We have done extensive research on eating healthy and have made a statement of our beliefs which we are living by.  Our personal health philosophy: We believe we were made by God to serve and love Him. One of the ways we can try to honor God is to be a good steward of the body He has given us. As part of that philosophy we choose to put into our body those foods that will promote health. On the contrary, we choose not to put things into our body that are known to harm our health. For us this means a mostly, whole food diet.  Learning to be good stewards of our bodies and health begins with making a decision.  We believe that our body is a gift from God and is to be nurtured and cared for properly.We believe that much of our  prescription drug use could be eliminated if we develop an effective health philosophy and stick with it. Food is the best medicine. We believe if we develop and follow through on a good philosophy of health we will feel better mentally and physically, we will have less worries about health issues such as developing cancer and heart disease, and we will have more energy to do the things we enjoy. We also believe our brain will work better.We believe in the principle of eating food “as close to the garden as possible.” That way when someone offers us a soda, we don’t have to think about it, we can immediately say “no.” After all what garden did soda emerge from?We believe that if an item is not a whole food item, it should not be in our diet.We believe that raw fruits and vegetables offer us the greatest protection against cancer more than any other food.We believe that advertisers are selling a product, pure and simple, and often are exploiting the benefits of a single nutrient to make a pitch to get us to buy their product.   We will not be taken in.We believe that our body is an incredible self healing machine that only requires the right fuel (nutrition) to maintain health and well being, and because of that we will choose my foods accordingly.We believe we should incorporate as much whole, raw food as possible. We believe meal planning should include a lot of raw food, whole foods and limited animal products. We believe our meal plans should include as many dark green and other brightly colored vegetables as possible. Foods like dark leafy greens, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, red cabbage and other cruciferous veggies should constitute much of the food we eat.We believe in eating whole fresh and dried (unsulphured /unsweetened) fruits for snacks, as well as nuts such as almonds, walnuts and pecans. We believe in eating soups, baked potatoes, brown rice, and a variety of delicious bean and vegetable dishes.We believe that to make the transition to a healthy diet meal plan we must acquire knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. Having the right knowledge will be one of the keys to success. Lack of knowledge will be one of the reasons we could possibly fail to make the transition permanent. We want to maintain our health and will be intentional about educating ourselves concerning the connection between food and disease. We believe that juicing is an important part of our plan and will incorporate it as much as possible.We believe processed foods are not good for us and will limit their consumption. We believe we need to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water daily so we can flush the toxins out of our system and stay hydrated.We believe that being overweight is not a problem that will ever be corrected by a diet program or a diet drink!  We believe that the diet that helps to reduce weight in the short run needs to be the same diet that creates and maintains our health in the long run….we believe we can control the cause of  our obesity by what is at the end of our fork.”We believe that my eating should be a lifelong process of nourishing ourselves. We believe that we must rebuild and rejuvenate our body, mind AND spirit. We believe we need to be eating real, whole foods to gain our health.To accomplish our goals we will:

• Eliminate processed foods, sugar, and other stimulants
• Choose organic produce and animal products whenever possible.
• Eat Cold-water wild, not farmed fish such as salmon, halibut and tilapia.
• Eat omega—3 eggs
• Create mills high in low-glycemic legumes
• Eat a healthy variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Use more slow-burning low-glycemic vegetables
• Focus on anti-inflammatory foods
• Eat more antioxidant-rich foods
• Include detoxifying foods in our diet
• Use herbs
• Avoid excessive quantities of meat and use lean organic, grass-fed, or free-range animal products as much as possible
• Eat garlic and onions
• Eat a diet high in fiber
• Use extra virgin olive oil
• Use organic soy products
• Increase our intake of nuts and seeds
• Eat 1-2 oz. a day of chocolate made from at least 70 percent cocoa.
• Limit alcohol to no more than three glasses of red wine per week

I eat between 900 - 1400 calories a day and am NEVER HUNGRY.  I feel like we are eating gourmet meals now.  I have sleep apnea, type II diabetes, and several other weight related health problems.  So far my doctor has taken 3 of my prescription meds away and most of my problems (like edema) have all but disappeared.  I use FITDAY to track everything that I do.  It is a wonderful program.  I copied two days of menus but have been unable to copy them to here.  If you want to e-mail me with "Sample Menu" in the subject line I can provide them to you.  (hawaii@paradiserelocation.com) Fitday really helps me to see where I am going overboard and lets me really keep an eye on nutrition and calories.  I have bought every book I can get my hands on for cooking the Whole Foods way, whole grains and beans, legumes, etc. to get lots of ideas for some great tasting food.  I also have been doing about 3-4 hours of research every night.  I am not one to believe everything I read and I wanted to make sure that what was recommended is really the RIGHT way to eat.  It really works!  I have 204 lbs to lose and plan to have it off by next summer, at the rate I'm going its a real possibility.  Fitday helps with planning that also.  I can actually eat at 1700 calories a day and still meet that goal.  Good luck with your plan.