Discussion Board

From VegSource...

"We ran into our friend, Chef AJ, at a local vegan fair not long ago and were struck -- she's lost a lot of weight! She then told a story of being in excellent health, but being questioned about her own weight when she is teaching healthy weight loss, and how working with a top plant-based clinic in Northern California led her to change her diet, and get some amazing results. We asked if she would share her story, and she said she is finishing a new book, and has a full chapter telling what she did. With AJ's permission we are running that chapter below, which is from her forthcoming book, The 30 Day UNPROCESSED Challenge."

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2012/07/h ... -nuts.html

Her story goes right inline with my recent article, "A Date With Disaster: The Pleasure Trap of Whole Natural Foods."

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30338

In Health
Jeff

I sure can relate to this read...I was eating hand fulls of nuts and seeds, loved avocados on everything and because I have lots of coconuts and durian around me I ate that too...yes a vegan..but was 45 50 lbs over weight....cut them out and eating lots of potatoes (pinkrose would be proud) and the weight is coming off...

Love this way of eating...

NOTE: Chef AJ's post is in response to an inflammatory post that was removed. Please re-read the forum guidelines. Derogatory & inflammatory posts will be deleted. JN

According to Dr. Michael Greger who gave me a medical assessment last month in Pennsylvania I am not overweight and my BMI is optimal. How thin one can ultimately become is genetic and despite a completely added fat-free whole food/plant based diet.

Love & Kale,
Chef AJ

Chef AJ looks great - slim and healthy. Her story is very motivational, especially for those struggling with those last 10-15 pds. Small changes can make such a big difference.

Great read! Is there a publication date for the book yet?

I asked Chef AJ and will let you know.

As an FYI, I appreciate Chef AJ telling her story.

As many of you all know, I have never been a fan of any of the foods that were made with a high fat/high nut content as always spoke out about it and cautioned against them. However, my comments were never about Chef AJ personally but about the food and its calorie density and % fat.

However, it seems like many have taken this opportunity (of Chef AJ telling her story) to speak out about her personally in this forum and in other forums. In fact, people have signed up to this website for the sole purpose of ridiculing Chef AJ and then raising a ruckus when their posts are deleted. Sorry, that behavior is unacceptable here.

As she posted last night...

"First of all I am advising nothing. I am not telling anyone what to do. Jeff Nelson asked me how I lost weight and I told him and he asked me if I would contribute a blog post. Second, fat is actually the LEAST SATIATING of all of the macronutrients (Blundell JE, Lawton CL, Cotton JR, Macdiarmid JL. Control of human appetite implications for the intake of dietary fat. Annu Rev Nutr 1996; 16: 285-319 and Rolls BJ, Kim-Harris S, Fischman MW, et al. Satiety after preloads with different amounts of fat and carbohydrate: implications for obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 Oct; 60 (4) 476-87)

The amount of fat needed to increase nutrient absorption is actually quite small, something like the amount of fat in ONE TABLESPOON of avocado. More Americans, vegans included, are suffering from the effects of obesity much more than they suffer from caratenoid absorption problems.

Again, I never told anyone not to eat nuts and seeds and I will definitely add back a tablespoon of ground flax seeds once I reach my ideal weight. And after 6 months without a single nut or seed I did have my Omega 3 fatty acid levels tested and they are fine."

And, while some of her reasoning for losing the weight seems to have struck a nerve with many, let's remember, people cut their hair, grow mustaches, whiten their teeth, buy a new dress, put on makeup and do whatever they feel works for them for the same reasoning. So, if someone wants to lose weight for the sake of making themselves feel better (and does it in a healthy way while still remaining in the healthy range), more power to them.

While she may not have mentioned it, she also has other health issues associated with the extra weight including a knee problem that almost required surgery. And, as anyone familiar with my forum knows, a BMI in the lower range of healthy (18.5-22) is considered optimal.

You may disagree with her and her story but do it respectfully and do not make it personal.

In Health
Jeff

Dr. Nick Delgado (who has that great You Tube on how to become diabetic in 6 hours) says the more potatoes he eats, the thinner he gets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ezhzH0Gu2U

The book part is done, although I think I will add a chapter based on these past few days entitled "are you still holding on to your nuts"?

The recipe section is not finished, we are thinking September

Most people in America consume very few nuts and so they are not the main reason most Americans are fat. Most Americans are fat because they are sedentary and over consume calories from eating a high fat, highly refined, high calorie dense diet.

When nuts are part of a calorie controlled low calorie diet, no, they do not cause weight gain. However, nuts are calorie dense and so are easy to overeat on, especially as part of an "ad libitum" diet, and when nuts are added to someones customary diet, yes, they do cause weight gain, just less than predicted as the studies do show. This is due to several compensatory mechanisms which is covered in the DVD.

Nuts are very calorie dense and are also very high in fat and so can easily trigger the pleasure trap for many people who find it hard to eat just a few.

For someone who was following a diet made up of mostly low fat low calorie dense foods, nuts could very easily be the item the causes weight gain or could be the reason for the persons excess weight, or could be the item that is keeping them from losing those last few tricky pounds, which was the case with AJ. Nuts are actually very high in calorie density and contrary to popular opinion, very low in nutrient density. All this is explained in the DVD and a note that will be coming out soon.

As an FYI, Dr McDougall is at a healthy weight & found out that when he got rid of his parrot, & all the seeds they were keeping around for the parrot that he was snacking on, he lost 5 lbs in a month.

In Health
Jeff

So I think the take home message here is for optimum weight, get a dog as a pet instead!

Chef AJ's story was one joyous read, I thought: Fun, rational, thoughtful, and well told. And Jeff's further reflections here, as well as AJ's commentary, have been excellent.

You guys are treasures.

Thank you or your kind words! Not everyone has been so supportive of other my method or reason for loing weight. Seemed to have hit a nerve with a lot of folks, so I truly appreciate your post.

Love & Kale,
Chef AJ

Chef AJ was hot before losing the weight. There isn't a downside to her latest efforts. She will be an even more effective spokeperson for this way of eating in the future. Go get 'em Chef AJ!
f1jim

Chef AJ rocks! I appreciate what she's shared about the changes she made. She knows exactly how to take good care of herself and is doing it. It takes courage to face criticism and judgmental comments, wisdom and confidence to look at what you are doing and make changes to improve your health despite the backlash. I say BRAVO!!!

I have difficulty limiting nut consumption to 1 oz daily and do find desires to overeat them are increased if I have them by hand or just too handy. Seeing that Chef AJ's omega 3 levels remained fine gives me some confidence to abstain from nuts if I find myself overeating them again. I can only imagine how much they would impact my weight loss if I were at a healthy weight, as Chef AJ was. A little goes a long way.

Eating nuts was not the cause of my obesity - eating processed, salty, oily, sugary vegan foods with few nutrients and my lack of exercise were. Still, after eating nutritious foods consistently, when I did start overeating nuts it really impacted my weight. They are high fat, high calorie and tasty as all getout. They truly are part of that pleasure trap for me.

Chef AJ's article has been helpful in my quest to eat more wisely and truly limit those nuts to 1 oz daily. I say thank you!

Thank you for your kind words Jim! Wish you were on the Furhman Boards too