How does one do that in a family full of meat eaters?

I'd be happy if we didn't eat so much processed foods all the time. We already do good by regulating beef and pork intake.

Great question. I want to try to stop eating meat, but that leaves even MORE processed foods to eat.

Can't even depend on the labels any more. There is no telling what we are putting into our bodies - the only way we know for sure is to grow it ourselves.

I eat hormone free beef and bison, with fresh fish and grain fed free run chickens when I eat chicken. My stomach is very sensitive to these things as well as food combinations. If you don't grow your own vegetables then you are risking further contamination from low quality and absent micronutrients as well as pesticides and herbicides, not to mention GM foods, which we don't know what they are in and what they do to us in the long term.

The diet I adopted came from a Tony Robbins book called "Unlimited Power" I think, but it was an old diet that has been around for a long time in the east- China and India. You can find it anywhere on the web though.

here's a cleansing formula to clean your system out. http://www.detoxifynow.com/Food_diet.html

This will help you prepare your body for the proper diet you want to adopt. I know food combining works, because it has been over 2 years that I haven't been in the hospital with colitis. The diet is great- eat fruit only in the morning, then salad with every meal- watch your blends of protein or carbs with starches. Too much bread, rice or potatos with protein or carbs is not good as it makes it hard to digest your food. Drinking water, wine etc while eating, is out. By eating veggies, fruits and sprouts, you get all the moisture you need. Don't drink 1/2 hour before and after you eat and no more heartburn- ever. Water dilutes your stomach acids and wine interferes in the digestive process. They both wash your undigested food out of your stomach and into your small intestines not fully digested. Wait 3 hours at least for your meal to digest before eating again, except for your fruit. Fruit is only eaten in the AM as it gets your blood sugar up at a time when your system can handle the sugar increase- after you've been sleeping. After your fruit, you wait 1/2 hour to eat anything you want- just add salads as often as you can. Juices and fruits should not be mixed with any other foods because they ferment and turn to gas, thus inhibiting proper digestion of both fruit and food.



Everyone thinks we need protein, but no one knows how much? When you're younger one needs more protein intake than when you are older. If protein and meat eating is so important then how come the largest and strongest creatures on earth are vegetarians?

The debate goes on that we don't need all this meat, it is an industry that created its own market, from shoes to milk to T-bones on your plate. Very wasteful and highly polluting, we should question the need to slaughter animals as food as barbaric and antiquated. If we're to feed the world we need more food being grown and less arable land wasted on meat production. The option of the meat factories is the way we developed bird flu and mad cow disease so it really isn't a viable option. Of course the quality and drugs in the meat has made it another problem as we end up poisoning ourselves with the crap they force us to eat. Even our vegetables are less nutritious than they were 50 years ago, as the factory concept has taken over our family farms as well and bottom line means bigger products that weigh more but taste bland, with less nutrition. It's a recipe for disaster, and your best option is to learn to grow your own food and become less dependant on meat.

There are some drawbacks to it- http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/digesti ... bining.htm - but most of them revolve around time to prepare meals. I found that if you cut your starches down(You can eat starches with veggies) when eating protein, you can survive those days when you have very little choice- half your regular potato size and try that. You are allowed to eat as many salads fruits and veggies as you want, and eventually you could work your way into a vegetarian diet, without shocking your bodies systems.

There was a good Pie graph type drawing in the Tony Robbins book that I copied and keep handy- I'm sure with some searching you could find it and copy it too. It keeps you reminded of the optimum combinations. This diet works!

Have you heard of the Sacred Heart diet for cleansing and pre-operation prep? Google that for cleansing and weight loss.

Good luck on becoming a veggie head and saving the animals as well.

I find that I have more control of what I eat when we go out. I'll eat more salads and better balanced meals with vegetables.

My new mantra is "fast food is fat food".

I'd like to believe that watching "Fast Food Nation" and "Super Size Me" with the family has had some influence on our eating habits.

For breakfast, we eat out. I generally order two fruit cups for us to share. At dinner, I make it a point to check-in with the vegetable plate of the night.

We've gone banana buying crazy. We've stocked up on Fuji apples as well. Thank god the kids like apples.

I have a marvelous book entitled "Better Than Store-Bought" that was among my late mother-in-law's book collection. It has recipes for all kinds of things that we normally purchase, such as marshmallows, vanilla wafers, ladyfingers, ice cream, etc.

Being a country woman, I know how to grow veggies and how to "put it up for the cold time." We eat mainly chicken and fish, lots of rice and whole grains, and salads at least once a day. I wish I could get more fruit into our diet and making smoothies is one way I'm doing that. I buy the cage-free eggs, too. Have you noticed that the more natural and healthy the food is, the more it costs? Isn't that a hoot!

One thing that I really like is veggie burgers...especially the mushroom ones.

There's a very interesting report on CNN that talks about why the US ranks 42nd in life expectancy for its citizens!

U.S. life expectancy lags behind other countries

Story Highlights

Americans living longer than ever, not as long as people in 41 other countries

Countries surpassing U.S. include Japan, most of Europe, Jordan, Guam

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years

Andorra had the longest life expectancy at 83.5 years

I (and my husband at the time) were on the Dean Ornish diet. It is all natural, no beef, complex carbs, and heart healthy. Now here is the kicker. We both gained weight, were bloated all the time, and had so much gas the dog wanted to stay outside! I felt better - just couldn't fit into any of my clothes and didn't want to go out in public because the gas was so bad.

Needless to say, I went back to low-carb eating. I have no idea what he is doing (we are no longer together. Low-carb means more meat. I usually choose chicken but they are shot full of steroids to make them grow faster it can't be healthy. Here in Ohio, if you CAN find grain fed anything - you pay out the wazoo - and then you are not sure it really was fed the way the label says!

I think the safest way to buy meat is to go to the county fair. Bid on a cow, a hog, and some chickens. You know they were raised by kids following certain guidelines. Most them LOOK healthy. Then you have them properly "handled" and you can freeze them. Do I do that? No. The bidding always goes so high, I can't afford it.

IMO the reason America is lagging so far behind other countries is all the additives in our food. They add so much to give it longer shelf life. They add fillers. They add lard to make it taste better. Nitrates and nitrites are horrible additives to give pork longer shelf life. Now we can buy canned meat, fish, and chicken and if is is canned in Minnesota - that is all the label has to say. If the company in Minnesota bought the meat from China - we don't know that. If China wants to add gasoline or any poison or anything else "we don't consume" as a preservative - how will we ever know?????