bunsofaluminum's journal

[bunsofaluminum]

did good today. Skipped brekkie, ate a light lunch, and had some "yellow squash pasta" (that is, yellow squash, cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler,) dry saute'd w/onion and garlic, and then fat free marinara sauce over it all...yum! and a big salad...that's two salads today. I'm LOVIN my salads!

I'll probably have some more. Hungry.

[bunsofaluminum]

I'm still here, still plugging along, busier than usual the past few days. And PMS-ish like crazy.

Just checking in.

I've been craving (and eating) nuts, esp pistachios. But I found out that whole wheat tortillas make REALLY GOOD crispy fat free chips when baked. Too bad about eating ALL OF EM...but at least they were fat-free. Salty crispy. Dunno what it is.

[Birdy]

Hi Buns,
Not much to say, just checking in with you. Looks like you're doing great! I used to get terrible cravings and eat everything in sight because of PMS. Wish I had some words of wisdom to share with you, but aside from eating McDougall and exercising, both of which you're already doing, I don't know what helps. Do you take a daily multivitamin? I started doing this about 3 months ago on the advice of my doctor as part of a general approach to bringing down blood pressure. After several weeks, it seemed like the vitamin helps me have steadier energy, maybe because of the B-complex in there. Anyway, hope you feel better and have a great week!

[bunsofaluminum]

well, the scale shows 180 now, where I'd been down to 172 before Easter. I let myself have a "feast" for Easter, and just like after Thanksgiving, it triggered me for weeks of "nibbling."

I've said it before: the addiction doesn't seem to be to any specific food, for I chomp on boring pretzels as well as delicious decadent pistachios, dry bland baked homemade fat free tortilla chips as well as toffee almonds. It has much more to do with putting my hand to my mouth, than any other thing.

So, because I just made a big batch of Cheezy Steel Cut oats with Spinach, to eat over the next few days, I won't start until Tuesday, but I'm gonna go on a potato mini.

Maybe a "nothing but potatoes" fast, for ten days. I gotta get out of this daily munching thing.

and then I have GOT to figure out a way to just simply follow the McDougall way of eating, without these stupid "Feast or Famine" cycles. I give myself permission to eat some feastish thing, and it just sets me up. It happened after Thanksgiving, after a triumphant rapid weight loss month in October, and maintenance in November. And it's happening now, with Easter being the latest "feast" that triggered me. I was doing GREAT, my mind set was completely wrapped up in just doing this, and I had something...huh...robin's eggs candy...on Easter.

I re-set my tastes with a long fast, and then followed MWL really well for weeks...until Easter. But now I'm going to do a week of potatoes only.

It strikes me as unbalanced. I am at either extreme, (either "permitting" myself munchies, or completely denying myself) and never in the middle. Never at a balanced place of eating simple every day without "treats" or "feast foods" or nibbles or "just a tastes"

huh. What am I gonna do.

[f1jim]

Well Buns, don't feel alone. You are in good company here on the pages of the Journal forum. Most people here go through this same feast/famine cycle till they just quit out of sheer frustration. They never know the pleasure of a sustained healthy diet and with it the sustained healthy weight. After four years of watching here it's like watching the same movie over and over. Sad really, as there is so much that can be gained. The people I have met that were overweight there entire life till that energizing moment. For them it was like getting out of prison after much of their life behind bars.

There is an answer. It was in your own words. "I gave myself permission..." The ones that break free of this cycle never do this. They see the value of that sustained effort and habit forming behaviour of never giving themselves permission. It would be like giving yourself permission to go back into the prison cell for a short time. You never get the sensation of fully being free. The "feast" food always maintains it's grip and you never feel far from it. That's why sheer willpower can't ever overcome this.
Buns, you can beat this anytime you get good and ready. This is not easy but it's simple. Do it and don't look back. Everyday you wait is a day you will look back on with regret.
f1jim

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi Jim

I knew i could count on you posting

We've talked a lot about this feast thing, and as you know I've always kept that in the back of my head "I can have a feast day a couple times per year" even though you're right: Dr M doesn't EVER tell us it's okay to do so. He mentions it only in the context of "healthy, successful populations in the history of the world"

so, what's the difference? If healthy populations eat starch based vegetarian diets, with the occasional feast day, why can't I?

and I know the answer...because when such people get done with a feast day, they go home to the same stuff they're used to eating. They don't have aisles and aisles of unhealthy food choices staring at them every day. If they WANTED to continue eating feastish, they can't. Their day to day lives go back to simple choices, once the feast is over (or they used to...how many of the world's peoples actually live the way their ancestors always have? Not too many, I don't think)

anyway. I can't "permit" myself feast days, because I am surrounded by too many SAD options...when my "feast day" is over, on my way back to my simple way of eating, I trip over a display of M&M's, a commercial for Reese's comes at me, an open bag of tortilla chips waves at me from the table at work, ...etc.

If I could have one day, twice per year, of feastish eating, without straying into this stupid munchy mentality, it would be different. But I've proven to myself too many times now, that I don't get to have "feasts" because the feast goes on and on and on and on afterwards.

I've been at it for a year and a half or so, and have lost 65 lbs and several health problems...I really don't think of it as a diet. It is a lifestyle. I'll never go back to an omnivorous way of eating, but that little bit of "permission" to feast MUST GO.

So, now I seem to know what to do. Will I do it?

[ncyg46]

Buns.....just do it! You can do it!

[bunsofaluminum]

Today has been okay. I ate a soft pretzel

Cup of black tea, plain
B: hash browns w/spring green salad and 321 dressing
L: cheezy steel cut oats and coleslaw
Snack: soft pretzel; hot chai latte w/soy (not sweet AT ALL. it was REALLY good)
D:...prolly hash browns and steamed broccoli, prolly RIGHT NOW cuz i hungered

[janluvs2heel]

Hey Buns,

Dont feel alone, I can't do any of that stuff either. I have found if I go off plan & then tell myself just for one day it becomes several & it is a major pain to get back on track. After watching Mike's lecture I cleaned out a few things in my diet, it has been almost 3 wks now & I woke up this am & I feel the best I have felt in a long time. Even though I was losing weight before, I was fighting cravings on & off & didn't understand why until now. My cravings are gone, totally shut down. I was telling myself the little things I had let creep in didn't matter that much but yeah, they did!! I actually went shopping at Winco today & have been to Wal Mart as well this weekend, which are really hard stores for me, but all I bought were things that were on plan. Nothing tempted me. Something I have discovered about myself, I dont always finish things. So now, I want to finish this, lose all the rest of my weight.
Hang in there, you have proven you can do it.

Jan

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi Deb

thanks for your insights. I've already come to the same conclusion: when I plan to feast, I WILL descend into extremely unhealthy options. When I give myself "permission" to nibble, it gets out of control. For me, it is much more the action of putting hand to mouth, than the food (though sugar IS addictive and I should stay away from it altogether)...anyway, a lot of what you say here, I already said in my recent posts. I can't have one "feast day" because it inevitably goes on and on and on, for days and weeks afterwards, in the form of "nibbles" and "just a taste's"

I'm just going to do it. I may have to toss anything that has potential to be "nibbled" ...or maybe not, as that would mean getting rid of the kids' cereal (which I have been known to "nibble") I'm just going to DO IT. I can walk past the stupid golden wheat puffs.

as for the dried tomatoes, they are not oil packed. They are dry, in the bulk section at Winco. No oil added. Though you're right as to the calorie density due to their being dried, but they are more a flavoring in the dish, not a main component. And as for eating oats and not losing weight...that may still be a possibility, as oats are 17% fat, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I often eat seconds, and I allow myself "nibbles" every single day.

I'll continue eating this cheezy oat recipe, because it tastes good and fills me up all morning long. Sometimes I have hashbrowns, but they don't stick to my ribs nearly as long as the oats.

and I like the bullet list thing, adding "no munchies" to it! maybe I'll start that up again. I went off the boards completely when Bill died. In fact, when I consider what I went through in the last month of Lent, I think I did real well, considering my personal history of eating to comfort myself.

I didn't post it here, but my client who went missing back in October, was murdered on March 25, in a suicide-murder by his own father. The man shot his wife, his son, and then himself...with a hunting rifle. THAT was a hard knock. I worked intimately with that family for two and a half years. Then two weeks later, Bill died suddenly. It was a lot to take emotionally, and I DIDN'T freak out, food-wise. Not like I have in the past, anyway.

so, anyways. thanks again. I may start a bulleted list again.

[Chile]

I have not read your entire journal, just a little bit recently about the feasting/slippery slope discussion. That's something I have huge problems with. I'm currently reading a lot of the healthful eating advocate authors (McDougall, Barnard, Campbell, etc.) to help keep me on track, as well as more on the emotional end of eating (Kessler, for example).

When I even think about eating something that is not healthy - and isn't that what feasting is really doing? - I remind myself that it is not a "treat," it is "poison" for my body and poison for my mind. Why would I want to abuse my arteries and my digestive system with something unhealthy? Yeah, so it has been created by food engineers to taste really special - it's not real food! And not only will it make me sick, it will alter my brain chemistry and keep me going back for more.

Addictive poison, what a lucrative concept!

Anyway, this is some of the self-talk that I think will keep me on track. That and lots and lots of potatoes.

[janluvs2heel]

Maybe "Feast Days" is the wrong term. It implies, at least to me that I can pig out!! Instead of what it is supposed to mean, you can eat a meal that is not on plan. Yes, one meal!!

I have found I do less damage if I eat at the end of the day, instead of all day. Even though I may be uncomfortable when I go to bed, it doesn't seem to trigger me so much the next day. That being said, I have only done that one time so am not really speaking from experience.

I am the same on the hand to mouth thing, it certainly triggers something & I am the same way. I can't let it start or it takes me too long to get back on track. At my old job, it was so stressful, I used to keep m&m's on my desk to make me feel better. Of course they didn't really help as I felt horrible & they kept adding to my weight. Dont ever want to go back there now that it is under control. As far as Feast Days, I am just not gonna go there for now. I have to concentrate on losing/maintaining the rest of my weight .

Jan

[dragana]

Today I sort of binged on McDougal legal foods. It felt like feast except that every byte I put in was full of nutrients. While I know eating this much won't necessarily help me lose weight fast, I know that it won't make me gain weight or make me fell off the path tonight or tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I wont be hungry for dinner. I am inspired by so many people here. I want to be like them, successful in losing weight and optimum health The one of the reasons I like this program is because I like abundance. That's why I can't do MAry's mini. Not for me. Maybe look up some McDougall friendly treats and make them on regular basis to make your feasts more McDougall friendly... Just a thought it may work...

[StarchBeet]

I aim for habits to deal with stress that are as beneficial to me as the food I choose to eat. I do like the (unfortunate) habits of sugar and sweets that I've learned when I didn't know any better. So I decided to regularly include some of the foods in acceptable form in this past year. I know it's why I've lost, on average, 5 pounds per month.

I learned to make banana oat muffins and enjoyed that pineapple nectarine pie a LOT! Ok, the two pieces of (acceptable feast) chocolate pie sent my body into a panic attack so I learned too much of a good thing is not helpful. And when I was ready to look at the slower loss more closely I learned about calorie density and MWL and that's where I am happy to be now. I wish we each had someone to call on when we are in need of better guidance but all I have is myself to rely on now, so I have to be here for myself. I waited for others to join me in the last 20 years and I couldn't find enough people to support me. Now I make what I need.

Keep working at it buns; you will succeed if you can figure out how to be there for yourself and never give up. Choose to eat what you really enjoy in an acceptable way and always have plenty of the foods that give you health at hand. Well that seems to have worked for me so far anyway.

Best of health to you!

[bunsofaluminum]

Okay. So.

Yesterday I got out of the shower and found that I have cellulitis on my leg. Took the day off. Went to the dr. Got an antibiotic. Dozed in front of the TV all day. Went to bed early.

The strange thing is, when I get cellulitis, I normally FEEL it. For one thing, i get pretty sick before. This time: general funky ick feeling for a few days. Another huge symptom is the searing pain of the rash on my leg. This time, I didn't even feel a thing. Didn't know i had it until I was drying off after my shower yesterday. I can feel it today, though. It still is NOTHING like the agony I've had in the past from this stuff.

Thank you, McDougall!

Though I felt drained and tired yesterday, I got good sleep and woke feeling my usual energy and alertness. I really do wish I could afford to take another day off, but I REALLY can't.

I've made good choices for foods. I still have this "hand to mouth" thing going, so I made some garbanzo munchies and nibbled them. Hey, if I'm gonna nibble, I am going to choose healthy.

I hope I can make it through my day today. I'll have to be on my feet for more than an hour...can't find my knee high socks, and I gave my support stockings to Bill's daughter when she was pregnant and she can't find them. That support on my leg really helps, so I might invest in another one. Hope I don't have to buy a pair, cuz they're expensive.