Birdy Takes Flight

[Anna Green]

Birdy, Hi. So glad you are continuing with the vegan.

275 seems like a lot for 1/2 avocado. I thought the average avocado was about 300 for the whole thing. The Haas (sp?) may be a bit more than other varieties.

But I get what you are saying and it's so true. One of the reasons I've come to not want oil is because I'd rather have food for those calories.

I've grown to love brown rice. Did not start off that way. Last night I cooked green beans and zucchini, topped with pasta sauce and put over brown rice and was so so happy.

[Birdy]

5 Months, 1 day of being vegan

Yep, yesterday marked 5 months and also my birthday. Pretty low key. My sweet DH got me a vegan chocolate cake from the local bakery. I'm not a big cake fan, but it was really good and not too sweet.

Hey Anna! Yep, I've recently realized that I can have small portions of nuts, avocado, etc. or use those foods as condiments or ingredients in recipes and get just very small healthy amounts of fats in their whole food packages. It's a much better way than eating oil. It's funny how information can be right under your nose until, at some point, you really get it.

I like the simplicity of your brown rice, vegies and pasta sauce. I love plant foods and am feeling more energetic and happier eating this way. Still lots of room for improvement though!

Well, I started prescription medication for my blood pressure yesterday because the dietary changes haven't yet brought it down to safe levels. I was reminded of Jim's post a couple of months ago about how he had to stay on his meds for a long time even after changing to the McDougall diet. So, better safe than sorry. Hopefully in another few months I won't need the med.

Not much else to report. I placed a hold on a new book that's still on order at the library called The Compassionate Diet. Saw a review of it in, of all places, Prevention magazine! Anyone read this yet?

Have a great week!

[janluvs2heel]

Hi Birdy-
You know, if you are following the guidelines for MWL, of course you would be having none of those foods, especially the high fat ones. But I do eat spaghetti a few times a month. It isn't as calorie dense as it seems since it absorbs a lot of water when cooked. I dont know if it is one cup, but they say one serving of spaghetti is measured by holding your thumb & index finger in a circle, putting the spaghetti thru. Not sure what that measures out to, I may make spaghetti in a few days so I will check it out. Now, if I was to make a whole batch, I would eat a whole lot more so I control the portion or I freeze what I have made. I always buy the whole grain & I chop finely or grate zucchini, mushrooms, or other veggies into it. This seems to work for me, I am losing & it doesn't seem to slow the scale down when I eat it.
Looks like you are on the right track, finding those hidden fats in your diet. Have you watched Mike Teehan's video presentation? It is really good & gave me a lot of much needed motivation. He posted it in the Lounge maybe 2 wks ago?
Made me sort of take a good look at what I was eating & weed thru a few things that I hadn't thought made that much of a difference. Basically, if you want to lose weight, dont eat fat, animal or vegetable!! That sort of hit home for me, so now I have lost almost 12 lbs & fairly quickly where as before I was losing but much slower, I also would have cravings, just out of the blue, so I guess it did make a difference. I missed a few of the foods I took out but not anymore & I feel great, no cravings, no hunger.
I like that I dont have to count calories, I just eat until I am comfortable. That is really the beauty of McDougalling.


Jan

[Birdy]

Thanks for your thoughtful post Jan. I know you're right about the fat. Every time I cut back on fat, I lose weight. It's becoming a more and more important issue because, one, I'm not losing weight being vegan, two, losing weight is probably the only thing that's going to bring down the blood pressure, and, three, I've been reading that a low fat diet is recommended for skin cancer patients (I've already posted about this, I think). So it's a win, win situation all around.

I did watch Mike's video and you're right, it's great. Inspiring and charming too.

Gotta go to sleep. I want to start posting at the end of each day what I've actually eaten and the exercise I've done (which is a suggestion someone made in her journal, but I've forgotten who suggested it).

The exercise for today was a total of about 40 minutes walking.
The food:
Breakfast: Two biscuits with butter (yes, it was real butter and I know I shouldn't of had it for so many reasons), two cups coffee with sugar and soy creamer; fresh fruit.
Lunch: brown rice, salad, about 2 tablespoons tahini dressing
Snack: large slice fresh multigrain bread; several fresh strawberries; several brazil nuts
Dinner: salad with asian dressing (a small amount of fat in it) and soy mac n cheese ( yes I know ...fat, fat, fat, but DD's fave dinner).
All for today. Tomorrow will be better.
Hey did you know that the blood pressure medication most commonly prescribed in the USA & the one I'm taking, hydrochlorothyizide, has as a common side effect making your hair fall out? Oh joy.

[Anna Green]

Birdy, Hi.

I've made a lot of progress (almost at a 100 lbs lost since highest weight) in spite of my indiscretions however I'm at a point now where I know I won't be able to get away with that at this lower weight. Not really that I have gotten away with it but I know my weight won't budge. So I'm thinking the smart thing to do is get fully on board in a way I have yet to do. Plus of course I'd like to live old and healthy. So I'm making a potato squash soup to eat the next couple of days and will do something similar for the weekend. I'm taking it one day at a time as the 12 steppers do. If I don't have food prepared and with me at all times I am way more likely to mess up. Even with food prepared and having just eaten I am capable to going through a drive thru so I really have to stack the deck in my favor. Just a hint for you. Fill up the fridge with fatfree stuff you like and carry it around with you. And enjoy. Soups and stews are my favorite because they are so comforting. Oh and my new fave is green beans in pasta sauce over brown rice. Yum.

You have a good one.

[Birdy]

Hi Anna. First of all, it blows me away that you've lost 100 pounds. CONGRATULATIONS and then some! Really, that is impressive. Here I struggle to lose 30 pounds (well actually about 40 from my highest weight) and I've been spinning round and round not making much progress. You are so right about surrounding yourself with fat free products, foods, and taking meals to go. I absolutely fall down on that account. And yep, I end up eating whatever sounds good. I don't have the drive through thing to contend with because my mess up foods are more like bakery stuff and especially fresh bread which I can pig out on any time. But it's still the fat that's the one I have the most trouble passing on (avocado, olives, nuts, pnb, etc. and yes sauteing in oil). I do love soups and stews too. How do you handle your son's meals? My husband and youngest daughter who still lives at home are always bringing home candy bars, chocolate, pies, etc. And they eat meat, butter, cheese, etc. I can't clean my kitchen out of the fattening foods and still allow them to eat the things they like. I'm the only one with health problems. There have been lots of people who've posted on here who have a "mixed" household of McDougall and SAD, and it is harder for those of us in this situation. But not impossible. I have afterall lost 10 pounds. I can lose another 10 then more. I'm still the one who puts the food on the table and in my mouth!

Megaphone please.....

Now that I've given myself that rousing pep talk, the food I ate today was:
Breakfast: coffee with creamer and sugar (I think I have to lose the coffee, but am not ready just yet); whole wheat croissant; water
Snack: iced tea with lemon and sugar
Lunch: bean, brown rice and vegie burrito
Snack: 3 brazil nuts; water
Dinner: vegetable stir fry with shrimp (I'm slipping on the vegan aspect) and rice. I was going to make the stir fry with tofu but my daughter is allergic to it, so I caved. Dessert: 1 cup vanilla soy yogurt.

Exercise: gardening (I planted tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, eggplant, and squash) and a 25 minute evening walk

[Birdy]

Hi all. I'm just kind of bored of keeping a journal online, but I do enjoy reading posts on the board. Am still following a vegan diet (for about 5 1/2 months now about 98+% of the time, with only occasional lapses). Started taking a very small dose of blood pressure medication that dropped my bp back to the 125/80 range. I really think that as I stick to a vegan diet for longer and longer, and eat less and less fat, the medication may become unnecessary. Also, I'm exercising more and that's good for everything! I'll check in now and then on my progress.

[Birdy]

This past Tuesday marked seven months for me of eating about 98% vegan. I've never been able to stick to a diet of any kind before, so for me to have done this for 7 months says a lot about both the plant based diet and it's positive effects on me. I still haven't lost weight (only 7 pounds), but my cholesterol and blood pressure are way down. I do take half a dose of the lowest starting dose of bp medication and it's actually made me feel better each day. As Doug Lisle says, dietary change is not about perfection and for me that's true. It's about progress and consistency.

I have more energy eating this way. Last weekend my family participated in the Relay for Life to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, which was a wonderful experience. I was still out walking at 10:30 p.m. with no fatigue. I also find that I'm sleeping better and have less congestion, though still some.

For inspiration I ordered a DVD by Doug Lisle, Losing Weight without Losing Your Mind, and a book by Alona Pulde, M.D. and Matthew Lederman, M.D., Keep it Simple, Keep it Whole. Will post again after viewing/reading these.

Wishing you all a Happy Summer!

[Birdy]

The DVD by Doug Lisle, Losing Weight without Losing Your Mind, is excellent. I've watched it twice and will watch again because he packs a lot of information into his talks. Also a lot of humor - he's a good speaker. I never understood his concept of the pleasure trap, but after listening to the DVD, it makes sense. The book by Alona Pulde, M.D. and Matthew Lederman, M.D., Keep it Simple, Keep it Whole is more for beginners to vegan diets. I already know everything in their book and then some. They were students of Dr. McDougall's who are now practicing his plant-based medicine at their clinic. I plan to pass the book along at our library since it's not in their system. That way a lot of people may read it. You become a bit of an activist for this way of eating after a while don't you?

I made a delicious lentil soup on Wednesday for dinner:
1 1/2 cups brown lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
2 onions (1 red, 1 sweet white)
5-6 cloves garlic
1 bunch collard greens
2 carrots
1 red pepper
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 T. dried basil
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. dried red chile flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Wash lentils, rice, collard greens, carrots and red pepper. Chop onion, garlic, greens, carrots and red pepper. Saute onions in water for about 10 minutes in a large soup pot. Add lentils, rice, collard greens, carrots, and herbs & red chiles to pot and cover with water to about 1".
Cook, loosely covered on low heat, for 30 minutes stirring about every 10 minutes and adding more water, if needed. Add red pepper, recover and cook another 10 minutes. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper, recover loosely and cook another 10 minutes. Good served with fresh whole grain bread.

This was very good. We had it for dinner Wednesday, and then I ate it for lunch yesterday and breakfast today. It makes a lot!

A few weeks ago, I finally got my DH to go to Cafe Flora in Seattle, a well known vegetarian restaurant. He was pleasantly surprised by how delicious his meal was. Although he is a meat eating, sushi loving kind of guy, he's now saying to me, "Don't make meat dishes for me at home. I'll just eat what you're eating." YES! I've been concerned about his health as much as my own because he's way overweight. However, this summer he's lost at least 10 pounds and looks/feels better. One thing that Doug Lisle's DVD showed is the calorie density of various foods, with bread and cheese at the same density. I was kind of shocked to see that. It's obvious that eating bread and pasta contributes to me not losing weight, but life without these foods is hard to accept. So it seems reasonable to have one serving of either bread or pasta each day, rather than trying to eliminate these foods completely. I'm not sure I can limit these foods, especially bread which is kind of a comfort food. Any suggestions?

I haven't weighed recently because I need to get another battery for the scales. I have a follow-up appointment in October with the doctor to check labs and blood pressure. Hoping for a good report then.

[Anna Green]

Hey, thanks for the recipe. Also regarding pasta and bread. If you are going to eat it get the whole grain and high fiber stuff w/ no oil. I would make pasta with a lot of veggies- at least as much as you have pasta so you eat less pasta. My boy makes pasta and throws frozen broccoli and spinach in the pot when cooking. Mmm good w/marinara. He doesn't do it because of calorie density-doesn't need to worry about that but just to get some veggies. Anyway, good to see you doing your thing and getting better.

[Birdy]

Hi Anna and Debbie, thanks for posting. Debbie, even though bread and pasta are not so high calorie say for a single serving, it's the volume of these flour based foods that I eat at a sitting and throughout the day. I would go even so far as to say that I'm addicted to wheat specifically. Anna you're right about whole wheat being better. When I choose that over the white flour versions of pasta I do eat less (and enjoy it less). But with bread, no. I overeat any kind. There's a thread on the Lounge about food addiction that has a good link to an article on the subject if you're interested. Being aware of what the problem is is not the same as solving the problem or even knowing how to.

However, I am having success eating primarily plant based and am feeling better in general. I read a book from the library by one of the world's experts on strokes, J. David Spencer called How to Prevent Your Stroke. Why, you may wonder, would I read that? Because of the strong family history of stroke in my family with my grandfather & grandmother, great uncles, my dad and my brother all having had strokes, pulmonary embolisms and/or heart attacks, and now having stage II hypertension myself. The bp medication has brought my bp down to the "prehypertension" range, which is of course still too high. So Dr. Spencer does recommend exercise and a low-fat, near vegetarian diet, advises never eating egg yolks, and strongly recommends avoiding refined carbohydrates/sugar. This last recommendation is one I've come across in lots of books and articles about preventing cardiovascular disease. It's not just the animal foods, but the refined carbs/sugar that contribute to clogged arteries. One really fascinating thing he says is that it takes FOUR YEARS of dietary change to effectively lower risk of stroke and, if you're like me and take medication, it takes as long for it to lower your risk. Yikes.

So it's Labor Day weekend. My 16 year old DD is out sailing a little 14 footer with a girlfriend on Puget Sound in a lively wind. Hubbie is putting around somewhere grouchy as all getout. I'm going for a walk in another 1/2 hour in the cooler temps of the afternoon. Have had an uneventful day doing recycling, grocery shopping, laundry, reading, and chauffeuring said teenagers around. My life is so exciting. At least I'm not dealing with hurricanes, earthquakes or famine. Counting my blessings.....

[Birdy]

Important information regarding vegans' B-12 status from Dr. Michael Greger who has been a lecturer at Dr. McDougall's seminars in Santa Rosa: http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vegan-epidemic/

[janluvs2heel]

Important information regarding vegans' B-12 status from Dr. Michael Greger who has been a lecturer at Dr. McDougall's seminars in Santa Rosa: http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vegan-epidemic/

I think most people who have been doing McDougall already know this & supplement as needed.

So what is your point?

[Birdy]

Jan, I'm confident you can figure out the point of the post if you watch the short video. If not, don't worry about it.

I'm reading Dr. Esselstyn's book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. I really like his clear writing and am learning things I didn't know from previously watching some of his lectures. Am also waiting for the DVD Forks and Knives to arrive in the mail and look forward to watching that.

I'm starting to lose weight and am exercising more despite a pesky sore knee. In a couple of weeks I'm going to take some swim lessons to improve my form and develop a workout plan. Am toying with the idea of water aerobics classes, but have never been big on group exercise.

My garden is looking great. I've really enjoyed all the flowers and getting outdoors more. Am planting Swiss chard, kale, beets and leeks for fall. I'm not sure the beets will grow, but will see.

Am singing with a local chorale which just started rehearsals this week and the music for the December concert is challenging and very beautiful.

We're finally getting hot weather for the first time all season. It won't last long but feels good for now. Hope you're all having a good end of summer!

[Anna Green]

Hey lady, whereyat? How is that garden? Pesky knee better?

Would love to hear how you are doing?