Enter, Dr. Steve Soffer, an alternative medical practitioner recommended to me by my chiropractor, Dr. Jerry. He told me that the doc does this EDS technique, which showed him exactly what to eat in line with his body to lose the weight. My raised eyebrow made him elaborate. "Fran, the process is simple. The EDS provides information about the health of your body through electrical measurements of the skin at various points on your hands and feet."
"Really?"
"Look other medical practices like ECG's (electrocardiographs - used to measure heart rhythms), and EEG's (electroencephalographs - used to measure brain functions) use electrical current to evaluate patients, so why not this?
"So I'm going to have to hold this guys hand and let him touch my bare feet with an electric prod to do this, correct?"
"Yup, that's it, but it works and it's painless."
"Well, I've tried acupuncture before and allowed myself to look like a voodoo doll, so why not. I'll just make sure my toesy's are nice and clean with no sock lint that day."

I set up an appointment with Dr. Soffer and was told the whole process would take about three hours. I was instructed to bring with me all the vitamins and any medicines I was currently taking, as well as a list of foods I normally eat.

With my homework in tact, I walked in to Dr. Steve's office. There was a laptop computer, a small black box machine with a blue bull's eye in the middle, a brass rod for me to hold and a stylus pen like thing that would be used to take the measurements. After taking some initial stats on me... we were ready to begin.

A paper towel was dipped into a plastic cup of water and then rung out.
The paper towel was then placed around the brass rod. I was told to hold the rod in my left hand.
"You're not going to electrocute me are you?"
"Just a little. Only kidding. Relax this technique has been around since the early 1940's... it was developed in Germany by a medical doctor named Richard Voll ... it's been tested."
"Yeah, weren't we in World War II at the time... against the Germans?"
The doc raised an eyebrow, and then smiled.
I wasn't quite sure what that meant so I apologized. "Sorry doc... so tell me what's going to happen here?"
"This machine is going to measure the body's energy pathways or meridians
that runs throughout your body. Your hands and feet have points on them that correspond to organs, tissues and systems within your body at the skins surface.
With this stylus, a very small electric current-"
"You did say small right?" I smiled coyly.
He smiled, nodded and continued, "... is introduced to a particular pathway to collect data. The pathways electrical conductance or flow is displayed on a 100 point scale on the computer screen. The healthy areas will get a normal reading, the optimal being 50. This is known as the "Indicator drop."
"Okay, Doc so in layman's terms, you are going to shock me, ever so small, and see if my body reacts normally. Correct? And if the readings look more like volcanic seismograph, then what happens?"
"Well, then we would see a blockage of energy in a certain organ or tissue and have to correct it. To correct the reading of the blockage we will then take the vitamin bottle and place them on this black box. If the vitamin is effective in helping this tissue the reading will then read within the normal range. This is known as the "medication test."
"Okay, so this computer is going to read the vitamin content through the bottle and tell me if it's okay?"
"Exactly. The computer has an extensive database of thousands of nutritional supplements. Each supplement has its own electromagnetic signature. The computer will duplicate the vitamin's signature and tell the proper dosage needed to correct any problem. Are you ready?"

I nodded and closed my eyes. With that the doc took my right hand and began placing the tip of the stylus along a meridian point in my hand.
"I'm ready."
"It's done. Look the first measurement is on the computer screen."
"Wow, I didn't feel a thing. This is a piece of cake. Okay, so now that I know that, what does that point measure?"
"Your sinus. It has a reading of 50 so you are fine there."
"Great! Let's keep going."
He kept pressing the stylus along the points of my right hand. Everything was moving along nicely, my throat, lungs, circulatory system, allergies, pituitary gland... all fine and good till we got to my intestines... then the meter reading shot up to 78."
"Ah... that can't be good. What does that spike mean?"
"Means your sugar is too high. Do you eat a lot of candy, fruit or fruit juices?"
"Well I hate to admit this but I get drunk on cranberry juice. I have a one juice a day habit. I probably have the cleanest urinary track in town. Oh and I also eat an apple a day... trying to keep the doctors away... not you of course."
He smiled. "I'm trying to keep the doctors away from you too. So Fran, it looks like you need to cut down on that juice. And just to prove it, I'm going to place this vitamin supplement GlucoThera on here... it controls sugar in your body. Ah see, much better. Now your reading went down to 50. Which means this vitamin brings you into the normal range. Let's continue."

He continued with my right hand, then my left. Then he moved on to my right foot, then my left. I felt like I was singing the Hokey Pokey. But with all my joking... he was able to detect that there was internal swelling in my left shoulder which I had known but not told him. It occurred when I torn my rotator cuff... and when the joint measurement point came up on the computer, it shot to 70. He also diagnosed that my digestion was off, (which explains why I need to keep away from beans, and other such foods.) He also said my fats were high...
he was even able to detect a fibroid on my uterus... which a doctor told me about years ago. This damn little machine was some tattle tale.

Now that the computer had all my data, he started asking me what foods I eat.
I gave him a list and one by one he looks up the food I mention in the computers data base. The computer then takes my body readings and matches them to the food reading and then gives a corresponding number based on my body data. I'm told that any food that has a score of 65 or above was not good for me to eat.
For example, I say "beef", I get a 69. I say "shrimp". It brings me an 80. Cows Yogurt, a whopping 84. Oat a 72. Organic wheat and 83. Man this is shattering some myths about the things that are good for me. This is the first time in my life I want to score below 65 on a test.
When it's all said and done I get a very detailed ten-page printout of my body.
Bottom line, I need to avoid flour products, soy, fruits with high sugar, and high sugars in general. He gives me a list of what vitamins to take a daily... 22 in all.
I think about carrying one of those metal change dispensers around but stick vitamins in instead.

The doc also advises me to eat a lot of cinnamon, says it helps boost the metabolism. I'm to consider using goat milk instead of cow's milk and to avoid soy because it's bad for my thyroid. I asked to take a spoon full of cod liver oil to reduce joint swelling... but hey it's the new and improved peach flavor, so I'm sitting pretty. He strongly suggests me adding a super B complex with folic acid to reduce stress, grapeseed as an anti-oxidant, and the old drink eight glasses of water a day. Finally, I'm reminded not to drink cranberry juice (or any juice for that matter) because of the high sugar... so much for those cheap romantic evenings.
My look of "are you kidding me?" made him turn to me and say, "Listen, I don't expect that anyone will follow this 100%, that's just human nature. But if you do just 75% of the stuff I tell you, you will be in top shape in a few weeks. Remember the first few weeks are the hardest but stick to it."
Now that I could deal with. I walked out of there determined.
The first week I lost 2 pounds. YEAH! The second another pound... it was very encouraging. I'm on week three now... let's see what happens.
In the meantime, I decided to write this blog to share with you this information. The only problem, I know how you guys love pictures, and I didn't have any... so I called Dr. Soffer and asked if we could shoot some. He said he was having dinner with a childhood friend, but that I could meet them at the restaurant in Brooklyn and later his friend would take the picture of us in his office with my camera.
Turns out his friend was none other than- Henry Bransteer, one of the producers of The Sopranos. So my friends, in the cool twist of things in the way they happen in Fran's World... these photo's come to you by the hand of Henry, a real sweet down to earth guy, who by the way as I left was about to get the EDS himself. What can I tell you... this stuff is great...fuddgetabboutit!

Note: If you want to find out more just email Dr. Steve Soffer at healthdrs@aol.com and put Steve Soffer in the subject line.