Birdy Takes Flight

[harmony_55805]

Birdy,
Your posts and the responses to them have been very helpful to me. Thank you for putting your thoughts in writing.

[Birdy]

Harmony, I'm so glad that you've found my journal helpful. What a challenge this eating right and weight loss is! My goals for today are to eat McDougall foods, go for a 2 mile walk, and water the garden. Simple. I'm going to focus on keeping things "do-able." That "word" is a good focal point for me: keep it do-able/ able to do it. Wishing everyone a fun weekend.

[sksamboots]

great goals

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

http://getoffgluten.blogspot.com/

Birdy, first I wanted to paste that URL there before I forget to do it. I often send people an email that says "look at this!" and forget to paste in the link.

Next, I just read some more of your journal and I have two book ideas for you. One is the one by Marla Cilley, the Flylady, the title is Body Clutter (or Bodyclutter?) Anyway, get it and do the whole journal thing that she tells you to do. It was very helpful to me with the whole "why am I eating" thing.

found it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Body-Clutter/dp/B ... 016&sr=1-2

Second, this book helped me too: http://www.amazon.com/Thin-Life-Success ... 965&sr=8-1

[Birdy]

Mrs. Doodlepunk, thank you for all three links. I appreciate so much the way we all help each other on this board.

Yesterday I did go for a walk, did water part of the garden (gotta get out and water the other part after posting this journal entry), and ate mostly McDougall except that, starting about 2:00 in the afternoon until I went to bed at 11:00, I had a terrible stomach ache with my whole abdomen extended and hard. Weird. I have no idea what caused that but am glad I don't have it today.

So oatmeal with a few raisins thrown in for breakfast.
A simple noodle soup made with fresh kale for lunch.
Fruit for snacks.
And for dinner? Need to figure that one out since I have family arriving at the airport tonight right at dinner time and staying with us for a week. This is a perfect example of how I need to plan ahead better. Just listing what I'm eating for the day has brought this to my attention! And it occurs to me that I need to plan the whole menu for the week ahead or I certainly won't be McDougalling!

Exercise today: gardening and going for a walk with my dog.

[Birdy]

Hello all. I can hardly believe how much company we've had in the last 10 days. We had an old friend from Australia who visited last Wednesday, a couple from Canada who came over the weekend for two days, my son and grandson here now for a week long visit, my oldest daughter and her partner coming over tonight, and my children's godfather who was here yesterday for dinner. Goodness. Lots of food going down the hatch. Tonight we're having a family BBQ and along with the meat for the rest of the gang, I plan to get portabello mushrooms and plenty of vegies for the guys to grill. Plus corn on the cob. Should be good with maybe a big bowl of Mary McDougall's potato salad. I was thinking about how locked into SAD foods we North Americans are, but when I serve one of many McDougall style dishes, people eat them up. I haven't had much time on the computer and probably won't until next week so have a good day/week everyone!

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

My son tried this recipe and it is really good, I want to try it with wine or water instead of the oil. (Ignore the references to cheese and oil!) http://www.bbqu.net/recipes/403_2.html

[Birdy]

Well, I still have company but after tomorrow things will be back to normal. We went to the zoo today and I just love the gorilla exhibit. They are so wonderful those creatures. One sat at the window of their area watching humans as the humans watched him. Who was watching whom? Also, we saw a baby gorilla which was rolling a ball and then swinging on a vine at one point. So cute. I know that zoos are controversial in terms of animal welfare and ethics. But I and my grandson and family sure enjoyed our day there. My diet has been out the window, I have to confess. I am feeling very queasy eating weird stuff like fish and chips. Yuck, I don't even like fried foods. I feel FAT!!! When you have company, it must be easier to stick to McDougalling (or even to simply a vegan diet) if you're already established in the diet and "strong" with it. Well, we're going out again so I'll sign off until next time. Happy Friday!

[seestorcoo]

It is hard w/company - when you feed them at home, its okay but when you are all out carousing, it gets more complex. I could suggest you take a little cooler w/legal food....or maybe hit Subway?

[Birdy]

I've recovered from all the company, parties and outings of the past few weeks. Slept from about 8 p.m. last night until 5:30 a.m. today and woke up feeling rested for the first time in longer than I can remember. It's going to be hot here today with temperatures in the 90s. Are any of you doing the DASH diet (for hypertension) that reduces salt? I decided to incorporate this into my diet because I have high BP (currently 154/92) and it runs in my family. My father was salt sensitive and reducing sodium helped bring his BP down. When I started looking at sodium in my diet, I found that I was getting quite a lot from table salt, soy sauce, packaged and canned foods, and even some breads and noodles. Also, eating out or grabbing a deli lunch means eating a high sodium meal. So this DASH diet is supposed to work in 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to taking my bp after two weeks to see what the difference might be. The diet also includes whole grains, legumes, lots of vegetables and fruits, and recommends excluding sugar, sweets, and high fat animal foods. However, it does recommend non-fat or low-fat milk and yogurt, plus allows some eggs, poultry and fish for people who aren't vegetarian. It seems like you could easily incorporate the low sodium recommendations with the McDougall plan. I weighed 2 pounds less this morning than I did Sunday morning when I cut down on sodium. This may just be a momentary loss or it may be a sign of things to come! I'm trying to decide whether to take yoga classes or to sign up at the local pool to swim. I can't afford to do both. Anyone have any thoughts? Wishing you a great summer day.

[Birdy]

Oh, woops, I should have re-read Dr. McDougall's articles on high blood pressure and salt before posting my last entry. See his article at:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/aug/salt.htm

It's amazing how much contradictory information is out there! And, apparently, I'm easily swayed and confused by so many different opinions. Good thing we have these boards to hash things out. Even better is that we have Dr. McDougall to count on as a resource for reliable information. So the lesson for today is to forget the DASH diet and stick with McDougalling to lower my blood pressure. Duh.

P.S. I'm making Mary McD's Festive Dahl Soup for dinner tonight.

[seestorcoo]

If you just stick to the whole unprocessed foods and limit the processed goods to no sodium, you should be fine. I bet if you stuck to that for a week, your BP would be back to normal. It happens really fast.

Glad you are recovered from company. Fun while it happens, fun when its over, eh?

[sksamboots]

Great job on the 2 pounds

[Anna Green]

Hey, as far as the exercise, I think you should do what you most enjoy. That may mean as it does for me that you mix it up. I go through spurts where I will do one thing for a while and then times where I do something different almost every time. I just try to do some strength building in addition to aerobic. You know if you are pretty good at following instructions on cds you might just get a yoga cd- beginner if you need that and then join the pool.

[Birdy]

Well, as with diet, so with exercise. I am decision-challenged. Indecisive. Undecided. Wishy washy. Inconsistent. Blah, blah, blah. It's kind of hard for me to understand because for about 25 years, I was the soul of consistency in both my diet and exercise, AND I was as skinny as a pole. What's different? How have I changed? Well, for one major thing, I'm married and a mother of three now, even though only one child is still at home. So this limbo I'm in can't be a character flaw that I all of a sudden acquired at age 40 something when my diet went south and I gradually slowed down exercising to the point now of doing almost none at all. Peri-menopause and menopause? Yes, that too. But I'm OVER that so why can't I get my priorities back, my sense of myself back? I know many women my age who eat right and exercise and they look great and seem energetic and happy. Why not me? Where did I go?