cookbook
Of all the books I've looked at so far this one seems the most reasonable and helpful. It's actual recipes instead of just a "wrap bacon around asparagus, cook" kind of thing. Plus, there's pretty pictures of the food and I like pictures in my cookbooks. I have it checked out right now and was going to give their recipe for zuch lasagna a try as a first recipe.

Quick & Easy Ketogenic Cooking by Maria Emmerich
https://www.amazon.ca/Quick-Easy-Ketogenic-Cooking-Recipes/dp/1628601000/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1480350438&sr=1-2
I had high hopes for this one, but I didn't like the look of it at all, save for a few recipes on slow cooker pulled-pork / pulled-chicken kind of thing. It was lots of "wrap bacon around asparagus, cook" that I mentioned above--the sort of food that folks on keto maybe already know. I did snap a few pictures of recipes I'd like to try, but it wasn't one I am considering purchasing, like the two above.

It can be hard to wade through the crap on pinterest and two sites I've found helpful for bang-on recipes are these:
http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/
http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/

Hope this is helpful. Happy shopping <3

While I don't have the condition I have a few close friends that have either UC or Crohn's, and I know how difficult it can make life. I am still researching the potential of this for one of my friends, but I would recommend looking into the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). It's a dietary approach to gaining control over the symptoms of Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Celiac Disease, and other such conditions. These conditions all stem from a bacterial imbalance in the gut. The diet has helped thousands of people and many have seen their symptoms completely go away. People have even been able to return to a normal diet after a year or two on this diet! The author of the book, a nutritional biochemist and cellular biologist completely cured her own daughter's Ulcerative Colitis using the SCD. Unfortunately, there have been no large-scale clinical studies of this diet since there is no money in it for the pharmaceutical companies, who would normally fund such studies. But the anecdotal evidence is absolutely amazing! Please check the website above or even just read some of the related book's 270+ positive Amazon reviews! I hope these links are the least bit helpful to you. Message me if you want to talk more about this subject. And Happy Birthday and best of luck to you, my friend.

Absolutely. This is my first post trying to link something click here for the amazon link. Hopefully that works.
You basically eat fruits, vegetables, and meat. You cut out bread and grains, dairy and processed sugar for 30 days. It is a tad extreme for some people but if you are not a picky eater there are amazing recipes out there. I follow an instagram account called Nomnompaleo and she is amazing, her recipes are super tasty and got me through the harder days of the whole 30. I had already cut a lot of dairy so that part was easy for me, the sugar part was hard.

Hopefully I have explained it well enough. Pinterest is full of ideas and recipes and youtube and instagram have tons of amazing people doing the Whole 30 that support people trying it. I found that it really helped and I am planning to start one in the next few days. Just getting all of the food supplies ready.

If you have any more questions let me know :)

I'll try my best to explain since your question is too general.

​

>where to start?

​

This subreddit is based mostly on the work of Martin Berkhan and his leangains method. You can find a lot of info on his page here. The subreddit info has the best articles there. Also to a lesser degree, this sub get a lot of info from other progressive overload programs like starting strength or strong lifts, you can choose whichever fits you best.

​

A lot of people here tend to focus on powerlifting but you are not forced to do that, what most people here agrees on is: use compound movements, lift heavy, progressive overload and take care of your form.

​

The leangains method has evolved through the years, I am not an experienced lifter so I can not tell you which one gives the best results. The latest version as described in the book is a minimalistic approach. you train 3 times per week, you can use intermittent fasting to help you achieve your nutrition goals. and you use compound movements.

​

There are other versions of this where you cycle your carbs and change the amount of food you eat on training and resting days but if you are new I would suggest trying the most simple approach and sticking to it, then when you are good you can fine tune it.

​

>Timing, calories, macros, everything.

​

I would suggest you buy the leangains book since its really cheap and has a lot of great info for newbies, and gives exactly what to do.

​

If you are overweight it would do wonders for you, if you want to gain weight eat at a surplus instead of a deficit as suggested in the books and you can be more relaxed with the amount of protein needed.

> And what are the chances of some recomping through doing this?

if you are completely new to lifting heavy, high. your body will respond to the stress strongly on your first years lifting al long as you eat healthily and rest. since you don't want to gain or lose weight you will eat at maintenance but the new stress on your body will help you prioritize muscle synthesis.

​

I hope this is helpful, I am not an advanced lifter but I too struggled to get what the method was until I bought the book so I hope this clarifies some things, if anyone sees a mistake feel free to point it.

​

Martha Stewart has a cookbook called Meatless which is all vegetarian, all reasonable calories (a variety though, depending on what you're looking for) and detailed nutritional information for each recipe. Like everything, you have to have a basic knowledge to be able to spot the occasional mistake or to notice that a particular product might be very different depending on what brand you buy (e.g. yogurt), but in general it's a good resource. https://www.amazon.ca/Meatless-More-Than-Vegetarian-Recipes/dp/0307954560/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527634075&sr=1-1&keywords=martha+stewart%27s+meatless

America's Test Kitchen put out a vegan cookbook a while ago that contains nutritional information, and is quite good. https://www.amazon.ca/Vegan-Everybody-Foolproof-Plant-Based-Between/dp/194035286X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527634029&sr=1-1&keywords=america%27s+test+kitchen+vegan

MyFitnessPal as /u/smasht507 mentioned, is a great resource for free meal tracking. You'll input your information and it'll give you guidelines per day based on your goals (to lose, maintain or gain weight).

I use the Fitbit app which is a similar concept, in conjunction with a tracker (the One - very cheap and functional).

Basically if you're looking for weight control, you need to establish your BMR (basal metablic rate) which is related to your gender, age, height and weight. This is the number of calories your body burns before you start figuring in exercise. Your TDEE on the other hand (Total daily energy expenditure) is the COMPLETE amount of calories you burn, both just running your own body's functions and the exercise you do - everything from walking to the bathroom, to playing volleyball to going up & down the stairs at work.

You can calculate your BMR yourself - to get a pretty accurate TDEE you'll probably need a tracker or to use your phone to help establish how many steps you're taking, and log the intentional exercise you might do. If you eat under your TDEE, you'll lose weight. 500 calories/day less than you expend will allow you to lose 1lb/week. This is a pretty sustainable amount for most people.

If you're just looking to get a handle on your nutrition, such as protein/fibre/fat intake, this is also possible using one of the aforementioned apps.

Awesome, great job of getting out of bad habits.

I'm also not really into the raw thing but a couple of quick tips. Buy a blender and get your smoothy on! You can throw as many fruit and vegetables in that thing as you like. Just find out what combinations you like.

If I eat smoothy as a breakfast I usually put in a banana, some frozen berrys, a fist full of spinach, an inch of ginger, a cup of rice or almond milk, some lemon juice and some flax seeds.
But they can be much simpeler, just a banana or mango, rice milk and some cinnamon is also great.

To make just plain old veggies a little more exciting try eating them with humus, peanut butter or sriracha if you're in to that. Thats great with carrot, apple, bell pepper, cucumber or whatever.

But I do encourage you to learn a bit about basic nutrition and how to encorporate it in your daily life.
This is supposed to be a very good book on raw veganism. I have the same book for a normal vegan diet and it is very thorough and helpfull.

That depends on your concept of healthy. I'll give you mine.

I use a Primal diet, because it is low-carb and gluten-free, but there's a positive focus on things I can eat instead.

Gluten has been linked to some odd symptoms. It's possible it has some tie to the mystery illness. Or she could try Whole30, which is a bit drastic, but I hear that many people have found it helpful to identify unknown food allergies. Essentially you eliminate several common allergens from your food for 30 days. After that, you add them back one at a time, and see what causes problems.


More details here:
The Primal Blueprint -- Looks like a typical diet book, with lots of unlikely sounding claims, but turned out to be well researched.


Cookbooks:

This is probably the best one for a beginner, and it does include nutrition data:

Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals -- Simplest recipes of these three.

These do not contain nutrition details, but the recipes are nearly all relatively low carb:
The Primal Blueprint Cookbook -- Good recipes, but requires some cooking skill.

Paleo Comfort Foods -- Bigger book with more recipies. Has some really good low-carb alternatives to desserts or typical comfort foods.


All of those have great pictures and reasonable instructions. Some of the ingredients are a bit odd.

> Got any cites to legit studies on either side? Would love to read them.

There's two great sources I like because they take a scientific approach in their own ways.

The Ketogenic Diet by Lyle McDonald. It's expensive to buy on his website, but you can get it via torrents. I liked this book because he went into detail on how to do the diet. He doesn't take sides based on ideology and presents the scientific evidence for keto dies, and well as their drawbacks. It gives a very technical way to do the diet with the different ways to do it. "Over 600 scientific references were examined in the writing of this book, and each chapter includes a full bibliography so that interested readers may obtain more detail when desired. Readers who desire further in-depth information are encouraged to examine the cited references to educate themselves."

Summary of The Ketogenic Diet can be found here.

Gary Taubes has written Why We Get Fat: And What to do About it and Good Calories, Bad Calories. I've read the latter of the two and enjoyed it because he also takes a very scientific approach to the matter at hand.

I personally haven't seen any evidence that low carb diets are bad for you. People just argue this point on ideological grounds, and only care about proving their particular diet is the best one, instead of being open-minded. I've read books on both sides, from vegan to keto, and I believe that the evidence points to one thing: The main thing to worry about is eating a variety of foods in moderate amounts.

And some people may need different diets to accomplish this goal. One thing that is especially true of both vegan and keto diets is that they force a person to think about what they eat. It makes food artificially more scarce, thus making it more difficult to over eat. And I believe that that simple fact creates the majority of the health benefits that either diet purport to have.

I don't see anything wrong with a well planned out raw vegan diet. They're not eating any unhealthy food at all, it's definitely a healthy diet. I'd prefer a raw vegan over any paleo/zero carb/atkins/low carb/blah blah carbs are cancer person any day. They'd be much healthier too, and raw vegan doesn't have to mean skinny, which is why I mentioned "a well planned out raw vegan diet".

There's truth to their arguments. For example, an enzyme called "myrosinase" in broccoli gets released when you cut/chew it (if you cut it you have to wait at least 40 minutes for the enzyme to do its job), basically cutting it or chewing it mixes the enzyme and "glucoraphanin" in the broccoli and the enzyme transforms glucoraphanin into "sulforaphane" which is the most powerful phytonutrient you can get from a food (this is one of the main reasons why everyone needs to eat several servings of cruciferous leafy greens every day!!, it's important, don't be a lazy person and just freaking eat some...)

I wouldn't argue for the destruction/absorption of enzymes or nutrients. If it was a problem then everyone eating cooked foods would have a ton of digestion and health problems and that's not true.

For example, people who only ate cooked broccoli still had sulforaphane present in their urine. How is that possible? If you cook broccoli it destroys the enzyme, and in the end that enzyme doesn't get to mix with glucoraphanin to transform it into sulforaphane. Well, it was found that the gut in your bacteria can do the same job. That's right, your gut bacteria has the exact same enzyme found in broccoli that makes it one of the healthiest foods on the planet! There was an issue though, it took 10 cups of cooked broccoli to get 1 cups worth of sulforaphane from raw broccoli, so it's still important to either include just a little bit of raw broc, or cut it up and leave it for a little bit (a good strategy is to cut up veggies up every day and leave em in the fridge until needed).

While cooking might destroy some nutrition it also makes a lot of it bioavailable. Some foods like broccoli had better nutrient absorption while it was steamed, but boiling lowered it (because it's in the water, so if you're making stew/soup it doesn't matter), and microwaving for 5 minutes destroyed a lot of nutrition (making it around 50% worse than raw broccoli).

>It seems based completely on woo and appeals to nature

You complain about fallacies.

>I've met a few raw vegans and at least two of them have eating disorders 'in their past'

Then you go associating a whole diet with some anecdotal evidence. Don't argue against fallacies with fallacies.

https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/135/10/2372/4669843 - can't blame the diet for the b12 deficiency. People should take responsibility.

>This study indicates that consumption of a strict raw food diet lowers plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, but also lowers serum HDL cholesterol and increases tHcy concentrations due to vitamin B-12 deficiency.

Raw vegan diets do need to be well planned (just like any diet...) with some issues that you have to overcome.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15795346

>A RF vegetarian diet is associated with low bone mass at clinically important skeletal regions but is without evidence of increased bone turnover or impaired vitamin D status.

One group was eating a lot more calories though - If you eat a low amount of calories you're obviously going to lose size.

>Nutrient intakes differed significantly between the groups. The RF vegetarians ate a variety of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, and cereals, dressed with olive oil (1285-2432 kcal/d; approximately 9.1% of calories from protein, 43.2% from fat, and 47.7% from complex carbohydrates). All of them strictly avoided cooked and processed foods containing trans-fatty acids, highly glycemic foods, and foods of animal origin. Their mean daily dietary intakes of calcium and vitamin D (calciferol) were low, 579 ± 260 mg/d and 16 ± 36 U/d, respectively. The control group ate usual American diets containing foods of plant and animal origin (1976-3537 kcal/d; approximately 17.9% of calories from protein, 32.1% from fat, and 50.0% from carbohydrates). Their mean daily dietary intakes of calcium and vitamin D were 1093 ± 394 mg/d and 348 ± 192 U/d, respectively.

But...

>Surprisingly, serum C-telopeptide of type I collagen11 and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase,12 well-accepted markers of bone resorption and formation, respectively, were not significantly different between the 2 groups. This finding provides evidence that these RF vegetarians are in a steady state in regard to their bone turnover and suggests that their low bone mass may be due to a transient increase in bone degradation or decrease in bone synthesis that occurred during the early adaptive weight loss response to the RF diet. Although low bone mass is a risk factor for fracture, bone quality also plays a role.13 It is therefore possible that RF vegetarians with a low bone mass may not have an increased incidence of fractures because of good bone quality. Clearly, it will be necessary to follow up a large number of RF vegetarians for a sufficiently long period to determine whether they have an increased risk of developing fractures.

I'd say almonds should be eaten daily for raw vegans, because they're a great calcium source, and not only calcium, they have a good nutritional profile over all.

If you're truly interested in the science of raw vegan diets, then here's a book with the best up to date research:

"Becoming raw: the essential guide to raw vegan diets"

If you're not interested in books, I'd recommend: One of the best doctors on earth, mister Dr. Michael Greger

Rediculous cover design but my naturopath gave me this when I was diagnosed:

Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? when My Lab Tests Are Normal: a Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Hashimoto's Disease and Hypothyroidism by Datis Kharrazian

It has great references towards self help, learning about your body, and really focusing on food and what you put in it then listening to how your body responds.

Speaking of food, there are cookbooks to help get over the humps of refocusing nutrition:

The Whole 30

• I lasted 25 days with a friend, felt my body positively respond after day 5
  
  Hashimotos 4-week plan
  
• this isn’t the simplest, I just took small elements of it as guidance since I’m not ready to fully commit to the 4 week full plan
  
  Hope this helps, thanks for asking the question.

I do cheat. At first I kept it strict but slowly introduced those "cheat" foods back into my system. I've found that wheat absolutely destroys me so I cheat on sugary foods such as chocolate. I'm currently in a chocolate hangover from Christmas and have the pimples to prove it! Dark chocolate is much healthier so I keep a bar of 85% Lindt cocoa in the pantry for those chocolate cravings.

As for social outings, it's not too difficult to find "safe" foods at restaurants. Most of them have some sort of low-fat menu and have things like broiled fish and steamed veggies. And don't be shy to ask! Ask what ingredients it's made with, which oils where used, ask if you can switch out the starchy bread for more veggies. You can never go wrong with more veggies.

My go-to social outing is some japanese/chinese food place that serves sushi. If we don't feel like cooking that night, it's usually sushsi for dinner.

Most of my recipes include meat, since it's one of basis of the diet. My favorite go-to's for something cost-effective and relatively easy is taco salad, all sorts of veggie soups, pork roast, breakfast of bacon and eggs, and roast chicken are a few. For snacks I often have fruits and nuts. Apple slices or celery with almond butter spread, greek yogurt with blueberries, pomegranate and honey, chopped up baby carrots mixed with almonds almost like a trail mix, fruit smoothies with frozen fruit and yogurt. Now I'm hungry.

A great website for recipes is everydaypaleo.com. Once you get the hang of cooking paleo, you can take any old recipe and "paleoize" it by substituting ingredients. This is also a great cookbook. It's so great I gave it as a gift for my BF and dad for Christmas and they love it!

The biggest help I've found is lowering carbs and increasing good fats in their diet. A lot of recent studies have started coining Alzhiemer's as "type-3 diabetes" - linking high blood sugar and insulin resistance to the death of cells in the brain (as they can't get enough energy). I'd definitely recommend a couple of books that opened my eyes to the disease as well as giving me some hope.

The End of Alzheimer's by Dr. Dale Bredesen, MD

The Alzheimer's Antidote by Amy Berger, MS, CNS, MTP

As mentioned in other comments, there are plenty of supplements that can help with some of the side effects of dementia like anxiety as well as others to counter vitamin deficiencies.

My main recommendations:

• Aim for a low carb diet filled with as many different nutrient-dense whole (unprocessed) foods as possible. It won't be perfect at first, but make whatever small changes you can over time! As mentioned in other comments, eggs are great, I'd also recommend lots of cruciferous vegetables and any foods high in antioxidants.
  
• Intermittent fasting periods (>12 hours) have also helped - this ties in with lowering carbs and increasing fat in the diet. IF has many benefits including kickstarting processes like autophagy and ketosis.
  
• Get some blood tests to identify any vitamin deficiencies (D, B6, B12, Folate, Zinc, etc.) and check inflammation markers. Basically look for any red flags that can be easily fixed!
  
• Daily exercise - a 30 minute walk in the morning is enough.
  
• Reduce stress.
  
• Get plenty of sleep (>8 hours).
  
• Plenty of water.
  
  If you have any questions please let me know!

Hey, I'm undiagnosed, and perhaps just crazy, but.....I read through the comments, and have not seen anyone recommend the Specific Carbohydrate Diet yet. If you have given Low Fodmap a good, strict effort, and it's not getting you there, I recommend giving the SCD a 30 day trial. You gotta be super strict or it's not even worth doing, but so far, it's having a profound difference in my life.

Two resources for you:

The original, Elaine Gotshchall's "Breaking the Vicious Cycle."

And, the convincer...two months old, written by a GI prof at the University of Washington who also is Pediatric GI at Seattle Childrens' Hospital. He uses this diet for his IBD patients with great success.

Good luck, if you need cooking tips or menu help, hit me up. This diet coincides with most of the advice here, btw, but it gives a clear roadmap for recovery. I'm going to say that Paleo and Keto are diets I can get behind, but both terms are too broad to address what you are dealing with, in my opinion. The guidelines are good starting points though.

All good. I’ll start by saying I’m no expert. But I have done a stupid amount of reading, experimenting, making mistakes and seeing what worked for me. All of my knowledge is anecdotal.

So with the disclaimer out of the way:

I would start with a mild deficit. Maybe 10% at the most. Use the ketogains macro calculator to figure out your calories and your macros. But that’s more work and more to track. if it seems a little daunting, start simple. Just go for maintenance. You’re in a super unique position right now. Honestly if you just watched your calorie intake and focused on your carb intake you’ll be good for a while. There are some books out there that will help a ton for a newbie. I started with this Keto Cookbook two years ago. It really helped me because I was a little overwhelmed and this has information, science, recipes and most importantly, a full on meal plan including grocery lists for each week. Zero guesswork. All I did was look at the listed calorie intake for the day listed on the meal plan and maybe add some bacon or sausage.

As far as working out goes, I know a lot of people suggest starting with a 5x5 program like stronglifts. My only suggestion there would be start light. Leave your ego at the door and be smart. Focus on form and movement and breathing before you start stacking weight on. That program has a linear progression so the weights will stack up quickly and if you don’t have a good base built and a solid foundation of form, you could get hurt or stall out quickly. So go do the movements. Don’t worry about not getting a pump or soreness for a while. Start super duper light and be smart. It will come.

I started with an 80 pound squat on my workouts due to several knee surgeries, a 115 pound deadlift and a 100 pound bench. And I worked it slow and steady and CONSISTENT. Listened to my body and stretched and slept. Now I’m making out at a 255 pound bench, 375 pound squat and a 390 pound deadlift. It will come if you’re patient and you work at it.

Best of luck man. I hope this helps. I’m excited for you!

Kev, we all try different paths to get us to where we want to go. If this works for you that's great, but for me it wouldn't be sustainable long-term. HcG just seems a little scammy to me, however if you're committed to it, I would throw in some vitamin D too. Breaking 500 is a great first step (it is nice to see the numbers drop!). I do worry that you're not getting enough real food with this diet.

I started well above where you are now so I know where you're coming from in wanting to get it done with (I still don't like to tell others how bad I got). I've tried most of the diets and fads out there, but what finally turned me around was reading Tim Ferris' 4hr body, Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories, Rob Wolff's Paleo Solution, Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet and Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. I've culled what works for me from these and have been eating pretty much Paleo/Keto since November. I've dropped over 50lbs since then at about 2000-2200 cals day. I know it's not biggest loser territory, but slow and steady wins the race. Most of all, it's something I can live with long term. So far my only exercise has been walking and some stationary bike.

What made the change easier for me was I found a lifestyle rather than a diet to follow. That's not to say I haven't had the occasional setbacks (god I miss pizza and beer), but I'm getting there and you will too. Best of luck on your quest...

tl/dr - Plan's not for me, don't be afraid to try something else. Knock em dead kid!

I eat a combo of vegan/paleo. Why?
Paleo ppl know how to cook their meat in decently low calorie dishes
Vegan - man do they know how to make veggies! You don't really know how to cook veggies until you dig into these recipes.

• 1 Oh She Glows - Food genius! Best I've ever owned!
  

• 2 Against All Grain - Very solid, I love everything including the desserts
  

• 3 Thug Kitchen - Amazing flavor combinations and loved most everything I made, some things were more effort than they were worth. I found myself going to the grocery store a lot when I was cooking through this book. Avoided the desserts because of the use of all purpose flour, sugar etc. The baking seems more traditional.
  

• 4 Everyday Detox - Love the shakes and desserts, the cookie recipes are the best I've made, but the food falls flat. The combos don't knock my socks off.
  

• 5 Paleo Comfort Food - Found a few good things in here but lots of misses. Resorted to writing X's and check marks on the pages of things that were successful and not so successful.
  

  
  

We did BLW - I recommend the website and the cookbook. There's even a subreddit.

We started with toast, and carrots. Like previous poster stated I would take a CPR class, hubby and I did for peace of mind but luckily never have had to use it. It was really wonderful -- she ate everything, going to restaurants was easy. She would be happy with steamed broccoli but make sure when you order to ask for plain veggies - a lot of places add stuff.

It's universal that solids should only supplement breastmilk/formula at 4mo, so keep on keeping on. I mentioned in another comment recently that from about 6mo to 1yr or daughter was eating 3 solid meals a day on top of a full 32oz of breastmilk/formula diet!? Cray.

It's pretty common for babies to battle the boob around 4mo, especially if they're distracted by all the new sensory developments they're going through. If you want to keep breastfeeding, do try to power through and it will get better. Head over to r/breastfeeding and you'll find a lot of common posts about stuff like this.

Poo: c'est la vie, you have to roll with a changing poo schedule. Our daughter would sometimes do one every morning, or two a day, or one every 4 days... you just need to roll with the changes as best you can. PS they make prune pouches, so you can give baby some solids AND help constipation!

We tried Baby Led Weaning and really liked it. For meal planning, you just plan for the whole family rather than just baby. Head over to r/BabyLedWeaning if that interests you. I can also highly recommend this Baby Led Weaning Cookbook. It lays out some really helpful ground rules and steps and stages for baby, plus great recipes.

It's cyclical keto, the point of ingesting a full carb load is to prompt an insulin response and fill glycogen stores which in turn releases IGF and raises muscle building hormones in blood serum. The full glycogen stores allow for more reps of lift to failure versus skd as well. Whereas a SKD approach is strict low carb, CKD is pretty complex but is definitively result producing for quite a lot of people. The complexity of CKD really susses out over time, especially when you have plenty of time in SKD which is highly recommendable for the best results on the basis that you learn your body, and how it's going to react to low carb and low carb strength gains so over time you'll be able to more specifically implement a carb cycle into keto without gaining non-lean mass.

If you want more info check out this particular book, that while dated (bout 20 years) is full of amazing and still relevant information, it really blazed a trail for a lot of regular guys to fine tune CKD.

Also I did check out the article and it seems like this particular author is recommending whole grain, brown rice ect from a pool of jumbled information, mixing random information from CKD and SKD- you see oatmeal and other super high glycemic index foods enter the realm of cycling a lot.

Posted this earlier today in another keto thread. You have to make it in advance, but it's SUPER easy to throw together, and is four servings (4 breakfasts!)

I'm pretty new to this diet so I've been living out of the Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking book (Link)

Author has a chocolate shake for breakfast that I love! I can drink one serving about 6AM for breakfast, and not be hungry until about 1PM.

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut oil or unsalted butter
  
  
• 1/4 cup MCT oil
  
  
• 2 cups water
  
  
• 4 whole large eggs plus 4 large egg yolks
  
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  
• 1/4 cup Swerve confectioners style sweetener or equivalent amount of liquid or powdered sweetener
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  
  Throw it all in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate overnight to thicken. Pour over 2-4 cups ice, if desired (I don't).
  
  Yield 4 servings (about 1 cup each)
  
  Macros:
  
  664 calories
  
  70g fat
  
  8g protein
  
  1g carbs
  
  0g fiber
  
  
  Side Note If you don't want chocolate, take out the cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Use any flavor extract you'd like instead.
  

> that's when she and my dad finally got off the diabetes and obesity rollercoaster

That is awesome. I have bought copies of The Obesity Code to give away and to lend out. Don't know if they are doing any good. I have lost 150 pounds in 8 months with keto, fasting and exercise. People keep asking what I am doing and I point them to this book.

Another great resources is The Alzheimer's Antidote: Using a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease, Memory Loss, and Cognitive Decline. I have already bought 3 copies. Originally bought one for my grandfather but decided to keep a copy for myself after reading it. One for my grandfather that is showing significant memory decline. One for my grandfather that just wants to stay sharp and has notice some memory decline with age and was very interested after seeing my weight loss and discussion of nutrition and long term health. He is already is great health compared to his peers in his 80's, no medications and worked physical labor job most his life and stays pretty active already.

Even though the book is targeted at Alzheimer’s Disease, Memory Loss, and Cognitive Decline I would put it right there with Dr. Fung's The Obesity Code for general knowledge on keto and fasting. Even has some great food lists for those that need more guidance. I also like that it gives small or large changes to make depending on how someone wants to proceed and to what level.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1603587098

I don't really have any tips for going raw, but Dr. Greger suggests this book for people that do. I thought about doing it, but it seemed like a big hassle for little reward so never ended up doing it lol. Good luck :)

I have been there, very recently. For the last decade. I can honestly say I absolutely have an addiction problem with sugar & carbs. They are without a doubt my downfall.

I started following a Keto diet in December 2017 and even though I've only lost 20 lbs since then (I have over 100 to lose), I'm off sugar entirely and off carbs for the most part - I try to get my carbs from my vegetables instead now. Coming off them was hard, admittedly, it was a rough week, and I still have my moments where I just want a real burger with fries, but if I make that choice it's going to hurt me, it's like "a little bit of heroin" for a drug addict and I can so easily fall off the wagon and go back to my old habits.

I am reading this book: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1628600160/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and it's really good at describing why we gain weight, why we become addicted to sugar and can't seem to get off them if we keep eating an excess of carbs, etc. I highly recommend reading it, even if you don't follow the diet, it's a really good read. I also follow r/keto & r/xxketo <- lots of helpful stuff in there.

PM me if you want to talk, (if it matters, I'm 35, female, single, live in southern Alberta, Canada). In the last 2 years I moved away from all my friends & family (by choice, for a job), and then lost my dad (last January, he was waiting for new lungs) and he was my favorite person to joke with, no one else really measures up to match my sense of humor. It sucks losing a loved one who gets you.

I'm following the diet in the book Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure (by Koufman et al). It's a phased diet, with an "induction" phase that is super cautious followed by a more flexible maintenance phase. This is because if you have damage to your esophageal sphincters (and other tissues) from reflux, they won't function as well at blocking reflux, and the downward spiral will continue. In addition to suppressing acid production in your stomach it's important to cut acid intake from your food, because any source of acid can activate pepsin, an enzyme that is deposited on your tissues during reflux.

Dr. Koufman's 2011 journal paper, with a summary of the diet, is available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000348941112000501

I found this stuff after my diagnosis of LPR. I don't have heartburn or esophagitis but I have had a series of awful sinus infections for months and I think LPR is the major underlying cause, as my allergies are minor. There is some background on LPR and GERD in the Dropping Acid book, but I'd also recommend her book The Chronic Cough Enigma for a more thorough look at how reflux and airway disorders are connected.

I've really tried to limit snacking but the snacks I feel pretty good about are bananas, celery, and rice cakes. Rice cakes come in a lot of flavors. I really love food and cooking and it has been pretty depressing cutting back on all that, but if I can manage this issue (and ideally, not depend on meds for it long-term) then it will be well worth it.

• I kind of made my own diet. It's a mixture of SCD Diet / Paleo Diet minus the meat. Everything you eat should be natural, not processed, should be made from nature, not by man. I stopped having sugar, my only sweetener is honey. I don't buy any processed foods that come in packages. Jamie Oliver is a chef I like because he cooks everything that comes from his garden, although I don't eat grains (breads, pastas, etc..) because they are complex carbs which slows me down (as per SCD diet).
  
  
• As a good rule of thumb I know how things digest, water, vegetables and fruits take 20 minutes to digest and pass the colon, complex carbs like grains and potatoes take 3 hours to digest, and meat can stay in your colon anywhere from 8 hours to a month. Knowing this I eat the food that digests the fastest first, like fruits and veggies, then I eat the eggs or cheeses. I don't touch meat, milk, or grains, although very very rarely I'll have some fish or sushi (maybe 3-4 times a year).
  
  
• There are SO many vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts that I wasn't even aware of that are in every supermarket. Each one has it's own unique taste. Walk in the vegetable section of your supermarket and you should be able to identify every one without reading the label, this took me a few months (after eating processed foods my whole life).
  
  
• Buy sprouts, or grow your own (alfalfa,wheatgrass,sesame), buy some herbs you can grow in your kitchen that you can easily tare off like chives, oregano, basil, etc. Know your spices like cumin, paprika, fennel seeds, coriander.
  
  
• Stay clear of the middle part of your supermarket, this is where all the processed foods usually are. Overall there is a lot of great variety in fruits (berries, melons, tropical like starfruit, chinese fruits, etc.) and vegetables. There are always fruits I discover that I never heard of, like last month I discovered the New Zealand Tamarillo (tastes amazing but extremely expensive).
  
  
• Try to eat raw, avoid frying, and if you have to cook either grill or steam.
  
  
• Learn how to make smoothies. (strawberries + orange juice + banana = yum + energy)
  
  
• The Mediterranean diet is considered the healthiest diet in the world because a meal is about 80% vegetables and 20% protein/meat. You can find meat substitutes if you want to try it without meat.
  
  
  Some resources:
  
  The book "Food Rules" is a good overall guide for picking food:
  http://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-Eaters-Michael-Pollan/dp/014311638X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300490227&sr=8-1
  
  Paleo diet: http://paleodietlifestyle.com/
  
  SCD diet: http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300492319&sr=8-1
  
  Jamie Oliver recipes: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes
  
  Checkout the Hippocrates institute on sprouting:
  http://www.hippocratesinst.org/
  
  
  Men's Health UK has a 2011 full year issue on nutrition which had amazing vegetable only recipes that give you a lot of energy. I have this magazine, but I can't find it online. I could scan it for you if you can't find it. It's interesting because the Men's Health US magazine has really bad food recipes (hot dogs, burgers), but the UK Men's health is the exact opposite. Check out the UK website http://www.menshealth.co.uk/food-nutrition/superfoods/detox-your-lunch-box

Ask the doc about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. My doctor had recommended it as an option to me, but kinda down played it since it's pretty strict. I read the book on it, implemented some of the practices, but eventually stopped and started eating whatever thinking that my medication was enough. Eventually had another flare up, and switched to the diet right away. Was amazed by how rapidly I improved. I really think anyone with UC or Crohn's (like me) or anything similar should check out the book. On amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Happy to chat more on it.

I think that having a poor diet going into this makes continuing the journey after 30 days much more difficult. The time spent cooking was intense but my SO and I made it work. I cooked dinner and the SO would prepare lunches for the following day. We always made enough food at dinner to bring leftovers for lunch the following day. It just requires preplanning and you have to be ready for that or you will fail.

As for sweets, I love them. Chocolate is something I will never give up. Find alternatives. My SO does apples with a little almond butter. I do pistachios (in moderation).

The best advice I can provide to someone is to read the book. It provides your with explanations as to why you are cutting out dairy, legumes, etc. but having lots of fats. Don't be intimidate by it. The books reads really well and the second half is full of recipes. Feel free to continue asking questions!!

Good for you, and yes, hopefully it does help them in the end!

I just finished reading The Alzheimer's Antitode by Amy Berger, which I would highly recommend. It doesn't go into super technical detail, but is rather more focused on providing general background along with useful tips for caregivers. It can sometimes be challenging to alter or fully-control someone else's diet, but there are a number of methods that can be beneficial (e.g., exogenous ketones).

Anyways, you may want to pass on that book recommendation to your neighbor.

I'm not too knowledgeable about raw/mostly raw diets but I recommend checking out http://veganhealth.org/ to make sure you're aware of what nutrients you need.

If you can get a hand on a copy of Becoming Raw that might help.

In my smoothies I use different foods at different times to keep things varied. I vary the base (water/soy/rice milk), use different frozen fruit, then add stuff like white beans, avocado, olive or coconut oil, oats, pumpkin seeds, flax, and maybe a scoop of protein powder. It depends on how many calories or how much protein I want in there.

Here are some low-cost raw recipes:

http://plantbasedonabudget.com/?s=raw&s_submit=

Sure, gladly. First of all, I don't really believe any thing, I just know I don't know much right now, and am game to give things a fair shot. This one seems to be helping me.

It's got a long history, but I'll keep it short here. I am following the diet as written in "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottchall. Her theory, simplified, is that the SCD works by limiting the diet to monosaccharides that are digested prior to the small intestine.

I was convinced to try it after finding this brand new book by a seated Professor of GI at the University of Washington and a working Pediatric GI at Seattle Children's. He doesn't bother trying to do any deciphering of the why, just gives his reasons for recommending it to his IBD patients, and how to succeed with it. It's a great resource.

Rather than try to give you a food overview, here's the legal/illegal list from the original author's website.

Let me know if you need other resources.

1. The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World's Healthiest People | Dan Buettner | free download https://b-ok.cc/book/2576785/937370
   
   
2. The Pescatarian Cookbook: The Essential Kitchen Companion: Cara Harbstreet MS RD LD: 9781641522663: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Pescatarian-Cookbook-Essential-Kitchen-Companion/dp/1641522666/
   
   
3. Smart Meal Prep for Beginners: Recipes and Weekly Plans for Healthy, Ready-to-Go Meals: Toby Amidor MS RD CDN: 9781641521253: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Meal-Prep-Beginners-Ready/dp/1641521252/
   
   
4. Dressing on the Side (and Other Diet Myths Debunked): 11 Science-Based Ways to Eat More, Stress Less, and Feel Great about Your Body (2019): Jaclyn London: 9781538747452: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Dressing-Side-Other-Myths-Debunked/dp/1538747456/
   
   
5. Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? | Mark Hyman M.D. | free download https://b-ok.cc/book/3430737/494149
   
   
6. Fill Your Plate Lose the Weight: 70+ Delicious Meals that Keep You Full: Sarah Mirkin&#44 R.D.N. and the Editors of Prevention: 9781950099009: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Fill-Your-Plate-Lose-Weight/dp/1950099008/
   
   
7. Vegan for Everybody: Foolproof Plant-Based Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and In-Between: America's Test Kitchen: 9781940352862: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Everybody-Foolproof-Plant-Based-Between/dp/194035286X/
   
   
8. The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28-Day Kickstart Plan for Lasting Weight Loss: Julene Stassou MS RD, Mark Sapienza MD: 9781623159405: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-Diet-Weight-Loss-Solution/dp/1623159407/
   
   
9. Instant Loss Cookbook: Cook Your Way to a Healthy Weight with 125 Recipes for Your Instant Pot®, Pressure Cooker, and More: Brittany Williams: 9780525577232: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Loss-Cookbook-Healthy-Pressure/dp/0525577238/
   
   
10. Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook | Yotam Ottolenghi | free download https://b-ok.cc/book/3651265/06ebeb
    
    
11. The Plant-Based Solution: America’s Healthy Heart Doc’s Plan to Power Your Health | Joel K. Kahn | free download https://b-ok.cc/book/3506218/11ff08
    
    
12. Prep: The Essential College Cookbook: Katie Sullivan Morford: 9781611806106: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Prep-Essential-Katie-Sullivan-Morford/dp/1611806100/

I can't believe nobody else has said this yet (though maybe they did and I missed it):

Low-carb. Go low-carb.

Do you eat sugar and starches compulsively? Does it feel as though, no matter how much you eat, you still need more food? An hour or two after a meal, do you already want another one? Does trying to just "cut back" or count calories make your body scream at you to eat?

You need low-carb.

To put it as simply as possible, if you eat a lot of carbs, your body has likely been thrown completely out of whack. You eat flour or sugar, and your insulin levels go rocketing upward; a while later, they drop precipitously, making your body cry out for more in an attempt to stabilize the situation. But eating more only makes them rocket up again, and around and around you go. After years/decades of this, your body is pumping out vast amounts of insulin on a routine basis, leaving you with far too much in your system; however, your tissues have become numbed to it (ie, have become insulin resistant), meaning that it continually takes more to keep your blood sugar under control. Eventually the system begins to break down, leading to pre-diabetes, and later on full-blown Type II. Additionally, all the insulin coursing through your veins is the primary cause of your body's over-enthusiasm to store fat.

That's all terribly over-simplified, but for a more in-depth explanation, read this, and for an even more in-depth explanation, read this. To get you started for now, read this.

I am not shitting you: if you have carb issues (and as a pre-diabetic, you almost certainly do), going low-carb can change EVERYTHING. It can be a little bit of a challenge at first, but after a week or so it gets much easier -- it was far easier for me than any of the standard calorie-restricted, low-fat diets I've done, and I've done more than my share of them. Once you're on track, the compulsive eating vanishes. Your appetite drops off, your energy levels go way up, a surprising number of assorted physical complaints diminish. And most importantly, your weight starts to drop, quickly and without struggle.

I can vouch for this, because this is what happened to me. I've been obese for my entire adult life, and have made so many long, grinding efforts at standard diets -- always failing in the end -- that I was convinced there was just something inherently wrong with me. Then someone right here in r/loseit told me about low-carb dieting, and I decided, what the fuck? Why not give it a try? The worst that happens is that in two weeks, I'm still fat, which was going to happen anyway. So I tried a two-week "experiment," just to see what would happen.

That was nearly seven months ago. Since then, I've dropped roughly 80 lbs (of roughly 150 total that I need to drop) and feel for the first time in my life that I can be whatever size I want to be. Hell, a lot of the time I don't even feel as though I'm "on a diet"... it's more like, in soviet russia, diet goes on you. As long as I don't eat more than a certain number of carbs per day, the weight and everything that goes along with it, that all just takes care of itself.

Low-carb diets aren't a fad, they're not a crash diet, they're not unhealthy, though people will tell you all of these things. What a low-carb diet does is allow your body to regain its equilibrium and begin to correct all of the problems that have accumulated from a lifetime of eating refined carbohydrates. There are a lot of ways to go about it -- it's not all Atkins, although that's a perfectly valid place to start. But even just getting the major sources of carbs out of your diet -- the flour, sugar, and starch -- will almost certainly make an enormous, rapid difference in how you feel and what you weigh. It does require some effort, and it does require some sacrifice. Changing how you live your life is never easy. But compared to the tortures of a carb-based, low-fat, calorie-restricted diet (that doesn't work to address the real problem anyway), it's a walk in the fucking park.

If nothing else, it's worth a try. It's worth considering. For me, it literally changed my entire world. And I'm an Oregonian, too -- would I lead you astray? :)

Good luck, girl. I hear you so loud and clear my ears are bleeding. Think about this, and please, please ask if you have questions.

> My view is that bagels can be a healthy part of a balanced diet. Yes, they're relatively high in carbs, but you just have to eat low carb for the rest of the day and it's fine.

Plz educate yourself. It's difficult to know where to start explaining it when you display that what you know about nutrition is just the popular opinions of uneducated marketers.

"Bagel" doesn't really say much. Were eggs used? Does it have added high fructose corn syrup? It depends. And carbs are not bad. Seriously I recommend learning about what the science says about food or you're gonna get scammed all your life.


http://www.amazon.com/The-China-Study-Comprehensive-Implications/dp/1932100660

http://www.amazon.com/Prevent-Reverse-Heart-Disease-Nutrition-Based/dp/1583333002

http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107

http://www.amazon.com/The-UltraMind-Solution-Broken-Healing/dp/0743570480

http://www.amazon.com/The-Starch-Solution-Regain-Health/dp/1623360277

You can find these books online for free if you don't have the money as well. They have some clinical data and information which will help you understand what's healthy. You don't have to read all of it, but I highly suggest looking in that direction.

If she doesn't want to eat tofu for things like tofu scramble, use besan-based omlettes or crepes for a higher protein egg replacement.

> I'm concerned about deficiencies (B12) but would rather find ways to include it in the food than to ask her to take another pill

Use foods fortified with B12 then, like nutritional yeast, or plant milks (cashew, almond, rice, oat, hemp, coconut, etc. There's a large variety). Check the nutrition label to make sure that the amount you're using provides at least 100% of the daily value. Alternatively, you can get a B12 supplement, and add it (if it's in liquid form), or crush it up and add it to one of her meals.

> Although I will do that if it is necessary

B12 deficiency is serious, and it's important that you find some way to incorporate it into her diet, whether it's through supplemented foods, or direct supplements.

> Also, what are the ways to get even more protein into a plant-based diet without soy?

The combination of any beans or legumes and whole grains will provide lots of protein. If straight beans are getting too repetitive, you can hide or change their taste or texture in a number of ways. For example, beans incorporated into other ingredients, bean dips, sauces or dressings made from beans, even beans hidden in desserts.

As for learning about plant-based food, there are tons of resources out there, it depends on your cooking style, and what her eating preferences are. You can recreate anything from vegan junk food to very healthy food. Here are some others:

• Hot for Food
  
• AvantGardeVegan
  
• The Happy Pear
  
• Sweet Potato Soul
  
• Mr. Vegan
  
• The Vegan Corner
  
• https://www.exceedinglyvegan.com/
  
  If you're trying to recreate meat from scratch, try Seitan and Beyond, and for cheese Artisan Vegan Cheese. Or just recipes like:
  
  
• Seitan for BBQ "ribs" or even the occasional fried chicken
  
• Use Jackfruit for pulled pork
  
• Use mashed chickpeas for tuna salad
  
• Use shredded hearts of palm for crab cakes
  

• How Not To Die Cookbook is a phenomenal cookbook that accompanies the How Not To Die book (a recommended read, IMO).
  
• Forks Over Knives cookbook is also a good one, as is their website
  
• Engine 2 Cookbook is the last cookbook I'll recommend.
  
• If you're on Facebook, check out the groups Whole Foods Plant Based No Oil Recipes & Tips, Dr. Michael Greger fans - How Not To Die, and Whole-Food-Plant-Based-Diet.com
  
• Happy Healthy Vegan has a nice and entertaining selection of videos on YouTube. They're primarily WFPB, but not exclusively. Also very informative videos on why and such.
  
• Simnett Nutrition has quite a few What I Eat videos where he shows you what he makes and eats throughout the day. He is fitness oriented, so eats a lot, and you'll see workout montages and such, as well as quite a bit of rambling, but his rambling is either relevant and helpful info, or just entertaining and silly at times.
  
• NutritionFacts.org YouTube is all of the science and studies broken down and analyzed to get you a good grasp of what and why WFPB is the way to go.

We did BLW with my son and will be doing it again with my daughter once she's ready for solids. I really like the BLW cookbook. It has a summary of the philosophy behind it, recipes which are pretty much regular food but with ideas for how to prepare it to accommodate baby's skill levels with handling food. It has a nice chart where you can look at what skills babies develop and what kinds of food are easy at that point in development and what foods will help challenge them to develop their skills further but won't be completely beyond their abilities.

There isn't one universal diet because everyone has different nutritional needs. The only thing I can say for sure is that getting rid of processed food, cutting down on or eliminating sugar altogether, and eating a lot of vegetables (NOT CANNED!), are steps in the right direction. And eat a variety of veg - those colors are useful markers for the nutrients within. That's right. No more Doritos Locos tacos, no more Pepsi, no more Oreos.

If you start there and stick with that diet, your body will get accustomed to eating real food. Then you can introduce your junky foods and see how your body reacts and tailor your diet from there.

The right diet will give you steady energy, a feeling of satiety, and a positive mood.

Nutrition isn't one-size-fits-all, that's why there are so many different diet books out there and a ton of fat people. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to take the time to learn about what your body needs.

These books changed my life:

The Metabolic Typing Diet - eat according to your body's needs. Includes a regimen to follow which can really help with getting to know your individual requirements.

Good Calories, Bad Calories - a fantastic read that gives a good idea of how food works in our bodies.

EDIT: This will also give you a starting point for recipes. I am a hella lazy cook and try to do things in one dish. Most of the stuff is made in the oven so I don't have to babysit. But hell yeah, you can roast some protein and veg in the oven. You can even boil protein and steam veg on the stove. Or sautee it all in a pan. And eat it with a slice of avocado!
That's the other thing about starting a new lifestyle. Forget complex recipes. Learn how to prepare food and learn to enjoy it in its natural state.

The rush of energy you get when you're eating the right thing has nothing to do with the seasonings; a humble salmon fillet on a bed of blanched kale will give you the same muscle pumping RAWR! as a miso-glazed salmon fillet over wilted kale tossed with pine nuts and coconut-wasabi creme. U feel me? Get the basics down first. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a great place to start. It comes with 2000 recipes too.

I purchased this book from Amazon a little over a month ago:

"Quick & Easy Ketogenic Cooking: Meal Plans and Time Saving Paleo Recipes to Inspire Health and Shed Weight"
http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Ketogenic-Cooking-Recipes/dp/1628601000

It provided me with a lot of useful health/food information, the recipes were pretty good for the most part and most importantly, helped me realize portion sizes

Wholeheartedly agree with Color Me Vegan, which has pictures for quite a lot of the recipes and is an amazing book. I'll also have to cast my vote to The Happy Herbivore which has plenty of delicious recipes with beautiful full-page photos. Although, in fairness, most (all?) of the recipes there are also found on her blog.

I make my own seitan, and once you get the hang of it (make it 3 or 4 times), it's pretty easy, can have a lot of protein, and can be made without a bunch of weird ingredients.

This is the best source I've found for seitan recipes. I take a lot of shortcuts (like using better than bouillon instead of fancy home-made stock), and it still comes out great.

Any of these books are great for beginners. I would recommend checking out these amazon links and skimming the reviews...

• Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets by Brenda Davis
  
  
• Going Raw: Everything You Need to Start Your Own Raw Food Diet and Lifestyle Revolution at Home by Judita Wignall)
  
• Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People by Jennifer Cornbleet
  
• Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes by Ani Phio
  
  Goneraw and Rawfoodtalk are good for recipes.
  
  EDIT: Broken links

It's not a fad diet. Have you checked out my sources? And of course my sources are those that agree with my opinion on this lifestyle - I'm not going to quote Oprah or something.

> An opinion based on "we used to eat this so it must be good", which is flawed.

Why is this flawed? I'm not making a naturalistic fallacy here, as it's not my sole argument.

> We ate what was available and some of it was good, some of it just kept us alive.

Most of it was good. We've twisted our food supply in the interests of money making in the past few centuries.

My information is based on very rigorous scientific studies that challenge the conventional wisdom - and rightfully so. Americans are the fattest people on Earth, despite years of advice from national health institutes. Much of what is recommended is based on Ancel Keys' faulty research on the "link" between cholesterol/saturated fat and heart disease.

If you're interested in the science of nutrition and where I'm coming from, this is the one book I recommend. Even if you don't read the book, read the amazon comments - it's quite illuminating.
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Science Journalist Gary Taubes

To Dad, as I am Dad of 2 with a currently breastfeeding wife, LEARN TO COOK. It makes everything much easier. I have really increased my cooking skill and have made some awesome food. I have had people ask for recipes after eating at our house.

My wife is dairy free while breastfeeding, so this makes getting fat a little more difficult, but there are plenty of resources here to find options. She also really watches her hydration. Keto dropping the water weight and the breastfeeding.

I started with Gordon Ramsey videos he and have found some more resources. You have to tweak recipes to fit your macros, but it can be done!

Start with scrambled eggs this way and you will not go back hahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUP7U5vTMM0

HEADBANGERS KITCHEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G63FPzpERzs

THE KETOGENIC COOKBOOK - a friend gave this to me and it has much more "fancy" keto meals. I make them when we have dinner guests and I stay keto but the meals are good enough for others to eat and not even realize it is keto.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1628600780/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Prove it. Don't just rely on "common knowledge" here. Prove it. Show me the studies.

Let me try to pre-empt a bit...

>Red meat raises cholesterol.

Besides the fact that a majority of cholesterol in food cannot be absorbed by your body and the fact that the human body itself produces a vast majority of the cholesterol it uses? Cholesterol is necessary for basic bodily functions.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/high-cholesterol/high-cholesterol-myths.aspx

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-part-i

"About 25% of our daily “intake” of cholesterol – roughly 300 to 500 mg — comes from what we eat (called exogenous cholesterol), and the remaining 75% of our “intake” of cholesterol — roughly 800 to 1,200 mg – is made by our body (called endogenous production). To put these amounts in context, consider that total body stores of cholesterol are about 30 to 40 gm (i.e., 30,000 to 40,000 mg) and most of this resides within our cell membranes. "

"One of the unfortunate results of the eternal need to simplify everything is that we (i.e., the medical establishment) have done the public a disservice by failing to communicate that there is no such thing as “bad” cholesterol or “good” cholesterol. All cholesterol is good!"

>Red meat contains carcinogens.

Not quite correct. The browning process when meat is cooked does create some. However, you would need to be eating hundreds of pounds of meat a day in order to see any noticeable increase in risk from that.

http://voices.yahoo.com/facts-carcinogens-well-done-meat-1899348.html

"However, this is not the actual complete case of these studies. After a five-year study from scientists from the University of Utah, they found these carcinogen mutagens could cause colon cancer but it wasn't just because the people they studied ate red meat or any other meat. After studying more than 1,200 participants from Utah and California, they found there wasn't any significant increase of chances in these participants getting colon or rectal cancer."

>Red meat contains fat and that makes you fat.

Well, let's ignore the 75 pounds and 2 shirt sizes I've lost this year on a high fat diet and... wait, let's not. I've done an amazing thing precisely because I decided to go and research how the body works.

http://eatingacademy.com/why-i-decided-to-lose-weight

" Despite exercising 3-4 hours per day, I had morphed from a lean person into a sort of chubby guy over the preceding several years. In high school I weighed 160 pounds and carried about 5-6% body fat (9 pounds of fat on my body). I had ballooned to as high as 200 pounds with 25% body fat (50 pounds of fat on my body). On that particular day, I weighed 195 pounds and carried 20% body fat (about 40 pounds of fat on my body). I was “fit” but “fat.” "

http://eatingacademy.com/how-i-lost-weight

" eliminated most sources of sugar in my diet (for a definition of “sugar” click here) six days per week. One day per week I let myself eat whatever I wanted. ... I switched all white sources of carbohydrates to brown sources whenever possible (e.g., brown rice over white rice, brown pasta over white pasta), switched over to carbs that were higher in insoluble fiber, and eliminated sugar altogether. ... I reduced starch intake to one serving per day, but continued to eat fruits and vegetables in an unrestricted manner. ... Reduced carbohydrate intake to less than 50 grams per day and reduced protein intake to approximately 120 grams per day, entering a state of nutritional ketosis. ... Essentially, I gradually went on a super low carb diet."

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20031111/low-carb-high-fat-diet-drops-weight

"The high-saturated fat and no-starch diet was developed eight years ago by endocrinologist James Hays, MD, in an effort to help his diabetic patients.

On average, those following his low-carb, high-fat diet lost 5% of their body weight after only six weeks. For example, a 200-pound person would have lost 10 pounds.

Importantly, the high-fat diet did not have harmful effects on cholesterol levels. In fact, the participants saw a lowering of the blood fat called triglycerides. "Bad" LDL and "good" HDL cholesterol levels didn't change, but the size of the HDL and LDL molecules increased. "

Or, hey, how about this book about how low carb (<50 daily, meaning nutritional ketosis) high fat diets are being used to cure diabetes?

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-Diabetes-Solution-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PC4/

"Bernstein has had type I (juvenile or insulin-dependent) diabetes for 50 years and has become well known for his unconventional approach to treating both types of the disease. His emphases on almost hour-by-hour normalization of blood sugar and a diet consisting of nearly no carbohydrates and high levels of fat and protein"

Hey, now let's ignore all of that and, for one second, let's just address sugar. And, by sugar, I mean all carbohydrates save fiber. Why, you ask? Simple, because the research being done now clearly shows how carbohydrates are actually what triggers the body to store fat. Quite simply, bread makes you fat.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/fat-cell2.htm

"The activity of lipoprotein lipases depends upon the levels of insulin in the body. If insulin is high, then the lipases are highly active; if insulin is low, the lipases are inactive.

The fatty acids are then absorbed from the blood into fat cells, muscle cells and liver cells. In these cells, under stimulation by insulin, fatty acids are made into fat molecules and stored as fat droplets.

It is also possible for fat cells to take up glucose and amino acids, which have been absorbed into the bloodstream after a meal, and convert those into fat molecules"

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/sugar-101-how-harmful-is-sugar-part-i

"Even in the absence of fructose, a diet high in glucose, beyond everything I’ve stated above, still stimulates insulin release from the pancreas. Elevated levels of insulin “turn off” our ability to burn fat and increase our capacity to store fat (see figure below – you’re probably getting used to seeing this figure by now)."

Snazzy image!

i've heard a number of IBS sufferers finding relief through a well-balanced vegetarian/vegan (keyword: well-balanced) diet. it may be worth trying for a few weeks since you're experiencing so much discomfort.

the happy herbivore is an excellent cookbook to start out with, and veganist is great for straightforward, to-the-point-information about a balanced plant-based diet and how it can help.

First, Dr. Bernstein is great, especially for T1DMs.

Second, low carb is great for T1DMs and T2DMs, such as myself. But just as I was able to reduce then discontinue my Metformin as my carbs dropped, you'll have to adjust your insulin as your own carbs drop.

Third, there's a revealing photo in Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories, showing the upper thighs of a woman who injected insulin there over many years. There are HUGE fatty deposits there, which grew slowly over time. Insulin does encourage the growth of fatty tissue. The less you take, the better.

It also allows glucose to enter muscle cells and helps the brain use glucose as well. So you're not going to live w/o it. But slowly, safely reduce it as you are able.

BTW, as the brain is adapted to using mostly ketones, less insulin is required there as well.

I agree with the comments on going on a low carb, hi fat diet such as keto to manage T2 diabetes. I've been on it 3 years and have had blood glucose levels that are non-diabetic norms since te first couple of weeks.

Lots of good info on the r/keto faq on how to do keto. Lots of good recipes over at www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes

In case your Dad gets some pushback against keto being "pseudoscience", here are some peer reviewed research papers that support keto:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714003323

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633336/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3826507/

http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/4/238

edit to add some good books for starters, all science and evidence based.

Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QZ9PC4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The Real Meal Revolution: The Radical, Sustainable Approach to Healthy Eating -
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Meal-Revolution-Sustainable-Approach-ebook/dp/B00RTY0O7O/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1519585318&sr=1-2&keywords=noakes

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living-ebook/dp/B005CVV2AE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1519585452&sr=1-1&keywords=jeff++volek

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It - https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About-ebook/dp/B003WUYOQ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1519585485&sr=1-1&keywords=taubes

The hard part is just being prepared for meals, because your eating-out options will be more limited, and there's practically nothing you can get in ready-made, microwave dinners in boxes. So, there's very little room for laziness.

On the upside, you'll be cooking a lot, which is a wonderful skill to have and also makes food taste better. There are a lot of great cookbooks out there for paleo diets. My favorite is this one: http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Comfort-Foods-Homestyle-Gluten-Free/dp/1936608936/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341336840&sr=8-2&keywords=paleo

Basically, if you cut out grains, most dairy (all is best), legumes, and sugar (particularly added sugar), you're paleo.

EDIT: If you are feeling lazy, there are places you can go. If you're in California, you can get an In-and-Out burger with lettuce instead of a bun. You can also make this request at Chick-fil-a (just make sure you get the grilled chicken, not the fried.) I tried a similar request at Five Guys, and they were disappointingly inept at making that request. At Chipotle you can order the salad bowl, get some meat in there, skip the rice and beans and sour cream, and load up on pretty much everything else. Their guacamole is good. And don't eat the chips.

I have Crohn's as well. Been med free for 3 years, by following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (similar to Paleo). I highly suggest buying Ellaine Gotschell's book and giving it a try.

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818

A great online resource for this diet is http://pecanbread.com/

The main theory behind the diet is it balances the bacteria in your gut, allowing you immune system to return to normal (not attacking you from the inside)

I wish you the best of luck on your journey. I've been through hell (to the point of having surgery etc) and I now feel the healthiest I ever have.

Right along the same lines, I would wonder if a video by author Gary Taubes would be also what your looking for? He has been giving lectures to the medical circuit and educating doctors on the actual science and research for a few years.


Here he is a Ohio State University Medical Center:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/bTUspjZG-wc?feature=player_detailpage

Or here he is at Bastyr University:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cm_EjJXCjhw?feature=player_detailpage

Or here he is a New Brighton School:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/lDneyrETR2o?feature=player_detailpage

Or here he is at University of Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/KH9079LV4tY?feature=player_detailpage


And there are lots more on youtube.

BTW, if you have not read his books and are really interesting in learning some of this stuff, you MUST do so, they are great books.

Of the best two books he wrote, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" is very technical and very much aimed at the medical community with extensive technical details and many many footnotes and reference data.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462

"Why we get fat" is the layperson version of the same book.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259/

My advice:

1. Drink coffee with a sugar substitute (I like Splenda, it functions and tastes exactly like sugar) and a dash of heavy whipping cream (you don't need much to lighten the coffee up a lot).
   
2. Diet soda - any kind - is fine.
   
3. Watch this video for an "Explain Like I'm Five" approach.
   
   Bonus advice:
   
   

• Only weigh yourself once a week.
  
• If you weigh yourself two weeks in a row and you haven't lost any weight, make sure you're counting your carbs. 50g is the max, 20g is the ideal. So maybe say, "Okay I will only have 35g of carbs a day" and try that for two weeks and see if it starts the weight loss back up again. If not, lower them.
  
• If you've lowered your carbs down to 15 or 20g and you're still stalled, try limiting the diet soda. Maybe two cans/day for two weeks, then one can/day.
  
• If you're still not losing, cut the soda out completely. For some people, it triggers insulin secretion even though there aren't any carbs in it, and high levels of insulin can stall fat burning.
  
• If cutting the soda out doesn't help, cut all artificial sweeteners.
  
• Next step would be to start limiting dairy. Then perhaps caffeine and/or nuts.
  
  I'm a big fan of the "slow and steady" approach. Make little changes, take some time, observe how it affects you. There's no rush to dump weight off; it's more likely to be permanent if you're not obsessing and just "keeping calm and ketoing on".
  
  Bonus resources, if you want to have a deeper understanding:
  
  
• Why We Get Fat is my favorite intro book.
  
• The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living is a very thorough explanation of the diet.
  
• The Big Fat Surprise explains why scientists and public health officials act like fat is bad for you, even though the scientific evidence doesn't support that belief.
  
• Good Calories, Bad Calories is a more detailed & scientific version of Why We Get Fat
  
• New Atkins for a New You is a very easy-to-follow instructional guide if that's what you need (written by Eric Westman, the doctor in the video I linked above).
  
• Here is a list of great keto videos to watch.

Paleo seems like a natural choice, but I've found most of the cookbooks lacking. However, both Paleo Comfort Foods and Make it Paleo are pretty good and full of flavorful and completely grain/gluten-free recipes.

There are definitely better introductory books, but I would recommend reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes at some point for a (well researched) contrary take on conventional nutritional wisdom. The first part of the book especially is pretty solid. The second half is more speculative, but Taubes is very open about this.

Seitan is low carb. You can make your own pretty easily. This one is pretty good, and i've been working my way through this book.

For the first one, instead of following the instructions on the site, bake first 350* for an hour, and then simmer in the flavored broth for 40 minutes and let rest for best texture.

First, let me say, I cannot really provide a solution for you, but I can share what has worked for me. I have not been as overweight as you but I have at times in my life been significantly overweight (not in mass but in % body fat) and as I am becoming older, I had found it increasingly difficult to control. My point is, you need to try things to see what works for you. Keep a daily journal of how you feel (energy, attention, brain function, etc) so you can do some experiments on yourself.

What has worked for me is adopting (what appears to be the latest fad) the paleo/evolutionary fitness model for diet and exercise. I eat little or no processed foods (e.g. read Pollan, and other rules of thumb...if it doesn't spoil, don't eat it, never shop in the inside area of the supermarket, if it comes out of a box, don't eat it, etc.). I don't drink soda, juice, or anything with sugars (just unsweetened coffee or tea, water). I eat a lot of meat, eggs, fish (no worries on fat content...my favorite lunch is a sandwich from the local deli called the Three Little Pigs, without the bread, it is smoked ham, pork bbq, and bacon). I eat some dairy, primarily full fat and fermented, like Fage Total plain yogurt (with a little fresh fruit and shredded raw coconut). I eat all my favorite vegetables slathered in full fat butter (from the farm if I can get it). This may sound like a low-carb, Atkins type diet, but it isn't. That isn't to say going low carb won't help you lose fat quickly. Nevertheless, it isn't the main point. The main point is to eat as our ancestors did some 10,000 or more years ago, as evolution has not caught up with our recent use of grains in our diet and certainly not processed foods. Another thing I do is intermittently fast. At first somewhat forced, but now just because I am not hungry. I can typically eat dinner (say around 5pm) and not eat again until around lunch the next day.

As far as exercise, I avoid long aerobic activities unless in pursuit of yard work, handling the kids, or sport (like tennis). No treadmills, distance running, or biking. I do walk or ride a bike for transportation, but I am not getting winded. I do lift weights, usually once a week, using only large muscle groups and free weights, and very intensely. It takes about 20 minutes, but given its intensity it is brutal...but over quickly. I introduce a bit of randomness into the exercise frequency and variety of exercises (e.g. maybe twice in one week, maybe I will do a bunch of pull-ups one night or push ups). Sprints are intermingled with this, sometimes just as part of playing with the dog. Again, the point is to expose the body to stresses in an irregular but intense pattern, as perhaps were encountered by our ancestors.

The result is that I am probably a month away (after approximately 9 months total) from having washboard abs, I have great energy levels, stamina and focus. I no longer wake up with aching joints. I don't get low energy levels after eating (unless I really stuff myself). Keep in mind, I am in my 40s. I was 210 and very soft and pear shaped when I started, now I am 185 and back to a youthful V shape.
The only negatives I can speak to is a diminished ability to find quick and convenient food sources and missing bread, pasta and a pizza once and a while. I really don't miss sweets, but I don't think I was that hooked on them in the first place.

Finally, let me give the sources that drove me in this direction. Take a look and see if you are interested in trying it. As I said, I can't say that it will work for you, but it has worked for me.

Websites:

Art Devany http://www.arthurdevany.com/ Evolutionary Fitness

Keith Norris http://theorytopractice.wordpress.com/

Mark Sisson http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Richard Nikoley http://freetheanimal.com/

Seth Roberts http://blog.sethroberts.net/ (more about self-experimentation and the value of fermented foods)

Weston A. Price Foundation http://www.westonaprice.org/

Books:

Gary Taubes, Good Calories, Bad Calories

Little, McGuff Body by Science

Weston A. Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

Mark Sisson The Primal Blueprint

Well if they're staying under 50g (or especially under 10g) it definitely sounds like Keto. I'm not sure how they eat berries or grapefruit though because both of those have more than 10g in carbs per serving.

The nice thing is that paleo people can still eat keto foods so you're safer getting a keto book. There's one called "The Ketogenic Cookbook" that is pretty popular.

Are you on any type of medication for it to try to gain remission? My daughter is on remicade and 6mp and doing very well.

Also I had this book suggested to me from here if you are interested in it.

Good luck!

I just bought

How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250066115/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2aEpDbFVNTHF3

And the cookbook as well

The How Not to Die Cookbook: 100+ Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250127769/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9bEpDbFK1V2PB

A user suggested this to me today and may help you as well :)

This is not true at all. What you eat is by far the most important factor in body weight and overall health. Your body responds to and uses different foods in different ways. Some foods promote fat accumulation and some do not.

While the law of thermodynamics dictates that if you're getting fatter you're expending less energy than you're taking in, this information is so obvious that it's useless. As Gary Taubes points out, it's like saying the room got more crowded because more people came in than left. This tells us nothing about why the room actually became crowded.

In terms of diet the law of thermodynamics definitely applies: a necessary condition of getting fat is expending less energy than you take in, and a necessary condition of expending less energy than you take in is getting fat. The problem is that this does not provide a direction of causality! Popular opinion says that more energy in than out causes fat accumulation, but rigorous empirical research says that the reverse is much more likely to be true.

The bottom line is that the body is a complex system where what you eat plays a major role in determining whether or not you accumulate fat, and therefore whether or not you expend less energy than you take in.

The hot is probably an odd option but there are very safe drinks for diabetics. I'm a believer in Dr Bernstein's recommendation of saccharin as safe and effective.

I know theres a couple of books out there that have a full 30 day meal plan in them. I know nothing about macros really and don't know if these books would help you. :-(

Beginners Guide

I have another one in this series for insulin resistance- it's not keto, but the recipes are phenomenal. My sister's had the same experience with the migraine relief one.

[Most popular one I sell daily] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628602821/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_vp3YAbK6H8MZN)

Another one I sell a tonne of

I don't know if this helps AT ALL, but I hope it does!

It's actually the recipe in this book, which I saw in a Barnes & Noble and purchased on a whim. Excellent recipes in there. I can attempt to reproduce it here.

Take 1 large eggplant (or 2-3 small ones), cut it in half, rub some olive oil on it, and bake it at 400 for 45 minutes (in a foil covered pan) face up.
let it cool
peel the top skin off, scoop that shit (minus the skin) into a blender
and 2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic
a dash of cumin
blend until smooth
then add 2 tbsp olive oil (slowly blend this in. I added about half a tbsp at a time)
good to go
I dipped cucumber slices into it

I used 3 huge ones and it was very potent, still good though.

Yes dear, I knew exactly which article you were referring too. Now how about you go read about him from his own website and compare notes? He is very clear about everything he has tried, when it was and the science behind it.

But honestly if you would like a science backed book instead of just one man to tell you calories are not that simple then I would recommend -
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1400033462/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.IW9AbGXQ1PMM

Have you actually read Good Calories, Bad Calories? And I mean, read it, not let someone else tell you what's wrong with it without you having to bother cracking the cover.

Even if it doesn't end up convincing you, it is one of the best science books I have ever seen; there are hundreds of citations and no, they are not all just the "in favor" ones, the best of the conventional mainstream thinking are cited as well. If only every book were as well done.

If you are actually scientifically inclined, you should read the best counter-case you can, and that's probably it. If you can actually come away from that with your opinion unchanged, then at least you'll have come by it honestly.

Shocking as it may seem, it is not merely community-word-of-mouth behind those facts you link. Actual peer-reviewed studies can be brought to bear in favor of those facts, in quantity. If you want the citations, the book I mentioned has them, also in quantity.

I loved this book.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1451624433?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

And this one, as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1400033462?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

I haven't read any books on IF, but the transformation my body went through was enough for me on that front. 😊

I did. I went from two years of daily misery, to maybe a small mild episode once a week on average, and I'm still improving slowly. I followed the diet based on the book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle"

https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478021388&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+the+vicious+cycle

It's an extremely strict diet that is difficult to keep, but I promise you it will help a ton if you give it time to work.

The VSL-3 is great too. It's a probiotic made for people like us. You only have to take it for a month and then the bugs will proliferate on their own.

I take a small dose of zoloft to help with the stress an anxiety too, but that's optional.

Although it doesn't sound like you're doing baby led weaning (skipping purées and letting baby feed him/herself), I'd still recommend the baby led weaning cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Led-Weaning-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/161519049X). I got mine at the library. It has a lot of simple and healthy meals that the baby can eat with you. Real food that adults would enjoy too. :)

I also recommend slow cookers, and freezing prepped slow cooker meals so you can just defrost the night before, and toss in the slow cooker in the morning.

Vegan for Everybody by America’s Test Kitchen! I’ve been cooking out of it for about 4 months now and it has been amazing. Such delicious recipes and we’ve got some new household favorites!

Link: Vegan for Everybody Cookbook

This is my favorite!

The Keto Diet: The Complete Guide to a High-Fat Diet, with More Than 125 Delectable Recipes and 5 Meal Plans to Shed Weight, Heal Your Body, and Regain Confidence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600160/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_DVmDAbNZ88XEG

I like her other book Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking a lot more. I've also found that I do better with her recipes when I use the exact ingredients she calls for. For example, her recipes are all written to be dairy free and I tried to substitute things like almond milk for half and half, and it just doesn't come out right. Same with the sweeteners she uses.

But I still find myself looking more at her books than actually making anything. The Bacon and Butter cookbook is more practical in terms of things I want to make, but less fun to look at (less pictures and not as fancy looking recipes).

These would go really nice with Jimmy Moores brown butter sauce. From his The Ketogenic Cookbook

To make brown butter syrup, I highly recommend using Swerve confectioners’-style sweetener. You can use pure erythritol, such as the brands Zevia or Organic Zero, but as the syrup cools in the refrigerator, the almond milk will separate from the butter, which will solidify into chunks. If you decide to use a different sweetener, add an ounce of cream cheese to help the sauce emulsify.

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  
• ½ cup powdered erythritol
  
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) cream cheese (optional)
  
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
  
• 1 teaspoon maple extract or 2 drops of maple oil (optional)
  
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  
  > 1. In a large saucepan, heat the butter over high heat, whisking every few seconds. The butter will foam up to the top of the saucepan and then fall back down. When you see lots of brown flecks, remove from the heat. Watch closely; you do not want black flecks.
  
  > 2. With the saucepan off the heat, whisk in the erythritol until smooth. If you used a brand of erythritol other than Swerve confectioners’-style sweetener, add the cream cheese. Then whisk in the almond milk, maple extract, if using, and salt.
  
  > 3. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks—if it lasts that long! This syrup will thicken in the fridge because the butter hardens as it cools.

Yes, it's an excellent dietary treatment for T1D if it is done properly. The book, Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars, by a doctor with T1D would be a good place to start.

For an entertaining intro to these concepts, you can check out Fat Head. It's streaming on Netflix if you are a subscriber.

Gary Taubes has done a lot of research on the subject. You can check out his books Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories.

I was originally introduced to these concepts by Mark Sisson through his book The Primal Blueprint. He also has a website full of great information; Mark's Daily Apple.

There is also a ton of information you can find online by googling primal diet, paleo diet or ketonic diet.

I will tell you that I was highly skeptical of all this myself given all I was told about nutrition throughout my life. But I now feel better than I ever have. All my health indicators are now in the excellent range. I have more energy than ever. I am rarely hungry. And I have a six pack now. Never in my life, even as an athlete have I had a six pack. And I only exercise about 30 minutes a week (I just follow the simplefit program.)

I now understand what Hippocrates meant by 'Let food be your medicine and your medicine be your food."

And here is a list of ailments I no longer suffer from after switching to a high fat diet.

• Blood pressure now excellent
  
• Cholesterol ratio now excellent
  
• Weight down 62 pounds, body fat down from 29% to 12%
  
• Hypoglycemia gone
  
• Dandruff gone
  
• Joint pains gone
  
• Inflammation gone
  
• Lethargy gone
  
• And according to friends and family I look about 10 years younger
  
  And don't take my word for it. Do the research yourself. And why not give it a try for 30 days yourself and see how you feel. I think you'll be surprised.
  

I'm actually a "re-committer" as well, and I can understand that. This time around, I made sure to buy some cookbooks and keep creating. I have made some flops, but have really come a LONG way in creating more variety for myself. I got this cookbook for Christmas this year (thank you, awesome brother) and have been working on recipes through there.

Most cookbooks advertised as paleo, low carb, or ketogenic should fit perfectly within a diabetic lifestyle. I'm a fan of Jimmy Moore and think his cookbook is fantastic.

If you want to know the science as well as anecdotal evidence supporting low carb and against the Standard American Diet, here's a list of books for you to read:

• The Art and Science of Low Carb Living
  
• Why We Get Fat
  
• The Big Fat Surprise
  
• Good Calories Bad Calories
  
• Fat Chance
  
• Keto Clarity
  
  Jimmy Moore is a lot more anecdotal but it's a good place to start if you want a simple way to understand keto, in my opinion. The rest contain lots of studies and evidence to convince you.
  
  Taubes is also bringing out a new book. I've not yet read it but I've certainly pre-ordered!
  The Case Against Sugar
  
  
  
  
  
  

Lyle McDonald has a great book and basically the only book on the ketogenic diet.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0967145600

Don't be fooled this book is the real deal. It reads like a textbook, he's not selling a fad diet he's just laying out the details and the science behind it. From his site (www.bodyrecomposition.com) he doesn't appear to be for a particular diet over another. He just likes to discuss the current understanding of nutrition and fitness. The book is definitely worth the read but only if your into this sort of thing, most others would find it too "sciencey".

Have you tried maintaining a keto diet for more than a week? Some people do get "foggy" during the transition from glucose to ketones but it goes away. Personally I've never had an issue. Like you said some react different than others.

Thanks for sharing it! My doctor recommended a cookbook called Dropping Acid, and the TLDR of the diet is to avoid any of the foods that bring me joy (coffee, chocolate, alcohol, spicy foods, citrus) and to ensure I don't eat within three hours of going to bed so that my body can digest before I lie down. It was really hard to adapt to that lifestyle change.

"Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes" is a great book, and it is based on a whole foods plant-based diet. It has a good amount of recipes in the back too. http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107 It is pretty cheap if you get it used.

About a week into keto, I purchased The Keto Diet by Leanne Vogel thinking it could give me some recipes to change things up a bit. I read the entire first half of the book in a single night!

It easily explains the science behind nutritional ketosis, has this AWESOME troubleshooting guide for anything you might experience while trying it, and has 4+ months worth of meal plans which include options for vegetarian and allergy-free variants. All of her recipes are dairy-free, and I am NOT dairy free, so I admit I add in a lot of cheese. :D

Anyway, the book's recipes are decent but not the best, but it's 100% worth purchasing as a newbie's guide to keto. I have pages bookmarked that I still reference nearly two months in. Good luck!

So this is something that I haven't done myself yet, but Leanne Vogel goes over this practice in detail in her book The Keto Diet. She explains that there is a place for carb ups once you're fat fueled, but how often you do that depends on what works best for you. These are carbs that come from fruits or sweet potatoes, not something processed like bread or pasta.

> MRI has increased in use massively and lung cancer detection has improved yet the link remains strong

How do you determine who is (or was, before death) a "smoker"? People aren't born "smokers", or "non-smokers", smoking the exact same amounts, in the exact same way, each day for a lifetime.

> The book itself premises itself to show that smoking doesn't cause cancer.

No. The premise is: "that government statistics on smoking, like those on AIDS, cannot be trusted."

> The same type of studies have been used with obesity

...And got [everything wrong[(https://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462).

> I can't find the part of the book that states everyone is a smoker/nonsmoker.

It's the logical reduction of what he's saying. It's also self-evidently true on the basis that it's impossible to avoid breathing at least a few particles of smoke throughout one's life.

> I don't see how a person who smokes 1 pack a day vs a person who never smokes cant be seperated.

What is the "never smokes" person used to smoke 5 packs per day or grew up around second-hand smoke? What if the "1 pack a day" person used to not smoke?

> smoking doesn't cause cancer

...Then give back the money legally-awarded from tobacco companies, and give back all the taxes paid on cigarettes.

The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook by Gill Rapley is the one I suggest to people. http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Led-Weaning-Cookbook-Recipes-Foodsand/dp/161519049X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453462832&sr=8-2&keywords=Baby+led+weaning

I think it's the best resource and has a good summary of food types, sizes, and concerns about things like salt intake.

I actually just finished reading the first half of this book[1] (the second half are recipes.) This book was written by a Type 1 diabetic who originally was an engineer. His wife, a doctor, purchased one of the first blood glucose monitors only available to doctors at the time. He used it to develop the diet laid out in that book (and a much more comprehensive book about diabetes management all together.[2]) He eventually went and got a medical degree so his findings could be given some weight.

His plan is effectively 30g of carbs a day, split 6-12-12 (breakfast, lunch, dinner). He goes into all the "stealth" sugars in food and how to avoid them, along with some specific products he mentions that he's found useful personally. The over arching idea is the Law of Small Numbers, meaning the fewer carbs you eat, the less it affects your body. More importantly, the less insulin's variable effectiveness impacts your blood sugar levels.

I personally am seeing positive weight and glucose level changes in my life because I follow a low carb diet as outlined in his book.

[1]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SEHPTC

[2]http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-Diabetes-Solution-Achieving-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PC4

I have been vegetarian for 13 years. I use the big recipe sites like allrecipes, www.food.com , www.foodnetwork.com , www.epicurious.com , plus some veg-specific ones like www.vegweb.com and www.vegetariantimes.com . Honestly, I would suggest picking up a cookbook. If you don't want to spend any money you could even check out a couple from the library. They usually have some decent veg cookbooks. It is very easy to find low fat/low calorie vegetarian cookbooks. I have a couple of vegan ones that I use a lot because my husband is vegan (I'm not): Appetite for Reduction and The Happy Herbivore Both authors have some good vegan recipes on their websites too: www.happyherbivore.com and www.theppk.com

Another thing that is really simple is just to modify the things you like to eat now and make them vegetarian. My coworkers always ask me what I eat but besides the fact that I tend to eat more world cuisine than the average meat-eating person I eat a lot of the same things that they do. Lasagna, stir fries, casseroles, tacos, most anything you can think of. So my advice is to just think of whatever you want to eat and either modify it yourself or google a recipe for it to make it meatless and low-calorie.

this book has some good info on salt but you can just search youtube with the authors name and he has some good interviews where he drops some very interesting electrolyte knowledge

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating-ebook/dp/B01GBAJR9C

> To be honest, I think it's sugar that causes weight gain more than anything else. You need some fat content.

And science agrees with you, however, milk has lots of sugar in it as well ( maltase, lactase and others )

Do your share of the work, plus some. Even if you think you’re doing “half” the work....do some more. It is often the case that dads don’t do as much work when it comes to parenting (yes, this is a stereotype but is often based in reality), but one advantage of twins is that you each can be holding one or changing one, etc. I know that when my wife and I looked at each other and saw a baby in each other’s arms, it was clear that we were BOTH working, not just her.

With that said, anytime she had both (tandem nursing, for example) I made sure I was cleaning the house or cooking food.

Other random things/books that helped us, not necessarily twin-related:

Baby Led Weaning

Unconditional Parenting

You should, like, read the book. Its pretty succinct in its advice. I read it in about 2 days, so it isn't like this is too much to ask.

Quite frankly, I found this book and the 4 Hour Body to be the best diet/lifting advice that there is. Couple that with some basic /r/bodyweightfitness knowledge and it seems to be a lifetime of knowledge.

I got this book and it's amazing. Once you make a few recipes it's easy to start experimenting a bit and coming up with your own creations.

https://smile.amazon.com/Seitan-Beyond-Soy-Based-Analogues-Ethical/dp/1516860888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492171798&sr=8-1&keywords=seitan+and+beyond

I'm late to this, but it sounds as though you are having a lot of anxiety issues which obviously contribute negatively to GERD symptoms. I thought of it when you talked about visualizing the tube going your throat, etc. That's hard core anxiety. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about this and see if there is some chill out meds you could take. I am never one to jump right to meds, but suffering from GERD and the sucky diet is very stressful. Unless you think you can learn meditation while also managing GERD, which I hear is the best route.

Also, to learn better about what to eat I highly recommend reading "Dropping Acid" by Jamie Koufman. I never get any help from my doctors about the right foods or loosing weight, and it wasn't until I read this book--which I learned about here on Reddit--that I feel like I had any kind of control over my situation.

Good Luck!
https://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Acid-Reflux-Diet-Cookbook/dp/0982708319

EDIT: As for coffee, try Folger's Simply Smooth, a special blend made just for people with nasty stomach's like ours.

https://www.amazon.com/Folgers-Simply-Smooth-Coffee-Ounce/dp/B009I36KBS

I got this one - https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Ketogenic-Cooking-Recipes/dp/1628601000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482943942&sr=8-1&keywords=keto+cookbook

It's really great as the first twenty pages or so talk about the keto lifestyle and all sorts of different things from sweetners, to proteins. And fantastic recipes!

I recommend The Guide to Baby Led Weaning or The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook. The recipes are great!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/161519049X/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SY115


Also I would avoid chunks of apple. The texture makes them really "chokey". Grating apple until molars come in is best. Or bake them first.

Also check out infant CPR for choking on YouTube so you will know what to do if anything happens. It made me feel much more confident.

My MIL was dead against BLW and would yell "He's choking!" and freaking out... I let her spoon feed him when she babysat but she quickly came around and was soon bragging about how well he feeds himself and eats everything to all her friends.

Though I haven't read it myself, it seems like "The Ketogenic Diet" by Lyle McDonald is pretty comprehensive. Unfortunately, I noticed it's prohibitively expensive (and apparently rare?) on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/The-Ketogenic-Diet-Complete-Practitioner/dp/0967145600

Does anyone know if this is more easily obtained elsewhere?

The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G3GFLTX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_w1r-BbDN105EC

Best $10 I've ever spent. It'll answer all your questions.

Not intended to be an ad for this book, but the approach is flexible and easy to follow. It keeps me from getting discouraged. It’s exhaustive and sensitive to the individual needs of everyone who chooses to do keto.

It’s a whole-food Paleo approach, which I don’t follow religiously.

The Keto Diet: The Complete Guide to a High-Fat Diet, with More Than 125 Delectable Recipes and 5 Meal Plans to Shed Weight, Heal Your Body, and Regain Confidence

Best treat I got myself after a couple weeks into Keto was the Ketogenic Cookbook by Jimmy Moore. Lots of great recipes, the steak with brown butter bernaise is to die for!

friend diabetes is so easy once you know the cause... look at all these people who have cured themselves. some are even type 1 and living great lifes.

https://www.youtube.com/user/mindfuldiabeticrobby

theres also dr kempner who found the cure in 1945. dr neal bernard has refined his research. if you fancy a google. :D

check out the reviews on his book. https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Dr-Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes-Scientifically/1594868107

Carbohydrates, protein, and fat have very different effects on insulin secretion and other hormonal metabolism. Remove protein, no more muscle. Remove fat, good luck with blood clotting, hormone regulation, and neuron development. Remove carbohydrates... well, entire books have been written on that subject; I recommend starting here.

These two are filled with great recipes, I personally think Vegan for Everybody has some better stuff in it. Also, go to your local bookstore and browse the cookbook section!

https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Everybody-Foolproof-Plant-Based-Between/dp/194035286X

https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bible-Editors-Publications-International/dp/1450874169

A postscript.

Taubes is excellent. If you would like to read deeper, see if your library has a copy of "Good Calories, Bad Calories". In that he also gives copious references and cites to support his case.

A total aside; just something that made me smile. On the NYT page they have a picture titled:

>An early 20th-century photograph titled "Big Man of MO, 630 lbs"

Above the picture is a button to "Enlarge This Image". I had to wonder why anyone would want to; it is quite large enough already.

You might want to take a look at Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution[https://smile.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-Diabetes-Solution-Achieving-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PC4/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525570151&sr=1-17&keywords=diabetes]. He's a T1 and has applied strict carb restriction with great success in the management of his diabetes. Originally educated in engineering, Bernstein re-trained as an MD to try and get medical professionals to take him seriously with respect to his approach to tackling diabetes. No small feat as he wasn't a young guy when he entered med school.

Non-mobile:

• Paleo Comfort Foods
  
• Paleo Happy Hour
  
• Paleo by Season
  
  ^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

I've read that the urine ketone test strips are not a good measure.

I've recently been reading Keto Clarity which has a lot of good information on how to measure.

But they basically say the most accurate way to measure ketones is a blood ketone meter or ketone breath analyzer. Ketones in the urine are inaccurate and could disappear after being keto-adapted for a while.

I bought the Precision Xtra Blood Glucose & Ketone Monitoring System and Ketonix to try it out for myself, so I could figure out my personal threshold. Haven't received them yet, so I can't tell you my results.

I really recommend that book though, it's a really good read so far. They went on to publish Keto Cookbook which I actually picked up first at Costco, and after reading that I picked up Keto Clarity on amazon.

While salt is good for you, try adding it to the food you eat or have a smaller amount if youre going to drink it like a shot. Also recommend you read the Salt Fix https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating-ebook/dp/B01GBAJR9C

Great decision! It will only get better/easier with time.
I would recommend reading [Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs] (https://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107)

I'm a veg! I love Mexican food. Fajitas, taco salads (with beans). Nom nom nom. I'm always looking to expand my horizons. What is Pittsburgh style?

Here's some amazon links for some that I own:

• Keep it Vegan (there is a new edition but this is the one I have) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keep-Vegan-simple-healthy-delicious/dp/0857832522/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990745&sr=1-1&keywords=keep+in+vegan
  
  
• Plant pure nation - https://www.amazon.co.uk/PlantPure-Nation-Cookbook-Breakthrough-Plant-Based-ebook/dp/B00THMM9QU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990771&sr=1-1&keywords=plant+pure+nation
  
  
• The China Study Cookbook - https://www.amazon.co.uk/China-Study-Quick-Easy-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B00U27BMT4/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990779&sr=1-2&keywords=the+china+study+cookbook
  
  
• Forks Over Knives - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forks-Over-Knives--Cookbook-Plant-Based-ebook/dp/B007JN6UOG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990810&sr=1-1&keywords=forks+over+knives+cookbook
  
  
• The Non-Dairy Evolution - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Non-Dairy-Evolution-Cookbook-Modernist-Plant-Based/dp/1499590423/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990798&sr=1-2&keywords=the+gentle+chef
  
  
• Seitan and Beyond - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seitan-Beyond-Soy-Based-Analogues-Ethical/dp/1516860888/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465990798&sr=1-3&keywords=the+gentle+chef
  
  The last two are particularly gourmet, but interesting reads if you want to attempt some mind-blowing meals. I wouldn't list them as beginner though.

I can recommend a few books that we constantly use to cook from:

The Happy Herbivore

But I could never go Vegan

500 Greatest-Ever Vegetarian Recipes

We use the first two on a weekly basis, although we mix in some traditional vegetable noodle soups, homemade pizza (with vegan cheese), lots of wok-style noodles with vegetables and tofu and more.

I recommend the book, Dropping Acid

It really helped me. I followed the doctor's recommendations, and after about two weeks I started introducing foods ONE AT A TIME back into my diet. It made me figure out my trigger foods, because I'd have heartburn within two hours or so if one of those foods was a trigger food for me.

Oatmeal helps me counteract the acidity of coffee, which I can never give up. If it helps, my trigger foods are oranges (and other citrus fruits & juices) and tomatoes.

If you/your wife are worried about heart issues with red meat you should 100% read good calories, bad calories by gary taubes. He goes in-depth about a lot of the "heart myths" out there and covers the "science" we were taught vs real science. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312467988&sr=8-1

This is by Gary Taubes and it's adapted from Good Calories, Bad Calories which details the insulin hypothesis of obesity. AWESOME book!

I am reminded of when I was in my 20s and I started going to the gym. I did 45 minutes every day on the f-ing stairmaster for a year (before I finally gave up). I wasn't obese back then - maybe 25lbs overweight - but I didn't lose any weight at all. None. I was so frustrated and I felt so horrible about myself. Now I know why, after reading so many books and articles like this, but knowing this back then would have saved me so much heart ache. And gym membership fees. ;-)

It's often used to treat certain cases of pediatric seizures.

It's also a better way to lose weight than traditional caloric deficits, as less lean body mass is catabolized.

There's really no evidence that a LC diet is any less healthy than a normal diet.


I would also recommend taking a look at Lyle McDonald's book on the subject.

Your primary mistake is in making the assumption that the group "raw foodists" is a homogeneous group. While it is true that some raw foodists subscribe to the theory that enzymes found in raw foods supply significant aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, this assertion is not supported by science. These enzymes play a minor (if any) part in aiding digestion. This is not why I am a raw foodist.

Another fallacy you launched was the idea that raw food diets are environmentally destructive. Sure, I can eat coconuts and other tropical fruits, but I do not eat them in any greater quantity than I did when I was a cooked vegan. In fact, I strive to eat as locally as possible, getting as many of the fruits and greens I eat from local farms. If anything, I would say that my environmental impact has gone down since going raw. I am no longer using energy to cook my food and the amount of packaging waste that must be discarded or recycled is practically nil. The average family produces hundreds of pounds of food packaging waste per year. What I produce in a year could probably fit into a backpack.

Beyond that, I am a raw foodist because I like it. I have completely lost the taste for cooked food and after 7 years of being 100% raw vegan, I feel and look better than I ever have. I love the simplicity and ease of it. I waste no time preparing and cooking food. Being raw also forces me to eat really well all the time. I am also free from the horrific effects of several autoimmune diseases for the first time in decades...conditions that lingered despite a whole food vegan diet. The elimination of gluten, refined foods and cooked starches does make a difference in some cases. All I'm trying to say is that if you're going to attack raw foodism, attack the diet on the facts, not some weird BS you've read online. If you want a fully fact based intro on the world of raw foods written by a registered dietitian, I would recommend reading the book "Becomming Raw" by Brenda Davis. She explains the fallacies like the enzyme myth, but also explain the real, science based benefits of a raw foods diet.

I love the Black Bean Patties from the How Not To Die Cookbook!

The key to using a slower-acting insulin like R while avoiding any spikes is a very low-carb diet, which essentially means meats and green veggies. Have you heard of Dr. Bernstein? He's a T1 doctor who literally wrote the book on low-carb and T1, and has a whole youtube series about it.

If you're serious about making the switch and taking care of yourself, I would highly recommend looking into this guy. Been life-changing for me.

As I said below, I suggest you keep your head down. However, another great resource for the keto diet is Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. Dr. Bernstein is a Type 1 diabetic himself, and was diagnosed in the 40's when diabetes treatment was not very good. He practically developed the use of personal glucometers, then went to medical school. He advocates a diet very low in carbohydrate intake, which is what we would call keto or adkins. Here's a link to the book. They have it in Kindle format, too. Good stuff. http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-Diabetes-Solution-Achieving-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PC4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398747361&sr=1-1&keywords=dr.+bernstein%27s+diabetes+solution

P.S. The reason I found it is because my daughter is a Type 1, and I plan to implement Dr. Bernstein's program with her this summer.

Read The Straight Dope on Cholesterol beginning to end to have a better understanding of cholesterol.

After reading The Straight Dope on Cholesterol, read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

Dr. Attia and Gary Taubes teamed up to form the Nutrition Science Initiative, which is actually sponsoring research on fatty liver disease. Their books and websites are a great resource on what's going on in your body when it comes to insulin, cholesterol, etc.

Book title is: The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected.

https://www.amazon.com/Leangains-Method-Researched-Practiced-Perfected-ebook/dp/B07G3GFLTX

But you are insisting on keto then this book isn't for you. Probably the wrong forum too, leangains is not keto.

The ketogenic diet is the best book on keto.

https://store.bodyrecomposition.com/product/ketogenic-diet/

As far as lifting, I wasn't suggesting longer workouts. Most of my strength gains came doing RPT, also in the leangains book. Short but intense workouts. Just did mine.

This isn't for the average /r/keto or /r/xxketo'er, but I found it totally priceless, especially because it mentions a lot of different ways to keto. When I said I changed things up, a lot of my ideas came from this book (if it's a bit above your head in places let me know and I'll try to explain the science; I don't know your background). http://www.amazon.com/The-Ketogenic-Diet-Complete-Practitioner/dp/0967145600

I've seen a copy or two floating around for free online but I don't know if it's legal or not so I dont want to link. I can get a copy to you if you can't find it though.

Get an instant pot and cook lentils and other beans. They are very filling and have low caloric density. I like to spice mine up with curry.

Also, if you want to cook health-oriented dishes which are also rather good, I recommend Dr. Greger's cookbook.

If you have a lot of time on your hands and a very keen interest, read this. If you have a lot less time/interest, then read this.

I know you said "no desserts," but I recently did a homemade coconut milk ice cream for my birthday. My omni parents and grandparents loved it!

It was the one out of Vegan for Everybody. It does take a lot of coconut milk though.

There's a strong argument that the US Government is responsible for creating the obesity epidemic in the first place, so in so far as it needs to reverse the damage it's caused with incorrect dietary guidelines, then yes.

Here's the gist of the problem: During the 1960s and 1970s, there was much concern about the high rate of heart disease in the United States. Policy makers developed dietary recommendations in the late 70s early 80s based on what turned out to be a very poor understanding of what causes heart disease. These recommendations called for a low-fat diet, which over the last 3 decades has contributed to an enormous increase in the amount of carbohydrates we consume. Studies are beginning to show that fat was not the culprit at all, and that high carbohydrate diets are actually to blame for the obesity epidemic.

Sources: Good Calories Bad Calories,, The Big Fat Surprise, and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living.

Hi! I strongly recommend buying this for your dad as well as reading it yourself: https://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107

High caffeine is highly recommended in the Leangains Method book. So you can achieve this with black coffee and zero-calorie energy drinks.

Not only will it not break your fast, but it will also improve your metabolism for the day. So in a way, it is "negative calories". This can be useful on a cut.

That said, it's probably better to prefer coffee to diet sodas any day.

Tell your brother to read this book and follow it religiously: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818

Your brother needs to eat things that basically our species evolved to eat, not the things our species has come up with in the past 10,000 years or so. I have two friends with UC who live normal lives because of this book. They have a website that lists out TONS of different foods as legal or illegal. Essentially there are foods which are complex and don't absorb into our intestines correctly, and then there's foods we can digest just fine. If he follows this, he might not need treatment at all. A lot of that food is stuff you'd never guess was bad for you.

I do everyday of my life. Excess fat and oil consumption causes diabetes, NOT excess sugars/starches as conventional wisdom states. Check out this book if you'd like to know more. https://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107

oh suuuurreee make me get up lol

4 Cups (600g) - watermelon, deseeded and cubed or balled

2 Cups (300g) - english cucumber, sliced

3 Tbsp - fresh mint, chopped

1/4 Cup (60 mL) fresh squeezed lime juice

1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)

mix stuff up, salt and pepper to taste. It is out of this book I love it. Mine actually has pages falling out because I use it a lot (and the spine wasn't the best quality ever).

edit: formatting, looked ugly a sec ago

Not to give you specific medical advice, but this is worth a read in my opinion:

The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got It All Wrong--and How Eating More Might Save Your Life

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GBAJR9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-7cUzb6JCZTYB

Hey if you're eating raw/mostly raw you might want to read this:

http://veganhealth.org/articles/cooking

As the above link mentions at the bottom, you might want to get your hands on a copy of Becoming Raw. It's a great book.

If you are worried, get one of these blood sugar testers. They are pretty cheap - the companies make money off the diabetics from overly expensive strips (think: razor blades or ink-jet printer business model).

Insulin sensitivity is the cells ability to react to insulin. Insulin reaches the cell and the cell reacts by letting glucose enter the cell. When this is inhibited (by fat in the cell), the cell becomes insulin-resistant. So the glucose stays in your blood because it can't get into the cells. Your pancreas releases more and more insulin to make cells react. As this progresses, you go from normal to pre-diabetic to diabetic. Your morning insulin level keeps rising above 100 mg/dl (pre-diabetic) and then above 120 (diabetic) and your blood sugar goes very high after a high-carb meal (1h and 2h after the meal are usually tested).

There's a video by Barnard that I linked to who has a vegan diet to restore insulin sensitivity. He has a book on the subject.

My fasting is better with salt - less dizziness and cold feet. Salt amount is not equivalent to sodium and there can be some confusion. 2 to 2.5gm of sodium per day is a low/normal amount. Using table salt that would be about 5gm or a teaspoon.

I read this interesting book recently: The Salt Fix. He will supplement with garlic salt for a better flavor. If your fasting program is flexible, you can get salt in a variety of ways: eat a deal pickle, green olives, hot sauce, bone broth, etc.

Keto means very low or no carbs in your diet. There are also specific food groups in paleo that you can't eat in keto and vice versa. I'm not super familiar with the keto diet, frankly, so I'm not really the person to ask. I like fruit and sweet potatoes. I tried out paleo for a week after doing some research and talking to a co-worker who has been paleo for awhile. I also ending up reading Gary Taube's Good Calories, Bad Calories. There are definitely some valid criticisms of his science, but a lot of what he wrote seemed pretty compelling, and by the time I finished the 600+ pages, the results of my own personal experiment sealed the deal.

I have less knowledge about that but I will highly recommend this book: Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs

There is no convincing, you can provide the book and tell them that you need to fix the root cause not the symptom which keto/low-carb is doing. That's it, you can take the horse to the water but cannot make it drink!

I'm not actually. I don't eat out. I have celiac disease. But, I watch the shows and I know people who are. I am, however, very interested in nutritional science and have done real research.

Start here.

Then read this.

And, if you can swing it, go to a university, sneak in, and read through some of the recent journals.

Then, form an opinion and discuss it intelligently.

Also, it's kind of rude to jump to another post a person has commented on to snark at them about something completely different. LOL.

Kind of an oversimplification though.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1400033462?pc_redir=1407351599&robot_redir=1

Certain calories, or diets are more predisposed to being stored as fatty tissue than others.

100 calories of sugar follows a very different digestive route than 100 calories of protein.

Insulin resistance can also play a big role in whether or not a calorie is stored as fatty tissue or not.

yeah... but actually its the way that your body processes the processed sugars/flours vs the way that it processes fat. "fat" doesn't just stay as "fat" that finds its way to your body, its digested and broken down much differently than a simple sugar is. You can't do simple calorie counting because your body releases certain hormones in response to certain inputs.

Pretty piss poor explanation on my part, but if you do some reading on the subject... its actually pretty interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462

I really like Paleo Comfort Foods

Thats not leangains though. The book recommends a higher protein per kg ratio, 3g per kg, since it leads to more thermogenesis, more satiety, and while its not mentioned in the book the higher protein ratio will help as you get older.

source for the older stuff can be found here: https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/

This other source also recommends 3.3g protein as the upper limit.

I think the book said that at least 50% calories should come from protein, and preferably 60%.

You can find the leangains book here: https://www.amazon.com/Leangains-Method-Researched-Practiced-Perfected-ebook/dp/B07G3GFLTX

Hi all. I'm currently guiding around 10 people through the diet -- inner core of family and friends and word of mouth is spreading quickly.

I tend to use the following books for them:

1. Why we get fat
   
2. Art and Science of Low-Carbohydrate Living
   
3. Good Calories, Bad Calories
   
   The first one is an easy-to-digest paperback while the second one gets a bit more into the "how" of keto. GCBC is an exceptionally good book for anyone interested in the details.

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating-ebook/dp/B01GBAJR9C

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bNdhM4vt4I

That youtube video is part of a 3 video series. He includes sources. Overall a good watch. Would recommend.

The good thing about Lean Gains is that it is available to anyone regardless of bodyfat. It just costs $10 if you have a kindle.

Here you go

http://www.amazon.com/Ketogenic-Diet-Complete-Dieter-Practitioner/dp/0967145600

The ketogenic diet was actually developed as a treatment for epilepsy. What you want is the "cyclic ketogenic diet."

You should be able to find some good diet plans with a google search as well, but I would recommend getting the book if you want to seriously put it into practice.

(1) They didn't ban sugary drinks like NY, so it's not quite legislating choice.

(2) They voted to PUT IT ON THE BALLOT. So it's certainly not legislating choice.

(3) Kickbacks? I didn't see a connection between kickbacks and this story..unless Michael Pollan is paying city governments to ban sugar.

(4) The "Sugar is really bad" theory is now as accepted as "Global warming is real" within scientific circles. Yet, I bet, less than half as many people realize this. If this tax only serves to make people more aware of this, I'll be happy!
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462

As a breakfast, the granola cereal sounds reasonable. Is she eating it with milk? One cup of 1% milk will tack on another 100 kcal, but that's still okay in most cases. Of course, her overall kcal target for healthy weight loss will depend on her height and age. With those you can estimate her basal metabolic rate and then multiply by an activity factor, perhaps 1.2-1.5 depending on how active she is. Then take that number and subtract 500, which should equate to losing about one pound per week. Of course, this is the traditional thinking of calories in = calories out, which I don't believe is entirely valid. Indeed, there are Good Calories, Bad Calories as the excellent book by this title explains.

This is a sub for leangains.com. Best place to start is to leangains.com and start reading. Here is martin's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Leangains-Method-Researched-Practiced-Perfected-ebook/dp/B07G3GFLTX

If you are going to do it read Becoming Raw Vegan Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570672385/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zswSBbTBFH73C

I love raw food, and feel great eating more of it, but there are a lot of garbage psuedo science books about it out there.

You should checkout Dr Neil Barnard remarch on diabetes. He recommand a plant based diet for all his diabetic patient. He has a great book about controlling type 1 and reversing type 2 diabetes.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/diet-and-diabetes-recipes-for-success

http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107

This one is great for beginners, both recipes and explanations

I recommend all read this book that think all calories are the same. Food affects hormones and have different metabolic efficiencies.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400033462/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_ieBHAbXB86J8B

> She's been chugging down slimfast everyday for the past 4 years

That can't be helping. I find it astounding how much disinformation there is out there about weight control and "diet". You could do your sister some good by informing her of better, legitimate information about these subjects that don't come from companies who want you to be fat so you'll buy their product.

Start with Good Calories, Bad Calories.

A great book recommendation is: The Whole30.
It goes into unhealthy food relationships and helps you on what To Eat. My wife and I read it 5 years ago and it changed our food lives.

In case you shop Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Whole30-30-Day-Guide-Health-Freedom/dp/0544609719/ref=asc_df_0544609719_nodl/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312178271755&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3499817873983818254&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007743&hvtargid=pla-450195540651&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=60258871377&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312178271755&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3499817873983818254&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007743&hvtargid=pla-450195540651

Of the many vegan cookbooks my girlfriend and I have used, we've probably used The Happy Herbivore the most. In fact, right now we're baking a gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake. Fingers crossed!

Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories is the most comprehensive popular discussion I am aware of the effects of various macronutrients and their effects on diet and health.

I can't speak for the accuracy of the science behind the book, but I found it interesting and readable.

Wow! I hadn't really thought of that. I know people can occasionally come out of a stall by carb loading and hitting reset. But I tended to shy away as that was part of why it took so long for my from-start number to drop again. Plus, while I love that no-carb day when you're getting back into ketosis, I hate waking up and doing an hour or more of HIIT on an empty stomach.

How do you like Flexible Dieting over Complete Diet? I found that to be more of a technical manual I'd go to for additional info.

https://www.amazon.com/Alzheimers-Antidote-Low-Carb-High-Fat-Cognitive/dp/1603587098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543050392&sr=8-1&keywords=alzheimers+antidote+amy+berger


Amy Berger has a very interesting book which discusses how the first sign of Alzheimer's is when the brain starts to become insulin resistant (just like how Type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance in the body), so becomes unable to easily take in glucose to power itself. However, it turns out that the brain can be powered up to 70% of its fuel requirements by ketones. So IF and a ketogenic diet combined can help either forestall Alzheimers or some of its effects. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't work in all patients, but does work in many.


Dale Bredesen, who says there are at least 3 different types of Alzheimers, offers a partial explanation why, that there are at least 36 different pathways that can induce Alzheimers, of which some can be treated with IF and a ketogenic diet, but not all.


https://www.amazon.com/End-Alzheimers-Program-Prevent-Cognitive/dp/0735216207/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543050605&sr=8-1&keywords=the+end+of+alzheimers+dale+bredesen

Hey there! I usually recommend all Type 1 Diabetics who are interested in going low carb to read Dr Richard Bernsteins book "Diabetes Solution". A good rule of thumb is to lower insulin dosages right when you start low carb/keto and then scale in either direction needed. Be prepared with lots of glucose tablets should there be too many miscalculations in the beginning.

http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/

Randomly found her cookbook at Costco a few weeks ago, that's what started it all.

Food is all amazing. Even desserts!

Feels kinda weird referring to it as a diet given all the amazing food my wife's been cooking.

After only a couple of weeks I'm down 9lbs, appears to be water-weight, but it's a start.

tl;dr: buy her cookbook

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1628601000/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1628601000