Vitamins and Other Stuff

I finished the IPD book last night (now to be forever known as the pink bible or PB). I have decided that this is definitely going to be the way to go. However, as I'm going to be in it for the long run (I expect to be on Phase 1 for at least 6 months) and it is going to cost more than any other eating plan (note I'm trying to not say the 'D' word here) I am building up to it slowly.

My current plan is to start after Easter. I want to be able to drink and eat what I want over Easter as mum, Jo and I are having a girly weekend complete with wedding dress shopping so it makes sense to start after that as it is vital to stick to the plan for at least the first 2 weeks.

Having done a serious study into the vitamins required I've finally found (I think) the best places to get them. If anyone knows a better place for any of them please feel free to let me know. I have decided to buy them this month, offsetting them against my rising shopping bill next month.

Multivitamins - I&N recommend Solgar and although you can get cheaper, having checked, it definitely is a case of you get what you pay for (most multivitamins either contain iron or the coating is made of carby oils). So I'm going to go with these. The cheapest place I've found for them (and the psyllium husks) is a site called Nutriglow*. For the milk thistle and the Coenzyme Q10 Holland & Barrett have both in their sale at the moment, although Healthspan come a close second in price (even without a sale). I have ordered the chromium, fish oil and vitamin B complex from them - good prices and using voucher code VPOL-RN I saved another £2.

The weirdest thing about the eating plan is the stuff I won't be able to eat on Phase 1. In fact it takes quite a large mind adjustment to realise that whilst I know that pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes and bread don't do me any good at all, neither does a lot of the 'healthy' food I buy. As I reported the other day aubergine has the same carb content as a potato and so I guess they are off the menu for the rest of the year, but also so is most fruit (definitely no bananas), starchy vegetables and all those seeds I have in salads etc. - in fact most of the food I currently eat. Also a no-no is yoghurt, milk and fruit juice, in fact just about everything apart from water and herbal tea ... now where do I find Rooibos tea?

* Edited to change the Solgar supplier. I had originally recommended Nutrisun, however their online checkout didn't work, and when I phoned them to place my order they were too busy to talk to me. They took my number and promised to ring me back, but still haven't done so (it is now almost 6pm). Bored of waiting I found the other supplier who was doing the same things at the same price and had no problem with their online ordering system. Obviously I used them instead.