I am slogging through the book too. Excellent book report Al. Isgoy, do you ever eat sweets?
I have issues with sweets (candy,pastries,ice cream) of a chocolate nature... When I am off the wagon I eat them way too much. But when I am on my game, exercising and eating purposefully to fuel my exercise, then I am off sweets completely. And once off both them and artificial sweeteners I do not crave them or miss them at all. Actually don't think about food too much at all when I am eating right. Also quitting grains is easy for me because I don't think bread, pasta, rice, taste good anyway, they are just a vehicle to get the delicious sauces into my mouth, haha.
These are the recommendations of the exercise group I belong to, and are aimed toward better athletic results, of course not everyone is eating for that goal:
For the greatest results in this direction, going off grains is a must, and it is suggested that you eat only free range beef and poultry, and wild caught fish. Feed lot, corn fed beef will not be as clean a protein as grass fed. But of course that is more expensive and inconvenient to acquire. And you will still get good results doing most of the recommendations, it's not all or nothing.