Susan’s 6 Challenges

If you have concerns about keeping your Bright Lines bright as we head into the holiday season, this week’s vlog is for you.

Comments

  1. melanie deason

    Regarding Susan’s 6 Challenges: Dr Susan mentions the 5 days of modified eating to eliminate inflamation and help with her hand. So…. what was she eating? As I have issues myself with physical pain around my thumb – only my right hand. Personally, I think its tied to improper digestion, thus gut inflamation also, which affects my hand – but have yet to figure it out. Think the meridians get triggered e.g. hand pain. It’s not an ‘arthritis’ issue, since NOT doing any of the extreme hand stuff (wheel throwing ceramics, nor yoga downward dog) during Covid quarantine. Please respond to my personal email, as this could help me a lot, plus others. Thanks. Maybe Dr. Susan could do a separate vlog on that 5 day protocol so others could BLE to further reduce body pain.
    P.S. I’m 4 weeks into BLE and down 8 pounds, as started with the 14-day challenge in late June 2020. Still exhausted – intermittently – thus sleeping a lot, yet know I’m on the correct path! Thank you Dr. Susan!

    Reply ·
    1. Bright Line Eating

      Hi Melanie! If you have specific questions about the modified food plan, we’d urge you to write into Customer Support for a detailed response.

      Reply ·
  2. Annie Taber

    Such a great vlog for me to watch now. Thank you for sharing Susan. Not only do I have holidays coming up I am going to care for my 96-year-old father who is dying. I am very freaked out about this and realized that I need to, not needed, want to get some tools in place before I land up in his house. I generally grocery shop but have no support in place at all. I have made many notes from this challenge for Susan but I believe I can apply to my situation. I am certainly going to give it 100%.

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  3. Leissa Hallifax

    Hi Susan love your blogs and can see how important it is to have a tribe. I’m from melbourne Australia and no one in my family need circle really know about bright line eating and when I mention what I’m doing they think it is way too much effort!!! Thanks for reassuring me that it is very important to to put extra effort into maintaining bright lines in life’s ongoing challenging situations. Love to her from anyone else in melbourne Australia who are doing bright lines and would love to connect .

    Reply ·
    1. C

      Hi Leissa, I’m a new BLE from Queensland. I’d like to connect and support one another 🙂

      Reply ·
  4. Stephanie

    Hello Susan. Is there a plan to have your book translated in French? I have a friend who could surely benefit from the BLE plan but can only read French. Thanks.

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  5. Sharlene

    As a Bright Lifer, this was one of the most useful vlogs to date! Thanks so much — just what I need for my crazy travel life!

    Reply ·
  6. Carole A. Loll

    Susan, I so needed to hear this vlog as I have tremendous challenges ahead coming up in the next 5 months about which I am real!y anxious. With your insights, I am going to tap into my support people, my relatives & special friends who do BLE called the BLEssings group, my buddy, my Bravo House & Gideon Challenge group. I will be traveling from Coast to coast to visit my two sons, one in VA & the other in CA, packing up & planning to hear to Texas for winter months, a cruise in the Caribbean before coming home. I will pack my digital scale & take foods for the airplane flights but still worried about getting the foods I need while visiting with sons. I know I can manage the eating out parts while traveling via automobile & while in Texas as I have been doing this for over a year now. Thank you so much for your encouragement & extra super support! Bravo for you!

    Reply ·
  7. Fay Thompson

    .Thanks so much for this vlog Susan. Travelling has always been my undoing in the past. I have never managed to make a trip and keep my bright lines. After the last one, I began to think that I had better stay home until I reached my goal weight. Now I don’t have to be worried – just prepared. Thanks again.

    Reply ·
  8. Cheryl

    Seriously! That is a lot of work. Sounds like it really took away from the experience and added sooooo much stress!

    Reply ·
    1. Susan Peirce Thompson

      Hey Cheryl,
      Yeah, I can see how it would seem that way.
      But I’m a 10+++ on the Susceptibility Scale.
      What that means it that, for me, going off the rails with my food is just about the most disruptive, time consuming, stressful thing in the world. If I’m going to live full-out (travel, play, engage) I need to be ON my Bright Lines and this is what it takes, I’m finding.
      For folks who are lower on the Susceptibility Scale, this kind of effort would indeed be “a lot of work” that takes “away from the experience” and adds stress. The cost-reward analysis all depends on the kind of brain someone has and their history with food. I’m an extreme case, for sure.
      With love,
      Susan

      Reply ·
  9. Laura

    Thank You

    Reply ·
  10. Cynthia Ferguson

    Susan, this vlog was so very helpful. Since BC 2great success but my case has shattered. Can’t rebuild it so I’m working on a new one. I’m going to employ your support ideas because I am facing some major life challenges in the next 2 months and want to return to a better sized body. Thank you for leading the way – now I know it can work.

    Reply ·
  11. Janet Malone

    Susan, congratulations for sticking to your Bright Lines! Thanks for sharing the 6 suggestions. Looking forward to hearing how this new meal plan helps you. I would highly recommend Oxycise to help with your “wrecked back”. It’s been a huge game changer for me regarding my back pains and overall energy.

    Reply ·
  12. Barbara Hirschfeld

    What do you use for packing your foods? do you have a favorite kind of tupperware?

    Reply ·
    1. Susan Peirce Thompson

      Still exploring…what I used for this trip leaked. 🙁

      Reply ·
  13. Karen

    Hi Susan,

    I am starting the two-week Bright Lines Eating and have read your book, and have a question.

    I understand the Leptin concept, but are you born with the same amount of Leptin you keep throughout your life, and if that is the case, why do people who have have been of average weight throughout their lives gain weight as they get older, ex. hormones, menopause, etc.?

    thanks very much.

    Reply ·
    1. Susan Peirce Thompson

      Hey Karen,

      No, leptin levels vary dramatically. Leptin is a hormone produced in the fat cells and its levels rise and fall with all kinds of factors (what we’ve just eaten, what we’ve eaten in general these days, how much fat we’re carrying, how much fat our brain thinks we should be carrying, etc.)

      In general, women gain weight around and after menopause because they lose the protective effects of estrogen, which helps keeps us sensitive to our insulin. Once estrogen drops, our bodies become far more dependent on us to keep our diets free of sugar and flour (processed foods that require a highly sensitive insulin response system)…if we stay away from sugar and flour, we won’t be as likely to fall prey to that hormonal weight gain that sets in after menopause.

      Our boot campers lose about the same amount of weight, on average, whether they are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s. The Bright Line Eating program does NOT show the same age-related effects as programs that allow (and even encourage) eating sugar and flour.

      Hope this helps,
      Susan

      Reply ·
  14. Coco Daigle

    This vlog couldn’t have come at a better time! Next week, I’m leaving for an 9 day trip to South Holland, with my husband, to visit my son. I will take some tidbits from this vlog to be clean to my Bright Lines during the trip. I’m starting to plan so I will not fail. I finished the 14 day challenge and currently on Day 9 of Boot Camp (Collective House), so I am a newbie and definitely needed some ideas and encouragement to get through the upcoming vacation in The Netherlands. Thank you and your team for all you do!

    Reply ·
  15. Nancy W. Goss

    Super helpful information, Susan. I love how shared your packed foods for your trip in a reply. That was extremely helpful.

    Reply ·
  16. Sharon Van Doran

    💖 Much Love my Dear friend! So grateful for you and your friendship 💖

    Reply ·
  17. Lorel Alexander

    You are very blessed to have so many choices of support that you can turn to. Unfortunately I do not have a ‘tribe’ and BLE is not well known here in South Africa. Our monetary rate of exchange makes it impossible to do the Boot Camp (I live on fixed income) so I am pretty much isolated and BLE is difficult to do alone. I only have your weekly vlogs and FB posts to keep me motivated which is not really enough. So as I said at the beginning , you and others in the US are truly blessed with your support chains. I also do not have a huge circle of friends that I can run(in my case I do walking!) with or start a book club.

    Reply ·
    1. Terez

      Lorl, there are free (unofficial) online Facebook groups where you can find a ton of support. Search in Groups on Facebook. A very good one is called Happy, Bright and Free: Recipes & Resources for No-Sugar No-Flour Lifestyle. Another one that’s good is called We Eat Bright With Lines. I’m sure there are more, these just happen to be two that I know of. People from around the world belong to those groups. There’s plenty of support around even if you can’t afford a boot camp.

      Reply ·
      1. Ilse

        Hi Lori, just happened to see that you are from South Africa, and so am I. I am successfully doing BLE for a full 3 years now and I do not do facebook, nor have any support nor friends to assist me in my journey. But for me it is a Miracle, and it has changed my life for sure in a very positive way. I am so commited to BLE because I feel so good since following it! I don’t know where you are from but if you want send me a WhatApp message on 083-6479876 or an e-mail and maybe we can chat? With Love, Ilse

        Reply ·
  18. Mercedes (from Argentina)

    It´s always so great to hear you. I have one group in English and another one in Spanish, and yet… My inner self won´t surrender. And I go on binging, and craving, and going round in the merry go round… Anyway, BLE is the only way, I know that so well! I love you, Susan.

    Reply ·
  19. Eileen Lass

    What a great vlog! THANK YOU!!!

    From your proofreader from beautiful Central Virginia!

    Reply ·
  20. Stefi

    So true about planning ahead. I just gotta work on more support, then its “Jingle all the Way ” 🎼 doing things instead of eating . Thanks Susan 😍

    Reply ·
  21. Laura Owen

    Love your blogs, despite not being a bright liner. I’m just not ready yet, but working on it. Wanted to mention I love your softer look these days, you have always looked great, but I like this side of you as well…..thanks for the encouragement for all of us fighting this battle….

    Reply ·
  22. Bruni Collins

    Would like some practical knowledge. How on earth did you choose and pack 4 days of food..

    Reply ·
    1. Susan Peirce Thompson

      Here’s a sample:
      Breakfast:
      4 oz cooked sweet potato
      4 oz yogurt (brought an unopened tub)
      1 oz ground flaxseeds
      6 oz blueberries
      Lunch:
      4 oz hummus (my grocery store sells 2 oz hummus cups all sealed up…makes it easy)
      6 oz cut up carrots, radishes, sugar snap peas
      1/2 oz nuts
      1 apple
      Dinner:
      4 oz tempeh
      14 oz salad
      2 oz olives
      (no-oil dressing made out of balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and spicy brown mustard in a separate container)

      It all traveled just fine in my suitcase, and I put it all right in the fridge when I arrived in my Airbnb. 🙂

      Reply ·
      1. Stephanie

        I just read your BLE book over the weekend. I started the plan on Monday and already lost 2 lbs. You talk about packing food while taking a flight. I was under the impression that we could not bring food on planes. Can you expand on that? Is it ok to bring food when flying domestic only? What happens when we have to fly international? This is the part where i am the most concerned. Throwing off my ble while travelling. Thanks.

        Reply ·
        1. Liz

          Traveling domestically, you can put any food in the suitcase that’s checked baggage. If you’re trying to travel with only a carry-on, the liquids (like yogurt and salad dressing) would be problematic – you’d be limited to 100mL per container, and all of them would have to fit in a 1 qt bag.

          I live in China, and find that flights to/from the US are the challenge. If you’re traveling internationally, there are restrictions on produce and meat/dairy. Typically, you can get away with stuff that’s packaged in your carry-on (ie, packaged dried nuts / fruits), but often those are not so BLE friendly. Many airports have restaurants or “convenience” stores that have salads or similar; as SPT has said in her videos on traveling, if you’ve got your protein with you (nuts / dried soybeans, etc) it’s not usually too difficult to find a salad. On the plane itself, drinking lots of water and asking for the vegetarian option to which you’d add your protein seems to work well.

          Once at the international destination, I’d say your best bet is to find a grocery store, and go for the produce that isn’t already stored in the fridge – if they sell it from room temp, then it’ll keep at room temp just fine. If you don’t speak the language in the country to which you’re going, you might want to look up the words for sugar, flour, and other non-desirable ingredients so you can reference your list while reading containers. For me, a protein go-to is yogurt, so I’d want to be able to read an ingredient label to make sure sugar (and other sweeteners) aren’t added.

          Reply ·
  23. Jamie Stein-Muzio

    I am truly enjoying Bright Line Eating. I have been on the program for five weeks (lost 10 pounds so far!). I went to a wedding this past weekend and brought breakfast for two days. I was able to eat at two functions and stay on program. I am very satisfied and have not had any cravings or hunger. Thank you.

    Reply ·
  24. Deborah Neher

    Great strategies …. congrats on succeeding. What I want to know is – you said you’re working on a SECOND BOOK???!!!!! Can’t wait to hear more about this!

    Reply ·
  25. Toni Whitmont

    Thank you for these gems – eyes wide open, planning to succeed, asking for support, there are challenges and we are up to them.

    Reply ·
  26. Pam Friedman

    Susan….I look forward to your weekly vlogs. Every subject you touch upon resonates on many levels for, (in my opinion) everyone. Eating “effectively” is a broad spectrum challenge, and you make the journey a compelling adventure. I have shared your program and web-site numerous times!….Thank you for your commitment to health and well being….

    Reply ·
  27. Diane

    Failed 2 week trial. Learned lots. Enjoyed positive outlook. Looked forward to daily e-mails. I am 67 ,diabetic(type 2), withknee pain and limiting activity.
    I fight depression with very poor social skills and have no friends. I am reading book. Thanks for all your research. Thanks for encouragement. I did not loss any weight this try. I will always remember your sincere caring attitude and keep trying to do the program. I move daily from 180 to 166. I am 5’2

    Reply ·
    1. Sunblooms

      God is your friend first. Join a eating group like AA but eating A, join a Church, join a library book club! Join Planet fitness! I’m trying to even more positive 😉 New friend already in Raleigh NC 🙂 LoL 😎

      Reply ·
  28. Carol Beebee

    Thank you Susan for sharing so we can plan to succeed !

    Reply ·
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