MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, carolve, Heather McDougall

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:16 am

Today I only packed one meal to take with me and could have used a second. Instead ended up eating 3 bananas and a whole sweet potato as snacks.

B: oatmeal, cherries
S: banana
L: rice, veggie mix, red beans
S2: banana
S3: sweet potato
S2: banana
D: veggie mix, mashed taters

Doing well with the nightly cleanup habit. I've kept up with dishes for three nights now, and am adding on a little bit of other house cleanup. Once again tonight I knew I had to cleanup before bed, so I actually did it a bit earlier to get it over with before my energy crashes completely nearer to bedtime.

I really kind of like being tidy, and I don't like mess, so I've actually been using energy to ignore the mess. What was the purpose of that?
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:30 am

Restaurant meal tonight, and my belly feels a bit uncomfortable. I had a veggie burger, no cheese. The burger was fine, but that plus the giant whole grain-ish bun plus the grilled onions (oil!) was just too much, so I pulled the burger off and ate the veggies on the bun and brought the burger home. The problem was the fries. I ate them all! It was a big portion. I'm not used to deep-fried food any more. Should've asked for something to substitute for the fries. You'd think I would have learned by now, this is like the 4th time I've eaten too heavy food at a restaurant and suffered later.

What's more I feel to stuffed to do my whole workout, so I only did a little bit of it. There's one of the McD benefits, my food digests so quickly I don't have to time meals & exercise carefully at all.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:41 pm

Noticed something cool recently. Somehow my arms just looked a bit different. I realized my forearm muscles are a bit puffier than they used to be. Gotta be the push-ups or the barbell presses. I also discovered my max number of push-ups I can do with good form has increased! Used to be a wimpy 6, now I can get up to 10-12. Now I'm talking knee push-ups still, but increase is good! Someday I'll graduate to real push-ups.

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: veggie mix (corn, collards, cauliflower, capers), mashed taters
D: TBD

Cooking rice in the rice cooker and trying another experiment-- quinoa in the crockpot. I just didn't want to tend a pot on the stove so I'll see how this works. Also rinsed it beforehand this time, as last time I cooked it, it came out with a soapy, bitter taste.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:08 am

The quinoa came out nicely, although it did start to burn a bit in the crockpot, so it's not something I could start and leave the house. I wonder if low heat would work. I have so many leftovers right now-- cooked rice, quinoa, mashed potatoes, red beans, sweet potatoes. I've gotten into such a cooking habit now I'm almost cooking more than I can finish. Definitely too many beans the past couple weeks. I need to start cooking a smaller amount. I really don't want to eat beans every day.

I finished off the homemade bread. It worked as a food that wasn't so tasty that I overate it. Plus the effort of making it was so great, I probably won't make more soon. Next time I'd like to reduce the salt, as it was noticeably salty to me. So I think I could live with bread in my diet if I limit it to homemade.

I ate a little bag of dry roasted almonds today. It was 20g fat, so there's 10 percent of the day's calories from fat right there. It wasn't a great day for sticking with the plan. I just felt emotionally bad for a spell this evening and ate treats to cope. Not a large quantity, but it re-enforces the habit I'd like to break.

On the plus side, I did part of my workout. I need to add some weight to the squats, as I can do 20 with bodyweight pretty easily now.

B: oatmeal, cherries
S: orange wedge, 2 medjool dates, 3-4 fresh cherries
S: dry roasted almonds (just under 1 oz)
L: corn/greens, mashed taters, leftover veggie burger, beans
S: rest of the veggie burger, pickle, half an apple, ww bread
S: 2 mini york peppermint patties, 1/2 oz liqueur
S: airpop with tobasco

What's missing from that picture? Oh yeah, dinner. Lots of snacks, no dinner.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:06 am

When I went to eat my lunch at work I found I'd absent-mindedly packed the wrong container. My lunch was sitting in the fridge at home and I'd packed a container of plain quinoa that was supposed to go in the fridge :( I ended up having a chocolate chip cookie left in the kitchen. What a hardship, huh?

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: quinoa, sweet potato (this was supposed to be my afternoon snack)
S: banana, chocolate chip cookie, a few jelly belly beans
S: quinoa, 2 dates
D: rice, corn, greens, capers, square of dark chocolate
S: mashed potatoes

Quite a few sugar treats there, in addition to 3 fruit servings. It felt like kind of an unusual day due to some work & personal events, and somehow my brain thinks that's a good reason to forget that I'm not eating sugar treats any more, and sneak in a few morsels.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:29 pm

Better food day yesterday

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: rice, red beans, corn, greens
Snacks: sweet potato, banana, baked russet potato, 1/2 bagel, a few salted pistachios
D: veggie/bean mix, hash browns, 1/2 square dark chocolate

I got really tired and angry at work late in the day, I was struggling with getting a new computer setup plus had a deadline. I took my huge russet potato to microwave and checked the "free food" stash. There were bagels in there and I had half on onion bagel. I tossed the other half, not wanting to ingest the entire 360 calories of white flour. I would have done better with a 2nd meal, but I hadn't packed one. In the past this situation would have been a sure trigger for getting a bag of chips from the machine. That didn't even seem remotely appealing. My tastes really have changed.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:19 am

Today I packed a 2nd meal then wasn't hungry enough to eat it, so I had it for dinner at home.

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: rice, corn, greens, cauliflower
S: banana
S2: 4 of those fake cheez balls (like cheetos) and 1/2 cup of Coke
D: ww pasta, mixed veggies

Pretty good day, but I'm not sure what happened there with the Coke and cheez balls. I considered it an experiment to see how the stuff would taste to me at this point. It was kind of meh, but I wouldn't be surprised if I have a mysterious Coke craving tomorrow. Probably it was my junk food junkie coming up with a new clever way to get a little fix. :roll:

Later I really, really, really wanted a food treat to soothe some emotional distress, but I decided to stick it out. The urge passed in a few minutes.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:28 am

Had a restaurant meal tonight and finally did OK. Not totally on plan but I didn't come away with post-fatty-meal discomfort. This place has a veggie sandwich they serve with half the plate covered in fresh fruit, and the veggie sandwich is really full of veggies, not some mystery grain patty. It has avo and a slice of cheddar cheese, and I went ahead and got the cheese. There's no fatty sauce, although the grilled bun probably has a bit of oil on it. I was still hungry afterward and ate 2 of my boyfriend's french fries. Then had a vegan cookie and some dried cherries later. So... it was indulgent but not to the point I'm kicking myself for overdoing it.

Did my full workout yesterday and felt just pleasantly sore all over this morning.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sat Jan 14, 2012 2:24 am

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: Chipotle rice & bean bowl with salsa, lettuce, couple bites of guac
S: apple
S2: potato chips & half a soda
D: hash browns, sw potato, mixed veggies

Pretty good day today, I worked really late though. For no good reason I ate some junk. I ate a bag of Lay's classic chips out of the machine and half a can of non-diet root beer. I'm gonna give myself credit for pouring half the soda into a cup with ice and pouring the rest down the sink. I still got a bit of a tummy ache from this snack.

Dinner was better. I truly did not feel like cooking, and part of me felt like it was Ok to just eat "whatever" since I'd eaten the junk. I guess I was ignoring the fact that junk had already given me a tummy ache! But I remembered how satisfying a big pan of hash browns can be, so I came home and made that. I also made a pan of mixed veggies and a whole sweet potato. I ate the entire plate. I think my meals have been a bit low on starch the past couple days. It felt like a big luxury to have a pile of hash browns plus a whole sweet potato, plus the somewhat starchy mixed veggies (has corn & lima beans).

I'd had lunch at Chipotle, first time in ages. They offer brown rice option now, so I got it. I don't know how but somehow their brown rice is not very good. I normally truly prefer brown to white, but I was wishing I'd gotten the white.

I did a little over half my workout tonight. I managed to fit it in while I was cooking dinner. I love these brief strength training workouts, since they're not long enough to create a lot of sweat or require an empty stomach. It makes it so much easier to fit it into a busy day. I wish I could do it at my office, but there's a bit of heavy breathing and grunting involved that probably would be inappropriate :)

I'm up to 15 pushups and added 16 pounds to my squats.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:27 pm

Stashing this recipe collection link for later. http://heart.kumu.org/recipes.html

I'd like to try the casserole someone mentioned in another thread, using frozen broccoli, hash browns, garbanzo beans, and vegan cheez sauce.

Tried a new veggie combo this weekend-- squash (one of those frozen blocks), collard greens, and sauteed mushrooms. I had some GI trouble with the mushrooms. Didn't realize they're high in raffinose, so perhaps it's not wise to eat an entire container at one meal :oops:

I also bought a sweet yellow onion and plan to saute that and add to my veggies this week. I was happy the grocery store had some decent sweet potato selection again, unlike the sad shriveled offerings of late. I suspect they had overpurchased for Thanksgiving then were trying to sell the past-its-prime stock.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:37 am

Tonight I had a dinner inspired by Mike Teehan's favorite easy meal-- broccoli topped with mashed potatoes topped with some ketchup. I had leftover mashed taters, and they're not too easy to reheat in my microwave-free kitchen. They stick to a nonstick skillet. So I filled the skillet with frozen broccoli, put the taters over the broccoli, and heated it all on a low flame for a few minutes. It was quite tasty.

I watched the YouTube posted recently of the first half of Doug Lisle's "how to lose weight without losing your mind" talk. It put a new spin on the calorie density information. He says some people just don't detect the calories in high density food as well as others. I have to wonder if that's just a concept or if it's been verified somehow, but regardless, it's a useful way to think of things. So if I want to eat more calorie dense food, I can tell myself Ok, but the result will probably be that I'll either end up with a calorie excess for that day, or I'll have to go a bit hungry to stay at maintenance. I want to remember this when I'm considering eating off-plan stuff.

Did some of my workout tonight. I did the tricep dips first because they're the hardest for me. Doing them before pushups made them easier. But then I couldn't do as many pushups! Didn't add weight to the squats today because my knees feel a bit inflamed.

Wt: 121.2

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: rice, greens, corn, sweet potato
S: banana, mixed veggies
D: broccoli, mashed taters, ketchup
S2: oatmeal, cherries
extras: a few salty crunchy bits

jumping jacks 30
tricep dips 15
squats (bodyweight) 15
pushups 10
lunges 10 each side
Last edited by MmmCarbs on Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:14 am

Tasty dinner tonight

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: Chipotle bean/rice bowl, salsa, lettuce, dab of guac
S: 2 bananas
D: cucumber slices, ww pasta with marinara, mixed veggies, sweet potato
Extras: a few Goldfish crackers

Workout:
15 pushups
15 squats with 16 lb
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:03 am

Wt: 121.0

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: Subway veggie delite (veggies only plus avo)
D1: hash browns, collards, corn, broccoli
S: medjool date
D2: mashed russets, collards, corn, broccoli, capers, honey mustard
Dessert: raspberries, 1 oz hazelnut liqueur
Junk: goldfish crackers (about 1/2 c)

I was hungry today! Tried a different packed lunch. Normally I use cooked rice or mashed taters or nuked taters as my starch, topped with loads of frozen veggies. I tried just using frozen shoestring hash browns instead. It was tasty enough but wasn't very filling.

Had a huuuuuge pile of veggies and mashed taters for dinner. I finally have capers again (ran out early this week, just got more tonight). I love those little sour salty flavor nuggets!

===========
Last night I had a meal cooked by a friend's mom. She made pasta since she knows I'm vegetarian. She also made a side of veggies-- green beans and mushrooms. The amount she cooked for four of us was about half of a normal veggie portion for me. It also had oil on it. It's such a shame to take such a nutritious low-cal food and add a substance that adds zero flavor or nutrients and multiplies the calories by what, like 5 times? It struck me, veggies like that are really sort of a little token side dish that gives you the illusion your meal is healthy.

I'm proud to realize that I've really become a volume veggie eater :) I wish more people could learn the joy of consuming huuuuge quantities of oil-free veggies! Kinda funny coming from me since I hardly ate or prepared veggies at all most of my adult life.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:39 pm

I was out of popcorn the other night so I tried oven-roasted chickpeas. I'm not so sure I'll make them again. They tasted Ok but had to be stirred every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, and watched carefully the last few minutes to avoid burning. That's more effort than I'm willing to expend for a snack. Otherwise a pretty good weekend of food, and some exercise yesterday. I learned some new exercises to shake up my routine a bit.

Today's food:
B: oatmeal, cherries
L: spaghetti, garlic bread, fruit, salad, cookie (buffet food)
D: rice, sweet potato, cucumber
D2: mashed yukons, broccoli, corn

Lunch was unexpected free food at an event I go to on Sundays. I did so-so with my choices there. There were worse items that I passed up, but I could still tell I got a sodium/fat bomb by how I felt afterward.
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

Re: MmmCarb's Good Food Journal

Postby MmmCarbs » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:00 am

Boy, I don't know what hit me today. I had some Goldfish crackers at work and just decided heck with it, I'm tired of fighting the cravings, and I felt like no how no way am I going to go home and eat veggies and starch. Nuh-uh, not gonna happen. I went to the store intending to get cheese pizza and peanut butter. Decided it wasn't really pizza I wanted it was just bread and cheese, so I bought a loaf of crusty white bread and some shredded mozzarella and peanut butter, and had toasted cheese bread and dark chocolate with peanut butter for dinner.

B: oatmeal, cherries
L: rice, greens, mixed veggies
S: banana
S2: goldfish crackers :?
D: toasted crusty white bread with mozzarella, dark chocolate with crunchy peanut butter :shock:
User avatar
MmmCarbs
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 1:56 am

PreviousNext

Return to My Daily Menus & Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests



Welcome!

Sign up to receive our regular articles, recipes, and news about upcoming events.