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Hi to all my friends this month. Many of you have asked me questions this month which I have already answered (sometimes more than once) in previous FAQ’s so do read the archives for answers to questions such as how do vegetarians make best use of the X Factor diet, how to work with the insulin balance diet when you are pregnant, and where to order stevia from abroad if you live in the UK.

Some of you have written me extensive medical histories asking me for help with specific medical problems. Please understand that I cannot give this kind of help. First, I am not a medical doctor. Second, even if I were, it is important to spend a great deal of time going through specific symptoms, past illnesses and current problems before ever giving any of those kinds of suggestions. What you will find here are answers to questions that are by and large useful to you, but will be useful to other people.

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1: My ketosis level goes from moderate to large and it doesn't matter how many vegetables I eat I can't get them down.
2: I am concerned about the potential health risks of a high protein diet.
3: Can you journey while you are asleep, and write it up when you wake up?
4: Is raw carrot a high glycaemic carb?
5: Is it safe to carry on with Insulin Balance while I am pregnant?
6: Can your books be purchased in a New York City bookstore?
7: Is it safe to do a detox (eg a short juice fast) if you are breastfeeding?
8: How long is it "safe" to remain on Ketogenics.
9: What is shamanic healing? What is its effects on soul exactly?
10: Insulin Balance, Ketogenics and surgery.
11: I would like to purchase your book which seems to be out of print.
12: Salmons' natural fats turning to saturated fats because they are farmed. Can you elucidate this?
13: Are there any vegetarian version of omega-3 supplements?
14: What can I substitute soy with in my ketogenic baking?
15: Where can I get a supply of natural progesterone sublingual granules (Passage to Power).
16: Have you any suggestions to lessen my desire for alcohol every evening?
17: Must I stop taking soaked flax seed on the Ketogenic diet?
18: Post Script

1 I found your book very inspiring after being diagnosed with insulin resistance 18 months ago. I was put on medication. I found this didn’t do much it just stabilized the weight problem I already had so I took your book to my G.P who purchased a copy after I showed him, threw my tablets away with his permission and started on the diet. I went from being depressed and not wanting to get out of bed in the morning to a mother of four who bounces out of bed at 6 am every morning and cooks breakfast. I found I lost 6 kilos in the first 2 weeks and now I'm not moving any weight on the scales. I just wanted to know if this is normal. I do weight training a couple of times a week and walk 40 mins everyday which I never did before. My ketosis level goes from moderate to large and it doesn't matter how many vegetables I eat I can't get them down. Would I be eating to much protein? I can’t drink the whey powder so I don't have that. If I have never been out of ketosis will I still be burning fat? My clothes feel bigger but I just wondered if I'm doing something else wrong. I have been on the diet for 5 weeks.

Yes, congratulations on the program you have set out on. It sounds like it’s working very well. Why some people lose weight on the scales more rapidly than others, I don’t know. However, you will most certainly be losing fat even though you are not losing weight. This is why your clothes fit so much better. As to whether or not you are eating too much protein, that I cannot comment on. It is true that if you eat more protein than your body needs your body will turn the protein into glucose as well. If you follow the indications in the book you should be able to calculate how much protein you are getting. It is very important that you get plenty of fresh low glycaemic vegetables such as bok choy, spinach, rocket etc. You can eat about a pound of those and still take in very little carbohydrate and it may well be that you are getting more protein than you need and this is what is stopping your weight loss. Meanwhile you certainly are building lean body mass.

2 I have read the X Factor Diet book with interest. I am concerned about the potential health risks of a high protein diet. How do you reconcile your recommendations with your previous book 'New Ageless Ageing', in which you basically wrote against the consumption of excessive protein and recommended a restricted calorie intake. I have always eaten a high protein diet as a bodybuilder but with some concern as to the health implications. I would appreciate an explanation as to your change of mind.

The X Factor diet is not a high protein diet – it is an adequate protein diet. It is certainly a high low glycaemic carbohydrate diet in the sense that it is full of all of the green vegetables. This is enormously important because you will not get the minerals that you need from protein foods alone, so make sure you get plenty of greens.

3 Can you journey while you are asleep, and write it up when you wake up? It has happened a couple of times to me.

No, you cannot journey while you are asleep simply because you do not, while you are asleep, unless you are a lucid dreamer who has practiced it for several years, have control over the dreams that you are dreaming while you are sleeping. And having control over your intention while doing shamanic journeying is absolutely essential to its success. Indeed, this is what sets shamanic practices apart from just about every other spiritual practice in the world. Having said that, I too have had the experience of finding myself in the midst of a journey when I am asleep. What I do in such circumstances is immediately write the journey down and then work with it later. You can journey deeper into it for instance or you can often get a great deal simply from reading what it is you have recorded.

4 Juicing... I have just read through your X Factor book and it has given me another piece to the diet jigsaw. I noticed vegetable juicing, in particular carrot juice, is not mentioned in either diet. Is this because raw carrot is a high glycaemic carb? I enjoy my daily carrot mixed with other vegetable juice. Is it necessary to give it a miss if I want to see the effects of the insulin balance diet?

Yes, carrots are very high on the glycaemic index which is why carrot juice is not mentioned in the X Factor diet. If you are not attempting to lose weight but simply follow an insulin balance way of living you can certainly incorporate small amounts of carrot juice together with larger amounts of green vegetable juice to great advantage from a health point of view. If you are still wanting to lose weight, it is better to leave the carrot juice alone until you reach your normal weight.

5 Is it safe to carry on with Insulin Balance while I am pregnant?

It is certainly safe to eat in an insulin balance way when you are pregnant but just make sure that you also listen to your intuition about any other foods that you feel you need (see FAQ Archives – I have already written about this in the past). For instance, you may have a craving for baked potatoes at night and I would certainly follow that. If your craving is for chocolate and masses of cereal foods, bread, pasta etc. I would be a little inclined not to go whole hog in that direction. Generally speaking, insulin balance works really well during pregnancy and breast feeding.

6 Can your books be purchased in a New York City bookstore? I've tried in the past and wasn't very successful in finding them.

If you live in America you may have difficulty finding more than a few of my books on Amazon.com. I suggest you go to Amazon.co.uk via my site. This is because most of my books have not been published in America, but rather in every other English speaking country of the world and this in turn is because I have not yet found the right agent in the United States to handle my material.

7 I was just wondering if it is safe to do a detox (eg a short juice fast) if you are breastfeeding - albeit a thumping big 20 month old? Would the toxins pass through the breastmilk to such an extent as to make my lad unhealthy himself?

I would not suggest that you do any sort of detox while you are breast feeding. You can certainly follow the insulin balance diet which will detox you and nourish yourself and your baby and rebuild your metabolism at the same time without any difficulty to either of you. Make sure you get lots and lots of fresh green vegetables and low glycaemic fruits.

8 How long is it "safe" to remain on Ketogenics. I am not very overweight and am in good health but I'm enjoying the Ketogenic way of eating.

I would stay on the Ketogenic Diet until your body fat drops to the level at which insulin balance is appropriate and then switch over. There is nothing to keep you from staying on Ketogenics longer but most people find that insulin balance will continue their weight loss once they have reached that level.

9 What is shamanic healing? What is its effects on soul exactly?

I suggest you read Journey to Freedom. You can also check out the Journey to Freedom section of this website.

10 I have been following the ketogenic diet for 3 months with success, but am not yet ready to go to Insulin Balance. However, I am due to have an operation in September and you are not recommended to use the Ketogenic Diet if you are to undergo surgery. My questions are a) why can one not follow ketogenic diet when having surgery, and b) how long before surgery should I stop?

An insulin balance diet will prepare you very well for surgery. You can go back on ketogenics a couple of weeks afterwards.

11 I would like to purchase specific titles of your previous books such as "Cellulite Revolution" which seems to be out of print - can you advise as to where these may be had?

Cellulite Revolution has just gone out of print. If you would like to order a copy, write to my assistant Joy John at lesliekenton.office@virgin.net. Why not give her your e-mail address or telephone no. so she can ring and let you know what the postage will be on it.

12: I recently attended your book launch in Brisbane (Australia) at the Mary Ryan Bookshop in Brisbane - excellent book - excellent lecture. It was a delight to meet you and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.......As an aside on the evening, you mentioned that farmed salmon's natural fats, due to the farming process/feed, turn from unsaturated fats into saturated fats ..... if I heard (understood) correctly. This has started a very interesting, and spirited, discussion here at work. Do you think you could elucidate on this for me.

I am not sure how much more I can say about the shift in the fatty acid profile of farmed salmon than I already said at the talk I recently gave at Mary Ryan’s bookshop in Brisbane. Whenever any fish (which has a natural high omega-3 content) is farmed, it is fed on artificial feeds which do not contain enough of the green algae to support good levels of the DHA and EPA, the omega-3 fats which fish produce. Therefore over a period of time the fatty acid profile of the salmon changes much more towards high levels of saturated fat. This is what has happened to most of our domestic animals which have not been fed on wild diets. By contrast, genuinely wild birds and animals such as wild boar in Africa, still have a high level of omega-3.

13 I'm a vegetarian who doesn't have any animal products (almost a vegan diet). Are there any vegetarian version of omega-3 supplements? I'm hoping to go on ketogenic diet but need to know what else I can have. I'm also not fond of Tofu or soya.

Take a look at previous advice to vegetarians. Flaxseed oil is a good source of omega-3 fat. Many people however do not convert the particular kind of omega-3 fats into the EPA and DHA which is essential for high level omega-3 support. It really depends on your metabolism. You need to try it out and see.

14: What can I substitute soy with in my ketogenic baking?

I would not do a lot of baking at all on a Ketogenic Diet. You might like to look at the cookbooks that I have recommended in previous FAQ’s. They have some recipes that may be helpful to you. The major thing to realize is that it is very important to increase your level of low glycaemic vegetables together with some low glycaemic foods and to steer clear, as much as possible, of the grains during the time you are on Ketogenics.

15: Where can I get a supply of natural progesterone sublingual granules (as in your book Passage to Power). Doctors and Gynecologist proving to be of no use at all!

It is my understanding that the natural progesterone sublingual granules are no longer being made, at least I no longer know where to find them. You might like to take a look in the Resources section of my website at where you can get a progesterone cream. You might even write to these people and ask if they have the progesterone oil drops or granules. If you find them do let us know – other people may like to know as well.

16: Have you any suggestions to lessen my desire for alcohol every evening? I have tried eating two hourly something high fiber but still doesn't do the trick. I have your book 10 stages and love it but would now like to move on to a complete reevaluation of my diet and detox my system, which of your books would be best for this?

I do indeed have a suggestion about lessening your desire for alcohol. I suggest you pick up a copy of Age Power – Revolutionary Path to Natural High-tech Rejuvenation. There is a large chapter – one of the most important chapters in any of the books that I have ever written and one of them is hard-hitting – on Candida albicans. I think you will find that your alcohol craving is very much related to an overgrowth of Candida. The chapter deals in detail with how to handle this and the relationship between cravings for alcohol and other things and their relationship to high levels of acetaldehyde in the system.

17: For some years I have been taking a tbsp of soaked flax seed morning and evening. I have just started Ketogenics. Does this mean I must stop taking the soaked seed (flax seed seems quite high in carbohydrate) or is it OK if I don't chew them ie will I just get the mucilage benefit without the carbs? Recently, as I am a diet-controlled Type II diabetic, I have also started adding 1 tsp of ground fenugreek seeds - must I also stop this?

There is nothing wrong with continuing to take soaked flaxseed. I would certainly however keep an eye on your ketone levels. Make sure that it does not disturb ketosis. They should be "trace to small".

18: Does your X Factor diet help women who are experiencing continual hair loss?

I don’t know the answer to this question. No-one else has ever reported back to me one way or another. If you decide to try it, do let us know what your experience is.

19: I am pleased at last to be free of my compulsive eating patterns, and the feeling of sedation that would follow my meals, however I am having a few difficulties. I struggled to get into ketosis needing 4 days at 10gms of carbs. After three weeks I still need to keep my carb intake very low (below 25gms) to remain in ketosis which I am beginning to find restrictive. I do 40 mins of weights x 3 /wk and walk 30 mins each day. My weight loss has been very much at the lower end of the spectrum, 4lbs in 3 wks. I have 38% body fat. Is it safe to stay on such a low level of carbs? I find that although my energy level is more constant it remains low I am sure that I am getting sufficient protein. I would be grateful for any guidance.

I know first hand about what you are speaking for I have a metabolism very much like you. Check to see that you are not eating more protein than your body needs since excess protein – above the amount that your body actually needs to carry out its metabolic processes – will turn into glucose in the blood and will affect your ketosis, and also that you continue to get plenty of very low glycaemic vegetables. Human beings are so completely unique in the way that they metabolize things. It can be very frustrating for someone like you or me to meet someone who has trouble keeping ketosis within the "trace to small" levels when it seems that, no matter how much carbohydrate they eat, they continually find themselves in medium to high (by the way you should never allow yourself to get into medium or high). You need to play it by ear and find out what works for you. Please keep in touch about this since many other people are like us and I would love to have feedback on it.

20: I would like to know your professional opinion about the "Body-for-life-program" by Bill Phillips, as I would like to participate in that. Also, I am terribly allergic to animal hair, and also to numerous other medical substances, therefore I drink a medicinal syrup (the tablet form makes me droopy) 3 times daily. How does this affect my carb intake?

I know Bill Phillips book. I think that I don’t like his diet – it still adheres far too much to the food pyramid that is making too many people ill. I think that his weight training is absolutely fine. I also think that the book presents itself as a perfect solution to everybody’s problems, but I can assure you having done a lot of weights myself, that the people, whose pictures appear in the book, have worked very hard and very long to get their body’s to look the way they do. That having been said, what he is actually saying about weight training is definitely valuable.

Post Script: Finally, many of you have asked me about the blood type diet. Indeed this is a question I get asked most often when I am giving talks throughout the world. I like very much Peter d’Adamo’s books. I think he has a wonderful mind. This is a system that his father originally created and he has popularized. It is however highly theoretical. I am not aware, although I have looked at it quite closely, of any scientific proof that validates anything that he is claiming about the different blood types. When I am doing a lecture and someone in the audience asks me what do I think of the blood type diet, I always ask them (1) what do you think of the blood type diet if you have tried it and (2) what blood type are you. What I find is that most people who have found the diet useful are type O and the type O program that d’Adamo has created is the program which is closest to an insulin balance way of eating and therefore of course it works well for them. I have in my travels in the last year, only met two people who were type A blood (I am a type A by the way) who claim that they actually felt better on d’Adamos’s type A diet – which is largely a vegetarian diet with some fish. I lived that way for many many years myself and found that it absolutely did not work for me. It was only when I began to eat a lot more protein and lots of low glycaemic vegetables and stayed away from dairy products and the grains, that my health transformed itself significantly. I think it is a question of trying it and see if it works for you. If it does, then I would certainly make use of it. But more important to me is bringing yourself to a point of high level health and detoxification where you actually KNOW yourself what works best for you and can listen to your own intuition. That, for me, is what real health is all about.