My "it's about time" Food Journal

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

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My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:30 am

I really don't like food journals. They make me feel exposed and vulnerable. So... I am doing it. I plan on reaching my weight loss goals this year and I am going to need to be more transparent and accountable. I have conquered many challenges this past year and am ready to move into the new year... staying on track. The only thing I struggle with at this point... and 'only' translates to BIGGEST... is OIL.

In the transition to a plant based diet in our house, I have found that my husband and son stay completely on track and enjoy the meals as long as they have a few vegan-friendly snacks like hummus and chips. (not fat free) I am not going to rock the boat at this point because they are doing SO well and I want to encourage them. Over time, I can start making the hummus myself and make it fat free, but they are not ready for that yet. Their health is just as important to me as my health, so I am treading cautiously based on my past "bull in a china shop" mistakes.

I threw away the oil, so I won't be tempted to cook with it at all. There is no earth balance or non-stick cooking spray. I got rid of it all. Now I just have to make healthy choices when I snack! Or I have to avoid snacking all-together. I am not sure which it will be. I think I would rather just eat three really good meals, and stay away from snacking.

So... I will keep this journal so I can look back and track how I am doing with food and results (weight loss). If something doesn't work, I will change it. :) Pretty simple. Comments are welcome. :)

New Years Day in our house is not much different than any other day. I have dinner planned: a stir fry of onions and cabbage over mashed potatoes (mashed with a little organic rice milk and lots of garlic).

Breakfast will usually be either oatmeal with fruit or oat bran with fruit... and a little drizzle of maple syrup. The fruit of choice in my case is either grapefruit (my favorite) or blueberries.

Lunch is always my challenge. Probably left overs - most of the time... so today... taco seasoned beans over rice and a salad with fat free balsamic dressing.

In addition, I am a tea drinker. I have iced tea in the fridge most of the time and hot tea, but I drink tons of water throughout the day as well.

Finally ~ I am doing a combination of MWL and the regular plan. In doing that, I am anxious to see how it affects my weight loss over time. I am not looking for big numbers, only consistent numbers. :) If I lose 10 pounds a month for the entire year - I will reach my goal weight. (180) That is not to say that the "goal" number won't change once I get down there because that is probably a high number to some, but seriously - I have been morbidly obese most of my life. 180 would be amazing for me. So... here goes! :)
Debi

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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby jld » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:42 am

I'm sure you'll do a great job, Debi. And you've already seen progress in the most important area: your health. The weight loss will be the icing on the cake. Thanks for letting us follow you on your journey. It's so interesting to read your entries!:)
A clean life is its own reward.
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:19 am

jld wrote:I'm sure you'll do a great job, Debi. And you've already seen progress in the most important area: your health. The weight loss will be the icing on the cake. Thanks for letting us follow you on your journey. It's so interesting to read your entries!:)


Thanks so much!! :)


My first victory this morning was breakfast. HUGE. Not because I ate what I was supposed to, because I usually do. I just never enjoy it. I have never liked oatmeal and no amount of "it's good for you" matters in my brain. I switched to oat bran and WOW. I LOVE this. It is just plain oat bran with a little drizzle of maple syrup and it is incredible. I had no idea. Breakfast will no longer be something I have to force down. It really does make this lifestyle easier when you actually enjoy your food. :)
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Katydid » Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:13 am

When you are ready here is my 'recipe' for a delicious fat-free hummus:

1 can garbanzo bean (drain and reserve the liquid)
1/4 - 1/2 cup roasted red-peppers (make sure to buy the kind packed in water not oil). Basically, I just fish out a big piece with a fork :D
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp cumin
Juice of one lemon

Combine ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth, adding reserved bean liquid as necessary to keep blender from bogging down.

I usually serve this with a sprinkle of Hungarian paprika on top. So simple and so good. No tahini or oil needed.

Kate
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:56 am

Katydid wrote:When you are ready here is my 'recipe' for a delicious fat-free hummus:

1 can garbanzo bean (drain and reserve the liquid)
1/4 - 1/2 cup roasted red-peppers (make sure to buy the kind packed in water not oil). Basically, I just fish out a big piece with a fork :D
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp cumin
Juice of one lemon

Combine ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth, adding reserved bean liquid as necessary to keep blender from bogging down.

I usually serve this with a sprinkle of Hungarian paprika on top. So simple and so good. No tahini or oil needed.

Kate


Thanks Kate. Sounds excellent. :)
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:05 pm

The day is done ~ at least the eating portion of it. :) I looked back over my menu. I am going to be keeping a close eye each day.

Breakfast :thumbsup:
I had my oat bran with a drizzle of maple syrup and a grapefruit.

Lunch :thumbsup:
I changed it a little. I had a huge plate of fresh spinach and greens with the taco seasoned beans (maybe 1/2 cup), yellow pepper and fat free salsa. Then I had steamed rice with a mushroom gravy over the top (mushrooms sauteed in veggie broth, then thickened with a little cornstarch). It was delicious. I had a couple of cuties (little oranges) after lunch.

Snack :thumbsup:
I was really hungry mid-afternoon so I had the rest of the beans in two corn tortillas with lots of lettuce. :)

Dinner :thumbsup:
was as planned with the cabbage and onion saute (in vegetable broth) with lots of fresh garlic and some pepper - over mashed potatoes. I also made a sweet potato bisque. Delicious and absolutely ZERO fat.

I actually had to stop and think for a minute how damaging fat can be because I feel amazing tonight. I just can't believe that a little bit of oil or no oil can make such a huge difference in my body. I actually started wondering tonight if it is possible to have a fat-intolerance. Yes. I think too much. :-P It is just such a huge difference. I was eating so healthy this past month with the exception of a few things that had a bit of oil. Hard to believe, but the proof is in how I feel.
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby nicoles » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:54 pm

So glad to hear about your good day, Debi, and how wonderful that you can feel the benefits of no oil already! Amazing!! :-D

Happy Oat Bran!

Nicole
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:05 pm

nicoles wrote:So glad to hear about your good day, Debi, and how wonderful that you can feel the benefits of no oil already! Amazing!! :-D

Happy Oat Bran!

Nicole


Thanks Nicole. It has to be the oil. I was doing everything else right. I am glad that I eliminated everything unhealthy but that so I could see how my body reacted to it. I can honestly say, once again, I thought I was feeling great and now I feel even better. :) I'm loving this!
Debi

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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:02 am

This is the first morning I have been excited to have breakfast. I am so happy to find that I love oat bran. Such a simple little change, but it makes all the difference. :)

I am going to start keeping my day in one post... first the plan (in the am) then the actual food eaten (in an edit, added on in the pm). This will help me see how I stick to what I plan and if not, why. That way I can learn to plan even better over time.

Today's plan:

Breakfast: Oatbran and home made apple sauce (I need to increase the serving because I kept the portion rather small yesterday in fear I wouldn't like it).

Lunch: Spaghetti (rice pasta with no fat sauce) and salad

Dinner: Leftover cabbage & onions over rice & a cucumber/tomato salad

*end of day edit*

I stayed with the plan for breakfast and lunch. In fact, it was really fun to cook. I made my guys pancakes for breakfast (oil free, gluten free and egg free) - they loved them and I knew it would be fine if I had them, but I wanted to stay on plan and I was looking forward to my oat bran. It was delicious. For lunch, I added mushrooms, onions and zucchini to my pasta sauce (fat free) and it was super delicious.

Then I made some cookies. Now... these were gluten free, vegan, fat free cookies. They were peanut butter. I made them for my son and I ate two of them. No big deal. Ironically, because I ate those two small cookies - I wasn't really hungry for dinner. I figured ... why eat? So I didn't. I just had a nice big glass of water. It feel so good to make good choices, but even better to know my family is eating so much healthier. My son LOVED the cookies. No egg, no oil, no wheat... awesome!

Anyone interested in the recipe... I found it here:
(and modified it to have less sugar and I used only brown, more gluten free flour) Next time I will try it with a date paste in place of the sugar. :)

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/1 ... r-cookies/
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:20 am

Today's Plan:

Breakfast: oat bran and homemade applesauce

Lunch: Shepherd's Pie (w/ mushrooms, broccoli, corn, peas)

Dinner: Leftover cabbage & onions over rice that I didn't eat yesterday.

Peanut butter cookies are just about gone. My husband will finish them up this morning. I love that the recipe makes a dozen. Perfect. An occasional treat that doesn't last a week. I love it. (peanut butter cookie story in my edited post from yesterday) :)

*end of day edit*

I stayed on plan through lunch. I ended up having some baked tortilla chips and garlic hummus, so concluded that will start making homemade hummus from this point on so I am not getting even a hint of oil in my food. I ended up not eating dinner again. I find that I do better if I eat a late lunch because I really don't like eating a big meal at night, especially on the two nights a week my husband is on swing shift. I had a half of banana for breakfast instead of the applesauce and one peanut butter cookie (they are gone now) as a snack. All in all, I felt good about the day, but resolved that I will not let this oil habit back into my life, regardless of my cravings. I won't beat myself up either. It is just about making better choices.
Last edited by Pacificfords on Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Rosey » Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:06 pm

HUGS!!! Looks like you got a good start to the year going.
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:14 am

Today's Plan

Breakfast: Oat bran and applesauce

Lunch: Tu-No Salad Wraps (found here: http://www.straightupfood.com/blog/2011 ... lad-wraps/)

*check out that site... Cathy works for Dr. McDougall.

Dinner: Mac n Cheeze and a huge salad (a recipe I found for my son and husband) Here: http://www.vegheadfamily.com/

I have not attempted mac and cheeze yet because I tried nutritional yeast once and hated it. I am going to try it again. So many people talk about how great it is. I feel like I need to give it another try now that tastes have changed. We'll see.

*end of day edit*

Well, the day was perfect again up until dinner...lol. Still a great dinner, but not the plan I started with. Seems to be kind of a habit. I chickened out with the mac n cheeze recipe for now. I just hate the taste of nutritional yeast and I will try it again, but I had a new pizza recipe that I wanted to try so I did that instead. It was fantastic.

The crust only had brown rice flour, corn starch, flax, rice milk and seasonings. It was an excellent recipe that required so much less work that yeast dough. We loaded it with nonfat pizza sauce and veggies. What a great dinner.... loved by the whole family.

Another day ~ Another huge success. Planning is everything!
Debi

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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:53 am

Today's Plan:

Breakfast: Oat bran & grapefruit

Lunch: Tortilla wraps with the leftover garbanzo mix from yesterday

Dinner: Tacos (rice, beans, corn, lettuce, tomato, taco sauce, salsa)

I won't eat the beans in my taco since I am having them for lunch. I will just enjoy rice. :)

*end of day edit*

I skipped my grapefruit at breakfast and felt like I ate way too much lunch... but it was so good and exactly what I planned. Dinner... I don't know why but I never seem to stick with that plan. I guess because I have time during the day to find things that are more creative. We had a Potatoes Au Gratin. However I changed the recipe a bit. So instead of the cashew sauce, I used the cheeze recipe from the mac-n-cheeze from the other recipe over the potatoes. I layered red potatoes (sliced with peels), sliced mushrooms, corn, spinach and onions) I used a 9 x 9 dish and had about two layers, finishing off with a layer of potatoes. I cooked it the same time as the first recipes stated... and did end up sprinkling a few ground cashews on top. However, I did not use all the sauce. There was probably about a cup left. It ended up having the perfect amount. So delicious!!!

http://www.straightupfood.com/blog/2011 ... au-gratin/

https://sites.google.com/site/vegheadre ... c-n-cheeze
Last edited by Pacificfords on Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby jamietwo » Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:00 pm

Pacificfords wrote:The crust only had brown rice flour, corn starch, flax, rice milk and seasonings. It was an excellent recipe that required so much less work that yeast dough.


This sounds awesome! Can you share the recipe (here or in a PM)? It would be much appreciated!

You are doing such a great job in your quest for health for you and your family! :thumbsup:
Jamie
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Re: My "it's about time" Food Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:18 pm

jamietwo wrote: Can you share the recipe (here or in a PM)? It would be much appreciated!


Sure Jamie :)

I got the recipe from a site called food.com, but I adapted it.

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup rice flour
2/3 cup rice milk
2 tbsp flaxseed (mixed in 4 tbsp water until a thickened a bit)
1 tsp italian seasonings
1 dash garlic powder

Mix dry ingredients first then add flax and milk. Batter will be runny... a bit like pancake batter. Pour onto parchment paper. (I spread it out a bit more to make it thinner) I cut the paper to fit my pizza pan, but you could do it on any pan. Then bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Take it out and put on your nonfat pizza sauce and veggies. I sauteed mushrooms and onions ahead of time (they caramelized great in a really hot pan with no liquid or oil). We added spinach leaves and roasted red peppers and a few black olives. I added banana peppers to mine as well after it was out of the oven.

We noticed the crust needed to be a little bit crispier, so maybe leaving it in a bit longer than 10 minutes might work. I haven't tried it yet. We also thought the crust could use lots more seasoning. :) I guess it is just a trial and error type thing. I liked it because it was easy. It slides off the paper onto a cutting board and cuts great with a pizza cutter.
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