FEBRUARY 2019 Maintenance Group

[Ejeff]

Was a good and busy week, but seems I gained back the 2 pounds I lost last week. Not worried about it though as I ate very well. Plan to just keep on doing the same this week, need to get lots of produce and some more potatoes too. Have a good week!

[Starchyme]

I searched and can't seem to find Jeff's calorie density chart. Can someone point me in that direction? Thanks

[victw]

I searched and can't seem to find Jeff's calorie density chart. Can someone point me in that direction? Thanks

I googled and found this one.
https://www.facebook.com/JeffNovickRD/p ... =3&theater

If you google it and pick images you will see lots more.

Vic

[Lyndzie]

Sue - Welcome back! Considering the fact that you were on a vacation for a whole month, your weight maintenance has been excellent. The trip sounded so wonderful, it gave me a little mental vacation just imagining it (while dealing with blizzard conditions here, brrr). Getting back to those favorite comfort foods is always such a joy. One of the librarians is a friend of mine who has become quite an advocate of the WFPB lifestyle, and she has set up a health-focused movie series this year as her personal project. Next film lined up is Forks Over Knives. Now if I could just get my family to watch it...

Starchyme - Yay for you! Having pounds melt off like snow on a sunny day is awesome!!

Geo - Sorry to hear about the dry skin. This time of year can be tough, between dry skin and taxes, AAHHHH! Sounds like you have lotion and a refund, so things are looking bright. Oh, Valentine's Day...do you and your sweet heart do anything special? Cook a meal at home, or visit a favorite restaurant? Or just eat what you always eat, but light a candle and dim the lights?

Erin - You have such a level-headed attitude. Keep on keeping on. Wishing you a great week as well!

[Starchyme]

Thanks for the chart, Lyndsie. I love it and will keep it on my fridge! Wish they had a magnet. Though it is so easy to remember - just eat what's not considered food poisoning!

[Lyndzie]

Hi gang.

Valentine’s Day is this week, where we show people how much we love them but giving them food that poisons them. Ok, that’a a bit cynical of me, but so many holidays focus around food, and the majority of that food isn’t something we want to eat.

I’ve recently become much better at saying a firm, yet kind “no.” When I first started McDougalling, I made exceptions many times when out of the house, but not only did that hinder my success, it also did not give friends and family a chance to learn where my boundaries were, and offerings of junk would become negotiations.

Since I have become more consistent, I am offered off-plan food less often, and also with less pushback. For instance, my mom tried to send me home with a dozen of my favorite homemade cupcakes on a Friday. I said no, then she responded that they weren’t for me, they were for the kids. I reminded her that the kids wouldn’t get any, I’d eat them all by morning, and that was the end of it.

So, how to celebrate Valentine’s Day without the junk? Dr. McDougall emailed some decadent recipe ideas to enjoy. I’m thinking of giving the Baked Penne Florentine a try.

Want to celebrate without focusing on food? Amy posted some great ideas on the MWL thread this week. I particularly liked the idea to write heartfelt notes. Amy posted:

Write a letter on nice stationary and tell your mom, partner, son, BFF, etc. why you value them. Don’t hold back on those specifics, every extra detail is pouring another drop of love on their soul.

Now that is what Valentine’s Day should really be about.

Have a great week everyone!
Lindsey

[Lyndzie]

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Today I am hosting a tea party for some six year olds and providing only compliant treats, including homemade ice cream (it’s pink, of course), veggies with homemade hummus, sparkling grape juice and crafts. What are you all doing to celebrate?

[Suey51]

Belated Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Thanks Lindsey! Your friend's health-based movie series is a great initiative. What did you think of Code Blue? My husband watched Forks Over Knives for our pre-Valentines movie night last year and it made a big impact on him. He cut out processed meat and dairy, and cut back on other animal foods. Your tea party for 6 year olds sounds fab - how did it go? I like your description of becoming more consistent with turning down non-compliant items What did you have for dinner yesterday? Did you give the penne florentine yesterday?

It was a glorious sunny Spring-like day here and I led a health walk in my local town in the morning. We had refreshments afterwards at a lovely community cafe where I volunteer. I took along some plant-based (but very calorie dense) snacks and managed to ignore the other foods on offer. For dinner, my husband made us a delicious and compliant meal of roast potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic steamed mushrooms, broccoli and chard. Sadly, mid-evening I discovered there were some chocolate sweets in the house (purchased by my husband for my step-son that day; hidden but then hinted at) and troughed a small bowlful. I suspect my willpower got depleted yesterday as there were so much non-compliant food around in my real-life and online worlds yesterday....

My weight this morning is the same as last Friday. Onwards and upwards to next week, with extra attention to overall calorie density and hopefully an increase in exercise. (Some back pain this week has meant a reduction in usual activity levels.)

Sue x

[Lyndzie]

Hi everyone! I’m up a pound from last week. Just bouncing up and down the same pound or two, just staying the course.

Sue - I’ll write back when I sit down at a proper computer. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments and questions!

[geo]

Well yet another disaster has come my way...sigh...No my health is fine and weight is stable and I'm feeling great...however financially I'm a walking disaster...was just informed on Valentines that both the State and Federl tax refund we needed so badly to get caught up on on bills with has now been confiscated by the IRS to pay for back taxes...yes, this despite we are in a "No Collection Status" due to being below the poverty line. Seems tax refunds don't fall into that no collection status... So now we will just continue to fall further behind...4 hours of talking on the phone with the IRS, being disconnected 3 times, led to the following advice...increase your exemptions on your W-4 so you won't have any money being refunded at the end of the year, that way you can use the money throughout the year and the IRS can't garnish it given your no collect status... wow who would have thought the government would tell us how to keep our money while they are gladly taking it...

Oh well, time to get back to work...

And no this setback didnt interupt our Valentine's Day...love is what it is...I'm still the luckiest and richest man in the world, money or not

[Idgie]

Oh, geo, what a trial. I'm so sorry you're under such financial stress. <3

[Starchyme]

About the same as I was last week so that's a positive.

[Ejeff]

Sorry to hear your news Geo, but you are right health and family are so very important and you have those things. Had a good week, scale shows I lost the 2 pounds from last week so just going up and down. Stuck to fitness goals swam twice and lots of pickleball. Have a good week all!

[Lyndzie]

Erin - Excellent maintenance! My weight bounces up and down for no apparent reason as well. Thank goodness there is a range and not a number to be a slave to on the scale. Awesome hitting those fitness goals! That is my next habit to get in to place.

Starchyme - Success!

Idgie - Thanks for stopping by!

Geo - Let me put my comment in the right thread, haha. Bummer about the taxes. Sometimes life can feel like a treadmill that's going just a but faster than you can run. Hopefully the financial tide will turn soon. Thank goodness you have your health!

Sue - I enjoyed Code Blue. It's very similar in message to Forks Over Knives, and a friend of mine said he thought it was the best lifestyle medicine based film yet. Definitely a good choice for people who are unwilling to read a book, or need to get a point made in two hours or less. Wonderful to hear that your husband was receptive to changes. The tea party was good, everyone had a good time and I served veggies and hummus and homemade pink peppermint ice cream (made with coconut milk, it was a "feast food" for sure!). For Valentine's Day, my husband suggested last minute that we go out to his favorite restaurant for dinner, so I packed some compliant salad dressing and off we went. I managed to have a delicious salad of arugula (rocket), green apple and hazelnuts topped with tahini dressing. It was quite delicious and then I could have a late night meal of veggies and starch when I got home. Your weather sounds like a welcome change from the winter dreariness that so many of us are dealing with right now. What a wonderful meal you had! Those chocolates are sure challenging to deal with, especially at the end of the day. Well done managing as well as you did.

[Lyndzie]

Happy Monday everyone!

So, as I've mentioned before, I came to this way of eating because of heart disease in my family (who doesn't in this day and age, really?). I wasn't really familiar with Dr. McDougall's work on the topic, but he has written quite a bit about heart disease, which shouldn't be surprising considering how many Americans are dealing with the disease.

On Heart Disease
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... treatment/

On Atherosclerosis
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... sclerosis/

Heart Disease: A Challenging Second Opinion
https://www.drmcdougall.com/pdf/Heart-D ... pinion.pdf

Hot Topics: Heart Disease & Atherosclerosis
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... t-disease/

Book: The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/shop ... thy-heart/

Last night I started reading through these links. The third one down has really grabbed my attention. Dr. McDougall has such a great way of writing in an approachable and understandable way, while still being thorough. He doesn't dumb-down these complex matters of the body, but rather concisely explains the inner workings, different tests used to diagnose disease and treatment options with rates of success (which are way lower than you think!).

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
Lindsey