I stumbled across this site and wanted to add my experience with IPD. I am 57 F and have failed at every diet plan out there and am becoming insulin resistant and pre-diabetic as a result. My blood pressure was on a consistent rise over the past year. It seemed that every diet I have tried, as soon as I go off or mess up I gain back everything I lost. Pretty discouraging. I was ready to give up but saw and purchased IPD and began August '07. I have about 50 pounds to lose and have lost 19 in three months (I probably lost most of it in the first 6 weeks). It was the easiest weight I've ever lost although I have become complacent (since I lost a significant amount) about preparing the meals ahead of time and have therefore gone off alot. I do like the food choices because they do not require much preparation, they are simple foods. I had forgotten that at the very beginning I chose the original foods that would be included in my 11 day choices. I wish I could go back there now and perhaps change up a little for variety. Other pluses I find with IPD is that my blood sugar and blood pressure especially have dropped to very good numbers. I do not feel that this in an unhealthy diet. If you feel you need more carbs, enjoy those in your 3 days off. I am really sensitive to all carbs and feel so much better with just the fruit and vegetable carbs with the oatmeal and WW bread I have once in 11 days. This diet has the same focus for me as Fat Flush but is easier because it tells me exactly what to eat. When I have a plan in my head but am rushed for time, I eat whatever I can get my hands on. With this, the foods are not hard to prepare and can easily be readied ahead of time for the entire day. Several other strong points that I believe IPD has are: 1)the idea of shuffling calories and food types so that your body is always adjusting instead of going into starvation mode; I usually lose weight when on my 3 days off even if I know I am eating more than I should. Even when not following the 11 day program in October, I still lost a couple of pounds! 2) the blood sugar stays much more level so all the carb cravings I was having prior to IPD are mostly not an issue. This is the first diet to not leave me yearning and craving to eat more. I can stop because my blood sugar isn't screaming for atttention. 3) I appreciate the exercise advise also and that it differs for the 11-day and the 10 day IPDs. It is much easier to walk when you aren't carrying around extra #s and when you feel a little more energetic from stable blood sugars. All that to say that I think IPD is a good goal for lifetime eating with moderate changes like adding brown rice, sweet potatoes, peas, infrequent splurges for holidays, etc., once you hit your weight and/or health goal. The 10 day program could easily be a lifetime program. I hope this is helpful to someone.

Annie, i wasn't attempting to "pile on" or "pick a fight". I feel that lpink and the others who suggested eating plenty of fruit offered well meaning advice about general good eating habits. However, in this case, they were potentially, er, lethal ideas. In Dody's second sentence of her first post she states that her husband has high potassium. I also agree that Dody is smart enough not to take our advice. With the range of problems that her husband is facing, his diet, unfortunately, needs to be very limited and directed by his MD and RD who have full information and who can continue to monitor his potassium level. I was reading quite a bit more into what Dody said than lpink saw based on my training and the recognition of an entirely too familiar pattern. Lpink and the other fruitophiles couldn't really be expected to understand the downside to their advice, because it's not something that they would know about. I don't normally provide medical advice because I don't have enough information and because it would be improper anyway, but in this case "splurging" on fresh fruit made me cringe and reflexively say "no!" Believe it or not, I've actually seen loving, well meaning family members attempt to cure kidney problems with "juicing". Everybody knows that fruit is "healthy", right? For those of us with reasonably healthy kidneys and normal blood sugar it is! The "DASH" diet is a diet that is deliberately high in potassium. For most people it's a great diet, but not for Dody's DH, unfortunately. A lot of non-medical people may not realize that too much potassium in the blood can be life threatening. On the gardening forums someone may recommend a favorite plant and someone else may recommend against it and no hard feelings, but diet beliefs are often very personal. Here is a link that might be useful: Hyperkalemia -- The Mayo Clinic

you may want to try sofa on the wall across from the window and love seat on window side. good job not crowding the window, by the way. if you move the sofa, keep the loveseat away from the window (you should be able to walk behind it) more on that later. having the sofas across from each other will open up the room and say "welcome, come on in" when you put a sofa across the room it says, caution keep out. your choice on how you want the room to feel. keep the sofa and loveseat the same distance from the fireplace sides, center them on fireplace not the room. if you want to keep the black footstool, try your red throw folded and draped over it and/or add a woven tray similar to your beautiful basket. (the tray will act as a place for snacks/remotes etc.) A lovely tall/and wide plant would be great behind/and to the side of the furniture on the window wall. (use a quality faux if you aren't a plant person or don't want to maintain it.)

I'm worried that you might not be aware that Live Oaks take many years (!!!) to achieve 'shade tree' status. And the larger they are when planted, the slower they grow. Also, Live Oaks are extremely messy trees. No one in their right mind would plant them anywhere near a pool. They shed copious leaves in the late winter as the new buds begin to grow; it's the normal growth habit for Live Oaks, which are not true 'evergreens'. Their small leaves are slow to difficult to blow from walkways, a nightmare to clean from pools, and extremely slow to decompose. Did I say copious? After the leaf fall comes the dreaded shedding of the male catkins, which build up in drifts for several weeks until they all finish dropping. This is another major pool clogger. Then, there comes the winter acorn fall! Not only are they capable of dropping bushels of the little things, but they can become a hazard on pathways, and will stain a pool bottom. I have overseen the landscape management programs of several coastal SC resort and golf properties, all of which were thick with Live Oaks, old and newly planted. They were a PITA. I'm not even going to discuss the situation with the grass.