Thanks for the welcome. What I can offer in return is taking the time to write down some things I have been thinking while reading other posts about this forum FWIW

There aren't any EZ answers or short-term results, that's for sure. But many of us have looked at or followed other plans and come to the conclusion that this is the sanest, for us, and the one that is most likely to serve us for the rest of our lives. So it's worth figuring out how to do it.

Everyone has different values and stresses and amounts of money and time to spend on themselves, and some people don't have the freedom to do what they want with respect to their food. There are many variables that change from person to person, or even for the same person from day to day. This is not a plan with lots of built-in support systems, that's true. And sometime "really doing this" means you spend a lot of time shopping and preparing and packing food and washing mountains of dishes and little travel containers, so you (I) can't post as much as I might.

It's just my opinion, but I don't think the lack of activity here is a reflection on the people who have posted here, or the people who haven't, or the plan. At all. I've done similar plans, more strict, with more group support in the past and that IS easier in some ways. But I'm here because I know this is healthier, and can be adapted as new medical information comes out. These are just plain sound ideas.

I have been brought up in a crazy world, in a country that I love but is pretty nutty with respect to food. So of course it takes some effort to change my behavior and to see how things I've been told would make me happy, like carbs and fake food, really were (sorry folks) taught to me by the food industry. Apples and peanut butter and broccoli do not have advertising campaigns, so it's in no one's financial interest for me to follow this plan. And for those who didn't read my earlier post: I can't even help make Dr. Schwarzbein rich--NY State residents can't get tested through her office.

I am really lazy and would like to think about other things, but the more I find out and the more I implement what's recommended, the better I feel physically and the better I look. I still can't give up coffee entirely and and also put in a good day at work but according to Dr. S, that's right where I'm supposed to be, for now. I have a number of other things that make me cranky as I fuel my body differently and don't give in to emotional eating. But it's a journey worth taking. It's better than being being a zombie because I ate too many potato chips, or devastated because I developed diabetes or depressed because I went to my grave 100 lbs overweight and missed out on so many things I didn't have the courage to do.

I have to pay a little more attention to my feelings, and not mix up my emotional reactions to things with the actual reactions my body has to what I put in it. For example: as a Southerner, I may always want fried stuff and feel irritable if I decide not to have it. That doesn't mean I should think my body would work better with lots of french fries. What I call feeling good is sometimes actually not feeling at all. What I call "feeling good" or "feeling bad" comes from all kinds of things that aren't related to reality.

I was an athlete most of my life, so I know how it is to feel fit and healthy and happy. I'm sad that I lost that, and that changing yourself for the better is often hard. For people who have always been overweight or in poor health or never happy (for whatever reason), it must be even harder. You have to have faith that health, well-being, and physical happiness can be yours too. I've seen women who changed their eating habits to something like this plan, and they positively glow when they are actually pretty old. They're happy. They probably weren't too happy in the transition, and I know it wasn't easy for them to carry food supplies on vacations and long trips, etc. But we all do the best we can. This plan is, IMHO, the best I can do, and I'm glad to find even this level of support for the Schwarzbein suggestions.

Welcome to everyone, by the way, and welcome to me (I'm new too).