Day 1 (back again!)

[Nean]

Dinner last night was compliant but blah and the mango 'chutney' was mango desert jam thankfully on top of the rice bowl. Protected myself this morning with room service oatmeal, banana and a sweet potato (potato from home.

[sksamboots]

You reigned yourself in though!!

[Mike]

I thought it was nice to read about the conference options you faced, with mixed draw veggies. When I ask for vegan food, they offer me FISH.

[Nean]

Well, here's me needing to get back on plan again.
Conference had sandwich bars both days, so slices of bread with mustard and then cut up the lettuce and tomatoes. Should have left it at that, but nooo, had to add the greasy salty marinated vegies and things. On the last day didn't keep a slice of bread for my afternoon snack. cookies.....
Wednesday - cupcakes at work
Thursday - different cupcakes at work
Friday - more different cupcakes at work... what's the deal people with the frosting boats!! And what's the deal with me?

So, for next time - fridge and microwave in the room. It's only two days. I can actually do lots of foods with a small microwave, a fridge and a local grocery. And I can always bring a big bowl and nuke a bag of corn and a bag of vegies and then take it down and eat with everyone at lunch or just eat away from everyone and then go down to resume the conference. Eating out, even with eating at a place that had vegan pizza, was not really a treat. I would do just as well to eat ahead of time and just have a non-alcoholic beer to keep company.

In addition to the conference, I set myself up with the liberal side of the starch solution which mentions bread. Yah, not Safeway white French bread. That is a big step in the right direction for my wife (who is trying it and very happy with reduced pain and smaller waist size) But it is a step back for me since what I WANT to do and thrive on is WFPB no oil.

Dinner is potatoes with no oil, fake sugar ketchup. There are 10# potatoes in the bin for me and two loaves of bread for the wife. Vegies in the freezer and we are ready to KISS over the weekend.

[PeripateticDanielle]

Hi Nean! I hope your weekend is going well.

[sksamboots]

Right back on track, keep on keepin on

[Nean]

Thanks Danielle and Boots. I'm hangin in there. Too much bread and popsicles and not enough high nutrient or high fiber foods. But no sugar, so there's a step back in the right direction. Had a huge artichoke with home made humus for dinner. After packaging the humus up, I decided that there was too much garlic in it and it reminded me of garlic mashed potatoes - so I've got a bowl of potato cubes, garlic humus sauce and peas (cause peas are my favorite and the other vegies didn't seem to be volunteering to jump in the bowl) for tomorrow. Maybe I'll make oatmeal for breakfast and take it along to work.

[sksamboots]

I love hummus and potatoes!

[Nean]

Still no sugar, and a good, high energy day. I felt like an eating machine though!
6 small Yukon gold potatoes, whole gallon bag of air popped popcorn, 1/4 cup chi chi beans, 1 1/2 quarts green chili rice/potatoes with minor amount of vegies (used almond milk rather than coconut milk), 1/3 of a loaf of sourdough bread, half a tube of polenta with low fat tomato sauce, one popsicle, 1.5 kombucha with chia seeds. Not exactly a veg heavy day. But no candy or cake (or chocolate covered potato chips which were offered)

[Nean]

Wife continues on "the bread and water diet" as she puts it. Mostly white bread, not many vegies, so not a perfect 10 for nutrition by any means. But she reports no PRN pain meds for the past several days, which is wonderful. And, although most of her bread and her air popped popcorn makes a crumbly mess in the car - it's easy to vacuum up and it doesn't make grease spots on the clothing.

[sksamboots]

Small steps!

[fulenn]

I have enjoyed reading through your journal--keep up the good work! It does take time and practice to get this going and get it to stick; it is worth it. I saw that you had polenta yesterday. That is the food that I can make for dinner and my girls think I am cheating! They love it and it has always been something I could make when they wanted something "fancy."

Fulenn

[PeripateticDanielle]

It's amazing how much easier laundry is (no little grease stains), dishes are (no big greasy messes) and how much better the house smells without oily cooking! So I'm right with you about noticing how much easier it is to clean up after your wife's snacks!

Your food sounds good. Hey, you have to do what you have to do. If this is your interim step between what you were eating and what you want to strive for in your diet, then that's what you should eat! Don't make yourself crazy. I like this 'diet' because it's got such a wide range of things to eat. This isn't something that skeptical people want to hear about the McDougall plan, but it's true.

Go Team Nean!

[GlennR]

Yup, right with everyone on how much easier it is to clean clothes and dishes when there's no grease involved.

[Nean]

Thanks everyone for the support! I did great yesterday until the second really emotional/confrontational meeting of the day. Lots of people In a small space, with chocolate being passed around... so there were 5 or 6 dark chocolates in the day. I then had an evening to myself and thought of all the SAD foods I could eat without anyone knowing. So I did have a big, not McDougall meal - bag of peas covered by a whole 4 person side of KFC mashed potatoes and half a gravy. It made a lovely presentation in my big serving bowl. (until I stirred it up to eat it ) Will take the remainder to work today along with popcorn and fixin's for oatmeal. Keeping with the starchy comfort foods for now - will add the veggies and fruits as spring and summer come along but not today.

I am at one of my danger point in this WOE. More energy and thinking more clearly, but still with the daily patterns of a lazy, fuzzy headed SAD addict. Easy to feel shamed for what I haven't done (you know - cleaning, saving aggressively, maintaining my body and my possession's etc.). Easy to let the areas of work where I haven't been moving things forward also spin into the negative thought patterns. And, just now, I'm getting the coworker responses to my energy and focus. Amazing always that they can see the relationship between my clean eating and my changes in behavior. I'm moving around/rounding into work areas more often and with more energy. "Man, no more coffee for you! Whatever that is that you are drinking (kombucha) you better lay off the stuff." (I still carry a cup with me but now it is mostly tepid decaf rather than cups of hot coffee) As I ask more penetrating questions, request outcomes with dates rather than just suggesting or leaving deadlines open ended and start summarizing meetings and action items, I'm getting a noticeable amount of invites for bad foods (along with solid support most of the time for my food plan - so it's not all resistance) With my history of lapses, this time it's an old, familiar pattern and I hope I'm more gracefully riding with it. Need to add some walking to burn off the energy - and maybe cut down on my eating since in the Starch Solution it's mentioned that you burn off excess calories by fidgeting...

Wife is continuing the Starchivore experiment and having great success. Much less pain and more energy - love it!