Discussion Board

Hi,
My name is Audrey and I am a 25yr old female and live in the central valley of California with my fiance, our cat Thor

the kitty god of thunk and lightening and a housemate. The fiance and I are both blind hince the name lol. Part of me is

super excited to start this WOE but the other part is just not about it. I've decided to give myself until August 25 my

birthday to lose 25lbs and stick to this new eating plan. I figure I can do anything for 3 months. I know it's going to be

hard though, quite possibly one of the hardest if not the hardest thing I've undertaken. I'm already missing my coffee and

peanut butter. I'd really like to break foods evil hold on me though so I'm gonna give it all I've got. I want to be one of

the success stories. I've put this off for one thing or another for a while now and then by a chance of fate I litterally

have to do this right now. I litterally have no other food then the things I'd bought to start my first week a couple months

ago. So at least for this week I can't cheat and hopefully when the first rolls around I have a plan of attack complete with

menu and shopping list. Part of the reason I'm a little reluctant right now is a beautiful cold decided to come for a visit.

and all I want when I'm sick is Hot Pockets and Top Ramen since that is what I got as a kid when I was home sick. Instead

it's 1.5c oatmeal in the morning with 1 banana and .5tbsp pure maple syrup followed by a S.N.A.P. meal of 2c precooked brown

rice 1c precooked pinto beans 2 14.5oz cans no salt added diced tomatos and a 1lb bag of frozen mixed veggies with various

spices. I'm vareying it a tiny bit by throwing in California veggie mix and a Southwest veggie mix for one of the days but

otherwise thats my menu for the week. I'm not worrying about exercise because of the cold and I feel that changeing from the

SAD to hthis WOE is a big enough change for now. Wish me luck I'll post a review of the food for today eather later tonight

or tomorrow. Wish me luck! Now please excuse me while I lie on my couch and sneeze my brains out while atemping to watch

documentaries and other nerdy television while trying to keep my cat from hogging the pillow.

Audrey

Good for you for making the dive feet first into this WOE and for having a goal in mind! I think your attitude is great...yes, we really can do anything for 3 months and who knows you might just like the results so much you'll stick with it!
Day 38 for me and I am very happy with my results so far (16lbs and counting, and off high BP meds) and I am really amazed at how great I feel all the time. My cravings mostly went away after the first week...so be patient.
Please keep us updated on your progress, I know you can do this!!

Welcome!! I look forward to following your journey

Ok so it's day 2. Yesterday wasn't to bad at least until night time. I made my banana oatmeal for breakfast and learned a valuable lesson. WhenI add the banana whitch I froze and chopped into small pieces I need to not add as much water as I normally would. I ended up with a kind of oatmeal soup but it wasn't bad tasting. I also made a sort of chili with the bag of frozen vegetables, canned tomatos, rice, and beans. It wasn't bad eather but I think I'll add more water to make it more of a soup and I think I'll spring for the more exspensive varieties of frozen veg rather then just plain mixed. I'm not a fan of peas. It was the night time that got to me though. I found myself thinking about the 1st and going to the store and buying a big splurge meal since it's pay day and I normally have a sort of last hurrah before I start any new diet. I din't have my big splurge meal or meals this time and it's really getting to me plus I normally go out to eat or something on the 1st to celebrate having money again... at least until I pay all the bills lol. I was reading the message boards yesterday and a post had a newsletter linked in it and Dr. McDougall talks about how everyone has a go to comfort food and that food is most often a startch. Well that got me thinking about my most favorite comfort food Macaroni and cheese. I thought at first that it might be the fat because another favorite food is chocolate peanut butter ice cream whitch is loaded with fat. But then this morning I had it in the back of my mind and I found myself going through my cupboards looking for pasta to make Spaghetti Red or chili over pasta. or even a Top Ramen even though I'd been eating them for a week straight before yesterday as we eat through the dregs of our pantry and fridge. So it's pasta. That is my comfort startch. Now for my cheat meal on friday or cheat day that I was salivating over last night was the Stouffer's vegetarian lasagna and Crystal Farms peanut butter chocolate icecream. Now I'm not going to lie I might cave on Friday when I go shopping but I'm also going to spend the next couple of days coming up with a sort of comprimise. I've also made my menu for next month and decided to go with rice and beans dishes for dinners and stews for lunch. I'm super excited because I love trying out new recipes and cookbooks. All the recipes for June come from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I know someone else on the board was Mcdougalling the recipes in that book so maybe we can compare notes after next month. Another book by Robin Robertson is my absolute favorite go to cookbook even though I've gotten many more since this one and that is Vegan On the Cheap. So if you like Robin Robertson check it out especially if your on a budget like myself. I'm giving myself a budget of $200 for food including spices and what not so we'll see how it goes I'm hoping to get under $150 eventually. For food today I'm just gonna make a big pot of chili with the Ultimate Southwest Blend frozen vegetables, the brown rice, 2-4 cans of salt free diced tomatos, and the beans. For spices I'm using cumin, chili powder, oregeno, cocoa powder, cyanne pepper, and a bit of garlit salt to sprinkle over the top of each bowl. I'm gonna make enough to last until Friday because I'm really not about cooking right now. My cold still hasn't gotten as bad as the mans and I hope it doesn't because he's just now starting to feel better and it's been over a week. On a good note I got some awsome new audio books so I should be well occupied while in my nest of pillows, blankets, and cat on the couch. Lexus thanks for the reply. That is amazeing progress go you! I saw your from North Dakota. I think that's pretty cool. My family is from South Dakota after my great grandparents imagrated from Norway. My great gram loves to tell the story of how my great grandpa took the wrong train and eneded up in North Dakota instead of south and then had to stay for a year or so to get money to take the right train lol.

sksamboots
Thanks for the reply. I'll have to check out your journal. Where in CA are you? I'm in the central valley out in the stix but also liveed in the SF Bay Area and met my hubby to be in Berkley.

So day 3... I'm going to say yesterday went well even though I did add some peanut butter, sugar, and salt to my life. Normally I'm an all or nothing person so what happened yesterday would have had me saying screw it and hiding from my journal possibly forever. I'm not though because I decided to go hunting for journals to follow in hopes of finding some younger folks with a good amount of weight to lose like me. I didn't find what I was looking for but what I did find is that people eat off plan foods too omg and write about it even wow. The best part was the encouragement they got in their comments and how many have been journaling for a while and the progress they've made even if they aren't perfect. So her I am journaling even though I'm in no way perfect and I'll keep journaling and plugging along and see what happens. So here's yesterdays food breakfast 1c rolled oats with 1tbsp sugar, 1tbsp peanut butter, and 2tbsp cocoa powder. I had given the love of my life that last of my peanut butter in hopes that he'd eat it but he refused since it's a store brand lol. So might use up the last of it maybe 3-4tbsp are left in there if I'm lucky. I did make a pot of chili with 4 cups of pinto beans, 1 28oz can of diced tomatos regular not no salt added that I found in my pantry, a bag of ultimate southwest blend frozen veggies, seasonings garlic salt, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and all spice and a home made cheezy sauce made from nutritional yeast, a veg boullion cube, garlic salt and onion powder to drizzle over the top of each bowl. I was going for a layered thing so I have 1.5 cups of chili over 1 cup of brown rice with cheeze sauce drizzled on top. I have to say it is really good and I'm totally pleased with myself for making it. The sil to be dropped off some BBQ of whitch I did not eat any so that is why I'd say it went well. I conquered the BBQ and found a comfort food I can make that's super good and Mcdougall friendly for the most part. This has made me really take a look at my salt and sugar addiction. I know I have a problem with salt but the sugar is a knew one... interesting. I've come up with a compramise I think everyone especially I can live with for friday. I'm going to keep it all plant based whatever I eat. We're going to a fancy grocery and their deli has stuffed grape leaves and other interesting foods that I've wanted to try. so that will be my payday treat some new foods to try and a really good dark chocolate bar. I found out who is Mcdougalling 1000 vegan recipes so I'll follow GrandmaJackie I hope I spelled that right and from what I've read she's doing really well. So if you read this go you! I've been reading and rereading the boards and newsletters and I think it's really helping when I feel tempted and helping me aproach this from a different perspective instead of all or nothing. Mayhaps this will be the time when everything clicks into place... I sure hope so.

So now it's day 4. Day three went well food wise. I'm a little worried about my mom though so we'll have to see what happens with her. She had Gastric bypass 2 weeks ago and has had a few complications. The one right now is one of her insicion sites got infected and doesn't seem to be getting any better. It's been over a week now that she's had it and the whole insicion is open and she has to pack it with gauze everyday. She says the gauze is still getting full of pus everyday and I don't think that should still be happening. Anyways she visits the diatition today at Stanford where she had the surgery and I'm hoping one of the bariatric nurses or one of the surgions can take a look while she's there. I just wish I didn't live an hour and a half away and both of us carless. For yesterdays food I had my pb cup oatmeal and my chili and rice for dinner and lunch. I tracked my calories for the day along with fat, protein, fiber, and sodium. The number I was really interested in was the sodium since I read somewhere's Jeff says 1mg of salt for every calorie eaten or less. It was much better then a normal day but not there yet. I had about 1200 calories and about 1800 mgs of salt. If I use no salt added tomatos and no salt chicken style broth powder I think I can do it. Or I could eat more and match it up that way lololol. seriously though I haven't been having any fruits so starting on Friday I'm going to have 2 fruits a day. It's fruit season now sothe cheap prices at the fruit stand for peaches, mangos, and strawberries are going to totally make up for the alergies or maybe the 100 plus degrees it gets on the regular in the valley in the summer. I remember once driving with the fam cross country from my nice cool house in Berkley and riding along in our lovely air conditioned car and we're driving through some desert and there's one of those bank signs that tell you the time and temp in big letters. It read 105 digrees and I remember thinking of how novel I've never experienced that kind of heat interesting that people live there. Well I'm now one of those novel people and all I can say is thank you sweet Jesus for central air conditioning. So thinking more about how people in particular me are addicted to fat, sugar, and salt and how deadly they are when combined. I was thinking about my binges I normally go on before starting any diet and then I remembered a True Life episode about addiction. The guy was addicted to pain killers bad and before he went the the rehab center he took a lot and I mean a lot of pain killers. It reminded me of other shows where I've seen addicts have there last harrauh before the go to rehad. That really brings it home that this really is an addiction. Honestly the thought of never having something cheesy or sweet and fatty like ice cream or chocolate is terrifying to me. It really is. I don't think I'm at the place where I can say you can't ever eat that again. I think if I said that right now seriously I'd dive head first into the first Ben and Jerry's I could get my little mitts on followed promptly by a trip to Taco Bell. I'm still giving into my addiction now with my pb cup oatmeal though admittedly on a much smaller scale then normal but it's still there and I don't have the strenth at the moment to through away the peanut butter jar and the sugar. I want to say it's because we're out of garbage bags and that's true but our roommmate would take them down for me if I asked. I have Breaking the Food Seduction and I think I'm going to reread it since it's been quite a while since I read it. I'm also going to see how much The Pleasure Trap and Taming the Beast are in ebook format and possibly buy one on Friday. I've never aproached healthy eating and weight loss this way from a mental perspective, it's very eye opening. I'm hoping this is what will help me succeed where I have failed so many times before.

Hey there! Sounds like you have been creating some really great meals for yourself. I enjoy the chili/stew type meals, too. It is easy to bring them for lunch at work and when I make a batch it lasts most of the week which is nice because I'm not big on cooking EVERY night! I understand your feelings about sugar/salt/pasta and how addicting that stuff has become for us! I had some WW pasta with tomato sauce (with lots of veggies in it) on Sunday and I was hungry in 2 hours after!! Needless to say I went back to potatoes and brown rice for my main starches for now, just not ready for pasta. I haven't even looked at bread. I think if I just smelled it I would gain a pound LOL. I have been craving the white italian style where your rip off a piece and dip in olive oil and its really chewy....snap out of it!!!! Whew that was crazy, I think I could almost taste it. I think I'm going to have some air-popped popcorn for a snack tonight, usually I don't have anything after dinner! I really agree with your view of food being an addiction like pain-killers, etc. I think after a month I'm starting to feel free of the bad craving for junk (greasy mainly) but bread still really calls my name. God grant me the serenity....
I think that adding fruit might help your sugar cravings. I really look forward to fruit at breakfast and in the afternoon. Sorry to hear about your mom's troubles. It must be hard not to be nearer to her. I hope she's better soon!
Very funny story about your great grandpa...my grandfather came from Denmark when he was 13. His funny story is that when he arrived at Ellis Island there were so many guys named Peder Jensen (his name) so he chose a new name (Anton Westergard)! I guess he was from the "county" of west garden in Denmark so he made that his last name.
I have been busy reading here on the message board as well as the Starch Solution and Forks over Knives books. There are lots of recipe ideas and just lots of stuff to keep me motivated. It's good to have people like yourself to bounce my troubles and questions off of, too. So, thanks and talk to you soon!

What if you put real peanut butter and dark chocolate in your oatmeal. It may not be the same but may help. It can be a temporary solution. Sometimes we need those things from time to time. You are doing amazing with Day 4. Keep on keepin on

Hello my name is Audrey and I am a food addict.

I have been really looking at my eating habbits from a psychology stand point and a health and vanity stand point. I've decided to focus first on what it truely is an addiction. I know quite a bit about addiction as my mother, father, and grandfather all suffered from addiction to alcohol and drugs. Unfortunetly addiction is what killed my dad when I was a child so I know what it's like when addiction takes someone you love from you. I don't want to continue my families legacy like this. I want to be one of those strong stubborn Records women who people might consider a bit odd sometimes but mostly thing is facinateing for the wonderful life she's lead and people that life has touched. I don't want them to say she just couldn't fight her demons anymore . I've sat through enough AA, NA,and even OA with my family to get the idea. Now I just have to embrace it and go from there. It's funny I've been so careful to not get addicted to drugs and alcohol that it never occured to me that people can truly be addicted to food but now I know it's true. I wish my grandpa or dad were still alive I feel like I might understand them just a tiny bit better now. It's not easy to say I am an addict. I'm as addicted to chocolate as an alcoholic to his or her booze of choice. Maybe this will help my mom and I mend some of our past trama that her addictions brought to our lives. Maybe I'll understand better what had her making the choices she did knowing they weren't good choices. Maybe I'll have a new respect for my mom knowing she overcame multiple addictions. Maybe this will help us grow in our relationship. I don't lnow but I hope. I'm shooting for 30 days clean and sober from sugar, added fat, and salt. For this moment I'm just taking it one day at a time. I had my farewell binger on Friday and Saturday. It wasn't pretty but it's done and for the most part all the offending food is eather out of the house or at least not mine to eat. I made lunch and dinner for the next 4 days over the weekend so it's banana oatmeal for breakfast, Maroccan Spiced Chickpea and Potato Stew for lunch, and Creol Red Beans and Rice for dinner. I logged it into My Fitness Pal and it's about 1200 calories with about 10% fat, 30% protein, and 60% carbs. We'll see how it goes from there. So my name is Audrey and I've been clean and sober for the past 4hrs.

Day 2. I'm really proud of myself for yesterday. I said no to 2 of my biggest binge foods, Taco Bell 5 Durrito tacos, and ice cream whitch the man offered while having a large bowl himself. Both things were offered several times and in the case of the tacos they were left on the table just in case I wanted them and I didn't have a one. I did have 3 hot sauce packets on my red beans and rice though lol. Over all the food was decent though I'm not gonna lie it tastes bland without the truck loads of salt I'm used to. I managed to make my banana oatmeal without it turning into soup so go me and I decided to skip the maple syrup and opted for cinnamon sprinkled on top instead. Honestly I can't believe how much food I ate for the amount of calories. I had just under 1200 calries, 10gms of fat, 43gms of protein, 39gms of fiber, and about 800mgs of salt. Today I thought I might blend a frozen banana with 2tbsp of cocoa powder before adding it to the oatmeal for kinda a chocolate oatmeal. I'm interested to see how it turns out. I'm also rereading Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard and started 50 Ways to Sooth Yourself Without food by Susan Albers. Both books seem very good. Today is a relaxing day since it's raining outside and then tomorrow is the big monthly shopping trip. I've got my shopping list at the ready. Now off to go wait for the pizza that the fiance is having delivered. It's always exciting trying to get something into the door while trying to keep my cat from escaping out the door. I'll let ya know who wins tomorrow... me or the cat.

You are doing great. Keep on keepin on

The Good and the bad... The good: Our major bi-monthly shopping trip is done, the cat did not escape while we were bringing the groceries into the house, and I spent a lot less then I thought I would at the store.. The Bad: I bought and later ate 2 Amy's TV dinners and though they were vegan they had a lot more salt and fat then I needed and when I was reading with the fiance before bed I decided it would be an excelent idea to eat an entire bag of crispy onions. I think part of it was I had made a recipe for lunches and didn't really like it but was forcing myself to eat it because I don't want to waste the money or food. So when I went to the store I went a little nutts. Then when I got home I ended up throwing away the last quarter of the stew anyways so oh well. I'm really trying to expand my tastes and try new things since my family wasn't exactly adventurous when it came to food. Sometimes I find something amazeing... some times not so much. I think a compremise between forceing myself to eat something even if I don't like it and throwing away a lot of food and money is to say I'll eat half the dish and if I don't like it after it's half gone I'll move on and try something new. Most of my recipes make 4 servings so I figure it's a good middle ground between my inner cheapscate and picky eater. My mom's infection seems to be healing so that's good but now my grandma is in the hospital with carbon dioxide poisoning because her lungs don't expel all the carbon dioxide or she doesn't breat out as deeply as she breaths in... I just hope she gets better but for right now they really don't know. All I can do is pray and treasure the time I did have with her. All these health problems in my family have made me more committed to this new WOE... I just hope it sticks. I made some Jerk-Spiced Red Bean Chili from 1000 Vegan Recipes. I subbed potatos for the vegan sausage... should be interesting. I'm switching up my breakfasts too. I'm gonna try frozen hashbrowns. I bought 2 different brands one is shredded and one is kinda diced potatos so we'll see whitch one I like better. Honestly though I think eather is good with enough tapatio lol. I'll write back to review the chili tomorrow. I hope it's good but I'm a little scared of it hehe.

Today is going to be interesting. I'm going over to Cindy and Jessica's *the mil and sil to be respectively* for a hair cut and dinner. In terms of food I have absolutely no idea of what kind of food will be there. They're veryy accomodating with dietary needs but since I've changed my diet back and forth so many times I'm not going to say anything yet though if they ask I'm going to say I'm eating an oil free dairy free startch centered diet. Jessica's knows I've gone back to my rabbit food diet as James loves to call it lol so maybe she already told Cindy. We're supposed to be there around 7-7:30pm for dinner so my plan is to eat 4 cups of my Jerk-Spiced Red Bean Chili around 6pm so I shouldn't be hungry when we get there. I'm not sure if I like the chili or not. The potatos I subbed for the sausage are kinda under cooked so some are still crunchy and some are tender. I'm going to simmer it on the stove for 30-60 minutes today to see if that cooks all the potato chunks and thickens up the gravy some since I like a thicker gravy type liquid for chilis and stews rather then a thinner more soup like consistency. My room mate Rhian goave me some of those energy Neo's and while I love the pick me up they give my tummy isn't a happy camper when I drink it so I'm thinking when this one is gone I won't have anymore. It should run out after tomorrow and then my weekend will kinda suck but hey it's the weekend so I figure that's a good time to kick the caffeen habit. While trying to figure out what to do if I don't like this chili because I really can't get myself to just throw away something again after the stew if I don't have anything at the ready to replace it. so I've decided to find a couple recipes that use up some odds and ends I already have on hand so I'm not spending more money or going to the store early when a recipe doesn't work out. Now I need to go clean my laptop screen because my cat came right up to it and sneezed all over it fun fun I know.

Well I rocked yesterday. We went over to Cindy's and Jessica's and had a BBQ. For everyones eating pleasure there were 2 kinds of chicken, salad with cheeseand sweetened walnuts and tons of dressing, grilled bread with butter, grilled potatos, grilled summer squash and mushrooms with italian dressing, and french cookies for dessert. I had a big bowl of Jerk-Spiced Red Bean Chili about an hour before we left so I wasn't really hungry. After the man and I got our hair cuts which was why this whole thing was planned everyone sat down to dinner. I had 2 grilled potatos and a small helping of the squash and mushrooms though I didn't eat much of them as they had been marinated in italian dressing before being grilled. The potatos seemed to just have a bit of salt and pepper on the outsides and were pretty tasty. For a treat I had a diet soda. It's nice to know that when I go out somewhere I'll be able to find something to eat. On the other hand I'm going to continue to eat before I head to any gathering where there will be food so I don't put all my potatos in one basket. We brought home lots of leftovers but I've stayed out of them accept for the potatos which I've claimed as mine lol. Tonight I'm going to roast some pablano peppers in the oven something I've never done before so I can use them in a recipe tomorrow. I hope I don't burn the house down or something =P If I don't write tomorrow that probably means I am in jail for setting fire to my apartment so wish me luck.