Discussion Board

This discussion on Mini and MWL and what's allowed or not reminds me of something that someone said here on the forum a while ago about being at the 10 day program. The live-in program had changed over to MWL but they served SANDWICHES one day, and someone said something to Dr. McDougall about SANDWICHES not being on the MWL version of his program. He said something about them being legalistic or stuck on the rules or something like that. I mean, it was said in a nice way but the point is that you can be flexible if you have to be. Just be aware of what you are doing and how far off the track you are going from your own goals.

Knowledge is power and like Donna said, she might have lost her weight faster if she had not eaten pasta and popcorn BUT if eating it once a week or so keeps you satisfied and also helps you to NOT eat a handful of nuts then a spoon or two (or five) of peanut butter followed by a peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat when you're trying to do gluten free...... now you know why I'm still overweight after 6 years...... then maybe you would want to have some popcorn. I think I will keep on having it but limit it to once a week and limit myself to a much smaller portion.

Good Morning to all!

Thank you soooo much Mrs. D. for clearing things up for me. That was exactly the information I was trying to find, and you found it for me! Thank you! I won't be making a habit of the popcorn any more. I have such an abundance of good produce available to me where I live, so I'm going to fill up on the raw veggies and artichoke heart dip. I'm going to print your post and put it on my fridge as a reminder.

Jubilee - thank you for letting us know of your surgery date and what is going to be involved. You are very wise to take good care of yourself before hand by eating as healthfully as you can, and I'll be praying for a very speedy recovery.

kc - I'm glad that your wrist and knee both feel better. It will be great when you can get back to the exercising again! You are in my prayers.

Hi to everyone else, and I know I say this often, but thank you to everyone who posts here. You are all a real blessing to me.

Morning all,
Jubilee, I am so sorry about this surgery. I am praying for a healing miracle for both of us. Truly.

All of you are so wonderful. I look forward to sharing with you. I can feel Christ through each one of you. God bless!

Well I did it. I made an appointment with Vascular Surgery to get this leg taken care of. I am praying for a healing miracle and do believe in one, but am also following the course. Not in unbelief of the Almighty's power.

I, because of severe health issues need this weight off! I do want a tasty program but first I gotta get this diabetes under control and weight off my veins.

So if I tell you what I'm eating, can you please steer me in the right direction? I've only been Vegan for a month and need all the help I can get.

Today I've had 1 cup brocoli with 1/2 cup of shredded potates and onions, leeks, spinach. The whole thing measured about 1 1/2 cups.

2 cups of coffee with low fat silk and stevia.

Lunch - cooked cabbage, onions, brussel sprouts with 1/2 cup potatoes.

I think dinner will be the left over soup of potatoes/leeks/with soy milk and a veggie.

My treat at night is 5 oz of fat free tofu blended with stevia and fat free cocoa powder.

What do you all think? Lord, help me

I think overall you are doing very good for a month in.

To improve:

Take out the tofu stuff. I bet that it contains soy proteins. Also I would like to see the label. I googled fat free tofu and could not come up with a product to look at.

Soy Milk has a high fat content. All fat free ones that I could find have soy proteins in them.

For an occassional nice frozen treat freeze a banana or two and whatever other fruit you like - strawberries, blue berries, pineapple, fat free cocoa or whatever. Blend them all up together with a little water and you're gonna be happy .

Next is eat more starches. You are not eating enough. That amount would not keep me full for an hour. I'd be back in the kitchen and into all kinds of trouble

Are you spicing up your foods so that they are tasty? Don't be afraid to use things like cayanne, dry mustard, garlic, horseradish, pepper, salsa, etc. Try experimenting with some of the Indian or Asian spices too.

Go to the recipe section and look at the MWL sticky. There are tons of ways to make this interesting.

Hope this helps.

God Bless,
Donna

I second what Donna said! My first thought was oh, lose the tofu and soy milk! I think I would not use the stevia either. It might cause your sugar to rise even though it's not sugar. I'm not sure but why take the chance? Once you get used to not having the sweetener you will be amazed at how your tastes change.

I eat plain oatmeal with just frozen tart cherries for sweetness and it works just fine for me now! Sugar tastes very very sweet.

Another nice treat that would take the place of your tofu treat would be to mash a banana with about a teaspoon of Wonderslim fat free cocoa. It is like chocolate pudding and very fast and easy to make!

I buy Wonderslim through Amazon and get 3 containers at a time. I think last time I bought 6 so I could get free shipping.

Mrs D.

Thanks for your input about the subway. While the veggie part of the delight is legal, I figured the bread wasn't, even though it was the wheat.

But as far as the Birdseye steamers, they are nothing but rice and carrots, peas and corn. Nothin added. It was a good find. It's my dinner right now as I work OT.!!

Hello to the rest of you. Thank you for sharing your struggles and successes. It helps to stay focused. Wish I got on here more. I don't want to slip up. But when I do, I go back on, I don't want to go back to the old way of eating.

Pinkrose: I think you said it very well in your post of April 13th, if I have the date right. You don't want to compromise on food issues for the sake of relationships. And while you would like to be 100% complient 100% of the time, you do not want to become obsessed and alienate or offend others who work hard to prepare dishes with too much oil or salt.
I would like to add some additional thoughts to that.

My hubby and I discovered Subway veggie delights quite some time ago. We loved loading up our sandwiches with tons of veggie's. Yes, I knew the bread probably had oil or something else in it that I didn't need in my body. But when you read the ingredients, you find oil is NOT at the top of the list. It is listed as being less than 2%. After a long day when I am too tired to cook, or sometines don't feel like it, we will get a Subway veggie delight.
Yes, I have gotten them on ocassion as a salad, but I, much prefer the sandwich on bread. The way we figure it, we don't have a problem here unless we were to eat them every day and we don't.
We have also discovered Pizza Hut. We both go after the vegetarian pizza minus the cheese. The thin and crispy crust is to our liking and we get extra veggies. Granted, the crust or perhaps the sauce has some oil or something else we don't want in our bodies, but we are not obsessed with this. My hubby and I love lingering after we eat over herb tea, or whatever it is we're drinking. We've sat for an hour or so.
Ten miles away we have a Howard Johnsons. Here you can't eat anything from their dinner or lunch menu. But we discovered that you can eat from their breakfast menu, and they do breakfast all day! They serve oatmeal and make it WITHOUT THE MILK. I have ordered a plain bagel, and I eat. Granted, the bagel probably has oil or something else in it, but again, I'm not going crazy here either. This restaurant has a fabulous view of our Adirondack mountains in their front picture windows. Going over after church, having breakfast, and lingering over tea, juice, or whatever, well....we just enjoy it on ocassion.
A few years ago we discovered Olive Garden. Here we found their minestrone soup, and spaghetti made with marinara sauce. And they will cook whole wheat pasta if you ask! I suppose the soup or spaghetti sauce has some oil in it, but we find the dishes acceptable. No, it is probably NOT McDougall accepted, but we only do this once a year.
Now, there are things we are obsessed with. I watch very carefully our intake of soy and tofu due to the fat content. And I am obsessed with isolated soy protein. When I discovered a while ago that Nori Nu silken tofu has isolated soy protein, I STOPPED USING IT IMMEDIATELY. Unfortunately, that is the only silken tofu our local health food store carries. If I want silken tofu I have to travel 10 miles to the Price Chopper to get it. And naturally, I am obsesses with the vegan fake foods. We avoid them like the plague.
There are folks out there who must be obsessed with everything that goes into their mouths. They are folks with heart disease, diabetes, etc. If my hubby or I had something like that, believe me, we would become crazy over what we ate today!
Are we 100% compliant with what we eat? Obviously not. But my hubby has lost 34 pounds without even trying hard, and I lost 15. His doctor says he looks great, and to keep doing whatever he is doing.
We figure an ocassional meal eaten out isn't a big deal for us, although we realize it has to be for others. And if we get invited out to eat, we go. We try to pick carefully from the menu, and have considered asking the kitchen if they would prepare a vegetable plate for us. You don't ask, you don't get.
By the way we would love to purchase bread here that is healthy. Unfortunately, most of the bread that is McDougall approved, we can't get here. And what we can get is $5.00 a loaf. That's expensive for us. Our health food store does sell organic bread, but it too comes at a price. So we have settled for 12 grain bread at Aldi's for $1.89 a loaf. We realize it probably has oil, etc in it, but we are not huge bread eaters, so no big deal.
Sorry, for the length here, but I felt it was necessary. I think Pinkrose said it right. Lets eat right, but not alienate folks and become too obsessed in the process.

By the way for the party that made the hash brown and spinach casserole? It sounded great, but Earth Balance is PURE FAT and a fake food as far as I'm concerned. I bet you can make a cream sauce without it and won't miss it.

Wendy -

This is the McDougall website. It is here, free of charge, for the education and support of people interested in McDougalling. If I see something that is not in compliance with the McDougall plans, I am going to point it out. If someone is trying to lose weight, get healthier, etc., then I am going to try to use the knowledge and experience that I have gained through this program to try and help them. That I believe is in accordance with the spirit of why this website is here.

What anyone eats its utimately their own decision. Eating off plan certainly doesn't make anyone a bad person . Any critisim on my part is of the foods and not of the person.

God Bless,
Donna

Good Morning All!
My DH called this morning with the wondeful news that because of budget cuts in his school district, his pay is being cut, due to forced furlough days, by $5000 a year. My first reaction of course was some anger and dismay all rolled into one - but it has given me reason to reflect on priorities and what is really important. We have lived very comfortable lives and have had all of our needs and wants met, without me having to work outside the home for the last 25 years. We have truly been blessed by God and seen His faithfulness to us.

We will have to tighten our belts and now ask ourselves if what we want is truly a need or is it just a want. This will be good for us and teach us contentment.

And as it relates to McDougalling I think it will have very positive benefits too. We'll have the opportunity to clean things up in the food department. More potatoes, beans, veggies and fruit. Less packaged and bottled foods. For example: I buy the convenient quick cooking brown rice which is much more expensive than buying brown rice in bulk and cooking it on the stove top. I'll also start making my own Marinara sauce instead of bottled - healthier and cheaper. I could go on, but you get the idea.

So there is always a silver lining to everything, and I believe that the Lord definitely wants us to learn to be more content, creative, thrifty, and trusting of His will for our lives. All good things.

I would love for you all to share any ideas you have on thriftiness whether it's food related or otherwise - I think we could all benefit and help one another with this.

God Bless you all

luvoatmeal

Great post, Luv! If we would really think about this for a moment, I think most of us here would acknowledge we have been very richly blessed!


You mention contentment. If one has a strong desire for anything other than God, it seems to me that contentment is an unattainable state. I agree that being a cost conscious McDougaller can help us to be more contented with less (in regard to the money we spend) and surely this is a big benefit of McDougalling.

My tip is regard to drinking. It seems that so many people think they must have expensive drinks daily and I doubt if about 99% of them actually benefit us. For those who live in the west, my guess is that in most places the best drink is tap water. Here in China we drink filtered water and occasionally buy a bottle of water for 15 cents and then refill the bottle with our filtered tap (cheap) water many times before we recycle it.

My guess is that we average spending less than five cents/day on drinks (water and tea). It is enough for us.

In the USA it is very easy to buy the large bags of plain brown rice and cook it on the stove. I would not consider looking for something more convenient and more expensive! I am glad you will make some positive changes related to saving money and would not be surprised if you improve the quality of your diet and life by doing this! Perhaps you will have much more to share in regard to your thrift and benefits!

May Father bless you with all of the money you need! May you be rich in faith!!!

"6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 11But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6, NRSV)

Thank you pinkrose for your thoughts. You always have kind and encouraging things to say. I love the verse you gave, and another favorite of mine is Hebrews 13:5 -

Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Thank you for the tip about beverages. Very good ideas.

Our family only drinks water, OJ, or tea, and my husband drinks coffee at half strength. So I think in that area we are doing alright. But I can see that I will definitely be in the kitchen more but that's OK. It will be a positive change and healthier.

Some other things that we have already been doing are line drying our clothers rather than in the dryer, we don't eat out except for a rare occasion (maybe once or twice a year), cutting down on watering the yard, buying clothing and home decorative items at thrift stores, and doing all the maintenance and repairs around the house and with our vehicles ourselves. I'm forunate that I'm surrounded in my home by "do it yourself'ers" that are handy with tools We are pretty content at being home-bodies so we don't spend money on outside entertainment like movies, theme parks, etc. I know we must sound utterly boring, but really, we do have fun and enjoy life - just alot simpler than most.

Pinkrose - how does the cost of food in China compare with US prices, and what do you typically eat every day?

Most foods here are considerably cheaper than comparable foods in the USA but I have not seen whole wheat pasta or brown rice here. We pay about 25 cents/pound for rice. Most fresh fruits, veggies, potatoes and sweet potatoes are usually less than 50 cents/pound. One can eat very well here for about $2/day.

Here is my basic diet:

very early AM--a snack of bananas or sweet potatoes
breakfast--pasta and veggies (large)
late afternoon-- small fruit snack (oranges, pears, apples, peaches)
dinner--rice and veggies

Yes, Luv, our lives and diet seem quite boring to most people too.

Cooking here is usually quite labor intensive but by cooking lots of vegetables for dinner, we can use the leftovers for breakfast--very convenient.

If you visit us here, we will serve you my favorite dish: rice pasta with tomato sauce (made from fresh tomatoes), chopped veggies, bean spouts and a green veggie. This is naturally very low in fat and sodium and so tasty--better than Italian spaghetti! Would you like yours mild, hot or very hot?

Would you mind posting this recipe?

I would be happy to do that, Mrs. DP, but since I do not cook and my dear cook (my Chinese half) does not know English (and my Chinese is not very good)...this would be a monumental task! Sorry! However, if you will visit us we will be happy to serve you this tasty dish and others!

Thank you for the glimpse into your daily life and menu, pinkrose!
Your food sounds yummy! I wish we had those kind of prices here.

Well, I will have to be content with your descriptions of food, and maybe you could post a picture now and then ??? Travelling to China is out of our budget, but thank you for the invitation none the less! Oh by the way, I'll take mine hot

God Bless,
luvoatmeal