>Therefore, the most important thing we can >do is to use our brains and try to be moderate in following this diet. >Expect varying degrees of commitment and a wide range of opinion about > >this. That said, here's my $.02 worth... I try to be pretty gung ho in following this, myself. But I have both a couple of "I'll do it my ways" and a few restrictions. "I'll do it my way!" some butter (not every day but a couple times a week) peanuts every now and then (a great snack available just about anywhere) oil & (gasp!) vinegar (oil & lemon juice on my sald just ain't the same) times when I cheat, approximately once in a blue moon (life's short; live and forgive) As for restrictions, I'd love to only grass fed meat or wild game and wild fish but the times are, ahem, kind of tight and that's just not an option at the moment. I'll do if I finally start making what I'm worth (dammit). The same holds true for produce. I'd like to by as close to au natural as possible but this is tough, financially. And don't forget that even the most natural produce out there (with only a few exceptions) aren't what they were just 100 years ago, much less 100K years ago. So to a certain extent, we're ALL restricted. As for how much of this, that and the other, one size does not fit all. I look at it this way; maybe there IS some magic formula (not written in stone, but you know what I mean) that would fit us all like a nice glove IF we'd eaten this way from day one. For example, I know I have a few hormones that aren't where they should be and I'm hyperinsulinemic. If I'd never let Wonder Bread, Twinkies and homogenized milk pass lips, who knows? None of the above may have manifested themselves. But they did, so I'm using this concept to relatively successfully take care of them. And the only thing that works is keeping my carbs down and my fat up with a good amount of protein in there (although I'm eating more ultra-low carb veggies, more fat and less protein than before and things are lookin' good; it's still probably lower in carbs than what others of us eat). Sorry, that turned into at least a dollar's worth. :) Dori Zook _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp