I am 51 yr ol obese, purchased live right and cook right books and are trying to follow them for weight loss and for better health. I am 4-11 and weigh 180. I have lupus, fibromyalgia, hypothyroisism, buldgeing disc in my back with degeneration also. I have arthritis in my hips, and legs. I am in lots of pain and on the fentanyl patches since thursday for control. I am following the diet as close as I can, and am staying mostly in the beneficial areas of foods. I also gave up diet cokes(from 40 yrs habit!!) cold turkey and drink green tea now with stevia. I manage my mother's health food store, but is is small and I have to purchase most of my foods in the nearest town. I love the breads and am not even craving meats at all. I just need some input as to possible weight loss I may expect if following carefully and I am type A. Thanks for your thoughts on this matter as soon as possible. Annie

Wow! Great job on quitting the diet cokes!! pretty impressive! :-) Just chucked 'em, huh? Whatta gal!!

My chiropractor, who just celebrated his 50th anniversary in practice, always says that the best thing for the back is to be slender. Be careful with that back, and let's just get your weight normalized to begin with. There are exercises, simple-brief-easy and safe, which you can start now if your doctor approves. They can be found at the Royal Canadian Air Force 5BX site. Using the lowest level (Chart One, D-)for two weeks will begin to strengthen the muscles that support your spine, as well as give you more mobility in your legs and back. Look at the site and make notes, talk to your doctor, and start slowly. At first, you may not be able to really perform any of the movements. That's fine! Lots of folks start that way! just make "gestures" at them and work slowly along from day to day.

Next: Chicken Soup. Yep. Secret miracle remedy! :-) You think I'm kidding, don't you! Read on: get a 3 or 4 pound organic chicken. Quarter an onion, and put it in the bottom of a roasting pan along with enough whole carrots & celery stalks to make a kind of rack along the bottom. Toss in 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over it, add 2 cups of water, and put the chicken (rubbed with olive oil and sea salt, inside and out) on top. Roast at 375 F for a couple of hours (baste if you like), until the skin is crisp and the leg & wing joints loosen. Take it out, let it sit and settle for 15 minutes after it's done, then carve the meat off the bones. Now, dump all the bones and everything left in the roasting pan into a pot big enough to hold twice that volume. Cover it with water, 3" above the solid contents. Bring it to a boil, then simmer it for 3-4 hours. Add a squeeze of lemon, and simmer one more hour. The bones will crumble at the pinch of two fingers when you drain the broth. Toss the bones, veg, whatever doesn't go through the colander. You are now in possession of the finest elixir known to man for the repair of cartilage, skin-hair-bone health, and soluble beneficial proteins for general healing of your system.

Here's how you take it: warm it up like tea (not quite boiling, although that won't hurt it - but it might burn your mouth!), pour it in your cup and add a tablespoon of very fresh flax oil, a sprinkle of turmeric, garlic powder, and parsley. This is powerful medicine.

You can make a broth of fish bones the same way, if you buy whole fish which you steam or bake, then toss the bones into a plastic bag for the freezer. Eventually you'll have half a pound or so, and you can boil them for broth in the same way with a bunch of fresh parsley and a carrot & celery stalk added.

Next: have a smoothie in the morning, made of two tablespoons freshly-ground flax meal from the seed (just keep a bag in the fridge), a tablespoon of fish oil, and your favorite fruit (pineapple, plum, berries, mix it up however you'd like) a tablespoon of beneficial nut or seed butter and a few ice cubes. Thin it with spring or mineral water if desired.

Make some salad dressing in your blender, including a whole scoop of nutritional yeast (KAL is tops), a cup of olive oil, juice of a lemon (more or less, to taste), some toasted sesame oil, sea salt. This can top your raw salads and steamed vegetables, and tastes absolutely wonderful.

Because of the lupus and fibro, I want you to use only the 100% sprouted breads until the pain is gone and you no longer need the patches.

Annie, since you work in a health food store you're in the best possible position to get any books or supplements you need. May I recommend Meditation as Medicine by Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa? I have been using his Medical Meditations for several months now, and the effect is awesome. You can perform them in just 10 minutes per day. His success with pain relief and healing what mainstream medicine calls "intractable" conditions is stupendous. In fact, he has another book specifically targeted for pain patients, called The Pain Cure.

I suggest these books because the techniques described are absolutely paramount in healing -- perhaps for type As most of all -- and used with their equally powerful nutritional/lifestyle guide, Live Right, they will afford a restorative and enlivening experience for you that no medicine of any kind can hope to approach.

Your weight loss will proceed in the best manner, as your body decides as it heals. I cannot tell you how quickly it will go, but the optimum (and expected) rate would be perhaps 3-5 pounds per week at first (perhaps the first 2-3 weeks), and one to two pounds per week for a month or two, then less as you approach your ideal weight. You may experience fluctuations and plateaus, since your thyroid function is low at this time. Keep strictly to your program, and hold in mind that this plan will see you through to serenity, strength and robust good health in body and mind.

Best of luck to you, dear! Please let me know how you are doing!!