Wendishness’ amazing weight loss secrets revealed!

In 7 and a half weeks I’ve lost 10kg (21 lbs) and a lot of people are asking “what’s your secret?” As I mentioned in my previous post, I was diagnosed with having NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). Western medicine has no real treatment for this condition, what will help it is supplements from a health food store and a change of diet. I knew that I had to find out more, so my first port of call was the local Naturopath in my neighbourhood.

I told her what my ailment was and immediately she suggested a herbal tonic she could make up, I can’t remember exactly what’s in it but I know there is Dandelion root, and St Mary’s Thistle but a couple of extras too. I take 5 ml, three times a day in water before meals. This really kick started my liver into action quite quickly.

We had a great chat about things I could also do to help my liver and quickly recommended a book that she felt would help me along too. Remember, the liver is one of the most important organs in our bodies and it’s what controls our metabolism. Got a sluggish metabolism? Maybe your liver needs some help?

I looked at the back of the book to see what it said and there was a checklist of 20 things to indicate that your liver might need help and I answered yes to most of them. I walked out of the store with my herbal tonic AND a copy of the book.

What is this book you might ask? It’s the Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr Sandra Cabot, some of you may have heard of it before, I had but never considered it might help me. You can read more about the book and what Dr Sandra Cabot suggests to help your liver amongst other things at www.liverdoctor.com. FYI: clicking through to this does not make me any money, I’m just happy to share what I’m learning with others in case they find it could help them. Here is a list of the things on the back of the book to ask yourself.

Do you suffer from:

• Being overweight?
• Abdominal bloating?
• Poor digestion?
• Frequent fatigue?
• Headaches?
• Unpleasant moods?
• Bad breath and coated tongue?
• Irritable bowel syndrome?
• Sluggish metabolism?
• Overburdened immune system?
• Excessive bodyheat?
• High cholesterol?
• Gall bladder disease
• Fatty liver
• Allergies
• High blood pressure
• Sugar cravings
• Intolerance to alcohol
• Excess alcohol intake
• Inability to lose weight

The book offers a lot of information about the liver and it’s function within the body, helping the regular person understand fully just how much the liver does, it’s an incredibly important organ, perhaps the most important organ when you fully understand its function within the body.

Dr Cabot shares her diet strategy, it’s an 8 week diet. But let me get one thing straight here, it’s NOT a calorie counting diet, it’s not like the Atkins diet, it’s not like any of the diets where you use a lot of protein shakes to replace meals, it’s simply a change of eating regime to cut out the bad fats, replace them with healthy ones, and to get all your nutritional needs through foods that aren’t over processed and full of preservatives and additives. Realistically, it’s changing your eating habits to eating the way we should have done in the first place – a long time before convenience foods came along. I think this is where people misunderstand me when I say I’m on a diet, I’m not, I’m on a healthy eating plan using fresh foods and cutting out all the things that are bad for my body.

So, in this book she gives you step by step instructions on what types of things to eat in the first two weeks, then the next four weeks and then the final four weeks. Included in the book are recipes for so many things, from main courses, entrees, soups, shakes, spreads, cereals, cakes, burgers, and all kinds of other things. The BEST thing about this eating plan is it won’t take long and you no longer crave sweet foods, you don’t feel hungry in between meals. The basic premise is that you’re eating liver friendly food that kicks your liver into doing it’s thing naturally.

One of the things that I really do like about it is there is plenty of choices of different foods to eat, considering that we all have different tastes, there really is something for everyone. Sure, there are things I can’t eat at the moment but I’m not missing them at all, because everything I’m eating NOW is so healthy and tasty! I crave these foods, I know there is nothing bad in them and in turn my body is showing signs that I’m doing the right thing by it.

Here’s the thing though, I’m not actually following her diet plan. My choice in this is due to finances, as I’m on a disability pension and my husband is on special benefit, we really don’t make enough money to buy everything to do the diet as she has it. Is this a problem? Not in the least, because Dr Sandra Cabot offers suggestions for people such as myself. She knows that for various reasons people can’t do this diet as she has it, so she has put in “The Twelve Vital Principles to Improve your Liver Function” and these are what I follow. But, looking through her diet food suggestions, I buy what I can to get the best out of it.

Basically I use the 12 principles and I don’t eat anything with refined sugar in it, I eat only vegetables, fruits, pulses or legumes, sprouts, nuts, LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond crushed powder which is great to sprinkle on just about anything), I have fresh fruit juice I make myself, I eat only organic eggs, I eat cold water fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel and I’m allowed organic chicken. At this stage, no red meats but once I get down to my goal weight I will introduce only lean and organic meats.

The thing with the liver and weight loss is this, following this diet or a modification of it like I am, your metabolism balances itself out and you naturally start losing weight until you reach your goal weight. If you’re already quite lean and don’t need to lose weight but you use this diet to help something else listed above, you won’t lose weight because your metabolism knows you’re already at your goal weight. It’s such simple logic really.

I drink plenty of water through this, I have also cut out all dairy products, I’ve replaced milk with soy milk, I don’t eat cheese, no yoghurt, no ice-cream BUT I am allowed sorbet or sherbet (depending on where you live). There are more things that I eat but I can’t really remember off the top of my head, but I’ll throw in a little slideshow of the things I have been eating. Btw, hommus on rye bread – divine! I use hommus as a dip or spread, I use avocado as a spread too or sliced. I never feel hungry, I always feel fulfilled, everything is tasty and the weight is almost dripping off me. I know I’m on a winner here and will stick to it until I am down to my goal weight and then stick to a maintenance plan which won’t be much different as I love this and my body feels so much better for it overall. Yes, there are things that aren’t well in my body, but eating so healthy I’m giving my body the best chance ever to help it heal.

Feel free to ask me any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them – and see if you can spot my “helper” who sometimes pops along and helps me eat my dinner.

One last thing I want to share is Maca Power, (the Inca superfood) which is made by 100% pure Maca root powder. I take this 3 times a day and it’s benefits balance a woman’s hormonal system. So in addition to my diet this actually takes care of my PMS and regulates my monthly cycle – I swear by it’s benefits. It also helps with my stress levels too, things that would’ve had me flying off the handle now I can deal with in a really balanced and healthy way. Onwards and upwords and YAY to the Incas for growing such a wonderful root vegetable! Apparently it’s only grown in the Andes.

Tags: diet, Dr Sandra Cabot, fatty liver, liver cleansing, maca power, naturopath, the health shelf