Letha’s Journal Fall 2009

[sksamboots]

I love your mushrooms...Just want to stare at them all day long. Thanks for sharing

[Lindas]

of all the rain we had in October. I just pull them up so I can cut the grass.
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Started McDougall in September 2009
beginning weight 192 goal 120.
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wNP0poy/]

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[seestorcoo]

you are getting out of the house more - does that feel as good as I would think it does? And for fun things too. Not just to the grocery store.

I think I would really like your Mary - seems like ya'll have a very nice relationship.

Funny - I just read an article about people going mushroom hunting now that the rains are here but they were looking for psychedelic mushrooms. Wonder if a photo of psychedelic mushrooms would look psychedelic? What would it look like?

Have a good day, Ms. Letha.
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If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits.

www.thefeetinmyshoes.blogspot.com

[raven]

Letha, i loved your mushroom photos. I used to live in the redwood forest and we had mushrooms there... so i feel a little nostalgic... but here in the oak chaparral is where my husband is so here is where i stay...

Do you know this sutta?

And how, friend, is one moderate in eating? Here, reflecting carefully, a bhikku takes food neither for amusement nor for intoxication nor for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness, but only for the support and maintenance of this body...
Samyutta Nikaya

I think you are doing that.
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food blog: http://lowfatvegancooking.org

[WeeSpeck]

Hi Letha,

I thought I would pay you a written hello. I have been silently following your inspirational story beginning with your first journal you started over a year ago. I wonder if you ever think about how many lives you've touched through this forum and your blog. I'm guessing you have quite a following!

I love your mushroom pictures. I love everything about the Pacific Northwest. It is beautiful country where you live.

I hope you are having a great week!
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--\--@ Nancy @--/--

I am but a wee speck in the big picture of the universe.

[Becky]

Hi Letha,

I am enjoying your photographs very much! Are you the photographer in the family? DH is our resident photographer. He takes the pictures, then I upload them, edit them, etc.

I am jealous you got a sewing machine. I haven't had one in a long time, but I did enjoy sewing way back when. Any projects on the horizon?

~Becky
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I lost 17 pounds & lowered my cholesterol
from 252 to 135 on the McDougall Plan!
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[Letha..]

Lindas, Sksamboots, & Toadfood, Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you liked my mushroom photos.

Hi Becky, Mary takes more photos then me since she’s willing to scramble over logs and jump ditches to get a good mushroom shot. I haven’t sewn anything yet but Mary is working on a reversible vest for the Christmas performance of her tap dancing group. It’s almost done and very cute.

WeeSpeck, Thanks for stopping by. I am aware that the lurkers far outnumber the posters on the McDougall board. I’ve also been amazed at the people who visit my recipe blog. Over 35,000 so far from every part of the world. In just the last 24 hours I’ve had hits on my blog from Bulgaria, Malaysia, Belarus, Germany, Brazil, United Kingdom, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Canada, and of course from all over the US. Almost all of them follow links from the McDougall discussion forum to my blog which makes me wonder why folks from these countries don’t post more often on this discussion forum.

[Ege Bamyasi]

I've been neglecting my own journal as well as the journals of others lately, so I know there is a lot I'm missing until I spend more time going back over lost territory. My apologies for that.

However, I also loved the mushroom pics and am happy to hear that you are getting out more. I know your neck of the woods isn't the most convenient place for shopping and such, but the scenery is just gorgeous!

Keep up the great work, and enjoy your shows tonight.
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31 lbs. in 18 months eating SAD (avg. 0.40 lbs./week)
55 lbs. in 19 weeks of McDougalling (avg. 2.89 lbs./week)

[raven]

Letha, We watched The Ramen Girl that you recommended to me, and i really enjoyed it. Stachelschwein (my husband) agreed that it was worth watching, and that is high praise from him. There were a couple of moments that were movie moments, but a lot of the time they were keeping it real. I have had ramen in Japan, and it was very, very good.

Have you seen Eat Drink Man Woman? Lots of cooking and a sense that food is more than something you eat for sustenance... maybe not what you want to watch just now...
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food blog: http://lowfatvegancooking.org

[talkingmountain]

Hi Letha, just stopping in to see what you're up to and thinking about. It's always interesting to read your journal!
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Cured: severe reflux, chronic pain, pre-diabetes.
Improved: cholesterol, energy. More to come!

[Letha..]

Hi Kirk, Thanks for stopping by. Good to see you posting more.

Raven, Glad you liked the movie. I added ‘Eat Drink Man Woman’ to my Netflix queue. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Good morning all. I’m on plan and planning to stay that way. I’m changing things up a bit today on my Mary’s Mini. I wanted to eliminate my four servings of 3-2-1 salad dressing that I eat every day to tighten things up even more. But eating 6-8 cups of lettuce with no dressing seemed pretty challenging so I decided to look at changing my veggie. My goal with the veggie is to ensure that I’m getting some vitamin A & vitamin C as recommended in Dr. McDougall’s June 2006 Newsletter article about Mary’s Mini.

“While root vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes provide well-rounded nutrition—grains and beans lack sufficient vitamins A and C to be eaten alone; therefore add some fruit and/or green and yellow vegetables to make your grain and bean meals complete.”

So, I considered switching from lettuce to carrots or bell peppers, both of which I would find easier to eat without dressing. I compared the calories to the amounts of vitamin A & Vitamin C. The bell pepper has a nice distribution of A&C at a low calorie price so I decided I’d try that for a few days.

1 medium red bell pepper:
37 calories
160% Vitamin A
203% Vitamin C

6 cups romaine lettuce:
47 calories
1053% Vitamin A
90% Vitamin C

2 cups cooked carrots:
109 calories
2,278% Vitamin A
15% Vitamin C

I wanted to try the peppers both cooked and raw so when I set up my Zojirushi rice cooker with the timer last night I added a chopped bell pepper. I had tried before adding veggies to cooking rice in the Zojirushi and the veggies were overcooked, but when I had a serving of rice & cooked red pepper for breakfast it was fine. Tomorrow I plan to try eating the red bell pepper raw with cooked rice and see how that goes. Another factor I’ll be looking at in coming days is the availability of organic peppers. I can’t get them here on the peninsula but I’m hoping they’ll have them across the river in Astoria.

I’m also cutting my soy sauce from ½ tablespoon down to 1 teaspoon per servings = 33% reduction in sodium. There is only a difference of 10 calories between 1 medium bell pepper and 6 cups of romaine lettuce but of course the volume of the lettuce is far greater so it will be interesting to see how that effects how full I feel or how satisfying I find my meals.
I’ll check back tomorrow.
Letha
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Turtle Energy: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

[toadfood]

I love red bell peppers. I'll be interested to hear how this experiment goes. You could stuff your peppers with your rice -- that might be fun.

Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies, so I'd choose that if I had to pick one to eat every day. I don't know how it compares to romaine and peppers nutritionally, though.
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[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/w0SzupU/]

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I have to stay with my turtle energy. Slow and steady wins the race. -- Letha

[Letha..]

[nomikins]

I have a huge bag of Green Giant frozen broccoli florets that I keep in the freezer at work. Walmart has the large bags of Green Giant veggies - very convenient. DH picks what he wants and I get what I want. We'll eat through those at work and then restock. It's actually a very cheap way to eat at work, and so convenient.

Broccoli and sweet potatoes have been my lunches for the past week and a half. I find that broccoli is very satisfying in terms of volume and appetite satisfaction.
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"You are wasting precious years dabbling with this. Change your life and never look back." -- Jim Brown, Star McDougaller

[sksamboots]

Bell peppers sound really good--and stuffed ones just sound wonderful! Great as always Letha