The Two Cats

[kittyadventures]

Hi Anyone who is following us over from Mary's Mini with beans.
I am off the Mini sort of.
LOL

anyway today is all about eating a couple of my favorits because I have been craving them.


Breakfast
Oatmeal
My weekend special, I use gluten free oats, cinnamon, about 1 to 1.5 ounces of raisens, and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. and milk of my choice which is unsweetened almond milk today sometimes I use unsweetened or plain soy mik. Depending on what is opened in the fridge.


Lunch will be a sandwhich on gluten free bread... probably peanut butter and jelly because I have some lovely raspberry jelly that I just made.

and dinner will involve.... TAAA DAAAA..... yes a salad with beans ROFLMAO.

I dol ove my beans and I do need to keep at it to get my weight down.

todays exercise will involve all house and yard work.... I skipped dancing this morning because of a sore muscle in my lower back... One thing I have learned now that I am over 50 is do not irritate an injury or you will take forever to heal.

I will be making a pot of beans today in the pressure cooker, I am leaning toward the little white beans . Recipe to follow, I am toying with posiblly adding chopped turnips in there with the vegetables.


SimonCat what do you say to we only weigh in twice aweek ... maybe wednesdays and saturdays... just to keep us on track but not so tied to the scale.

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. I read your last post on mary's mini with beans. We do have a lot in common!! I am usually a very slow loser and of course, we have the gluten thing going on. I didn't know you liked to run too. I have a feeling you'll be doing it soon! 170!! I know how hard it is. And, you are certainly right about having the right shoes.

Regarding shoes, I realized I needed to get some new running shoes if I plan to run 6 miles. I usually wear Asics. They seem to fit my feet well. Have you tried them, KA?

Speaking of running, I ran my 3 miles today in the rain. The run seemed effortless and I cut my time by 10 minutes. I am not a fast runner either; but I guess the weight loss does make it easier. Makes sense.

Well, yesterday I was pretty good. I got hungry after dinner, but found that peppermint tea helped a lot. I didn't walk yesterday, but did a lot of weeding in the flower garden.

Today"s Menu:

B: GF oatmeal with 5 prunes (I know Dr. M. doesn't think dry fruit is good for a diet, but I think prunes are pretty good and I am experimenting)

L: Kale/banana/frozen cherries/frozen blackberries smoothy - this is a treat for me - I've been pretty good. It's also a detoxifier. I don't usually have this type of thing for lunch.

D: garbanzo beans with stir fry veggies with nutritional yeast and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds

Weight: 147 lb

KA, I agree with you though. I don't think a person has to exercise as hard as we do on this diet. I actually am pretty sure just walking for an hour or so or gardening will help you lose weight. I just really like to run. I also know for myself that not snacking between meals seems to really help me lose.

Sure KA, I don't mind about the scale thing. I'll post when you do.

[kittyadventures]

Regarding the shoes issue I have a friend who swears by the Asics.

My shoe of the last few times has been a nike.
My last two pairs have been Nike Scramble trail 2's.. they are awesome with great gripping action even on wet rocks at the beach.


I once tried the New Balance that some people with wide feet really like but they fell apart after only one month.
I find that when I try on Shoes I have to practice run around the store in them to be sure they fit right. I have wide feet with high arches and long toes so I have a hard time getting comfortable shoes LOL.

another good tea to stave hunger for a bit is lemon zinger.

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. I am posting here twice today too. I did not see your post about beans until now. Thank you. I have a large pressure cooker, but have always been kind of scared to use it, especially for beans. It needs a new gasket. How much water do you add to how much beans? How long do you cook it for? I would love to know as sometimes I don't want to wait 8 hours with the crockpot .

I hope your back gets better soon. Maybe just walking would be good for now. I know it's helping me, cause I don't always want to run and sometimes I am just too pooped after work!!

I hope you don't think I am nuts posting about celiac stuff and hair loss. I went through so much with doctors and naturopaths and they really didn't help. In fact my naturopath told me if it gets really bad and I lose it all, I "could always buy a cute little wig"!!!! At first I was losing handfuls in the shower and then I started getting burning scalp pain. Once the scalp burn was so bad, I put Vicks VapouRub on it. However, the doctors told me that hair loss is
common at menopause. I wanted to use profanity, but controlled myself. My mother never went through this, neither did anyone else in my family. Then, I started noticing how many women, even young women were losing their hair. You know, when dogs lose their hair, even veterinarians suspect diet. So, I found a woman on the internet that had the same problem and she did the same things I am doing now and it saved her hair. If you were to look at me now, you wouldn't even know this happened. I had really thick hair to begin with and now I have about half as much.

I've read a lot about this from books including "Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests Are Normal" by Datis Kharrazian and Dr. Peter Green's book, "Celiac Disease: The Hidden Epidemic" and basically gluten is the main cause for these types of problems.

It's sad to see so many women suffer from this. I went online to the "Alopecia World" site and most of the women just wanted to take drugs that wouldn't really help. I had one friend on there that hadn't lost all her hair and met someone without hair and just gave up and decided to go bald. If you let it go too long, I don't think your hair will grow back.

Anyway, just thought I'd explain. I didn't want to end up like one of these smilie faces (no hair).

Are you having rainy weather today too?

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. I posted twice to you yesterday; so, you may want to read the post above too.

Anyway, thank you for the tea tip; I'll try the Lemon Zinger, but really miss my black tea with milk and sugar - guess that is where my English heritage really comes out. However, I am really a mutt in that I have English, Irish, German, French, Haitian, etc. etc. in me. Unlike some people, I kind of like being a mutt. I think it makes me appreciate the differences and similarities in people. It's funny because my sister will not claim a few of our relatives (pruning the family tree). and I kind of tease her about it. On the other hand, I am proud of my different heritages. Hey, I might be related to you!!

Well, I am being a bit of a bum today and going to hang out with my girls (chickens & daughter). lol I'm going to clean the chicken/duck pen and go to Cosco and shop with my daughter. Don't know if I'll get my walk in, but will try. I am kind of tired from yesterday.

Hey, I was wondering, have you tried smoothies? The one I made yesterday was pretty good. I've heard that Dr. M is not really in favor of them, but I haven't found it anywhere. I use them to get my daughter to at least eat some greens. I love kale/froz. blueberries/cherries/banana.

So, today's meal is:

B: yam w/ a little rice milk on it and an orange

L: salad greens/ red beans/salsa

D: stir steam veggies from Cosco & potatoes

Hope your back is feeling better today and that you are having a great day!! Also, sure I'd love some piano music (I missed looking at that post, that is why I didn't mention it yesterday).

[kittyadventures]

ALL ABOUT PRESSURE COOKERS AND COOKING BEANS

The size of your pressure cooker determines how much beans you can cook in that particular cooker.

I have two different size cookers. I have a giant "MIRRO" one (16 quarts) for pressure canning which can hold at least 4 lbs of dry beans to cook... probably more I have not reached it's capacity yet LOL If I use it for my beans it is for when we go camping and I am feeding 20 people. I make a huge batch and then save half for us to eat later. My only complaint about it is that it is aluminum... If I could do a do over i would geta stainless steel model.

I also have a small Manttra(6 quart) one which you can cook a 1# bag of beans in quite nicely. (1# = 2 cups of dry beans)

(For your gasket replacement check at your local ACE hardware in the household section, ours has replacement gaskets there. But I do live in a small town and we have limited options.. so our hardware store carries a lot of cool things)

you should also know that pressure canners come in 4 different guage styles. There is the dial guage style, the weighted guage style, the rocker style and the newest kind like my manttra which has the guage and pressure release built into the handle.
http://www.pressurecooker-canner.com/prestocanner.html
and for Mirro
http://www.pressurecooker-canner.com/mirroparts.html

IF you are looking to buy a new one consider what you are using it for in order to determin which style will work best for you.

Now that I have the little one with the pressure guage built into the handle I would not reccomend that style. I would just get it with the littel rocker nob on top that you get rocking when the pressure builds up and then lower your heat till it is just rocking two or three times a minute. For my canning model I have the weighted guage it has 5, 10 or 15 lbs pressuer depending which side of the weighted disk is up. It cooks things faster because I can set it on the 15 pound side if I wish. I didn't get the larger one with the pressure guage it was quite expensive. the weighted rocker works just fine for my purposes.

Now about beans....

times to cook depend on the type of beans you are cooking. I will assume you have the pressure in handle type but if you have the rocker type you may want to shorten your times.

NOTE:My times are for sea level if anyone reads this and is living in the moiuntains you need to ad probably 10 minutes to your cooking times or even 15 if you are higer up.

Okay here are the beans in your pressure cooker times and amounts...
I use 6 cups of water to 2 cups of beans because I like a softer bean with juice to make a stew type of thing and am adding other vegetables after it is cooked.
But these are the amounts they list with the instruction manuel for my MAnttra 6 quart cooker. And times are for when full pressure has been reached (pressure handles only go to 5 lbs pressure)

Al amounts are for 2 cups of Soaked dry beans / unsoaked

Black eyed beans 3 C water 6 minutes / 4 C water 15 Min
Garbanzo Beans 3 C Water 18 Minutes / 5 C water 48 Min
Great Northern 4 C Water 5 Minutes / 5 C water 35 Min
Kidney Beans 4 C Water 11 Minutes / 5 C water 40 Min
Pinto Beans 4 C Water 6 Minutes / 4 C water 30 Min
Red Beans 4 C Water 6 Minutes / 4 C water 30 Min
Small navy beans 4 C water 5 Minutes / 4 C water 30 Min
Soy beans 5 C Water 20 Minutes / 5 C water 45 Min
Lentils Unsoaked 4.5 cups water 6 minutes cooking time.


Here are my two recipes from marys minis for amounts of seasoning and such.
http://drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=22576&start=15

http://drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=22576&start=30

IF you add your seasoning to the pressure cooker remember to cut amounts in half.. the pressure really infuses the beans and intesifies it so you need a lot less seasoning.

hope that helps.

[kittyadventures]

LOL Simoncat you posted while I was writing be sure to read above about the beans.

I am finishing the vege gaarden today and also cleaning out the chicken coop in my case the barn LOL like two peas in a pod .

anyway as to eats today I had 2 gluten free pancakes and a large handful of grapes for breakfast.

And that pretty much gets the whole bread thing out of my system I also ended up with toast with jelly for dinner last night and orange Juice not my typical eating plan at all and just goes to show once you eat off plan you really go off plan ACKKKK!!!!! but now I am back on regular mode as I have had my treats and feel ready to stay on task.

Lunch will be salad and beans

Dinner will be some form of greens and beans I suppose. not sure just yet depends on what we end up doing I will keep you posted.

[kittyadventures]

Okay I made it through today but not without going off plan for one more meal.. We (Hubby and I) decided to go to Casa de Fruita for a late lunch... and we went to the deli I was thinking they would have salad but they only had sandwhiches.. Fortunately they hade rye bread... so I had a vegetable sandwhich on rye... very very tasty. tomatoes, curly leaf lettuce, cuccumbers , avacado and sprouts... Delicious and so far I am fine...

Then after a two mile walk around the grounds looking at plants animals and people we got an ice cream...So not mcDougall... but they didn't have yogurt and I can not stomach the sorbets... especially after the rye breasd... any way I didn't eat all of my ice cream it was too much and too rich

anyway now I am eating a late dinner of a lovely garden salad (Curly leaf letuce sliced carrots cucumber, green sweet peppers and tomato.)
Topped off with about 1/2 cup of pinto beans... WHew back on track finally.


You asked about smoothies and yep I do love them.. I make my own.
I usually have frozen cut up fruit and add it to my blender with either water or herbal ice tea.

Some of my favorites are starwberry apricot
black berry apricot
blueberry apricot
or any combination of other yummys.

I like making my own and they are not as sweet as the ones you get at the frozen juice places. (They add apple juice or other juices)

Plus the ascorbic acid really irritates my ulcer (This is why I don't get sorbets or sherbert ice creams)


anyway I got sunburned today, all that working outside. Interestingly I do not burn as badly or as easily now that I eat vegetarian. Do you find your self the same?

I finished the vegetable garden, everything is planted except the potatoes... I am trying to eradicate a gopher from that bed.... IF all goes well, I will be planting them tomorrow afternoon. It looks like I am only going to have one planting of crops this year due to the lateness of our winter. I am keeping fingers crossed that everything comes up and makes it to full grown plants.

The barn got postponed until tomorrow or tuesday.

I hope your weekend was luscious..

[kittyadventures]

And It is Monday.... And I am back on plan... whew.. there will be no more of that for a long while.

anyway

breakfast is Oatmeal with Cinnamon and an apple.

Lunch is Pinto beans and mixed vegetables.
I also have with me a sweet potato in case I need it for emergencies but I think I will be fine as is

Dinner is going to be a huge garden salad with kidney beans and I am finally going to try out the 3 2 1 dressing.

We are supposed to reach 100 today and 102 tomorrow so this afternoon I will be making the salad for tonights dinner and also a noodle salad for tomorrow night. I like it when it gets a chance to sit so all the flavors meld and it gets really chilled.


The veggie garden bed with the suspected gopher appears to be gopher free so I will be planting my potatoes this evening after it has cooled off.



Exercise will be swimming and of course the garden. A possible walk too later on.

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. Thank you so much for all the information about pressure cookers & beans. I really, really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I have the giant pressure cooker too. My hubby bought it for me and you know men, at least my man, the bigger the better. I could feed an army with it!! I'll have to see what the smallest amount of beans I can make in it is.

Oh, KA, be careful. You've done so well. I know it's hard but I'd be careful, especially with peanut butter and ice cream. I know if I even touch them the pounds come back real quick. Stick with it. Look at EtSelle's pictures. Have you seen them. Wow!! That's an inspiration!! Also, be careful, rye bread has wheat added to it too; thus, it has gluten. I hope you are okay and I am not being judgmental, I just want you to reach your goal. Just think, when you get to your goal, you can occasionally have a treat like that. However, you might not even want it anymore - who knows??!!

Well, I did get on the scale today, but I won't post it; however, I think for me, I have to. It encourages me either to keep on going or to see what I can or can't get away with.

Today's Menu:

B: gf oatmeal w/ flax & small mango

L: red beans/salsa & salad greens - kale celery carrots

D: Portabella mushroom pizza - my own recipe - with red beans & red pepper salsa/basil & 3 walnuts on top put in oven at 350 until warm & sprinkle with nutritional yeast; served with green salad

Hope to run today.

Hope you have a great day and are enjoying some good weather.

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. I am posting early this morning as I've got a lot of chores to do. Well, I experimented yesterday. My experiment involved eating 3 walnuts and seeing if they affected my weight. They did. I read at someone's site here that they could not have any fat without gaining. I guess I am the same. I gained and there is no other explanation for it as I really stuck to the diet outside of that. I even ran and did physical labor almost all day - garden & cleaning the chicken pen. So now, I know.

Anyway, I did like my portabello pizza and it doesn't have to have the walnuts to be good. I also forgot to add I put a sliced tomato on it as well. The basil really made it good and the beans mixed with the organic red pepper salsa I get from Safeway was great (although probably high in salt). I am a lazy cook and kind of like making up my own recipes. They are not always successful, but I think this diet lends itself to being creative. KA, you like to do that to, don't you?

Menu today:

B: yam with red pepper salsa & nutritional yeast

L: salad greens/kale/herbs of all sorts, even mint/carrots/apple/celery/red beans

D: This is kind of tricky, as we were invited to a summer solstice dessert party. I think I am just going to bring my dinner (a fruit & veggie smoothie) to the party so I'll have something and not the dessert).

Anyway, hope your day is good and happy summer solstice.

[kittyadventures]

Hi Simon's Cat... Our internet was out at home so I am doing a quick post from work. LOL

Thanks for the pep talk regarding eating off plan and Yikes I gained weight but back to it and am sitting at 171 this morning.

Also hey I am the same, if I eat fat, I do not lose and usually gain weight. And yes I am both a lazy cook and I love to be creative.
Cooking is such a wonderful creative endeavor and i love trying different combinations of vegetables and spices to get interesting taste combinations.


I didn't get to finish planting my last vegetable bed yesterday, I got home too late. So today will be doing that. It involves double digging the bed and planting some potaotes.. I know I am a bit on the late side for this but because we are near the ocean I am pretty sure I can get away with this plus I can just make a mini green house over the raised bed in the fall if I need to.

Food for today is
Breakfast:
Pinto beans and a large apple.

Lunch:
My newest bean mix and steamed vegetables (Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots , celery, red bell peppers.)

Dinner:
More of the bean mix and raw vege tray. (cauliflower, broccoli tomatoes carrots celerey)

[kittyadventures]

Hi Simoncat.

Hope you are having a great day.

Today will be a bit of a challenge for me.

I am walking to and from work... Hubby had to take my car.. his truck is on the blink!

Breakfast
a small apple and a small banana and pinto beans

Lunch
beans, corn and greens.

Dinner,
Sweet potato coins, beans, garden salad.


Exercise will amount to 6.5 miles of walking total and 1 mile of swimming.... I will not be able to go to zumba as Hubby will be getting home to late for me to make it to this class. Not to worry the 6.5 miles of walking make up for this issue.


Weight 171... it may be lower but I didn't get a chance to weigh in this AM so posting what I weighed yesterday.

okay off to water teh garden and put on makeup before heading off to work...

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. That walk will really be good for you; I bet you lose at least 1 or maybe 1 1/2 lbs, and along with the swimming, who knows??

It was kind of hard last night at the dessert solstice party. I was good though and was glad I had my smoothie. I just stayed far away from the food.

Well, I'm still at 146 which is sad because 3 days ago I was at 145 and I ran yesterday. I also did some weeding. Oh, well. I am near my usual plateau weight. I think that is because most of the weight I want to lose now is in my chest and that takes a little longer to lose. My pants aren't tight anymore, but they aren't that lose. It was funny, but today I grabbed what I thought was my grubby jeans to do some work in and when I put them on, they were pretty big on me. I thought for a moment, wow, I've lost a lot overnight, until I realized I'd put my husband's jeans on. lol

Anyway, today's menu is as follows:

B: fruit salad (needed something different)

L: green salad with lots of veggies (whatever I can find)
onions/greens/herbs/tomato/carrots/celery

D: red beans/salad and banana for dessert

Hope your walk was good. Bet you are tired. Have a delicious day!

[simoncat]

Hi, KA. Well, I've got to be cleaning up around here, as a friend of y hubby's is going to be staying with us and right now the chicken coup probably looks better than the inside of my house. lol So, tomorrow, I'll probably be scrubbing & vacuuming.

So here's tomorrow's menu:

B: oatmeal w/ unsweetened applesauce & flax seeds

L: cabbage/onion/garlic stir steamed w/ nutritional yeast

D: Zucchini spaghetti with garlic/onions/mushrooms & tomato sauce
( I actually prefer this to real pasta noodles and I use my food processor; pasta isn't too good for me, not even gf - makes me gain weight).

Hey, hope your truck is fixed soon.

If we are losing, we are winning. (my quote, but I bet someone else has said this).