On the Vitamix:

I tried to find one on Craigslist but no luck...you might try that. We ended up getting ours at Costco which was a pretty good deal. They don't have them all the time, you have to watch to see when the Vitamix rep will be in the Costco you go to. Then go at that time, watch him/her do the demo, and buy what you want. We got the very basic model and bare necessities. Still pricey, but this thing can...well, there's not much it can't do! I don't sell vitamix or have any ties to it so this is just me. If you do get one, be sure to throw some soap and hot water in it after use, then turn it onto "high" and it turns into its own dishwasher! How handy is that?

Another pitch for the Vitamix: Dr. Blaylock recommends either a vitamix or some other horrendously expensive blender I have never heard of, so we opted for the vitamix. He has written several books on brain health and BOTH of his parents died of PD. His being a neurologist puts him in a pretty unique position, yes? He also pitches tons of fruits and veggies, by the way.

On the book author's time to recover: I don't know. In her book I think she mentions that she was in a wheelchair by 2007, and that is when her nutrition research began in earnest. It's almost the end of 2010, and the copy I got is the second edition, so I'd say she was seeing some pretty good improvements relatively quickly, assuming it took her a year or so to pull the book together.

One other thing I didn't realize: all of this fresh fruits and veggies means you go to the store a lot more! I will come home with bags of groceries, but so much of it is produce, and that goes very quickly. I'll be back to the store in a few days. BUT, I did just purchase this little gadget which I think will help with this: a meal planner/recipe manager/shopping list maker program from the food network. Less than thirty bucks at Costco with a 90-day money back guarantee. I just got it this weekend, having looked for one for some time. I have been grappling with all the various choices out there, but it's impossible to compare them as they are apples to oranges: every one has different features and is priced differently. I saw this software, saw the price, and took the plunge.

So far, it has everything I think I need to try to make this new diet work:

meal planning (you either type in your favorite recipes or import one of over 400,000 recipes from them. I know, that's a ridiculous number. But if you really want to sift through 100 recipes for a waffle...you can!)

you can view your meal plan by the day, week, or month (so you can easily see if you're over-indulging on blueberries, one should be so lucky)

you can create a shopping list simply by clicking "add to shopping list" after you select your recipe for that day's breakfast/lunch/dinner, and you get a list of all the ingredients in every recipe you have pulled for that time period, all combined together (so, for example, if you pull the shopping list for a week, and have oatmeal three days of the week, it will combine all the oats needed for all the meals requiring oats, and tell you that you need 3 cups of oats total. Very handy when at the store so you buy enough of everything you'll need for the week).

I also know someone who has this same meal planning/shopping list generator program, and he knows his way around the kitchen and watches all of those shows...he recommended this program as a good one. Again, no profit motive or any gain to be made here, just sharing what I am doing in case anyone else might benefit. You can probably order this program from the food network, it just happened to be at my local Costco when I was there anyway.

All of this seems so OT but yet if it helps anyone get into a healthier pattern of eating and they feel better, I guess it's not too weird to post.