Bathilda Bagshot Boils Beans...

...Well, not exactly, but I liked the alliteration. What I am doing, however, is trying on Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live diet, which calls for eating lots of the following: raw veggies, steamed or cooked green veggies and cooked low-starch veggies (e.g., eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, cauliflower and tomatoes -- the latter of which is technically a fruit), beans, legumes, bean sprouts and tofu, and at least four fresh fruits daily.

On the Six-Week Plan, you're supposed to eat limited portions of cooked starchy veggies or whole grains -- such as yellow squash, potatoes, yams, rice, cooked carrots, breads, cereals -- as well as small portions of raw nuts and seeds, avocado, and ground flaxseed.

Also on the Six-Week Plan, the off-limits foods are dairy products, animal products, between-meal snacks, fruit juice, and dried fruit. Of course, anything thought of as junk food would be totally off-limits.

I think of the Six-Week Plan as the "greens, beans, and fruit" plan. Will I, Bikram Yoga Bathilda Bagshot, follow it exactly?? Uh, no. Take away Bathilda's coffee beverage (2 tbsp. Victorian House Concentrated Coffee made by the Ryan Family, 4 oz. Silk chocolate soy milk, 4 oz. 1% organic milk, water, and Stevia) and she would be a most unhappy yogini! So I will try a "modified" six-week plan to see if my body experiences an energizing and healing transformation as mentioned in Dr. Fuhrman's book. I want to lose 15-20 pounds ideally. I figure between Bikram Yoga and this dietary program, I can't help but lose some of this weight. And if I don't, this blog and its readers will hear about it!

Speaking of Bikram Yoga, I only made it to class once this past week -- the evening session I went to on Labor Day. Since then, I haven't been back BUT given the temperature and degree of humidity this past week, I could very well open my own Bikram Yoga studio right here in the house. Temperatures have been in the mid-9os with humidity in the 30% range. Today the weather forecast SAYS it's only 82 degrees outside, but my kitchen thermometer says 88 degrees. Well, at least it's under 9o degrees inside the house! The humidity is higher (42%), which makes it feel even hotter. Ugh.

Looking forward to cooler weather...