Discussion Board

Well, the last 2 days have been horrible. Not food-wise (I barely ate and when I did, it was pretty McDougall compliant) but because I gave myself a 2 day migraine. It's my own fault. I don't monitor how much OTC meds I take when I get a headache - I just pop a pill when I think something is starting up. Because of that, I took too many Excedrine Migraine pills on Tuesday night and through Wednesday and Thursday I had migraine headaches off and on, mostly on. They were the very bad kind too - the ones that don't stay in the temple but go into my forehead and eye (the left side this time). I didn't know what to do so I just kept taking OTC meds and that made me nauseous (hence, barely able to eat). They were so horrible that I had to cancel one of my chats for my students yesterday (which is technically a no-no, but this is the university that I'm done with in a few weeks so I don't really care that much anymore).

Naturally I haven't done any exercise and I've barely functioned and am behind in my work. All I could do yesterday was sleep. Today I am much better (thank goodness), though not entirely well. I am still feeling a bit nauseous and my head has that throb in the background that threatens to turn into another migraine (I can't quite explain it - you have to have experienced migraines to know what I mean), but I am definitely functioning better. I was even able to take my 45 minute walk this morning. I'm going to stick with very plain McDougall foods today (oatmeal, rice, bananas, etc) so that I don't risk triggering it up again.

I am feeling very low today, lethargic and depressed and nauseated. I want out of this life. I do NOT under an circumstances mean out of life for good - I love life and I would never dream of ending it. I just mean out of THIS life that I'm in now - stressed with 3 jobs to pay for a flat that is increasingly proving to be not worth it, being fat and ugly and being surrounded by people who condescend to me and judge me as some little girl who can't take care of herself (I'm talking about my brother and his girlfriend). This life that has sapped my energy and creativity. Even 5 years ago I was a totally different person - also stressed with being a grad student full time, teaching part-time, doing a master's thesis. But I loved every minute of it and I was happy and healthy (50 pounds lighter, exercising every day), meeting friends, liking my students and professors, writing every day, experimenting in writing, etc.. I cannot understand what happened and how it went all awry.

I know I've been complaining about this for weeks and I have no right because I am so fortunate in many ways. I take a walk every day around some of the most urban neighborhoods in the Mission and I see constantly homeless people pushing their carts and know that I a so lucky not only to have work but to be overworked. Nonetheless, I cannot help but wonder if these people are freer than I am and happier than I am.

I think part of this is coming from the fact that I am at the end of my rope and not far to go. I have a week and a half left before one of my universities drops from my schedule. This is the last week of class and then 3 days to get final grades in and I'm done. I am very happy about this and anxious for it to come. I need to plan my time, though. I don't want to just have more free time and idle it away. There are so many things I want to do and things I need to do before my trip.

I feel that this eating plan is a big part of getting me back on the path towards happiness and creativity and life. I am no longer focusing on weight loss or inches - right now my one goal can be summed up in one word - COMPLIANCE. I want to comply to the plan (not MWLP, but the regular plan) consistently without binging on junk food for the next 2 months - until the first week of Sept when my parents are set to get here. Whether I lose weight or not is not the issue. The issue is sticking with the plan, getting the addiction to junk food out of my system, seeing this as a lifestyle and not a diet. I have only had success in keeping to plan for a few weeks at a time and then I broke down with the idiotic thinking that doing just one binge will not hurt me. But I'm like any addict - I have to go "cold turkey" (or cold tofu, in my case ) in order to succeed.

Feeling better today and much more positive. Yesterday was a strange day. I felt totally out of it and so exhausted I could barely keep myself awake long enough to do the work that I was required to do (grading). I did part of it and finished earlier than I had planned and just went back to bed and fell sound asleep for 3 hours. That rarely happens to me and certainly not in the middle of the day. I think it may have been because I stayed up late 4 nights in a row and also because my body was trying to purge the nasty stuff I'd eaten for 4 days straight. I did wake up much more refreshed and managed to do more grading in the evening. But I wanted to get in some afternoon DVD exercise but didn't because I was so tired.

Yesterday's menu:
Morning: onion, celery, red pepper, pinto beans, corn salsa, all sauted in veggie broth; bowl of 7 grain hot cereal with a dash of oat milk, maple syrup, and a sprinkle of Grape Nuts for crunch
Mid-Morning: fat free refried beans and salsa spread on 2 corn tortillas; a small banana
Afternoon: Kale sauted in garlic and balsamic vinegar and veggie broth mixed with brown rice (very tasty)
Evening: lettuce, tomato, and shredded carrot with lime juice and garlic (this was amazingly delicious - I've been searching for salad dressings without fat, experimenting with fat free dressings and 3-2-1 dressings but they were all too sweet); baked potato dipped in ketsup/BBQ sauce
Night: 1 oz whole grain pretzels; 2 rice cakes with jam
Exercise: 45 minute hilly walk

Got a late start this morning which is not a great thing, since I have a lot of grading I have to get done today plus a live chat with my students. They did a group project which is a grading nightmare because the course developers set up the project so that students have to post in a zillion different places which is taking a LOT of time. I am so glad this is the last week!

Yesterday I made a few strides. I exercised a lot - 45 minute walk in the morning and then a 30 minute walk and firm DVD (Samsone) with some resistance exercises built into a 2 mile walk. After that, I felt like doing a little more and that same DVD has a very low key 1 mile walk on it, so I did that as well. I guess I'm making up for the 3 hour sleep-a-thon I had the day before .

I also started watching a long movie in the evening but found myself turning off the TV after an hour and just reading. That's a positive sign for me, since the TV tends to induce eating in me. I started a book I bought years ago but never got around to reading - about women small business owners in 19th century San Francisco - which might now be good research for a historical novel that I am toying with getting back to. Right now I'm not pushing myself to do any of the things that I am short of time on (like writing and cooking). I'm just focusing on getting these last 2 courses done for this university that I hate so I can finish on a high note (only 1 more week to go!) After that, I will make plans to incorporate some of the activities that I love.

Yesterday's menu:
Morning: onion, celery, red pepper, pinto beans, corn, and salsa sauted in veggie broth; oat bran with a dash of oat milk, maple syrup, and Grape Nuts for crunch
Mid-Morning: homemade fat free roasted red pepper hummus (very good!) spread on whole grain mini pitas; 1 small banana
Afternoon: quick pumpkin soup with corn (had also planned some brown rice but wasn't hungry for it)
Evening: salad with romaine, tomatoes, and carrot and lime juice and garlic; baked potato with BBQ sauce/ketsup dip
Night: 1 oz whole grain pretzels; 2 rice cakes with jam

One thing I realized is that raw garlic is starting to give me digestive issues. I LOVE raw garlic but I noticed that it really burned my gut yesterday. So I'm going to try and reduce the amount that I eat in my salad from 1 medium/large clove to 1/2 a clove and we'll see how that goes.

Djuna

Today is my last chat with students (hopefully forever...). It's not that I don't like doing chats with students, but it takes a lot of planning and preparation and it takes time from my day and I have to schedule them during evening hours because I'm supposed to be "accommodating" to the students' schedule. I anticipate it will be a short one (judging from how long the one I did for my first class yesterday was) so at least there will be that. But it'll be so nice not to be tied to a certain schedule because of the demand to have a zillion hours of office hours and chats per week (since neither of my other 2 universities require this).

I finish with this nightmare university in exactly a week (Thursday morning is when grades are due). I am already starting to strategize because I know myself too well. I know that I will want to "party" because I'll be freer and I am starting the wheels turning to another change in my life - a big change. So stress and joy are going to work together to drive me to "celebrate" - and that means binging on junk food the whole day. But I've been doing great with McDougall, really enjoying what I am doing. I'm starting to get down a menu plan that is working for me and I don't want to blow it with a binge that I know will not be just for 1 day but will last a whole weekend.

So somethings I've come up with so far is to make some of my favorite McDougall meals for that day (like fat free baked beans and McDougall-friendly cornbread). Also, to avoid binging on junk food, make some McDougall-friendly desserts for myself. This is going to be a challenge because I am not a baker so they'll need to be "baking for dummies" kind of recipes . So far I'm thinking of two - one is the quick and easy chocolate cake recipe that uses canned pumpkin (I have a whole foods store in my area that I think carries the brand of brownie mix that the recipe suggests) and a cherry pie. I think I saw a recipe for a McDougall-friendly graham cracker pie crust in the Quick and Easy Cookbook that looks very straightforward and I can probably find some organic cherry pie filling in cans that will not contains the kind of junk that the regular grocery store kind would in the whole food store.

Yesterday's menu:
Morning: onion, celery, red pepper, corn, pinto beans, salsa, and a tsp of tomato paste sauted in veggie broth (adding the tomato paste made a lot of difference!); 7 grain hot cereal with a dash of oat milk, honey, and Grape Nuts for crunch
Mid-Morning: fat free refried beans with salsa topping some corn tortillas baked until crisp (this is my favorite snack); a bowl of strawberries (these were AWESOME! I think they're the best I've had in a long time, sweet and sour and crunchy, and they were only 98 cents a basket at my local grocery store)
Afternoon: Frozen stir fried veggie mix with a sweet and sour sauce made from tomato paste, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of sugar; served over brown rice
Evening: lettuce, tomato, and carrot salad with lemon juice and garlic (1/2 a clove this time - didn't have the bad reaction of the burning gut this time but also didn't much taste the garlic - so today instead of squeezing the lemon on top of the salad and grating the garlic over that, I will mix the lemon and garlic in a separate bowl and pour it over that so that the garlic can have a chance to disperse better); baked potato dipped in BBQ sauce/ketsup; Fiber One cereal (dry) and 2 rice cakes with jam
Exercise: 45 minute hilly walk in the morning - didn't get to a DVD exercise in the afternoon because of the ton of grading I had due and the chat

Yesterday was my last chat (hopefully forever) - WHOOHOO!!! I'm actually making great time this week with grading so that I might even manage to get most of Sunday off (what a change...) which would be nice. I ordered McDougall's MWLP book (not so much for the plan but more for the science that the book goes into, which McDougall's 12 Day Program book doesn't) so hopefully I'll get that today and I can spend some time relaxing and reading.

I've sort of decided on a menu for my celebration day next Friday. I checked out the baking section of my local whole food store and found they had the vegan brownie mix that the Easy Brownies recipe posted in the recipes forum calls for. They also have canned organic pumpkin so I'll definitely be making that. I also checked out the canned fruit section and they have organic canned sour cherries that are just cherries and water. The problem now is to find an easy cherry pie recipe. I'm planning on posting a question to the recipes forum to see if anyone has any recipe for me with a graham cracker crust.

Yesterday's menu:
Morning: onion, celery, red pepper, bean, corn, salsa, and a dash of tomato paste sauted in veggie broth; oat bran with a dash of oat milk and maple syrup and Grapes Nuts for crunch
Mid-Morning: homemade roasted red pepper fat free hummus on mini whole grain pita, grapes
Afternoon: homemade quick pumpkin soup, whole grain couscous
Evening: baked potato with BBQ sauce/ketsup dip (was too lazy to make a salad ); Fiber One cereal and rice cakes with jam
Exercise: 45 minute hilly walk; no afternoon exercise because of my chat but I plan on doing that today.

You look like you are doing well and are planning ahead.

I think you will find the MWL plan very straightforward. You don't seem to eat that far off of it (the cereal, and some little extras like the jam wouldn't be allowed). Basically, it's just a focus on whole foods (lots of veggies, starches, and limited beans and fruit). I like the simplicity of it, and for the most part it's how I eat, despite not needing to lose more weight.

It is good to hear that your are finishing up a job you don't seem to enjoy very much. It's terrible to feel like you 'have' to do something that you really don't enjoy every day. i find it drains my energy to be involved in activities that I really despise.

Good luck with the plans for your celebration day!
lfwfv

Well, I did it to myself again (or almost...) - I gave myself a migraine by over-medicating myself! That started last night with some headaches and taking OTC meds and by the time I went to sleep, it was a full-blown migraine. But I was determined to stay away from the Excedrine Migraine pills this time. That worked until 2 a.mish when I woke up and my head was throbbing so I took 1 pill and this morning I woke up and I am much better. Still a sinus-headache type thing but at least it's not a migraine. I am going to try and stay away from the pills, drink lots of water, and focus on what I have to do and not on the pain. Hopefully it will go away on its own.

I've started to put together the celebration menu that I plan on for next Friday. Here's what I have:

Morning: Bean and veggie saute or bean and veggie salad; McDougall-friendly pancakes with maple syrup
Mid-Morning: Corn tortillas with fat free refried bean and salsa spread on them, some lettuce and tomato (for some tostadas), fruit (mango, which I love)
Afternoon: Baked beans (either homemade or organic from a can) and McDougall-friendly cornbread; cherry pie for dessert
Evening: Potato fries (instead of my usual baked potato - no oil added, of course), with ketsup, salad, McDougall-friendly easy chocolate brownies

I actually found a recipe for a cherry filling that is fat free (from About.com low fat cooking) and a recipe for an oatmeal and whole wheat pie crust (from Fat Free Vegan) and I'll probably try to do that combination for the pie. I'm still searching for a good McDougall-friendly cornbread recipe. I might do the Cornbread Muffin recipe that is in the free 12 day plan on this website and instead of doing them in a muffin tin, just do them in a regular pan.

Yesterday's menu:
Morning: onion, celery, red bell pepper, pinto/black beans (finished a can of pinto, started a can of black beans), corn, salsa, and tomato paste sauted in veggie broth; 7 grain hot cereal with dash of oat milk, honey, and Grape Nuts
Mid-Morning: corn tortillas with fat free refried beans mixed with salsa; strawberries
Afternoon: 12 oz bag of frozen green beans (!!!) sauted with some balsamic vinegar and veggie broth over brown rice
Evening: Baked potato with BBQ/ketsup dip; made a salad with lemon/garlic dressing but didn't feel like eating it in the end so I saved it for tonight; Fiber One cereal and rice cakes with jam
Exercise: 45 minute hilly walk in the morning; 45 minute walk and firm DVD (Sansone) in the afternoon

I'm having trouble with the salad in the evening. I have to confess that I am not finding salads very appealing without some kind of oil-based dressing. I'm not talking about a dressing dripping with oil. I used to put a teaspoon of oil for a huge salad before McDougalling and it was enough. It's not that I don't enjoy the salad once I actually get to eating it - it's getting to eating it that is the trouble . I'm thinking of starting to add some "special" veggies in it, such as canned artichoke hearts, heart of palms, roasted red pepper, capers, etc. - something to "zip" it up a bit.

have you tried the 321 dressing?

3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar

you can play around with it to get the right taste and try different flavors of mustards. Its really good.

I just submitted the final grades for the university that has been giving me grief since October of last year. It is such a relief!!! I am now down to 2 jobs, which is much more manageable. I actually finished a lot earlier than I planned. I thought I would take until Thursday morning to grade but I whipped through that grading in 2 days instead of 4. Guess when the motivation is up...

Unfortunately, the stress of tying up this loose end has caused a lot of stress and I've slipped off of McDougall. I'm disappointed in myself because I know that I was losing weight - I felt my pants looser and I felt lighter. So it's clear that what I'm doing is working in terms of health and mental well being. I'm still struggling with some aspects of the plan - mainly the missing fats. I didn't eat a lot of fat (when I ate healthy) before McDougall - about 20-25% of my calories. But I did use a tsp of olive oil to saute my lunch and a tsp for a salad at dinner and I can't seem to get used to the taste of veggies and beans sauted in veggie broth and salads without added oil. I know it's a matter of getting used to the taste of food without the oil and I'm not giving myself enough time. I've only done McDougall 2 weeks at a time and I think I read somewhere that it takes 3 weeks for your taste buds to change to a new way of eating.

One thing I'm thinking of doing is a 6 week challenge on MWLP. I just got the MWLP book that I ordered so I have the tools now. I would start on Saturday and go until the beginning of Sept, which would take me right to the time when my parents are supposed to get here to help me make the big move back "home". My goal would not be so much focused on weight loss, since 6 weeks isn't going to make a huge dent in the 50 pounds I have to lose. The goal would be to change my tastes and get into the routine of doing the plan so that by the time my parents get here, I'll be committed to the plan (though I'll switch probably to the regular plan while they are here).

if this dressing is too sweet for you reverse the ingredients like the original dressing....

3 T balsamic vinegar or whatever
2 T mustard...any kind
1 T maple syrup

this is the one from the Esselstyn book....

In 6 weeks you are likely to lose 15 lb or more doing strict MWL. That's a pretty big dent! Are you really going to move to Israel? Have you lived there before?

I top my salads with lemon juice or vinegar and some kind of salt-free seasoning mix (like Mrs. Dash). Juicy tomatoes help too. Best wishes---

If you don't like salad without dressing, I'd highly recommend raw crudites (carrots, celery, green beans, jicama etc.) and have you ever tried a head of plain romaine lettuce? Buns thought I was crazy when I suggested this. Now she loves it.

Hi Djuna,
I've been on MWL for about 6 weeks now and have lost 18 lbs in that time. It feels good! You might lose even more. Go for it!

It's been a frustrating day, to say the least. I was grading discussion threads for my students and in one class, there was a student who cheated on 4 of her 5 discussion thread responses. She didn't do it in a smart way either - she basically copied and pasted from the student who posted a response before hers. In one case, she tried to change the wording but it was so clumsily done that it was just pathetic.

I have absolutely no sympathy for cheaters. With this student, she did the same thing for 2 discussions the very first week of class and at that time I filed reports and turned myself blue in the face trying to explain to her why this was wrong. She didn't have an inkling that she was doing anything wrong. And now it's Week 3 and she did the same thing, only many more times. She wrote in her bio that she just got her GED early this year. I know it sounds mean and vicious but I can't help but wonder how many classmates she cheated from to get that GED...

I am making progress with MWLP. I still have a lot of work to do like making the menus into Word so I can have everything organized. I am also trying to troubleshoot temptations that I know I'll have for the 6 weeks. For example, I know that one of my triggers is when I browse the TV schedule and see that there is a line up of great movies on that night. That has caused me more than once to spontaneously go to the grocery store and buy junk food to binge on.

So my strategy is to plan ahead and put some limitations. I've decided that at 7 pm, the TV goes off. I can do anything I like that is not TV related from that time to bedtime - read, write, listen to music, cross stitch, whatever. I'm also going to look up the TV schedules for the whole 6 weeks and make a schedule of my own on what I want to watch until 7 pm. Then I'll just consult my schedule rather than the TV schedule so I won't get tempted by any other shows that might be on. I know it sounds funny, but I think it will help.