Draft #1 — My Weight Loss Diet Plan

I still have two more weeks before I start my weight-loss diet on Valentine's Day. I'll be recording everything that I eat each day in a separate blog (see My Daily Diet Report) and linking back here for more details. 

Here's my first draft of the diet menu:

FOR THE FIRST SIX WEEKS (until April 1, 2013):

• Cup of hot water first thing in the morning.

• Breakfast:
 — bowl of miso broth
 — whole grains (leftovers or porridge or freshly cooked)
 — vegetable
 — hot kukicha tea

• Lunch:
— Bio-K Plus (Organic Fermented Rice probiotic) 
— whole grains
— vegetable(s)
— seeds and nuts
— crackers or unsalted corn chips (optional)
— hot kukicha tea

• Dinner
— Soup with wakame and crackers or toast (optional)
— whole grains
— lentils  (optional)
— vegetable(s)
— seeds and nuts
— hot kukicha tea

• Optional condiments with meals
— Seaweed Gomasio
— Ohsawa Organic Nama Shoyu or Eden Organic Shoyu unpasteurized soy sauce

• I'll be using unrefined sea salt in small amounts in my cooking. (See The Benefits of Unrefined Sea Salt.)

AFTER SIX WEEKS, ADD AS DESIRED:
• whole grain breads
• whole grain pastas 
• organic American cheese and butter (for pleasure)
• breads/waffles/pancakes made with whole grains, eggs
• whole wheat pizza
• afternoon snacks, such as soup or leftovers from lunch or nuts and seeds

FOODS THAT I AM SUSPENDING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE:
• All fruits, fruit juices, and fruit products
• All sweeteners, including brown rice syrup, maple syrup, and agave nectar
• Chewnami Energy Bars with seaweed (brown rice syrup and maple syrup sweetened)
• Windmill Spice Cookies (fruit juice sweetened)
• Amazake koji rice drinks (made with koji mold spores called Aspergillus Oryzae)
• All alcohol, including beer, wine, amaretto
• All fermented foods except for miso and soy sauce

Related Blog Articles:
Designing My Own Weight Loss Diet
Weight Loss Tips From Herman Aihara
Weight Loss Tips From Julia Ferre

Foods That Trigger Hot Flashes — A New Dimension To The Yin-Yang Spectrum

In her book, Embracing Menopause Naturally, Gabriele Kushi gives us a list of certain stimulating foods that can trigger hot flashes and a list of cooling foods that can help reduce them or give you relief during a hot flash. Interestingly enough, most of the stimulating foods that she mentions are avoided in the basic and centering macrobiotic diets, whereas most of the cooling foods are included.

From personal experience, I'm adding coffee as a major hot flash trigger, which kept me up all night long one time after drinking only two afternoon cafe lattes in a row! I can attest to every food item on the lists below as to the truth of its effectiveness except for the collards, turnip greens, and the meat. :)

Foods That Trigger Hot Flashes:
[YIN]
• Citrus fruits, including oranges, lemons, grapefruit
• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Chocolate
• Coffee
• Spices, exotic (such as chili pepper, cinnamon)
• Hot beverages
• Alcohol (especially wine)
• Crackers
• Chips
• Popcorn
• Hard Cheeses
• Meat
• Eggs
[YANG]

Foods That Help Relieve Hot Flashes:
[YIN]
• Apples and carrots
• Tofu
Green and white vegetables, like: 
• Raw cucumber
• Collards
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Nappa cabbage
• Mustard greens
• Turnip greens
• Bok choy
• Watercress
• Dandelion leaves
• Turnip leaves
• Chinese cabbage
• Lettuce
[YANG]

The book also includes recipes and useful information about foods that contain oxalic acid, those that don't, and foods that promote bone loss (osteoporosis). 

On page 74, in the recipe for "Lentil Soup with Dandelion," Gabriele points out that dandelion strengthens the liver. This is good news for my weight loss diet plan, since Herman Aihara said in his book, Basic Macrobiotics, that "if you have a weak liver, you will tend to accumulate fat"! 

Overall, Gabriele Kushi's book is a very helpful and beautiful work of art. I love it!

Related Blog Articles:

Weight Loss Tips From Herman Aihara

Designing My Own Weight-Loss Diet

Wild Dandelion Greens Freshen Up Dinner

The Yin And Yang Spectrum Of Food, Part 1  

What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?

What Not To Eat (Or Drink) On A Macrobiotic Diet

Grandma's Applesauce Fruitcake

I could never understand what all the fruitcake jokes were about — my grandma's fruitcake was the best thing I ever tasted! When I was a kid, she used to make it during the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas. At that time, she made the fruitcakes out of white flour, white sugar, sugar-sweetened applesauce, dried and candied fruits, and a light corn syrup sauce on top.

Later, she gave me the recipe when I was an adult and I was surprised at how easy it was for me to adapt it to suit my own tastes. To begin with, it had no eggs in the recipe, and no butter — so it was basically a vegan cake. And because it was made with 1 and 1/2 cups of applesauce, chances were good that it would be sweet enough for me without any added sugar.

The secret to making this fruitcake really great is storing the baked cakes in the freezer for at least two weeks, allowing them to "mellow." They can stay in the freezer for 2 or 3 months and taste even better. Grandma would thaw the fruitcakes first and then pour a boiled syrup she made out of light corn syrup and water over the top, which made them nice and moist.

I've found over the years of making my own versions that the syrup on top isn't really necessary, but if I want the cake to be more moist, then boiled water alone does the trick just as well! Here is my version of the recipe:

Grandma's Applesauce Fruitcake
250ºF oven
2 hours
2 loaf pans, greased and floured

STEP 1: Boil 5 minutes and then cool:
1 1/2 cups applesauce (I made mine using apples from our garden)
1/2 cup oil (olive or coconut)

STEP 2: Mix together:
2 1/4 cups flour (any mix of whole grain flours, like 1 cup rye + 1 cup wheat + 1/4 cup oat)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, unrefined
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

STEP 3: Add and mix:
1/2 pound dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 pound raisins
1/4 pound (4 ounces) dried apricots (unsulfered) 
1/2 pound walnuts, broken into pieces (these are even better when I soak them in distilled water first for about 6 hours)

STEP 4: Add the cooled applesauce-oil mixture (see step 1) and blend all together.

STEP 5: Spread the cake batter evenly between two loaf pans that have been greased and dusted lightly with flour.

STEP 6: Bake in a 250-degree (F) oven for two hours. (Check half-way through for burning and cover if needed.)

STEP 7: Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack, and then remove them from the pans. 

STEP 8: Wrap each cooled cake first in waxed paper, and then in aluminum foil, and then in plastic zip-lock freezer bags. Store in the freezer for at least 2 weeks. 

STEP 9: Remove from freezer, thaw, and cut into thin slices. (A serrated bread knife works well.)

OPTIONAL TOPPING: Boil 1/2 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup water, cool, and glaze cakes. (Other types of sweet syrups will work and so will just boiled water.)

This is a pretty versatile recipe, allowing you to substitute any kind of dried fruit, nuts, or whole grain flours that you want. The cakes look like bricks of gold and taste just as valuable. Cheers!

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RECIPES

Weight Loss Tips From Julia Ferre

In her new book, Food and Intuition 101, Julia Ferre gives a list of twelve tips for losing weight:

1. Plan meals. Be proactive, not reactive or compulsive.

2. Eat breakfast. Eat regularly throughout the day. Don’t let your body think it’s starving.

3. Satisfy sweet cravings with healthy carbs, such as sweet potatoes, winter squash, and grains chewed well.

4. Sit during the entire meal, at a table, without a television.

5. Drink water 15 minutes prior to the meal, to moisturize intestines and prevent overeating.

6. Take a bite, put the fork down, chew it, and observe how you much you like it. Pick up the fork and repeat.

7. Serve yourself a complete meal on an attractive plate, like in a restaurant.

8. Have a healthy dessert like fresh fruit, dried fruit, and nuts, or homemade goods.

9. Take a walk for 5 to 10 minutes after eating to stimulate digestion. Read the section on “Cravings.”

10. If you can’t take a walk, then get up and wash the dishes to stimulate digestion.

11. Enjoy your company. Feast on the interaction.

12. Say a blessing before eating, and smile if you notice your body is ready and starting to salivate.

This all sounds like really good advice to me! Therefore, I shall be incorporating it into my weight loss diet plan.

Incidentally, to my surprise, I found that her tips for gaining weight (page 200 of Food and Intuition 101) provided useful information for me too! For example, I could add to my weight loss plan:

• Eat larger meals less often during the day to decrease number of calories.

• Eat dry and hard foods such as salads and crackers because they’re harder to digest and they encourage weight loss.

• Probiotics before meals strengthen the digestive track, and digestive enzymes after meals can enhance assimilation.

In summary, I'm finding that this book is very useful as an exercise in strengthening my intuition and relationship with food. GOOD BOOK!  

Related blog articles:
Designing My Own Weight-Loss Diet
Weight Loss Tips From George Ohsawa
Weight Loss Tips From Herman Aihara

Weight Loss Tips From Herman Aihara

Herman Aihara offers some great information about "why people get fat and how to reduce fat" in his book, Basic Macrobiotics.

Here are his tips for avoiding obesity:

1. Restrict the intake of dairy and fatty animal foods.
2. Use vegetable oils in cooking.
3. Avoid margarine.
4. Avoid refined sugar.
5. Use very little honey, syrups, and other sweeteners — even natural ones.
6. Eat as little fruit as possible.
7. Eat whole grains, vegetables, sea vegetables, and beans. 
8. Reduce animal foods to 10% of total food; fish and shellfish are best.
9. Do not drink alcohol.
10. Use no drugs.
11. Get plenty of exercise, and try to work up a sweat every day.

Starting on page 64, he explains how carbohydrates (sugars and starches), protein, and fat are metabolized into energy, carbon dioxide, and water. Then he talks about pyruvic acid, which is created first when carbohydrates are broken down in the energy cycle.

In obese people, he says, there is a tendency for the pyruvic acid to stop before it can completely metabolize. A buildup of the pyruvic acid then occurs, which in turn inhibits the body from releasing stored fat, and converts the acid into neutral fats or glycerides, which are then stored in the body.

In his opinion, this halt in the energy cycle is caused by overeating simple carbohydrates, protein, and fat — especially processed carbohydrates, refined sugar, and fruit. (Interesting — I never really thought of fruit as being a simple carbohydrate!)

He explains how the only way to induce a change is to exercise. Exercise creates enough energy that changes pyruvic acid and completes the cycle, so that fat can be released. (Well what do you know! I never thought that exercising creates energy — I always thought that it used energy.)

Herman Aihara goes on to explain the two ways that fat is formed in the body (either the liver or the fatty tissue produces it) — but only the liver breaks down fat. So if you have a weak liver, you will tend to accumulate fat.

He also explains how other factors control the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in the body. All of what he says convinces me that his tips for avoiding obesity are very sensible! The bottom line is that exercise is very important. The cool thing is that it will give you more energy!

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Weight Loss Tips From George Ohsawa

In his book, Zen Macrobiotics, George Ohsawa includes "Obesity" in the section on "Specific Dietary Suggestions for Disease," page 143:

Obesity
Diet No. 7 with 30 to 60 grams of raw radish, plus a little gomasio (50) for one month or more.

At the beginning of the section, before he gives the directions for obesity, George Ohsawa reminds us — "Don't forget that the following specific, symptomatic directions are not necessary if you are following Diet No. 7 or if your case is not critical."

Well, my case is certainly not critical! But nevertheless, I want to keep the principles of his dietary suggestion for "Obesity" in mind as I design my own weight-loss plan. Diet number seven is one-hundred percent whole grains, which are the most yang of the plant-based foods. Grains are the most central to a balanced diet. Radish (such as the white daikon radish) is more yin than whole grains, but not as much yin as most other vegetables, and it's closer to grains at the center of the diet. Raw radish is more yin than if it were cooked. All of this gives me clues for what foods to choose if I want to lose weight.

Now, I realize that George Ohsawa's dietary suggestion for obesity is a temporary treatment that I would only use as a jump-start for losing a great deal of weight. So now that I'm down to the last twenty pounds of weight that I want to lose, I need something different for my diet plan, something more broader as I become more focused.

Note: 30 to 60 grams of raw radish equals about 1 to 2 liquid ounces, or 2 to 4 tablespoons, or 1/8 to 1/4 cup. Also, for a recipe for gomasio (50) see page 67 of Zen Macrobiotics.

Related Blog Articles:
Designing My Own Weight Loss Diet
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Designing My Own Weight-Loss Diet

Happy New Year 2013! Today marks the beginning of a new loop around the spiral, promising to be an even better and more interesting year than the last one! 

After reviewing the last two years of eating No More Sugar, I've decided that it's finally time for me to go on a specific weight-loss diet. I intend to custom-design a diet plan that suits my needs personally and I'll follow it for a year and a half, so that it becomes a habit. After I've developed my plan, I think I'll begin the diet sometime next month, perhaps on Valentine's Day!

Over the years of my life, I have gone on several weight-loss plans that were designed by other people to be used by everybody, no matter what their individual situation or condition might be — including a "ketogenic high protein diet," the Weight Watchers Diet, and The Diet Center plan. 

By the time I was out of college, I had had enough of all dieting! I decided that I wanted to concentrate on eating good, wholesome, and nutritious food and be done with weight-loss diets. And so it was the perfect time for me to find the book, Zen Macrobiotics, on the grocery store shelf!

I have lost a lot of weight slowly ever since I started practicing macrobiotics and now I want to lose the last 20 pounds of stored fat around my middle that was the first to accumulate on my body and will finally be the last to leave. And I am more than ready for it!

Cheers!

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