I've been working on my diet for about 6 years now, and I'm still not where I want to be. Do what you can and don't be too hard on yourself when you mess up. Try to develop a sensitivity to your body so you can tell what types of foods/herbs give you cravings for things that are bad for you; and what types of foods/herbs lead to a feeling of lightness, awareness and balance. For instance, whenever I take red panax ginseng extract, I get uncontrollable cravings for cold sweet things. Last night after I took some (which I almost never do)
Not that Rice Dream is all that bad, but craving sweets can be. What you want is to work towards a balance where you get lots of nutrition, not loads of calories, nothing bad for you - yet you feel good. If you can get there you'll be set! I can't imagine a better guide than Paul Pitchford's book, plus the knowlege you get from the East/West course. If you want specific meal guidance, read the parts of the book on food combining. Try to move in that direction. I also am a big fan of macrobiotic cooking. You can get some great ideas from macrobiotic cookbooks, although I gather that the energetics system in macrobiotics is pretty non-standard so it may be good to not delve too deeply beyond the meal ideas.