Hi, Ginny, I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that I made myself. If you are somewhat proficient with Excel it may be useful to you and you are welcome to have a copy. You could send me an email with your email address. If you click on my profile, I believe there is an option that allows you to email members. Would you consider an online food journal? They are great. They have a database of foods and nutrition information, so you just select the foods you ate during the day, and the computer will calculate your daily calories as well as the carbs, protein, fat, and lots of other nutrition information. Fitday.com is a popular one, and they have a home computer version that they sell for about $30, I think. My favorite is the USDA Mypyramidtracker. This is provided by our government so there is no advertising and no worry about getting spam from the site. If you want something real simple that doesn't calculate anything for you, like a Microsoft Word template, there are lots of those at the Microsoft Office Online web site. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Mypyramid

This sounds interesting. I enjoyed this forum so much and got a lot of help from it and then so many left to form a private group on facebook. It doesn't pertain to diets. I wish there was some way we could get this one active again. We used to weigh in once a week and post our weight. It sure helped. I am on prednisone and gained a lot of weight. The dosage was lowered and although I am still on a maintenance dosage, I did manage to lose 44 pounds. I've regained 10 over the last year and I'm not one bit happy about it. I'm on blood thinners, too so have to keep my Vitamin K level. That complicates things, too. I so very much miss the encouragement here. All the best in your effort.

Well, I haven't yet been able to find the name of the book. But I did take notes from that book and a health newsletter I get, the Blaylock Wellness Report. I followed the plan for a couple of months last fall, and felt so much better. But I really fell off the wagon from about Thanksgiving until recently. And during that time, the acid reflux returned, as did most of my other aches and pains. I started back with the plan about a week or two ago and feel better already. A couple of the most important points is to avoid omega-6 fats and get lots of omega-3's, and to consume low-glycemic foods rather than high. Here is what I eat: Wild salmon (absolutely no farmed salmon. All the fish I eat is wild) Fish - but none of the larger fish like grouper or swordfish. Raw nuts - almonds, walnuts, pecans and pistachios, mostly. LOTS of organic vegetables, and I eat about half of them raw. 5-10 servings a day. Healthy fats, like extra virgin olive oil and organic virgin coconut oil. I take Carlson's liquid fish oil everyday. If I need a spread, I will occasionally use butter, never margarine. Plenty of tea. White and Rooibos are the ones that Dr. Blaylock recommends. I also occasionally have a cup of green or oolong tea. I drink 3-4 cups of tea a day. Purified water - We invested in a water distiller. It takes about 4 hours to make a gallon. We love it and wouldn't be without it now. Moderate amounts of: Whole grains (limited; definitely not the 7-9 servings advocated in the food pyramid) such as oats, whole wheat, brown rice. I like a bread from Wild Oats that is made with organic whole wheat, filtered water, honey, yeast and salt. That's the entire ingredient list, no additives, chemicals or preservatives. Fruits - Berries are especially good, and I eat oranges and apples, too. I seldom have a banana, as it is higher on the glycemic index. Avocados are great, full of healthy fat (are they a fruit or a vegetable??) Shell fish - I try to avoid that which comes from China or Thailand, which is most of it, especially shrimp. Dried beans/legumes - I eat black or red beans mostly, and just an average size serving, not a huge plateful. Eggs high in omega-3's (Christopher eggs have the highest omega-3, 600 per egg and can be purchased at Kroger or Walmart) Chicken, pork, or beef - just one of these once a week and always organic. Things I avoid: The aforementioned omega-6 fats, found in corn, safflower, sunflower, peanut, soybean and canola oils. This means no packaged snacks, which are full of this. Even if the label touts, "No saturated fat!", it's still a bad fat. High-glycemic foods. This means no white potatoes (darn!), white rice, white bread and sugar. All prepared and processed foods and soups. They are loaded with many things that cause inflammation. Limited or very little dairy. No soft drinks or diet soft drinks. These and omega-6's are the worst things you can put into your body. Regular soft drinks are full of the worst type of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup. And diet drinks have aspartame, another bad guy. No MSG, and it's everywhere in processed foods. Did you know that there are at least a dozen other names that MSG goes by? Manufacturers slip it by us disguised by another name. So basically, it's a whole food diet, with the majority of it being vegetables, fruits, and nuts, with some high quality proteins, dried beans, whole grains and healthy fats thrown in. It is quite restrictive, but the longer I stick with it, the less I miss the junk food and artery-clogging stuff I was consuming. And boy, I can tell a difference in how I feel, so it is worth it. Of course, I will from time to time treat myself to a slice of birthday cake, or some favorite thing that I miss, like sushi. I really do enjoy the foods that are allowed. Today's lunch was a Wild Oats whole wheat pita filled with veggies, lettuce, avocado. Last night's dinner was wild salmon, roasted asparagus spears and a salad of romaine and cherry tomatoes with a dressing made of olive oil, vinegar, and garlic. Then my evening snack was an apple and a few almonds. Tried not to think of the box of Cheese Nips in the pantry!

Head to your local library and check for "The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook" by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. If they don't have it have the library get it through inter-library loan. Check the link below for more information. You shouldn't need all that much in speciality foods that you can't get through your regular grocer. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Mediterranean Diet Pyramid