I just read this on Dr. Mike's Blog and had to post it here so no one here would miss it. I have copied below the section that I think is MOST important.

The blog title NutriSystem stock hitting the skids seems to be off track from the comments above, but when you read it you get the connection.

I suppose that this is a little to preaching to the choir, BUT then maybe it will ring a chord with someone that needs it to.

Larry

Interesting Larry. Thanks for posting it.
LCing is a life-style change.
It makes me wonder how best to pursue things though. Either to use low-carb versions of how we used to eat i.e. shirataki noodles for pasta or naturally low-carb foods in their original forms or is it a personal preference way to deal with that?

AFTER READING ,WHAT THE DOCTOR SAID , THAT THE REAL WORK START AFTER YOU HAVE LOST YOUR WEIGHT, MAKES ME THINK THAT A WELL BALANCE DIET WOULD BE BETTER ?

Yes, which is why you should stick with low carbing thru maintenance!! If followed properly, by the time you reach maintenance you should be able to eat very closely to what even the ADA, AHA, et all would consider "well balanced" (although maybe still "deficient" in carbs).

You won't be able to eat the recommended 45-60% of calories from carbs, but you should be able to eat a wide variety of foods. How well balanced your diet is will be your decision.

I maintained for three years after the first time I lost and it's because I continued to not eat sugar and kept my carbs limited to whole grains, and three servings a day (equiv. of three slices of bread). One day a week I had a splurge dinner where I ate whatever I wanted. This is the WOE that worked for me. It's easier to maintain than it is to lose, but you still need to follow the plan.

The choir can still sing off key on occasion when no one is paying attention so thanks Larry for posting this.

After changing the way I ate, losing, and maintaining for a little less than 2 years, I learned the hard way that when you go back to your old way of eating (in my case that would be everything and anything I set my eyes on) the weight will come right back on. yes. I know. shocking.

I think I need to print up Dr Eades statement and hang it on the wall next to my fridge.

Larry, what a great post...thank you. I think we ALL need to be reminded of how long-term this is. Actually the true difference between what I'm doing now and what I did every other time I lost weight is that I *am* reminding myself that I need to eat this way FOR GOOD. There may be some foods that I temporarily ban but there may be others that are permanent...but however I tweak things, eating this way isn't temporary and that's why I picked this WOE...because it's a way I can live with for good.

Hi, Lisa,

I thought you going to be busy with your mini-photography conference. How is it going?

let me use your statement as something that needs to be criticized. (BUT not critical of you!) I am unhappy with the continued usage of the term food for anything that is sold in a grocery store that is intended to be put in your mouth. FAR, FAR, TOO much of what is in there is flat out POISON for the likes of people on this board.

Until you can walk down the bread or cookie isle or walk through the bakery section, with all that wonderful smell, and say, “I do not eat that, that is NOT food!!”, maintenance will be a struggle to stay “on PLAN!”

Cindy, since you and I are singing out of the same book and usually in close harmony, I know you won’t be offended by my criticizing your statement. MAN!!! I just hate to hear some one say "a well balanced diet" because it conjures up the FDA food pyramid, a formula for bad health! A PP/PPLP diet should have over 60% of calories from FAT (the good ones, of course!) which would NEVER be considered balanced.

Can we instead say, as Regina would, you need to eat the necessary proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants your body needs each and every day. Notice the TOTAL abstinence of that other thing that nutritionists call a macro nutrient - something that does not in any way provide nutrients.

Aus LC , you asked, and I sort of had your question in mind when I wrote the comments above. Yes, it is personal preference! BUT, that can easily lead you astray. One of the reasons I am so sold on the Dr. Eades plan as set out in PP&PPLP is that they give you the tools, especially in PPLP, to make GOOD personal choices. My choice is to simply say, I do not eat that! It is NOT food! Works for me but may not for you.

Allowing yourself to occasionally “indulge” in things that are heavy in carbohydrates, is a “slippery” slope that can cause disaster. You can read about it every day here on this board. Someone posts, “Starting over again.” or something like that. They slipped down and took too long to get back up. That often leads to consequences of a bad diet that accumulate and are hard to reverse.

I have an analogy about temptation. Its lesson is that you must learn what your irresistible temptations are, and then studiously avoid them. My (former) irresistible temptation was cookies. I was a true “cookie monster”. If there were cookies in the house I would nibble at them until they were all gone. It started in High School. The best place to study was the kitchen table. My mother made oatmeal/coconut cookies that were wonderful and were put in a jar on top of the refrigerator. After an hour or so (or less), they would call to me. So would get up and get one. Soon I would HAVE to have another. After a few one cookie trips, it was cutting into the studying so to be more efficient I would get two, or three, or ..... until I just moved the jar to the table. Two nights and it was empty!!

So when I started to grocery shop for myself and the family, I quickly learned that at home the cookies were still irresistible, as I had found out in High School. So the easiest way to keep from eating too many cookies was not to have any in the house. The way not to have them in the house was not to bring them home from the store. The way not to bring them home from the store was not to put them in the cart. The way not to have cookies put in the cart was not to go down the cookie isle!

I told this story once to a friend that was struggling with some temptations, and thus was born the expression DO NOT GO DOWN THE COOKIE ISLE! that we often used there after. We even expanded it to really great temptations by saying Do not go into the store that has a cookie isle. We even got to saying Do not drive down the street that has the store that has a cookie isle, or at least drive the other way.

We are surrounded by temptations. Both from the media trying to sell something that is not healthy to eat, or by family and friends that just are to brain washed by the media to know that the FDA food pyramid is REALLY not healthy. You must train your mind, thus it is largely a mind “game”, to resist and stick to a good healthy diet (can we use that Cindy?) the rest of your life.

Hi Larry...I finished the conference and tonight I'm trying to relax, but you know the lure of the forum had me stopping by for a moment!

At this conference I was surrounded with people who are "cookie monsters" and "candy cravers" and they all brought tons of these things.

Happily I said "please enjoy, but I'm not going to have any" and helped encourage them to make their own choice. I didn't want to be preachy, but instead just tried to lead by example. I enjoyed my eggs and various meats and we had a crudite platter that I munched on instead of chips. I think even those who were shoveling in candy by the handful appreciated what I was doing. We even got our worst offender to try a little Splenda! But whatever the case, for me I've come up with a list of ingredients that are simply no longer part of my diet...and I'll tell you, that list about kills all the packaged stuff you can find:

-sugar
-high fructose corn syrup (sorry to be redundant but this begs its own category)
-partially hydrogenated oils/trans fats
-white flour
-most starchy food (e.g., potatoes, bananas)

You know simply by saying that I don't eat those things, I am able to "avoid" the bulk of the "goodies" offered me. Instead I enjoyed some of my flavored coffee with cream and Davinci syrup (my only sweet treats tend to be that and berries) and I had veggies and meat and a little cheese.

You know, as I was writing this I was thinking about what an oxymoron "junk food" is. I am SO happy to have moved past it...and I think the best test of that was having it displayed prominently in my house and not being tempted. Ok, let's be honest...the little brownie bites were tempting (and made with much more decent ingredients than the other stuff) but I still passed on them.

Your talk of the grocery store advice reminds me of another suggestion, which is to stay around the perimeter only (for the most part, unless you need spices or diapers or cat food I guess) because that's where all the produce, meat and dairy tends to be. Because my DH insists on a different foods, I still do wander up and down the aisles, but at least I'm finally at a point where I'm fairly disgusted with a majority of the purported "food" being offered there.

Hi Protein Power Babes. I am visiting form Atkins. I read tons of stuff published by the Eades and I have learned so much from them.Have you seen the Eades low carb cooking show on PBS? It is called LowCarbWoRX. The show is just grand! I visit their blogs regularly. They made lc scones and coffee cake

I tried the low carb scones the other day - not bad as far as flavor (I subbed other low carb flour for the ww flour) but the texture and shape was more like corn bread and or a drop buiscut than a scone. I may try messing with the ingredients a bit. Sorry to get off the topic here. I've tried other things from the recipe index there and there were really good. Jen

Hey, I saw that show without realizing what it was! I think I need to Tivo that sucker. Scones aside, I adore cooking shows and get pretty excited about people who focus on cooking and eating in LC style. Thanks for the reminder, black57!

Thank Larry for the post.