Discussion Board

Hi Kitty!

I am so glad that I inspired you! Yes, having variety on the plate is fun! I mentioned the chocolate loaf because I was being honest about the fact that I ate something with oil in it.

Today was a stressful day, and I found myself going for coffee...I ended up crashing later in the day despite the caffeine. Too much heat. Tomorrow I will try to spend less time in extreme heat.

Breakfast: GF cornflakes cereal
Lunch: Leftover vegetable lasagne
Dinner: Quinoa corn chowder from "Viva Vegan!", made oil-free by steaming the onion, garlic, and used habanero instead of "aji".
Snack: Mary's Organic Crackers
Exercise: I think 2 1/2 hours of walking, although not continuously.

I started walking to and from my school which has ended up being a tiring mistake.

I am back on track today!

Breakfast: GF corn flakes w/ almond milk
Lunch: BIG salad and leftover chowder
Dinner: Pepper squash curry and potato-rutabaga puree (Recipes and photos posted)
Drink: Green tea

I am getting good at cutting back on the sugary drinks.

I look forward to tomorrow night's dinner, I found the recipe in a magazine. It's braised beans, with root vegetables. I just discovered today that I LOVE rutabaga. Especially pureed with potatoes. The recipe for that is in the food section; I didn't post a picture since it would just look like mashed potatoes.

I think I am going to start counting to keep track, I can't remember what I ate the day before yesterday, so I'll only start counting from yesterday...

One day 100% McDougall

Right now my diet is...

Low on sugary drinks (Maybe some chamomile tea w/ honey at night, and a decaf coffee maybe once a week).
Some refined grains (I.e. bread, tortillas).
Some high-fat foods (Avocado, nuts/seeds, olives, tofu). This will be a small part of my diet.

For my weight and health I believe this is optimal for me. I will tweak it as time goes on.

I had been starting to burn out this week, I was shocked by this. I was so fatigued by mid-day I could only sleep. I noticed how I started to go for sugar, but I stopped myself on Tuesday. Now I am going to get serious about making sure I have lots of starches to eat, that is, potatoes and winter squash (When winter comes near I try to eat all the winter squash I can). I am hoping that I won't burn out again.

Hi Loveskale.

Keep at it

IT is hard to go 100% compliant.

I Love RUtabeghas too. and Turnips Yummmmmmmmmmm!

Hi Kitty,

So far so good today...I am just stuffing myself with carbs.

I let myself eat more than usual and I just feel SO GOOD.

So stuffed today.

I considered what Kitty said and I think perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. I should go with what Jeff suggests and eat well at least 95% of the time and not let the 5% take over. That being said, I still ate 100% on plan today. I even avoided having something sugary to drink (Until night when I made some chamomile, I can't sleep without it).

Breakfast: GF corn flakes and leftover potato-rutabaga puree
Lunch: Leftover pumpkin curry
Snack: Leftover pumpkin rutabaga puree
Dinner: Braised beans and veggies (Recipe coming soon)
Drink: Green tea, water, and chamomile tea w/ honey and almond breeze

Today I was feeling so good. I was actually smiling, talking to people and making jokes. I never do that. I would like to think it's becuase I've upped the starches and now my brain is working better, but I also started qigong this morning as well. Only time will tell. All that matters to me is that it keeps up!!!

You sound good!!

I just found out that a friend of a friend died of a heart attack. I never met this person, but one hting shocks me: He was Vegan, and had beenf or quite some time.

I realise that there are many foods that are Vegan and can contribute to heart problem. This man was in his mid 50's He lived in the rural area of an Asian country for part of hte year, so he wouldn't have eaten too many processed foods. I can think of six possible reasons:

1) Even rural areas have oil. I've been to Costa Rica and for sure they deep-fried a lot of things. They tend to do that in tropical climates.
2) Not enough vitamin B12? Perhaps, but it is hard to say.
3) Alcohol is Vegan, and you can be sure that rural areas will carry it. In my opinion, alcohol is simply poison.
4) Caffeine raises blood pressure, that could have had some complications if he was a big coffee drinker. And yes, these days even "rural" areas have coffee.
5) Not enough exercise. I believe this might be part of the issue as well.
6) Not enough EFA's.

I still have 100% faith in a low-fat vegan diet. I know Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn are in their 70's and still jog regularly. They don't even look like they're in their 70's. Same with Dr. McDougall.

Anyways, on to other things.

Breakfast: Hashbrowns, 2 plums.
Lunch: Pepper squash curry and rice.
Dinner: "Cream" of cauliflower-potato soup, steam cauliflower, and steam asian greens and shiitake mushrooms with soy-garlic-ginger sauce.
Snack: Mary's Organic Crackers, FF potato puffs, and some dark chocolate. A weak moment.

I have been having terrible heartburn for a couple of days, not sure if it is stress or all the fat I've been adding to my diet.

I can only live my life to the best of my ability, and I plan to keep eating this way. I will also think twice before I try to shrug off "It's just a little oil".

Today was a very relaxing day, I love it.

B: Hashbrowns w/ ketchup
L: Leftover soup, sqaghetti squash
D: Stuffed collards, spaghetti squash, and green beans
S: Potato puffs
D: Matcha tea w/ soy and sugar. Just felt like having some matcha today.

I tried making my own ketchup, but it is not thickening in a way that I like, tastes good though.

I am also making zucchini corn bread, I cannot say whether or not it will work, but I am hoping that it will. I added the zucchini to replace the oil.

Let us know how the zucchini cornbread turns out.

Gramma Jackie...one word... WIN!!!!

It didn't turn out 100% but it does taste good. I have a few notes on it...

1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup millet flour (can sub for rice flour)
1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup corn starch
2 cups water
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar OR honey

Now, here are my notes...I added what I think was 2 cups of peeled, grated, and seeded zucchini...this made it too moist, so I think cutting it in half will do the trick.

Also, I added 2 1/2 tbsp of quick rising yeast, this made it rise too much and it fell. So, perhaps 1 3/4 -2 tsp of it if yours is fresh. I find quick-rising yeast allows GF bread tor ise better.

I blended all of these ingredients with a hand mixer before putting it into my bread machine (which was a GF setting). I am spoiled by this and I can't be sure how to make this oven ready. I guess, combine it and let it rise for half an hour, knock it down by putting it in your bread pan and let it rise again for 40 minutes. I am not sure what a good temperature for bread is.

This bread is so far th best GF bread I have made, it wasn't very dense. What I did do wrong was I didn't let it cool enough before cutting it. I did throw it right in the freezer (in large chunks). I love adding zucchini to GF foods, it makes them more tasty even though you can't taste the zucchini.

Today was a good day.

B: Hashbrowns w/ homemade ketchup, 2 HUGE plums
L: Stuffed collard greens and spaghetti squash
D: "Cream" of cauliflower-potato soup, sqaghetti squash
S: Potato puffs (I found out the flavour version has oil, ack! The plain flavour had none), cherry tomatoes, FAIL chocolate crinkle cookies.
D: Green tea
EDIT! Exercise! I did ten minutes of yoga! It's a start!

I baked that gigantic hubbard squash, it fit into two large containers. We will be having squash for a while.

Stuffing myself with carbs seems to be working for the most part, I just need to watch stress-related emotional eating. I am also really pleased with how I am passing up the sugary drinks. It is taking a lot of willpower. I just keep reminding myself that I am not thirsty for sugary-tea, I really just want the sugar from starches to fuel my brain.

Now I want some potatoes.

I also have been having chamomile tea at night, after I post in my journal, it usually has honey in it for flavour. I have insomnia and now the tea has been enough to cure it. I have been putting almond milk in it, but since SUGAR comes before ALMONDS in it, I might not do that anymore, and keep the honey very low. I have been doing good with this. This has been preventing me, for the most part, from getting low blood-sugar problems. Same with adding the fruit. Saturday, I didn't mention, I woke up being quite dizzy, which is why I had the matcha to see if blood sugar was the problem. It is. I am also starting to get minor headaches. I just need more starches.

Eat more starches.Do what you need to do. Take care of you

There is a local yoga studio in my area that is offering yoga classes for beginners. I've never tried yoga in my life but something seems to be calling me about it. I'm not sure what yet. I'm not that flexible but I know it's not about flexibility. I also thought I would wait until I lost more weight, but why wait? LOL. Your food sounds good. Thanks for stopping in my journal and motivating me

Hi Loveskale

Okay I am going to make that recipe it sounds very yummy.

also yep I find if I skimp on the carbs I have all kinds of troubles.

I try to eat lots of potatoes and leguemes. IT helps me stay away from most of the sugary things.



Keep up the good work you are doing great.

Thank you Boots and Kitty, your support means a lot to me!

Boots- Yoga is very fun to do, it is not a real strenuous exercise but my goal was to get myself to start moving. You do feel REALLY good after a workout. I do not like classes myself, those yoga teachers really work your butt off and do not give you enough time to appreciate the pose, or make it painfully too long.

B: Potatoes, 1 plum.
L: Leftover braised veggies, spaghetti squash, and steamed cauliflower.
D: Chickpeas w/ hubbard squash, tomatoes, KALE, onion, garlic, hot peppers, yellow squash, seasoned with thyme, sage, and cilantro. Let's hope it turns out, it is still in the pressure cooker. Served over quinoa.
S: Mary's crackers, cherry tomatoes.
D: Green tea, earl grey tea.

I was freezing today and I am coming down with something, so I bought myself an earl grey tea and added sugar and soy milk (We have a Starbucks on campus, lucky us). I will make sure to have hot green tea that I like tomorrow.

I just threw everything in the pressure cooker when I got home, I hope beans can cook with veggies mixed in. I am still waiting.