Get A Life! :)

A place to get your questions answered from McDougall staff dietitian, Jeff Novick, MS, RDN.

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Get A Life! :)

Postby JeffN » Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:46 am

I was fortunate to have a few mentors on the path who have helped me to stay on the path, to stay focused and to be successful both professionally and personally.

In my writings, newsletters, presentations and even in these forums over the years, I have always referred to some of the advice I learned from my mentors that helped me.

In regard to healthful living and the principles we teach, there is one piece of advice I got that really helped me that I have shared here a few times. Here are 3 examples of where I shared this advice here in this forum with links to their original discussions so you can see the advice in the total context of the post and thread...

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8179&p=59310#p59310

Keep your overall program and menu simple. Look for variety within each of the food groups by using different varieties of vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains over the course of a day or a week.

As a mentor of mine once said, "this program (healthful living) is not supposed to become your life, it is supposed to give you your life back".



viewtopic.php?f=22&t=44343&p=457064#p457064

a long time ago a mentor of mine said to me, "we follow this way of life, not for it to become our life but for it to give us back our life." So, in other words, the purpose of following this way of life is not to spend all day discussing whether strawberries are better than blueberries, inventing new recipes, discussing every breaking headline about health, arguing with anyone who may disagree with us, spending all day in the kitchen or at the gym but to now have the time and energy to go and do the things we love to do and/or always wanted to do.


viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56936&p=573288#p573288

"If we just replace the SAD foods with vegan versions of the same items (vegan fried buffalo wings served with vegan blue cheese dressing & vegan beer), we have not done anything for our health.

Likewise, some of the unhealthy aspects of the SAD were more then the animal products, the fat/oil, the added sugar, salt, the highly refined & processed CRAP, it was the role food played in our society, our culture and our lives, the glorification and worship of it & it’s role as entertainment, reward and hyper-pleasure.

I don’t think doing the same with our way of eating will be beneficial or healthy. As a mentor once said early on, we don’t do this for this to become our life, we do this to get our lives back so we can go out & live the life we’ve always dreamed of & deserve."



Having said that, I just read this in the Lounge, which put a huge smile on my face and made my day.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57636&p=579487&#p579487

"After following WFPB lifestyle for several years, I went through the change and weight briefly became an issue for me. I made some changes and eat more like McDougall Maximum Weight Loss: no oil, bread, pasta, nut butter, olives, tofu, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or avocados, more veggies and salad, only 2 fresh fruits per day, limit beans, focus starches should be potatoes, sweet potatoes, or whole grains. I do best with sweet potatoes and lots of veggies but almost always eat some beans every day. I also had to eliminate things like tortillas, oat waffles, and those yummy cookies made with applesauce or banana and oatmeal as they are too calorie dense. For me eliminating salt and sugar helped but not everyone needs to do that.

It seems complicated but it isn't. Just start your meal with salad and/or veggies. End with the lowest calorie dense starches aka potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Mostly what helped was to stop thinking about food so much. Start doing interesting things instead of engaging in recreational eating or reading about food or looking at FB/YT postings of food and recipes. Go on a hike. Walk the dog. Learn to draw or paint or play the guitar or another language. Call your best veggie friend. Write a letter. Read a book. Volunteer to listen to 1st graders read at the elementary school. Become a docent at the local zoo or museum. Quit making food the focus of your life. In other words, eat to live and don't live to eat.

Good luck."



So, Cut The CRAP and Get A Life! :)

And if you are reading this Jay T., thank you!

In Health
Jeff


Last bumped by JeffN on Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:46 am.
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