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I'm a believer in The McDougall lifestyle, but over the past year or so I have lost most of the health benefits I had gained due to my tendency to make "exceptions" (exactly as predicted by star McD'ers Sactobob & Jim )

I've been "lurking" the forum for most of that year, making only the occasional impersonal post, embarrassed to continue my past journaling because of my failures.

But it's time. I'm 50 now; there's no saying "later" any more. My mom had her heart attack and TIAs at 62. Her brother had his first heart attack at 50, and died of a massive stroke at 53. My bp has crept up to the 140s/80s, my cholesterol has crept up to the mid-200s. And of course my weight is back up -- to the low 220s from 195.

Many of you have been in the same place and have bravely shared your stories of "getting back on track.". So I'm throwing myself in there with a renewed sense of purpose.

For today, food was:
breakfast:
- half caf coffee w/a bit of sugar & almond milk (goal is o be off caffeinated coffee completely within 2 weeks)
- thick-cut oatmeal, blueberries, handful of walnuts, cinnamon, topped w almond milk/water mixture.
Lunch:
- Grilled eggplant-hummus-tomato & arugula sandwich
- watermelon
Snacks:
- grilled potatoes & sweet potatoes
- watermelon, celery
Supper:
- Jeff's fast food bowl (pasta primavera)
- banana "ice cream" w abt 2 Tbsp fatfree choc sauce (Esselstyn's recipe)
- decaf iced tea

Exercise: 45 min walk w dogs.

This is the beginning of June. You still have half the year to make 2012 your banner year in regaining your health. But blink and the year will be gone. I'm proud to see you step up to the plate and hit this one out! Time for Talkingmountain to show us the way. You can do this and it sounds like you are ready.
You have more people pulling for you than you realize. You know I'll be pulling for you.
f1jim

of course, me too, pulling for you. Glad to see you and your sense of humor here too. I have one piece of wisdom. Don't look back except to learn from past successes and mistakes. Let the shame, regrets, whatever negative feelings go. Forgive self and move on. When I have wallowed in it I just wind up eating crap. Perhaps you don't have this issue but just in case I thought I'd mention it.

Great food diary--delicious choices! Way to go!!!!!

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. The support and lack of judgement mean a lot.

So today started off a bit crazy. Woke up at 9:50, but had to be at church by 10 as dd was an acolyte today. So there was the mad dash amidst accusations of whose fault it was and "does my hair look good" (there being a boy who sometimes attends whom dd finds appealing).

I grabbed a banana as we hurtled out the door, knowing I'd be a lost lamb at the altar if I had to confront the usual array of goodies on an empty stomach. Even in the rush, I couldn't help but notice how light and good I felt, and marvel at how that could happen in just ONE DAY of good eating.

Sure enough there was coffee cake. Fortunately not my favorite, but in weeks past I would have said " you missed breakfast; just this once won't hurt." But as it came into view I heard a voice (Jim's? ) say "No More Exceptions." So I didn't. Have any, that is.

After service, I felt compelled to do something I rarely do -- I invited another mom and her daughter to join me and mine for a quick lunch downtown (I will not bore you with the details, but truly this person needed some cheerful companionship at this particular moment).

Knowing I could easily set myself up for failure, I chose a veg-friendly deli, and from the menu picked a pressed sandwich (no grill grease), and had them substitute whole grain bread for the sub roll and omit the cheese, and fruit rather than chips as the side. And as I ordered I refused to even look at their fabulous dessert case (which was easier than I expected).

Unfortunately its innards were swimming in some kind of "vegan" mayo (apparently that's what "aioli" is) but I removed as much as possible. I thought about skipping it all together, but I was very hungry at this point and had grocery shop on the way home; going to the grocery store ravenous would DEFINITELY have set me up for failure!

The grocery shopping went withou mishap (read, "no junk food ended up magically in my mouth").

Upon returning, I set to work preparing food staples for the week. Now at the ready we have:
- Bob and Farleys roasted vegetable medley (more like steamed medley since I did it in foil packets on the grill).
- Grilled cauliflower, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes.
- An entire full-size watermelon, cut into chunks.
- Cauliflower florets, washed for snacking.
- 3 heads of broccoli, steamed (12 minutes was too long-- do 8 next time)
- 2 bunches grapes, washed
- 1 cucumber, washed & sliced pretty for dd to snack on (unfortunately,I love cukes but they don't love me)

I'm actually hungry right now, and have been for most of the afternoon, but I'm oddly okay with it.

Here's what I've had/have planned to eat today:

Breakfast:
- 1 lg banana
- Water

Lunch:
-Pressed basil, mushroom, tomato, & roasted pepper sandwich on whole wheat bread. Unfortunately had "aioli" in it that seems to be basically the same thing as mayo. Removed as much aioli as poss.
- Unsweetened iced tea ( no coffee today!)

Snacks:
- Raw cauliflower w dip (hummus, homemade fatfree cilantro sauce)
- a few grapes
- Watermelon
- 10 cocoa- dusted almonds (these are a good treat; just almonds with a very thin coating of dairy free dark chocolate, dusted with plain cocoa powder. Not real sweet. Since they are sold in the bulk aisle I just buy 5 or 10 almonds -- instant portion control, and no " extra" left in the house for me to go nuts on later... They are too high calorie density to be a regular item).

Supper (planned)
- roasted veggie/bean medley over rice.
- grilled pineapple.

Right now I'm going to grab a few more bite of cauliflower & watermelon, put on the rice, and go for my walk!

My beautiful veggie & bean medley! Ruined!

I left it out on the grill's side stand while i went walking. When I came back and picked it up to bring inside, dozens, maybe hundreds (those buggers are tiny, after all!) of fruit flies flew out. (The plain grilled potatoes & onions were untouched, so I'm thinking it was then natural sugar in the wine that attracted them to the medley).

Now, here's how much I wanted to eat that stuff... I actually looked up to see if fruit flies on your food presented any real health hazard. I said to myself, 'ok I can make myself not think about the "yuck" factor and no one else will know, so as long as there's no real health issue, this IS what we are having for dinner.'

Unfortunately, it didn't take much online research to find out that a fruit fly or two on your food wasn't an issue, but dozens feasting for possibly as long as an hour was.

So, my lovely veggies that were to be the basis of suppers for the next few nights is now feeding the fruit flies... in the compost pile

Had to throw something together super fast that would work with the rice that was already cooked, so I heated up a can of black bean soup, added a cut up sweet potato that I'd just grilled, and reheated the broccoli that I'd planned on using for supper tomorrow. It was pretty good but I'm still disappointed, and wondering what to make now for the rest of the week.

I'm sorry your supper was ruined!!! Was it already cooked and they still went after it?

Once we get into the thick of summer with melons and stone fruit, we start getting tons of them in the house. Annoying!! All the thousands of air space they have and they must fly an inch from my nose!!!!

I use a glass of wine sitting on my counter to trap them. Someone here recommended it years ago to me.

I like reading your journal. Take care and keep up the good work.

Nice to see you posting again--did you know you joined the boards about a month after I did?

I really like Farley's roast veggies, too, both with and without the wine.

Fulenn

I know Farley pretty well and it's safe to say she would enjoy it with the wine more!
f1jim

Lol, it looks like Farley and the Fruit Flies share a love of wine....

Hi - glad that you're doing a journal. Jim is wise - we do still have half of 2012 left! Let's enjoy the journey.

I've been weaning myself off coffee, yesterday being my first coffee-free day in many many months. Today, since I'd had only about 3 hrs of sleep (insomnia cause by, I believe, weaning off of antidepressants), I figured I'd need at least some half-caf to get through the morning.

I'm about half-way through the mug and I just can't drink any more. The soy milk that I loved in it tastes just plain slimy today.

Amazing how quickly our palates can adjust to lower-fat eating!

I'm posting this here mostly so I can find it again quickly when I feel like re-reading it. But others might find it to be a good read too.

http://bobandfarley.com/index.php?topic=106.msg671#msg671

Ole talking mountain has been "talking" up a storm today. It's as if the floodgates have opened. So I'll keep todays food diary short.

Breakfast:
- blueberry muesli (thick cut rolled oats, at least a cup of fresh blueberries, handful if raisins, handful of walnuts, lots of cinnamon, topped off w/water/unsweetened almond milk mixture)
- 1/2 mug half-caf coffee w/soy milk & about a tsp of sugar. Tasted slimy so I didn't finish the other half.
- mug of black tea w/ 1/2 tsp sugar

Lunch:
- leftover rice & black beans (mostly rice. Actually tasted good plain. California Rose I think the variety is called),
- watermelon
- cauliflower w cilantro dip

Snack:
- 4 pkgs instant oatmeal (2 plain, 2 raisin/date/walnut). was feeling hungry and very tempted by colleagues ever-present tin of chocolate candies, so I needed to fill up before I slipped up.

Supper:
- Zucchini-quinoa croquettes from happy herbivore. They browned nicely on the grill but the veggies inside were still raw, so all that onion really upset my stomach. These really need to be baked if the veggies arent pre-sautéed.
- watermelon
- banana "ice cream" w homemade fatfree chocolate sauce.

Glad to have you back. Sounds like a good eaten day