Hi Team Time & Adherence,
Happy December! Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the month! We had our first real snow of the season last weekend in Chicagoland (already melted). Enjoyed a seasonal walk in the bright fluffy flakes --- seeing kids getting their sleds out and making snowmen!
My checklist looks a bit better than last week – happily back to my regular routine in my normal environment!
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly. Remains at about 2/3. 2 Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
Yes. 3 Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
Yes. 4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes. 5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes. 6 Eliminate any added oil.
Yes. Had a fun pre-holiday get together with a few girlfriends this week. My one friend is an amazing cook, but loves to use oil. She was texting with me – trying to come up with a dish that I would eat for sit-down dinner– asking about peas and pasta. I could picture that with garlic and a boatload of olive oil. So, I said don’t worry about me for dinner – I can’t eat oil at all on top of no animal products – I’m just looking forward to the company and don’t expect you to make anything special for me. She then responded back …. For the soup, would a bit of olive oil to saute the veggies be ok… Anyway, it ended up where we brought appetizers --- including fruit plate and veggies with McD compliant hummus – in lieu of full dinner. Had a great time. 7 Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes, puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn, and dried fruit).
Yes. 8 Don’t drink your calories especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes. 9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes. No starving or stuffing. 10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. Walking and strength training. Some pickleball but it has ramped down with the move indoors. Many of the indoor opportunities around here are during the week when I am working. I did sign up for my first tournament of 2024 today! Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Thanks so much,
Mark for your feedback last week - helped me to consider my perspective on "success". I think it is important how we frame outcomes in our mind and remember that this is all a learning experience where we can consider without self-recrimination options how best to handle future similar situations. Also, that this learning brings us closer to success. And we just keep moving forward trying to make the best decisions in alignment with our goals.
Going to a holiday party next weekend where I learned last year to STAY AWAY from the food table. Doesn’t matter if the folks I want to talk to most are congregating there – just go elsewhere… I am going to not arrive hungry, bring a couple of compliant dishes, and keep to the perimeters of the party. Feeling good about being able to navigate that situation.
Wishing everyone in the group an amazing week filled with good choices!
Cheers,
Stephanie