[6of1]

Going to be offline for the rest of the week so thought I had better take a moment to pop over a quick reply.

Sounds like we are dealing with very similar issues. Don't have quite the level of stomach problems you have but we are definitely on the same page. Oh, I miss pizza sooooo much! Though saying that, I did weaken a few weeks ago and can't honestly say I enjoyed it. Wonder if there is a bit of the body craving what is not good for it? And staying away for long enough you notice it's true nature, which very often is not particularly healthy. Noticing the same thing with sweet things too. Got a real sweet tooth (no surprises there) but the better I am getting at eliminating sugar, the less I enjoy the occasional weakness. Used to love chocolate, but now it just tastes like sweet mush. Ok, may be lying there a little bit ;-)

To a certain extent I don't miss the Pizza, I used to enjoy cheese omelettes though, now those I really miss.
The cravings thing is strange, sometimes, I think certain cravings (say fish) is because the body needs a top up of something
say, iron, or calcium. Other times, it is, as you say, because
it isn't good for you... But I also wonder about certain supplements (beano, lactaid) which let you eat something without (apparent) consequences,
I think that can be bad for you as well, after all, your body is saying something when you get sick because of it, why flirt with
danger?

As tough at it is sometimes, exercise, or rather controlled activity, is the main way to recover from CFS. A little while ago I managed to get referred to the leading CFS specialist in the UK. Don't know how your friend is doing, but if he would like I could put some notes together and pm them over to you.

Been some very interesting developments over the last couple of years regarding the real reason so many are pilling on the lbs. And how the body actually responds to exercise. Some of what they are finding is initially counter intuitive. Not least of which is that for many the gym is not the place to go. I had some links which I managed to loose (ugh!). Will try and find them again and post them.

I have had to throttle back the exercises for a couple of days, tweaked my abdominal muscles, and I have to be careful with that; had rib injuries
(not from exercise) on two different occasions and don't want to aggravate them (and they aggravate easily).
The exercises are effective for me, as long as I do the diet with them...
After seeing the effect of CFS on my friend, I would hate to experience it...
I feel for you.

Fully understand your reasoning of waiting until you can get your weight on the way down before starting NBE again. Seems I am a little ahead of the curve than you here and can say that's it's entirely possible to affect the lower body geometry! Realise I am talking purely from anecdotal, but personally it was becoming noticeable within a matter of weeks of getting my programme working and every indication of it continuing. I do actually suspect that because fat cells don't go once you get them... and overweight people grow more fat cells... once we manage to get down to our target weight and get NBE going, we could probably manage larger curves than those who managed to stay skinny. Just the iddy biddy matter of getting the weight down in the first place :-(

Since the exercises have been effective for me, it will be interesting to see what adding something like fg to mix will do....

As I am sure you can appreciate, my investigations for NBE have been heavily influenced by my own health issues and from what I have found/finding it should be possible to create an effective NBE programme that can have health benefits too. My suggestion regarding EPO and Green Tea was meant for health reasons, not specifically for NBE.

I also occasionally drink camomile tea and take magnesium for some issues, I find them fairly effective.

Studies have shown that FG at 500mg per day helps stabilise insulin production and hormone levels, helps with fat reduction, and reducing the build up of calcium oxalate in the kidneys (we NEED good kidneys). Reishi has MULTIPLE health benefits! As does Green Tea, in particular with helping with weight loss and type 2. Vitamin D3 helps with weight loss, especially if not getting enough sun (don't over do it though). And to be honest, the more I am finding out, EPO especially when combined with a good fish oil is almost tailor made for what we are dealing with (health wise). The fact that they can also be effective when part of an NBE programme is almost coincidental. Often the difference is just dosage and fine tuning the combinations.

Be interesting to see the effect of fg on my diabetes, though one has to be very careful not go the opposite direction into hypoglycaemia.