OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Share your McDougall successes here in order to inspire others.

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OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:42 pm

Welcome to the McDougall Maintenance support group! Let’s join together for support and camaraderie while we strive to maintain our successes.

Many of us have lost weight and/or reached other health goals. We’re ready for that next chapter, maintaining the gains we’ve accomplished.

This group will have Friday check ins, where everyone can touch base. Weigh-ins are optional, and will not be tracked. Please feel free to share your non-scale victories (NSV) as well.

In order to foster group participation, we do ask that only participants post, so please do join! You can join at any time simply by hitting the “post reply” button and saying something along the lines of “I’d like to join.” As they say, the more, the merrier.


Hello everyone!

Wow, we’re already in the last quarter of the year. October brings many delightful thoughts, such as leaves changing colors, warm sweaters and hot apple cider, but also marks the beginning of The Holidays, a challenging time of in-laws and tempting foods. Halloween is looming large at the end of the month, with gobs of chocolates and ghoulish treats. In the 30 days before that there is Homemade Cookies Day, Cinnamon Roll Day, Vijaydashmi, Yom Kippur, Global Handwashing Day, Cheese Curd Day, Sloth Day, countless birthdays (including mine) and a whole host of other reasons to say screw it and put on some sweatpants while diving headfirst into a bag of pastries.

Resist, my friends! Thankfully Mary McDougall has come to our aid with delicious desserts for sharing while celebrating.

Next check in is Friday, October 4th.

Sending warm wishes to you all,
Lindsey
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby sirdle » Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:42 pm

Sloth Day?

Now there's a holiday I can celebrate!

:-P
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Mark Cooper » Fri Oct 04, 2019 6:44 am

My BMI remains the same this week - as usual still eating MWL. My pain settled down, so that was a big relief - it has been much more manageable the last few days - continuing all my various therapies, exercise, &c. I'm excited to have the opportunity to see Dr. Campbell speak this Sunday, I'm sure it will be interesting and apparently the talk is at capacity with a waiting list (glad I registered early!)

Made some delicious Moroccan-style lentils in my IP the other day -
Moroccan Lentils
Ingredients
2 Cups Lentils
4 Cups Vegetable Broth
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
1 tsp Ginger Powder
1 tsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
¼ tsp Black Pepper
¼ tsp Turmeric
2 Tbsp Miso

Directions
Put all ingredients in the Instant Pot
Set the IP to 10 minutes manual
Natural release
Serve over grain, potato or roasted vegetables


Wishing everyone a beautiful, successful, healthful week to come!
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 7:25 am

Hi everyone,

Lindsey - good job on getting back to your target weight! Thanks for sharing the link to McDougall desserts. I've been experimenting with cake recipes, so it was perfect timing!

Lindsey/Sirdle - sloth day??!! I'm in :-)

Vic - like the sound of Jeff's fries, going to give those a go next time we do a batch of baked potatoes. What's in your risotto? It's good that your husband is supportive. :-)

Mark - so pleased that the pain has settled down this week and that your BMI is holding steady. Thanks for sharing the Moroccan Lentils recipe, it sounds delicious! Ooh, would love to see Dr Campbell speak - please do let us know how it goes and share any interesting snippets :-)

My weight is the same at last week (a pound under my goal weight) and my husband's is down by 1.4 pounds and a total of 6.4 pounds in 3 weeks. This is his lowest weight in at least nine years (don;t have home records further back). He's happy with the results of his 3 weeks of much closer McDougall eating and is now planning how to approach the rest of the year. I'm so impressed with the way he's tackling this latest phase of his own health and weight loss journey and would love to put a big red heart emoji right here :D

Food-wise this week there's been a winter squash, veg (mostly courgette!) and bean soup; lentil cottage/shepherd's pie; roasted beetroot; green lentils with rosemary and lots of kale, chard and spinach. I'm happy/sad to report that we are down to the last 2 courgettes so I'm about to make a minestrone soup to take with us on a short break to the coast tomorrow.

Best wishes to all, Sue x
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby sirdle » Sat Oct 05, 2019 8:56 am

Suey51 wrote:Lindsey/Sirdle - sloth day??!! I'm in :-)

I think I'll make a big list of things to do... and then ignore it and read a book instead! :-P
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 9:32 am

sirdle wrote:
Suey51 wrote:Lindsey/Sirdle - sloth day??!! I'm in :-)

I think I'll make a big list of things to do... and then ignore it and read a book instead! :-P

:lol: :lol:
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sat Oct 05, 2019 9:56 pm

Lindsey I have not heard of Shelf-temper, but I like it. We are in France until the end of the month. The first few days staying with my daughter and we ate lots of chilli and greens. We had a potluck meal and made a lovely pasta dish with a tofu ricotta and a pumpkin sauce. Will make it again as I loved the pumpkin flavour. We also made a lime cheesecake which had avacado and maple syrup. It didn’t set well but was still good. The baguettes are so darn tasty here so I will be eating lots of bread. We are now driving around the country and we will try to share meals as much as possible and I will hope to maintain current weight. Yesterday we visited the Vimy Ridge memorial and it makes a person very humble to understand the sacrifices made by others. Mark I am glad your pain is better. Wishing you all a great week.
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:31 am

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I’m bouncing around in my “normal” range. LookingnforqRd to your updates.
Lindsey
My food journal: Adventures in Eating
My pregnancy journal: Maybe a Baby 2017
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Mark Cooper » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:17 am

Hi, Lindsey! Well done keeping in maintenance range!

My BMI is holding steady, as well; still eating 10-pt MWL. I had a reasonably good week managing pain - not my most comfortable week ever, but certainly not the most painful, either. Dr. Campbell's talk was really great, he went into particular detail regarding the connection between consumption of animal protein and cancer growth. He also briefly explored the connection to environmental effects. A fairly good overview of the talk is at http://www.towntopics.com/wordpress/2019/10/09/reversing-nutritional-ignorance-is-message-of-campbells-talk/.

A great quote from the talk - "The No. 1 cause of death is nutritional ignorance."

The hosts of the talk have also started a new group "Princeton Eats Plants" meeting monthly, so I'm going to start attending those groups.

I've been enjoying Dr. Jen Houk's videos on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-dYCtF8cYzTWFM6bSAXqg.

Wishing everyone a healthful and fulfilling week to come!
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:04 am

Hi everyone,

Congrats Lindsey on keeping in your normal range!

Thanks Mark for sharing those links :) How exciting to get to see Dr Campbell in person! Great to hear that you have a new plant-based group locally. Would love to hear about future meetings.

Erin - your food sounds lovely (as always)! Which part of France are you in this week?

My weight is steady around a pound under my goal weight. We had a trip to the coast last week and did some great walks and cycle rides. I hadn't cycled in at least a year and really enjoyed it! After a few warm-up rides, on my last day I decided to tackle a hill that was a lot easier than I'd remembered. The last time I'd attempted it was probably 3 years ago, my heart, lungs and legs had been pushing an additional 25 pounds uphill - no wonder it was easier this time!

Yesterday I attended VegMed UK in London and got to see Dr Neal Barnard, Dr Michael Greger, Dr Michael Klaper, Brenda Davis RD, UK-based GP Dr Gemma Newman, gastroenterologist Dr Alan Desmond, The Happy Pear David & Stephen Flynn (hilarious!) and others. It was a good day and extra-special as I met up with fellow UK McDougallers: KatherineUK, FrancesUK (from the recent potluck) plus 2 others. It was very exciting to have this event 'on my doorstep' (in previous years it's been in Germany), to hear from some UK plant-based health professionals and to connect with like-minded people :)

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Best wishes, Sue x
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:13 am

Great Sue that you enjoyed the bike ride and most especially Vegfest. I think the Happy Pear guys are so funny too. Yesterday we explored Bordeaux and today we are driving across to Sete. We will then make our way up North. Eating in France has been challenging but we are making nice sandwiches on the road and eating lots of veggies and hummus. We had Vietnamese food yesterday which was rice and veggies so it was good. We also cooked up a bunch of baby potatoes and have been eating those cold as we travel. We tried a cream puff yesterday as we passed a shop and that was the only thing they sold. I always find it interesting when a business can survive selling just one thing seems so nice and easy and streamlined. We’ve been walking about 18 to 20 thousand steps a day as these types of trips are always about walking and exploring. It’s a lovely country that’s for sure. Wishing you all a good week.
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Mark Cooper » Fri Oct 18, 2019 12:11 pm

VegMed UK looks and sounds like a fabulous experience, Sue! What fun!

Glad your travels are going well, Erin! (20,000 steps! :shock: :thumbsup: )

My pain was at a fairly mild level most of this week, and my BMI continues to hold steady. It has finally started to get cold here in Princeton, I can tell that pretty soon my early morning weighted-walking will have to move to the treadmill - I may mix in some stationary cycling once I make the shift indoors.
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:38 am

Erin - your trip sounds wonderful! Sounds like you're finding some good approaches to eating McD while you travel. Good job on the steps!

Thanks Mark. Pleased that your pain is only fairly mild last week and BMI is holding steady.

My weight is holding steady a pound under my goal weight. Nearly 2.5 years into McDougalling and 8 months of a no alcohol experiment I thought it was about time to have a cholesterol test and the headline number is down to 4.1 from 4.3 from the previous one (converting to US format I think that's 158 from 166). I would like it to be under 4 as that equates to 150 which is the target set by Dr McDougall but am happy to be heading in the right direction :) The HDL level was flagged as abnormal (normal range 1.2 and above) so I've been researching this on the McDougall website. Triglycerides have bobbed up but within the McDougall target of under 150. LDL is a little higher than the McDougall target of below 90. One of my granddads and an uncle had one-off fatal heart attacks in their early 70's so avoiding heart disease is close to the top of my list for continuing with this way of eating and nudging closer to 100% compliance.

December 2017: Cholesterol 4.3 (166.2) HDL 1.5 (58.0) LDL 2.52 (97.4) Triglycerides 0.62 (54.9)
October 2019: Cholesterol 4.1 (158.5) HDL 1.1 (42.5) LDL 2.5 (96.7) Triglycerides 1.1 (97.5)

Useful list of newsletters on Cholesterol & Triglycerides: Risk Factors here.

Would be interested to know other people's experience in this area - effect on numbers by following McDougall diet, trends in their numbers over the maintenance period etc.

My husband is sticking with his McD and alcohol experiment for the rest of the year (yay!) but is going to allow himself a weekly off-program meal and a couple of beers if we are eating out with others. Overall, that's way better than before so I'm happy. His weight on Friday was down by 7 pounds in 5 weeks and he is feeling great :D Having him eating the same way is certainly helping me stay just that little bit closer to the McD program. He is still making lots of McD food which makes me very grateful :)

Best wishes, Sue x
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby JeffN » Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:04 am

Suey51 wrote:December 2017: Cholesterol 4.3 (166.2) HDL 1.5 (58.0) LDL 2.52 (97.4) Triglycerides 0.62 (54.9)
October 2019: Cholesterol 4.1 (158.5) HDL 1.1 (42.5) LDL 2.5 (96.7) Triglycerides 1.1 (97.5)

Useful list of newsletters on Cholesterol & Triglycerides: Risk Factors here.

Would be interested to know other people's experience in this area - effect on numbers by following McDougall diet, trends in their numbers over the maintenance period etc.


Hi Suey

First, remember, numbers are markers and no one number ever means anything, what matters most are trends.

As you can see from all your numbers, we are not static but dynamic creatures. Our system is constantly in flux. If you were to test your numbers not only every month, but every week, or every day, or every hour, you would see variations. This is why trends over time matter more then single numbers.

Your triglycerides went from 54.9 to 97.5

Understand that all we ask is for them to be under 150. Some say under 100 is optimal but there is no "optimal" in a "dynamic" system. However, if there was, your number is still under 100. Out of all the numbers you posted, the one that can be the most influenced by what you ate the night before, or even day before (even if you fasted) are triglycerides. So, depending on you, any alcohol, fat, sugar, fruit, fruit juice, especially in excess, could have resulted in their minor increase.

Who knows, your next triglyceride test could be 55-60 :)

Hope that helps

In Health
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Re: OCTOBER 2019 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:17 am

Thanks Jeff for your feedback :-)

Triglycerides in 2015 and 2016 were 58 and 56 and I had had some sugar the afternoon before the recent test so that might explain the increase.

Warm regards, Sue
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