Setbacks!
During the second week of my ITG Diet I didn’t lose as much as I was planning on. I was down 1.2 lbs in 6 days. It’s still a loss, yes, but I could have done much better than that. Even though I stuck to the diet just about every day, I went out and had a few items I shouldn’t have eaten over the weekend. I also did not drink nearly enough water, and I found myself not feeling very hungry and skipping some meals altogether. I was out late over the weekend, which threw my entire meal schedule off. On Friday, Tina (wellness coach at ITG Diet) and I talked about the upcoming weekend and how hard it is to be at home or go out and stick to a plan at the same time…boy, did I experience it! We are kind of lucky here at the office…you see, during the week while we’re working at the ITG Diet office, we are a great support system to each other. We have veggies for snacks, we talk about healthy food and recipes all day, and of course no one is bringing Burger King or pizza in to the office for their lunch break! During our days off, we all need to find that same motivation and have a plan in place.
Are organic foods really better for us? Do they taste better? How do they really compare to conventionally grown foods? The mainstream concept of organic foods makes sense… that you should only eat those foods that are not grown with manmade and potentially toxic chemicals. Yet I have to wonder why someone would be healthier if they ate food sprayed with fresh organic green manure rather than food that was treated with conventional manmade products. 
I’m getting ready to start the ITG Diet next week…and even though I know I’ll be cutting out some of the things I love to eat and drink, I’m so excited to see how well this diet works for me! I was in the restaurant industry for quite some time, and as a manager, we were allowed to eat whatever we wanted, every single day…for free! It sounds like a dream, but in the past 4 years, I have gone from a 32” waist and 175 pounds to a 36” waist and 225 pounds.
Several years ago I was on the ITG Diet.. The typical menopausal female.. Hot Flashes during the day, hot and cold sweats at night, irritability, lack of sleep… okay, maybe even a little “bitchy”… After three weeks of being on the program the hot flashes were basically Gone.. Wow.. That is when Dr. John explained what I was going through.. Fast forward several years… Now I notice that when I have too many carbs.. i.e… a couple glasses of wine, pizza, pasta or too many sweets.. that night I will have some mild hot flashes… So in my case what I have learned is that carbs and sugars are directly related to my hot flashes. For me, this is such a gift to be able to control them.. And yes, I did lose 20 pounds on the program and have maintained my weight. I do a tune up about twice a year.. As I say, Keep that line in the sand.. if I gain back just a few pounds I get back on Step 1 of the diet.. And it works.. I am happier and healthier.. Even though I’m on the back side of 55, I feel much younger.
There is, for the most part, a definitive association between less weight, less obesity and lower incidences of hot flashes. Hot flashes go by the official name of Thermoregulatory Flushing and are associated with feeling very hot, profuse sweating and flushing of the skin, which is part of the body’s natural heat regulating mechanism. The problem is that this natural heat regulation during menopausal hot flashes is somewhat out of control. 
