David and I heard about the metabolic balanced diet from a friend who found it very successful. When David received an email from Dr. Huong saying she was taking patients for the diet, we decided to enroll. Prior to starting the diet we had a full physical in Bangkok and the results were not too good. Our blood pressure and cholesterol count were higher than normal. Other medical issues were starting to be noticed. Even before we began the diet we felt rather healthy, but knew long term, we had to deal seriously with our weight, or more and more medication would be in our future. —We are active people and wanted that type of lifestyle to continue. The following are some of our reflections: 1. The metabolic balanced diet is carefully thought through offering lots of variety of foods. Each diet is created for a particular person based on what the blood tests reveal. 2. In two months we achieved our goal of each losing 10 kilos. 3. We maintained our weight over a three week period at Christmas by being conscious of the 8 steps and knowing what was good for our bodies. 4. Having husband and wife on the diet together was great! We encouraged each other. 5. Initially finding all the foods on our diet was not easy, but with the doctor\’s help we managed. Some food were expensive, but now I have located everything we need to eat at a good price. 6. Dr. Huong gave us constant support, quick feedback when we had a question and she was well informed. 7. We weighed daily, also took our blood pressure daily. All data was recorded and used when we had our visits to the doctor. 8. This diet has a built in monitoring system in Phase 3. 9. This diet is NOT a fad. It is balanced, nutritional and can be followed for the rest of your life. 10. Even on the strict diet at the beginning, neither of us were ever hungry. 11. This diet prepares you for a lifelong change. 12. We seldom eat white sugar in our diet and do not miss it in the least. 13. We were introduced to some new foods that we now like very much…roasted pumpkin seeds, roasted sunflower seeds, yellow lentils, etc. We no longer use any artificial sweeteners! 14. Our blood work at the end of 2 months indicated that our cholesterol was normal. The entire report was excellent for both of us. 15. The amount of money we spent on this diet would equal the amount of money we would have spent on meds for the next three years. Much better to be healthy! 16. Blood pressure is now normal too! Our bodies like not weighing so much!! 17. According to the charts, both of us are now as healthy as people 8 years younger than we are. 18. We feel better…look better….and people are noticing the new Elliotts! 19. It\’s time to shop for new clothes. What fun! 20. We continue to weigh daily…and take our blood pressure. Staying healthy is very important to us. We have promised each other not to allow our weight to creep up again. Hope these ideas are helpful to others who try the metabolic balanced diet.