1: Is the X-Factor diet (ketogenics) suitable to use for PCOS.
2: Where do I get my calcium from besides the multi vitamin.
3: I wanted to ask Leslie about depression as I have read that she suffered with it in her early 20's.
4: The pre Westernised Japanese diet consisted of mainly rice, yet as a race they were quite lean and healthy. How does this fit with the low carb theory?
5:I don't like coconut. Does coconut oil taste like the actual flesh?
6:I have a vegetarian friend coming to dinner and wondered if you could suggest a 3 course menu that will allow me to stick to Ketogenics whilst still providing a varied meal for her.
7: All diets and fitness programs talk about exercise. I cannot exercise at all.
8:I am following the Ketogenics diet, I am using Ketostix and my reading is regularly above trace or small.
9: I am very confused by the new statements you have made in your book, The X Factor Diet, which seem almost opposite to the ones made previously in for example, The Raw Energy Bible.
10: My husband suffers the opposite to diabetic, he craves sugar and if he doesn't get it , he will faint,is a detox suitable for him, and if so what would you recommend?
11: How much acetyl-carnitine should I take?
12:Can you recommend a non-sweet, preferably non-flavoured micro-filtered whey protein?
13: Should I still be food combining or which book do you recommend?
14: You mention in the 'X Factor Diet' that when protein foods such as meat and fish are cooked, some amino acids are denatured and therefore are of no use to the body.
15: What is your opinion on some of the new systems of 'metabolic typing' that have emerged in nutrition?
16: Can Leslie recommend anything for menopause systems, ie Hotflushes, lack of libido depression?

1 Is the X-Factor diet (ketogenics) suitable to use for PCOS. Is there any other information you can give to help PCOS.

1: If you have any medical condition and are concerned that the Ketogenic program in the X Factor Diet may not be suitable for you it is important to check with your doctor before beginning it.

2 Where do I get my calcium from besides the multi vitamin. I am concerned that cutting out dairy ie milk that I will get osteoperosis. I have always drank at least two glasses of milk a day and made sure I had cheese but that is now cut out of the ketogenic and it seems the Insulin diet, I am worried about this?

2: One of the beliefs that people still have about calcium is that it comes from milk and the more milk you drink the more calcium you will get into your body and into your bones. This is most definitely not the case. In the United States where they drink the most milk of anywhere in the world and have the highest intake of calcium in the world, they also have the highest incidence of osteoporosis. In China where there is absolutely no milk drunk whatsoever, and where as it happens they have the lowest intake of calcium in the world they also have the lowest incidence of osteoporosis. What is going on here? First calcium metabolism is very complex, the amount of calcium that you take in, in pills or in milk drinking, is not by any means an indication of how much calcium will get into your bones. This depends very much upon how you metabolize other elements such as magnesium and phosphorous. The way that milk gets calcium is that cows eat grass. The best and most bioavailable source of calcium in the world is green vegetables and green foods, this is where the Chinese get their calcium and it is a far better source of calcium than drinking masses of milk (although the milk marketing boards would still have us believe otherwise).

3 I wanted to ask Leslie about depression as I have read that she suffered with it in her early 20's. I'm 26 and have felt depressed for the last couple of years, after experiencing a traumatic RTA several years ago (death of a loved one). I'm seeing a psychologist who is great, but I wondered what Leslie found helped her get over her depression, and if she could give some much valued advice?

3: I did indeed suffer from indigenous depression in my early twenties. What healed me of it was a dramatic change in diet, I was using the Raw Energy diet to detoxify my body on the suggestion of 3 different medical doctors who were probably the most knowledgeable doctors in England at the time about how to help the body heal itself. So much depression has a strong physiological base, in my opinion although psychology has a great deal to offer in helping to clear depression and anxiety it needs to be dealt with on a physical level as well. Take a look at the X Factor diet, specifically the insulin balance program in the book. This program, ensuring that the low glycemic vegetables and fruit that you eat are eaten raw, is a powerful way of detoxifying the body and strengthening it at the same time. It can certainly act as a useful adjunct to the counseling that you have been receiving.

4 The pre Westernised Japanese diet consisted of mainly rice, yet as a race they were quite lean and healthy. How does this fit with the low carb theory ?

4: It's a common misconception that the pre-Western diet consisted mainly of rice. This is not true. The pre-Western Japanese diet consisted of over 200 different kinds of herbs and vegetables, fish, some meat, and soy products with a small amount of rice.

5 I don't like coconut. Does coconut oil taste like the actual flesh?

5: Coconut oil tends actually to be solid at room temperature and has almost no flavor whatsoever.

6 I have a vegetarian friend coming to dinner and wondered if you could suggest a 3 course menu that will allow me to stick to Ketogenics whilst still providing a varied meal for her.

6: Chunks of tofu stirfried in soya oil with shredded ginger, bok choy, cashews and tamari served, served with a crunchy broccoli salad (see recipe in book) spiked with slithers of pine nuts, and slices of melon and protein whip as dessert. If you are an insulin dependent diabetic - with adult onset diabetics - type II diabetes - and are on any sort of medication it is important that you, when pursuing the X Factor diet, that you do so with your doctors permission and since many diabetics find that their need for medication can be rapidly and drastically reduced so it is important to work with your doctor to ensure that you are always on the right level of medication.

7 All diets and fitness programs talk about exercise. I cannot exercise at all. I am severely disabled though polio, therefore am paralysed. I just simply cannot exercise, but need to lose about 3stone in weight!

7: The X Factor diet is likely to be helpful in weightloss whether or not you exercise. If, however you have the use of your arms I would suggest that you do some exercises using lightweight dumbbells to strengthen muscle mass as well.

8 Firstly, I am following the Ketogenics diet detailed in the X Factor and am very inspired. My only problem is that I am using Ketostix and my reading is regularly above trace or small (sometimes going to medium or high). As suggested in your book I am increasing my low glycemic carbs to try and get it down to trace/small. As a result I am going way over the one hand palm of low carb guide to one and half palm of protein and way over the 20g a day of low carb. Should I only be interested in the ketostix measurement and eat as many low glycemic carbs as it takes to get my readings down to trace/small (the quantity of low carbs I have to eat to do this concerns me and I wonder if it is right? I feel as though I am not sticking to the rules). Secondly, I was wondering if you eat to many essential fats can this keep you fat? i.e. should I limit the number of avocados I eat in a week (someone indicated to me it is not good to eat too many as they are very high in fat?). Thirdly, I know this may be asking the impossible, but my fat % is 35% and, although I have lost 7lbs in the first wk of the diet, I was wondering when my fat % may start dropping and how long realistically can I expect to work on it before it drops 10%. Thanks for all your wonderful books and I truly hope you can help.

8: Most important of all is to trust your body. Ketostix give you an indication of the level of Ketosis that's taking place, and ideal level is 'trace' or 'small. I would not be the least bit concerned about increasing the level of low glycemic vegetables or fruits in your diet. So long as your ketostix measurement is trace to small you are definitely continuing to burn fat and the extra fiber from the vegetables will I am sure do you lots of good.
I would not eat too many avocados each week, not because of the fat that they contain but because it is important that the ratio between Omega 6 essential fatty acids in avocados needs to be well balanced with the proportion of Omega 3 fatty acids (which come primarily from fish and game although they are available also through flax seed oil). If you eat too many avocados what you are likely to do is give yourself a less than optimum balance of Omega 6 to Omega 3.
It's impossible to tell how long it will take before your fat drops by 10 %. However, from what you've written I suspect that this will happen very quickly. You can experiment yourself, changing over from Ketogenics to insulin balance, provided your weight loss continues at a rate of 1 to 3 lbs a week, you may not even need Ketogenics, insulin balance may do you very well as a lifestyle diet permanently.

9 I am very confused by the new statements you have made in your book, The X Factor Diet, which seem almost opposite to the ones made previously in for example, The Raw Energy Bible. You are now saying that Protein is all important, however you have said, I quote 'a prolonged intake of too much protein tends to result in deficiencies of many essential minerals, and even some vitamins. Also many animal studies have now shown conclusively that, while a high protein diet brings about early rapid growth, it can also result in early and rapid aging and degeneration. Moderate protein intake is better for long term health and resistance to early ageing.'??? You have also said previously that eating only fruit in the mornings is best, and always try to eat protein and starch separately, this has now changed in the new book also??? I am finding it very difficult to move on to this new diet as it seems very contradictory from all that you have previously advised. PLEASE HELP

9: The X Factor Diet is not a 'high' protein diet; it is a moderate protein diet. The most recent research - most of it done in the last 3 years - shows that the level of protein suggested in the X Factor diet helps protect against regeneration. It was long thought - and I myself had written this in previous books - that protein might leach minerals from the bones. A study carried out on the effect of dietary protein on boneloss in elderly men and women known as the Framingham offspring study, under the auspices of Jean Mayer at Toxeter University, showed quite clearly that those individuals with lower overall protein intake had more boneloss and femoral and spine sights. This and other recent studies suggest that protein intake is important in maintaining or minimizing boneloss in the elderly person and that a higher intake of protein than we once believed was ideal does not appear to effect the skeleton adversely. Ensuring adequate dietary protein intake is an important component of bone health. The reason for suggesting eating fruit only in the morning is very simple. It is a way of allowing your body to continue the daily detoxification process that takes place very early in the morning when the liver is most active. What we have found with people that have used the X Factor Diet it that the diet itself detoxifies the body in an ongoing way. Therefore it makes the necessity for having only fruit in the mornings no longer essential. If on the other hand you find that you are particularly well eating only fruit in the mornings - I would make them low glycemic fruits - then I would certainly continue this practice.
Your question about food combining is a fascinating one. Only when I came upon the research into Syndrome X and the Palaeolithic Diet which can be used to counter it - the X Factor Diet - that I began to realize the reason why food combining is so essential in an ordinary diet but does not apply to the X Factor Diet. It appears to me that the reason why separating your concentrated starches from your concentrated carbohydrates works so well in a standard diet, is that our bodies do not digest carbohydrates very well anyway and separating concentrated carbohydrate foods such as potatoes and bread from the protein foods such as eggs and fish makes the digestion process a great deal simpler and more effective for many people. On the X Factor Diet, which has virtually no high glycemic carbohydrate in it anyway, food combining appears not to be necessary.

10 My husband and I have started a detox diet, I was wondering if it safe as my husband suffers the opposite to diabetic, he craves sugar and if he doesn't get it , he will faint,is a detox suitable for him, and if so what would you recommend?

10: It sounds to me very much as though your husband may be suffering from Syndrome X. I would certainly have this checked out by your doctor in which case the X Factor Diet may well help him overcome these sugar cravings altogether. The experience of people that have used the X Factor Diet is that carbohydrate and sugar cravings tend to disappear within 5 - 7 days on starting the diet

11 The X-Factor is great. Feeling inspired and all set to go. I have restocked my kitchen and bought various supplements hopefully to help the diet. My query relates to the acetyl-carnitine which I have bought. You say that Crayhorn recommends taking between 1000-4000mg a day. My tablets are 250mg each and the bottle sazs to take one a day. Should I be taking more?

11: I suggest you start off with 250 ml of acetyl-carnitine and see how you feel on it, then you can gradually increase it until you find the optimum dose for you.

12 Can you recommend a non-sweet, preferably non-flavoured micro-filtered whey protein. I've tried the Solgar ones and find them quite sickly in taste, and they spoil savoury dishes when added.

12: There is an excellent nonflavored microfiltered whey that is made by metagenics (see functional medicine in Resources). I believe it is called biopure. You will be able to find a supplier by checking the importers in your country.

13 No question, but to thank you for passage to power, kept me sane when the going gets rough, it is still my bible, been quite a fan since you were in Harpers & Queen.

13: Thank you so much for your kind words. It's tremendously rewarding for me to hear that the things that I have worked with and shared with people have real value. I appreciate your writing.

14 I am 42, work hard and full time, no kids, always tired and slightly overweight, trying to stick to the New Biogenic Diet book principles. However, I have just read reviews on other books on your web site which seem to contradict this one. So Should I still be food combining or which book do you recommend?

14: It sounds to me that you like many of us experience insulin resistance. As you see from my answer in Question 9 when you eliminate any foods that turn quickly into glucose in your system you will find that food combining is no longer necessary.

15 Query = You mention in the 'X Factor Diet' that when protein foods such as meat and fish are cooked, some amino acids are denatured and therefore are of no use to the body. Are these denatured amino acids dangerous to health in any way? Is there any way of getting round this? (e.g. heating as little as possible, eating raw meat/fish à la Aajonus Vonderplanitz?).

15: Your question is an interesting one. To my knowledge there is no way to get round the fact that some amino acids are denatured when food is cooked. However, these denatured amino acids are not dangerous from the body. I personally eat as many of my protein foods as possible raw. Micro filtered whey is processed at low heat and therefore is virtually raw as the enzymes are preserved in it. I eat a lot of very fresh fish in the form of sashimi, the way the Japanese do, together with wasabi. I also tend to undercook my meat, I will seal the outside of steak for instance but leave the inside very pink. I remember in the movie Pulp Fiction that one character was asked 'how did she want her steak, burnt to a crisp or bloody as hell'! I like my meat both at the same time. I think there is a lot to be said for using raw protein foods. It's very important however that they are very clean, I wouldn't touch a piece of meat cooked this way unless it was organic.

16: What is your opinion on some of the new systems of 'metabolic typing' that have emerged in nutrition - i.e. those that offer to determine dietary and supplementary needs based on parameters such as blood type, autonomic nervous system balance or oxidation rate. Are they the key to optimal health or just a lot of fuss about nothing?

16: I have a great of respect Peter J's work. However, it is highly theoretical. It has been my experience that human beings are highly individual in the foods that they thrive on. I myself was a vegetarian for over 20 years before I discovered my body was not vegetarian. At that point when I began to eat more protein my overall health improved, as did my energy. My ancestors were primarily Nordic. They probably survived through the winters on salted fish and whatever cabbage they could dig up from underneath the tundra. I think that each one of us has to find what works best for ourselves and not be too rigid about following 'rules'.

17: Can Leslie recommend anything for menopause systems, ie Hotflushes, lack of libido depression.

17: I suggest you read my book Passage to Power. It covers all of your questions