Idgie's MWL journal

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Fri Jul 13, 2018 7:19 pm

There's this great suggestion that I never would have thought of in the Day 14 section of the Beck Diet Solution, and it kind of goes in line with a lot of the simplifying tips Dr. McDougall and Mary give: make a template of a small number of meal options that you like, and then just give each one a number, and planning can be easier. For instance, dinner #3 tonight, #1 tomorrow, and so on. I think this could work really well with the tracker -- I could make groupings of each meal option and just put them into the tracker in one step, week after week. I am going to give this a try! I think simplifying my meal planning can save me time and energy.

Anyway, here are my template meals, and I have added them to my tracker. It took some time up front, but I think it will save a lot of time later. And I can always change the template if I get tired of something in particular.

I am not required to measure portions by the MWL (and I don't need to speed my current weight loss rate), so I will put down what I generally eat, or 300-500 calories per meal, or about 3-4 cups of food (and 100-200 calories per snack) with the understanding that I'm actually going to eat until satisfied, not until it's all gone. For me, I don't mind eating the same thing at lunch and dinner, so I am going to just make one list for lunch/dinner and repeat it for lunch and dinner on the same day.


Breakfast options:
1: 2 cups oatmeal, 1 cup berries
2: 9 oz. hash browns, 2 cups tossed salad with 1/2 cup beans
3: 4 cups Fast Minestrone from MWL book (made with water or veg stock instead of tomato juice; rice cooked by low-arsenic method, or other whole grain used)
4: 2 cups vegetable soup, 2 cups sweet potatoes

Lunch/dinner options:
1: 2 cups vegetable soup, 2 cups sweet potatoes
2: 2 cups tossed salad, 2 cups sweet potatoes
3: 2 cups potato salad (no fat, obviously), 2 cups tossed salad
4: Kimchi unfried rice, full batch made with 2 c. brown rice & 2 c. veggies
5: 2 cups hummus, 1 red pepper cut in strips, 1 carrot in sticks
6: 1 cup roasted beets, 1 cup baked winter squash, 1 cup kimchi slaw
7: 4 cups Fast Minestrone

Snack options:
1: 4 cups tossed salad
2: 2 cups vegetable soup
3: 1 cup berries (I usually eat them frozen)
4: 1 piece of seasonal fruit or 1 cup fruit salad
6: 2 cups beets
7: 1 cup lentil soup
8: 1 cup roasted garbanzos

Here's how it looks in my tracker:
Image

Tomorrow's food plan:

B1
L1
S1
S2
S3

Will see how it goes tomorrow.
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:59 pm

Potatoes are baking; vegetable soup is cooking. Tomorrow should be a breeze. I love weekends!
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby VegSeekingFit » Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:19 pm

Hi Idgie,

You are doing great!!! :D

So impressed by your options that you laid out for meals / snacks!!

I don't know if this is helpful, but wanted to share that I eat soup/stew cold - right out of the fridge. Maybe unappealing to most, but works for me in the hot summer.

Keep on, you are doing great!!! :D

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:06 pm

Stephanie, I love cold soup! It's just that for a while, it was too hot to cook it in the first place. But yesterday I made 3 quarts of it, and it's cooling off here, so I'll make another 3 or 4 quarts tomorrow. Thanks for your support!
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby AlwaysAgnes » Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:11 am

If you have a slow cooker or an instant pot, you can make soup without heating up the kitchen. I made a pot of navy bean soup tonight in my instant pot. :nod:
You don't have to wait to be happy.
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:57 am

Thank you!

I don't have either of those things. I had an electric pressure-cooker for a while, but I didn't really like the hands-off nature of cooking in one, or the not knowing how long it would take things to cook (especially beans), so I let my mom give it to one of her friends. I have a teeny-tiny apartment and am trained as a chef, so I mostly stick with the basics: a sharp knife, a cutting board, and a few quality pots. My stand mixer used to get a lot of work from me, but without bread, cake, or cookies, I haven't used it in weeks. Ditto the waffle iron, although I have been pulling it out for hash browns. :D I used to have a slow-cooker, but the new ones run too hot, for food safety reasons, so I can't be bothered -- if I want to slow-cook something, I put it in my heavy Dutch oven and bake it at 200 degrees for however long.
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Vintagesan » Sun Jul 15, 2018 3:35 pm

I like how you gave your food numbers. Please keep us updated how this works for you in the longterm. :nod:

Cold stews are usually eaten by me at work....when I am too busy to wait for the microwave. :mrgreen:
But I honestly never tried a cold soup - maybe I should give it a try? :eek:
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:53 pm

I've been feeling really good on the MWL so far, but I have to be careful to eat enough, and often enough, to keep my blood sugar from crashing, at least until my body heals itself from hypoglycemia with the help of this eating plan. Today, I forgot to take my snack on a long errand trip, and by the time I got home, I was shaky and had a blood glucose in the low 70s. It shaped right up after I ate some red peppers and fat-free hummus.

I'm also going off all my vitamins except for B-12, but I'm a little nervous about stopping the AREDS2 vitamins*, because they're supposed to help stave off the macular degeneration I suffer from. I will go do some research on this, but for now, I'm stopping everything but the B-12, my thyroid pill, and my heart pill (beta blocker). With any luck (or, rather, with 100% compliance to this way of eating), I won't need the beta blocker much longer.


*The AREDS2 pills are vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, copper, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which is found by the AREDS study to slow the condition I have in my retinas.
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
Idgie
 
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby keithswife » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:13 pm

Did your doctor ever say what they think caused your macular degeneration? I am curious, as I have 2 copies of the gene that supposedly causes it, making it 60% more likely that I will develop it at some point. So far at age 47 I am symptom free, but am always waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:26 pm

I was 40 when they discovered the macular degeneration -- they're calling it Familial Drusen, which they explained is genetic, but they don't know exactly why I have it so badly so young. I have the macula of an 80-year-old, with big crystals back there. Have been a vegetarian most of my life, never smoked, never drank, never did drugs -- sometimes the genes have it in for us. But I'll do what I can to fight it, and just to be safe, I'm learning Braille, because I hate being read to, so audiobooks don't appeal to me, but I'm a bookaholic.
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
Idgie
 
Posts: 1153
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:20 am

Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby keithswife » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:53 am

Idgie wrote:I was 40 when they discovered the macular degeneration -- they're calling it Familial Drusen, which they explained is genetic, but they don't know exactly why I have it so badly so young. I have the macula of an 80-year-old, with big crystals back there. Have been a vegetarian most of my life, never smoked, never drank, never did drugs -- sometimes the genes have it in for us. But I'll do what I can to fight it, and just to be safe, I'm learning Braille, because I hate being read to, so audiobooks don't appeal to me, but I'm a bookaholic.


Thanks for sharing. I've always been a huge bookworm too, and the thought of going completely blind scares me. But, we need to do the best we can with the cards we're dealt. I'm hoping this diet will help.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:42 am

Idgie wrote:I've been feeling really good on the MWL so far, but I have to be careful to eat enough, and often enough, to keep my blood sugar from crashing, at least until my body heals itself from hypoglycemia with the help of this eating plan. Today, I forgot to take my snack on a long errand trip, and by the time I got home, I was shaky and had a blood glucose in the low 70s. It shaped right up after I ate some red peppers and fat-free hummus.

I'm also going off all my vitamins except for B-12, but I'm a little nervous about stopping the AREDS2 vitamins*, because they're supposed to help stave off the macular degeneration I suffer from. I will go do some research on this, but for now, I'm stopping everything but the B-12, my thyroid pill, and my heart pill (beta blocker). With any luck (or, rather, with 100% compliance to this way of eating), I won't need the beta blocker much longer.


*The AREDS2 pills are vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, copper, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which is found by the AREDS study to slow the condition I have in my retinas.


When my ex mother-in-law was diagnosed with macular degeneration, we did some research and found that lutein is important, and dark berries such as blueberries and blackberries are PACKED with lutein. Don't know if that helps, but I'd be very hesitant to ditch that vitamin blend until you know more about it. I don't know that Dr McDougall would recommend quitting them especially if they've been found to be helpful in clinical studies. It doesn't seem like the same kind of supplement as daily D and E that are recommended everywhere and not really necessary in a healthy diet. But your eyes! ack! I mean even BP meds aren't reduced or eliminated until you no longer need them, right?
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:58 am

Really good points, Buns! Thank you!
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
Idgie
 
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:20 am

Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby AlwaysAgnes » Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:05 pm

Idgie wrote:I was 40 when they discovered the macular degeneration -- they're calling it Familial Drusen, which they explained is genetic, but they don't know exactly why I have it so badly so young. I have the macula of an 80-year-old, with big crystals back there. Have been a vegetarian most of my life, never smoked, never drank, never did drugs -- sometimes the genes have it in for us. But I'll do what I can to fight it, and just to be safe, I'm learning Braille, because I hate being read to, so audiobooks don't appeal to me, but I'm a bookaholic.


I don't like being read to either. If you haven't seen it, Dr. McDougall has a newsletter article on macular degeneration. https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl ... ularPF.htm
You don't have to wait to be happy.
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Re: Idgie's MWL journal

Postby Idgie » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:07 pm

I don't like being read to either. If you haven't seen it, Dr. McDougall has a newsletter article on macular degeneration. https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl ... ularPF.htm


Oh, thank you so much!
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
My new MWL-only recipe site is at http://mwlrecipes.weebly.com
Idgie
 
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:20 am

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