October - Landog's challenges!

[landog]

I am jumping aboard the October challenge bandwagon!

Bob posted a really good description of his motivations for this challene in this message - it is a good read, check it out!

Additional links:

October challenge

http://sactobob.blogspot.com/

Be well,
dog

[landog]

This October, I'm busier than I ever have been in my life. I am two years into a new job, where I'm learning new things and facing new opportunities on a daily basis.

On top of that, I'm taking two college courses at a local university as I try to gain a bachelor's degree. I'm taking Object Oriented Programming and a Physics class (based on calculus). It's a traditional class and I have a lot of homework.

I have a family, including a son with multiple disabilities - they keep me busy, too.

I also decided to take another class at a community college - an online Red Hat Linux class.

It may be a bad time to try to do this challenge, but hey, call me crazy (my wife does!). So, I'm going to try to squeeze in some time here at the McDougall forum.

My goals are to "walk the talk" - be 100% complient - and keep an open mind to taking steps to improve my diet and health. I thank Sactobob for initiating this chalenge, and for his insights on how to fully gain from an optimal diet.

As my college classes start at 4 pm, I have shifted my "normal" work hours to 6 am - 3 pm. I have been walking up at 4:45 am. Since doing so, I have resumed a coffee habit. I'm going to try to shake that habit.

Somewhere along the line, I have also resumed salting my food. One of my goals is to knock that off.

I've been too busy to excercise - time to turn that around!

I'm really good with the starched-based part of this diet. I know that I need to make an effort to include more vegetables.

I plan to add more green leafy vegetables as I have heard that it will reduce the amount of gray hair on my head!

My last cholesterol level was 164 - measured in June, 2011.
Today's BP is 120/80.

I'd like to see lower cholesterol numbers.

Thanks,
-dog

[Adrienne]

Interesting, as I always thought you were one the few 100% compliant people on the forum (though I realize compliant means different things to different people). You frequently offer others very helpful advice/information and hopefully you will receive helpful guidance in return. I always enjoy reading your posts.

As for the cholesterol, you could try Jeff's suggestions and include more BYOB&B (beans, yams, oats, berries and barley). Maybe that will help a little.

Wishing you the best of luck! That physics class sounds like enough of a challenge for most people so I admire the fact you want to take this on as well.

Keep posting on how things are going.

[landog]

Sat, Oct. 1

B - oats - I eat rolled oats, with a little steel cut oats mixed in, with some hot water added.

L - brown rice with vegetarian chili (one of my staples). steamed veggies.

D - we went to my niece's wedding. I had three baked potatoes from Wendy's in my coat pocket. There were some celery and carrots at the wedding to add to my meal!

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Sun, Oct. 2

B - oats

L - brown rice with vegetarian chili. I was at a part time job and I didn't have time to cook the spinach that I had with me.

Snack - an orange

D - boiled potatoes, cubed and browned in a pan. 1/2 ear corn. Green beans, kale, spinach. (corn and green beans bought this morning at farmer's market near my part time job. Also picked up some leaf lettuce and emipire apples)

Afterwards - We're going to my sister's. She is serving strawberry shortcake. We're just going to visit with the family.

I did excercise today. I took my disabled son swimming - it's good for him and I get some exercise.

[landog]

As for the cholesterol, you could try Jeff's suggestions and include more BYOB&B (beans, yams, oats, berries and barley). Maybe that will help a little.

Thanks, Adrienne! I will try to work that in.

Over time, my meals usually have consisted of a "main" course of:
- oats
- rice and beans (in the form of a chili)
- potatoes

I've been a pretty big potato eater.

Thanks,
-dog

[SactoBob]

Dog,
You are doing awesome, and have taken on a big, but important, challenge considering your time constraints. Farley and I have developed a number of time saving ideas over the years. Let me know if you would like to know about how we may have taken on a problem - we have probably dealt with similar problems too. It is on the list for inclusion into my challenge. For people who know what to do, and are not addicted to SAD treats, the real challenge is finding ways to eat healthy without spending all your time preparing food.

[Broadbean]

... I had three baked potatoes from Wendy's in my coat pocket...

Beautiful image! I love it!

[landog]

Oct 3

Today I weigh 166.5 lbs. During my SAD period, I topped out at 205 lbs (usually around 195 - 205).

I lost the weight quickly after starting this way of life - in about 3 or 4 months . Since then, I've plateaued. I'm happy with my weight, although I'd be happy at 155 lbs., also.

Skipped breakfast, no coffee today.

L - salad of iceburg lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, onions.
- serving of frozen "stir fry" vegetables - heated in microwave (broccoli, snap peas, green beans, carrots, celery, water chestnuts, onions, red peppers)
- serving of frozen spinach - heated in microwave
- brown rice with vegetarian chili

Snack - an orange

D - frozen mixture of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, to which I added 1 sweet potato sliced up and a bunch of fresh kale - all steamed and served over brown rice for me and my 2 sons.

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Last night I reached for the salt on the dinner table - but I caught myself - and my hand froze about 2 inches away. I then withdrew my arm. My wife commented, "force field around the salt shaker?"

[Adrienne]

Sounds like you are off to a great start! Just curious though, what is your motivation for avoiding salt 100%? Health reasons? Or simply to acclimatize yourself to the taste of plain, healthy food? Do you think a little bit of salt sprinkled on your food would help you stay faithful to the challenge or is part of the challenge avoiding the urge to add salt?

On another note I just thought I would add that I have brought potatoes to a wedding as well a few years ago. Although I had asked for a mcd-compliant meal, I had a feeling that this request would not pan out. I was correct- while they had cooked plain rice and steamed vegetables for me somehow they misplaced my meal and couldn't find it. So I least I did not go hungry. It is always wise to plan ahead.

[landog]

what is your motivation for avoiding salt 100%?

When I use it, I get a little heavy-handed with it and use it often.

I'd also like to see if my BP goes down from removing salt (and coffee) from my diet.

I've justified using it, in the past, as I'm not getting sodium from processed foods - but I think that it's probably best to just put it on the "exclude" list.

Thanks,
-dog

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Hey dog, I'm curious to see if you see the same effect as I did when I cut way back on salt - mostly in canned goods. My appetite dropped dramatically. I haven't seen Steve post in a while but I think he was the one whose post I first read and learned about it happening to him, so then I tried it out. I used to think I wasn't salt sensitive.

[Adrienne]

A few years ago I went on a 3 week salt-free experiment of my own. One day I realized I was adding way too much salt to my food- I would add it to grains and beans/legumes before and after cooking and I would add quite a bit to vegetables as well. I had a feeling this was probably not good for me so I committed myself to avoiding it altogether for a little while. The first few days were tough. Foods that I was accustomed to eating daily tasted horrible! But by week 2 I realized that my taste buds were changing, as I started to appreciate the natural tastes of plant foods. After 3 weeks my tastes were reset but I did miss salt a little so I started adding a little soy sauce to rice, which I eat regularly and on the rare occasion I eat potatoes I will sprinkle a little salt on top. But since this experiment I have never added any salt to grains prior to cooking or to vegetables at all. So in total I eat way less salt than I used to and I dont miss it.

I used to think that unsalted tomatoes were inedible and now it's the reverse. Our tastes really do change, if we let them.

[Chile]

I've seriously reduced salt since recommitting to McDougalling this round. As a result, I've noticed restaurant and packaged foods are much saltier than I like and I tend to "gain" weight after eating them thanks to sodium's lovely fluid-retaining properties. However, I still enjoy lightly salting my food before eating because salt can really "brighten" the flavors.

In fact, we got pizza out the other day from a place that used to be really good. This time, it was totally bland and boring; they must have changed their recipes. I think they also rely on the cheese for the salt because the cheeseless pizza did not taste over-salted to me. When I decided to try sprinkling just a tiny bit of salt on my piece, the practically non-existant herb flavors in the sauce finally popped out.

But ... it took reducing salt in the first place to get to this space. Oh, I just remembered one thing I did when I first tried McDougalling years ago. Because the book said total salt intake should be no more than 1/2 teaspoon per day, I would measure out half a teaspoon into a little container each morning. I cooked from scratch and bought only salt-free foods (like canned tomatoes). Instead of using the salt shaker, I only used salt from that container to either add a pinch to cooking food or to sprinkle, with my fingers, over the finished dish. Worked well and I rarely if ever emptied it by the end of a day.

[blondie]

Good for you with the salt reduction!

Jeff N. posted an interesting news article on his FB page today about high salt intake being linked to dementia.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBody ... d=14371665

[RAS]

Will reduce the salt.Be 100% complient.& Eat more veggies.Don't know about the gray hair though,Mine is white! RAS