The Coconut Diet^TM

When you have reached your ideal weight, you are ready for Phase IV.  This meal plan is designed to help you maintain your ideal weight.  By now your biochemistry should have improved considerably, and you should be at a place where cravings for sweets, breads, and starches have virtually disappeared.  You are ready to eat a wide variety of healthy foods that will help you stay trim for the rest of your life. The key to The Coconut Diet^TM is to continue to add plenty of coconut oil to your diet through your food preparation, and stay away from unhealthy vegetable oils and refined carbohydrates. At this point you are no longer on a "diet," but developing healthy eating habits that you should follow the rest of your life.

Hopefully, in Phase III you tried a number of different grains and vegetables and some new recipes.  The Meal Plan and recipes in Phase IV will help you continue to choose hale and hearty meals and snacks that taste great. The foods you’ll avoid from this point on are the ones that not only pack on the weight, but also contribute to poor health.  At this point, there is only a list of foods to avoid as much as you possibly can.  If you do indulge in foods on the avoid list or overindulge in carbohydrate-rich foods once in while, you can always return to either Phase I, II, or III until you lose the pounds you gained.  If you binge on unhealthy foods while on vacation or during an emotionally stressful time, we recommend that you take the BanabaPlus after meals and then cleanse your body, incorporating the Colon and Liver Cleanse of Phase II.  And keep in mind that it is always a good idea to cleanse your body quarterly to achieve and maintain a radiant, vibrant look of health.

By following these steps, you should be able to maintain the weight you want for life.  Best of all, you have embarked on a plan that is an excellent disease prevention program.  This will help you avoid heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, and other debilitating conditions. You’re on your way to living a life of abundant physical and mental energy combined with a wholehearted, joyous approach to situations and activities.  That’s the meaning of vitality and it can be yours by choice.

Foods to Avoid in Phase IV

Sample Menu Plan for Phase IV

Health to Healthy Foods

While our forefathers generally ate foods grown by family farmers within their communities, such is not the case today in the industrial age. In the US today less than 2% of our population feeds the other 98%, and seldom is the food we eat grown in our own community. Therefore, most food today is mass produced, and most commercially available foods today are contaminated and loaded with toxins because of mass food production methods. These foods are less nutritious, and the resulting lack of nutrition and and toxins promote an unhealthy balance in our bodies which leads to weight gain.

So how does one choose healthy foods? Here are some guidelines:

1. Choose organic foods whenever possible. Organic fruits and vegetables will generally have fewer toxic chemicals on them, because the farmers are committed to natural and sustainable agriculture that does not use toxic fertilizers and pesticides used in most commercial production. Organic fruits and vegetables tend to have more vitamins and minerals as well. Organic meats and dairy animals are generally raised outside in natural environments, rather then in confined quarters where the animals never see the light of day. Organic meat and dairy will also be free from antibiotics and growth hormones fed to animals in most commercial agri-businesses. While organic foods are more expensive, they are worth it when it comes to matters of health and proper weight management.

2. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible. If organic is not an option, choose the freshest fruits and vegetables you can find. Frozen is second best, and canned or prepackaged are the worst. With fresh vegetables you are getting enzymes and antioxidants that are crucial to health and weight management.

3. When choosing grain-based products, such as bread, choose organic whole grains, preferably sourdough or sprouted that are yeast-free. Anything made from "flour" generally is made from refined grains missing key nutrients necessary for health and weight management. Even when choosing healthy grains, be aware that this one food group is loaded with carbs and will lead to quick weight gain if you consume too much.

4. Choose only healthy sweeteners, and stay away from all refined sugars. Healthy sweeteners include: honey (raw is best), raw sugar cane (Rapadura), pure maple syrup, Lo Han Xylitol (birch sugar), and stevia (an herb). As with grains, you should limit sweeteners as much as possible, as even natural sweeteners will lead to rapid weight gain if consumed in excess.

Learn to read food labels. Refined sugars (which should seldom, if ever, be consumed) go by many names, including: glucose, sucrose, dextrose (almost anything ending in "ose"), corn syrup, or most other "syrups", and fruit juice concentrates, fructose and the sugar alcohols such as sorbitol and manitol (These are sugars people should also omit).

5. Choose only healthy oils. These include coconut oil, palm oil, virgin olive oil, and butter. Stay away from polyunsaturated oils as much as possible. These include soy oil, corn oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil. Mono-unsaturated oils generally also have a high percentage of polyunsaturated oil in them, and are usually highly refined for long shelf life. These would include canola oil, peanut oil, sesame oil. You have to watch food labels very carefully, as most prepared baked foods will contain these oils which lead to rapid weight gain. If a label says "vegetable oil," it is generally polyunsaturated, such as soy or corn. This will eliminate most snack food items, even the ones found in the "health," "natural" or "organic" sections of stores.