Buns Again

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

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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ejeff » Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:17 am

If you can’t give up the chocolate perhaps adding just a bit to some healthy oatmeal banana cookies might work. This way you will eat less chocolate, but still have a “treat”. I guess it would be somewhat lowering the calorie density of the treat. Just a thought.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:14 am

Ejeff wrote:If you can’t give up the chocolate perhaps adding just a bit to some healthy oatmeal banana cookies might work. This way you will eat less chocolate, but still have a “treat”. I guess it would be somewhat lowering the calorie density of the treat. Just a thought.


Hi Ejeff!

I love stirring chocolate in with my oatmeal in the morning, when I have oatmeal. The secret is being satisfied with that for the day. I got in the habit of eating rich, and not thinking about whether my foods were on plan while away on my honeymoon...that was the first week of October, and it took me weeks to break away from that habit, and daily chocolate sort of stuck.

It's very good, high quality, very dark (78%) Lindt Excellence and I have one or two squares, nibbled and melted in my mouth over a day. I love the 85% too, but it was easier to stop at less with that high percentage. For the longest time, I allowed myself chocolate only on the weekends. Maybe I'll do something like that again.

~~~
Yesterday there was a blood drive at work, and I signed up, but while waiting I got really anxious. A co-worker was already hooked up and the sight of her pumping her hand, the line of blood flowing to the bag just triggered me. I felt a little bit sick, and slightly weepy. Told the intake guy that I was a little scared. Well, he took my BP
Holy mahonies! It was 190/114!!!!

He gave me some water and left me for a bit to calm down, and when they took it a second time it was 140/90 HOLY COW. At that level I was okay to donate, but talking about it got me all het up again, so I ended up leaving without donating, which is what I wanted to do from almost the beginning. I don't know where that anxiety came from, unless it was thinking about them trying to find a vein, which pretty much is impossible on me.

Anyway, I ended up not giving blood. But it got me thinking about the levels of stress in my life. Wylie and my mom tend to clash, though things are calmer these days than they were. But that has been a HUGE stressor in the past year.

My job pays well but it is boring and very desk/computer screen oriented and feels sort of like a Tiny Hub in a Huge Machine. Like really, what difference am I making in anyone's life? Although I enjoy the phone call part of my job very much. But dang there's a lot of copy and pasting. Morale is better than it was, since moving to a different manager, in a group where people are friendly and talkative, and have a sense of humor, so that's good. In fact, I have a giraffe by my cubicle now :) the team Giraffe Barnaby Leopold Molina. Fun is part of my office scene now and I appreciate that a lot. But there's still quite a bit of griping among the old team, and the coworker who is the most likely to gripe and gossip has the same lunch hour as me so I get an earful almost every day. During lunch, over chat on my computer, etc. Not that I disagree with her sentiments, but DANG, every day? So that's starting to wear me down too. She's a friend, and she is funny and sharp but yeah, a couple of lunches a week NOT fretting and griping will be nice.

Got thinking about my daily routine. I'm up at 5:30 and getting ready for work right away. Out the door by 6:00 and pulling in the parking lot at work by 6:30. Shift starts at 7:00, so I like getting in about 30 minutes early in order to settle in with a cup of tea, check a few non-work things online (like this website) and my shift starts at 7:00. Shift is over at 4:00 and I head home. Trying to build the habit of a workout consistently, so in Heidi Has Healthy Habits-Land I stop at the gym three days a week before going home. That hasn't happened yet, however. It was better when I started at 9:00 so I could go workout early and come home to get ready for work.

When I get home I fix food, either cooking or reheating. TV on, Wylie likes his evening news. And honestly, at home I am pretty inert. Reading, watching TV, doing Zentangle. Visiting with Wylie or just sitting there with him. Not active, nothing very interesting (though I do love my at home down time) We hit the hay by about 9:30. If I don't think about it, I can go MANY days in a row without once getting outside. And there isn't much opportunity for alone time here, either. That is HUGELY important in my life. Down time, alone.

So overall I think the biggest health risk where stress is concerned is not having hardly any alone time, and not getting outdoors. I need to remedy this FOR SURE. Maybe I can put aside the emotional attachment to food (especially chocolate) if I can have this meditative, silent, time alone outside.

Food aside, exercise aside, I am not doing myself any favors by neglecting my quiet time.
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Nov 25, 2019 11:40 am

Last week's realization that I haven't made room for alone quiet time in my life nudged me to plan a couple of adjustments in my daily routine.

My habit has been to get up and out the door, arriving at work about a half hour before my shift starts. And the nine hours at work packed with people the whole time. They are friendly and funny, which is nice. But they ARE people and my days have been full of people without any time alone. Well, I realized this morning that I don't have to be in my cubicle a half hour early. I can take an extra half hour alone at home, and arrive at work with 10-15 minutes to spare.

So today I got up, got ready for work, then sat alone in the quiet, reading and surfing FB. It was nice. I still arrived at my cubicle with ample time to do my thing: heat up food for brekkie, get my tea, get my ice. Another modification I plan is to take my lunch out. There's a creek nearby, and I can heat up my food and take it with me, drive less than a minute, and eat with something to look at besides my gripey grousing coworker across the table from me. I might not do that every day, but it's going to be a regular thing for sure. I didn't like that spike in my BP even if it was White Coat Syndrome...I have got to have alone time, and I'm going to make it happen.

Going to re-instate my Weekends Only Chocolate Rule. Did not bring chocolate with me to work. Craving chocolate. I did it to myself. But I can get through the week without it and I will.

Over the weekend I made lentil stew, the easiest dish in the world. The basic recipe is two c. lentils (I used yellow split peas since I have a ton of them in my pantry) and 1 c. dried veggie blend from Winco. Eight c. water, and cook it for an hour. That's the foundation.

This time I added a can of diced tomatoes and about a half cup of sorghum grain. For seasoning, a huge dash of garlic powder, a MASSIVE dash (about 2 TBSP) of chili powder, a tsp of ground cumin, a heaping tsp of curry powder. I also cut up about a lb of mushrooms that were beginning to look sad in the fridge, and added about a c. of frozen spinach.

the dried veggie blend from Winco is literally carrots, onions, tomatoes, and parsley. No salt, no sugar, no oils, no msg. Just veggies, diced and dehydrated. Super simple.

And at the end, two c of legumes made more than eight cups of food.

I also cooked up a mess of rice, with plans to make it into Thai Curried Rice, another simple dish involving frozen stir fry vegs, rice, and seasonings. The recipe is in Starch Solution, and calls for chopping bunches of veggies which is fine, but the frozen stir fry, plus a quarter head of cabbage sliced makes it SO easy. And that makes a lot of food, as well.

Thanksgiving coming. There will be on plan foods there, because one of Wylie's cousins will be there, and she can't have dairy so mashed potatoes, right? Also, I'm bringing a yam dish so that will have no fat in it. I will have gravy and stuffing, fat or no fat. And there will be plenty of on plan food at home in the fridge for the weekend following. I know I won't stay on plan on The Day, but I will NOT be triggered into going bonkers. On plan. On plan. ON PLAN.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:33 am

serene wrote:You're so inspiring, buns!


Hi Serene! Thank you :)

~~~

Today I woke up pretty dang early thanks to Sandy Cat picking on Becky Cat and ripping through the house yowling at each other. So I did drift for about 40 minutes and finally decided to just get up. Made the mistake of getting on FB right away. I like FB. Keep up with friends and kids somewhat, but every day someone posts SOMETHING heart wrenching, or political, biting, griping, or negative. This puts me in a bad mood, and doesn't help any of the situations that I suddenly know too much about. Just damages my mood. Therefore another adjustment to my morning routine is in order. Maybe...no Facebook before lunchtime.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving. We're going to Wylie's family and bringing a yam dish, a pie, and a fruit plate. We are also taking rolls, but Wylie has a favorite bakery and already bought those. So today during my lunch hour, I'll be getting groceries. I have a plan in place for the meal: mashed potatoes, stuffing, and yams. Gravy. And a piece of pie. ONE piece. Part of my plan is "Eat Like Robby"... Robby is my younger son who has never had a weight problem, who eats when hungry and does not eat past the point of hunger AND doesn't eat just because there's food, or just because it tastes good. If he's hungry, he eats. If he gets full, he stops EVEN IF there's still food on his plate! :eek: So I'm gonna pretend I'm Robby. Eat until full then stop.

My main goal for Thanksgiving is to be of help in the kitchen, frankly. Wylie's aunt (really, a close friend only three years older than him) is hosting but I don't know if she would be if Wylie hadn't offered to come up and do dinner at their place FOR THEM, because they've both had some health issues this year. Tooth problems, mostly. So we didn't think "cool, Darlene will be putting together this massive feast and we'll eat it!" more like: Darlene, you sit back and let us and your daughters do the work. But Darlene picked it up and ran with it LOL so we'll be helping a lot, but it's her party. We've asked her a few times if she's sure she's up to it and she keeps saying Sure, no problem...so...

And they are among my favorite people in the world, so I know I'll enjoy the company and I'm so glad these family members are there for Wylie. He is estranged from his parents and siblings, so it's wonderful that he has family members in his life. In fact, his cousin and I are becoming close friends, ever since the family reunion.

Getting together with family is actually the best thing about Thanksgiving anyway. I'm looking forward to it, even if it isn't MY family this time.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:59 am

I feel really good about Thanksgiving! I did have everything, including a piece of meat but I always have a piece of meat on Thanksgiving to prove that I am not a vegan. Anyway, I had mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, a small piece of dark meat, and gravy over all. I had a roll with butter. And that is all I had for dinner! I ate until full and then stopped. I think I did get too full though. Then after several hours we had dessert and I had a piece of pumpkin pie a sliver of pumpkin pie really, a piece of berry pie, and a piece of gluten-free dairy free cake. And done! I have food already fixed in the fridge so I can get right back to on plan eating today. And I want to. I’m not triggered, I’m not craving anything. Just going to get back to normal now.

Our hostess commented that I am looking slimmer. That is the second person in a week who said I am looking slimmer. The scale doesn’t say so, but I am getting to the gym a couple of times a week pretty consistently so maybe building muscle really is trimming me down... maybe my jeans are fitting a little bit looser. Noice.

The visiting was fun. We watched a Blow em up shoot em up blood splattered movie for tradition sake. Angel Has Fallen. It has Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman in it. And actually it was a pretty good movie for watching in a food coma. At the end, the protagonist and the villain are face-to-face on the roof of a building after two hours of explosions and fires, cars turning over landing on their roofs and just unimaginable destruction left and right. There they stand. They start out with two big guns throw the guns to the side! And they come at each other! hand to hand combat! At this point Wylie’s cousin said It makes them seem so manly. I said, yeah… Because there hasn’t been enough testosterone floating around this movie up to now. Wylie thumped me on the head with his finger and everybody laughed.

We sat around and talked over dessert and left with bundles of food. Wylie has enough Turkey slices for lots of sandwiches. There is some mashed potatoes which I can have even now that it’s not Thanksgiving anymore. Some of my yam dish, which I’m going to make a big batch of because they were delicious. I used a tiny bit of brown sugar mixed with cinnamon, chili powder, and garlic powder. Little bit of water. The brown sugar and water because I had no apple juice. Made it into kind of a slurry and poured it over sliced cooked yams and put everything in the oven for half an hour. Those seasonings are the same seasonings from one of my favorite recipes Moroccans Sweet Potato Stew. And everyone who had some of those yams raved about them. My hostess recently had tooth work done and yams are soft enough for her to eat and she really liked them so she took most of them and sent me home with two slices. We also brought home all of the leftover stuffing. Because of Wylie‘s cousin having celiac disease, they could not put stuffing inside the turkey. So we made two different types of stuffing on the stove, just regular stove top and a gluten-free version of that. Well, they kept the gluten-free and sent us home with the regular stove top stuffing. And it wasn’t too bad. I expected it to be a lot saltier than it was but it really wasn’t. It wasn’t the same as stuffing inside the bird but it tasted pretty good. Everything was tasty enough. Very American, nothing green on the board, the main flavor was salt. Etc. No roughage to speak of.

I think generally it was a success. I don’t feel like I over did, I enjoyed myself, and I am not triggered for anything at all. Back to normal now.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:46 am

serene wrote:Great job buns, and I love that McDougalling is "normal."


Thanks Serene. I only wish I was as dedicated to the no added fats as I am to the no animal proteins. ;)

***

I am not feeling 100%. It hit last night...got up from the couch and my knee and ankle were killing me. Then it kind of socked other joints. My shoulders, lower back. Achey head (rather than headache, if that makes sense) And I got SO tired. Hit the hay and fell asleep like a log. Didn't turn over until my alarm intruded in my dreams. A real Jurassic Park style dream with raptors hunting me and some kids. We were hiding in a classroom, the dinosaurs were in the corridor, and my iPad volume wouldn't turn down. It kept making noise and I kept trying to get it to shut up. It was REALLY scary and so real. When I did turn over I was relieved it was just a dream.

And I snoozed it! :eek: I do NOT snooze my alarm, but I did this morning because I just couldn't open my eyes. And I'm still really grotty . Not currently functioning very sharp.

My car started making bad noises on Thanksgiving, while on our way back from our day with Wylie's kin. When you push the clutch down, the noise stops, but it has a grinding sound during and immediately after the shift, in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear. So I met Wylie at the mechanic right after work yesterday, instead of going to the gym. Hopefully it isn't anything major. Just needs fluid, right? :?

I made Chef AJ's Incredibly Scrumptious Kale Chips on Saturday and have been enjoying them for a snack. They're flavored with a nut based "cheezy" coating so I maybe shouldn't eat them every day, but I woke up Saturday morning and they sounded SO good and they are. In fact, that cheezy coating might work as a not-cheese ball appetizer at a party. Tasty, like sharp cheddar. And the kale chips are dehydrated not fried, so I'm getting my greens :D

Wouldn't it be nice to go back to bed.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:44 am

serene wrote:Sounds to me like you might be sick. Take care of yourself!


Yeah, it felt a little feverish, that's for sure. But I woke up today feeling much better. We'll see if I'm all that as the day progresses.

I made a new rule a little while ago, not many days back: No FB before noon. And I like it! I've found some music to listen to, or there is a really calming, interesting, YouTube channel I've been LOVING. It's all relaxing piano music (Satie, Debussy, etc) with video of smallish fresh water aquariums. There are text comments...captions if you will...explaining "There is one of my wild shrimp" or "the betta is mad at the snail" (while the fish is flashing its fins at ... a snail on the glass :lol: ) The aquariums all have lots of plant life, and the videos always cover several turns of trimming them, or vacuuming the gravel. Very pretty, relaxing, even soothing. Who knew you could have shrimp, guppies, and snails all in the same pond. His videos are just him caring for the aquarium(s), footage of the critters in the water, with relaxing music.

The link below is the start of a series on setting up a Betta tank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUp2-DqEfOE

I was glued to these all day yesterday. That kind of focus, with fascinating tiny life to look at is quite meditative, actually.

Another very cool channel along these same lines is Life in Jars? This guy gathers water from lakes or ponds, or even rainwater puddles, along with some dirt and plants from the same area, and puts them in large jars with plants, covers them, and watches to see what fauna might have made the trip when he collected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7iyPp3r9HI

This guy narrates humorously, and names species. His footage is way cool, as he doesn't put any critters in. He just collects wild water and dirt, and leaves it all alone in a jar, then watches what comes up. He'll do one year updates, and such. His ecosystems aren't as pretty as Foo the Flowerhorn, because he doesn't tend them, per se.

Both of these are fun to watch and relaxing as anything. Much better than the nerve-wracking news or FB feed.

Yesterday was really good. I did have a few Bob's peppermint balls at home, but otherwise ate on plan. Bound and determined for today to be 100% on plan.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Thu Dec 05, 2019 10:04 am

After last night's huge blow out at the Chinese buffet...who knew how very LITTLE healthy foods are available at those places. I mean seriously, nothing with just veggies and rice? at a Chinese place? I don't get it. But then again, they are catering to American palates...

So I ate off plan and I ate too much. The food there wasn't great, but anyone who enjoys seafood would have been in hog heaven. Shrimp, prawns, crawfish, oysters, flounder, octopus :( ... I ended up having rice, tempura zucchini, some broccoli picked out of the broccoli beef, and a selection of sushi. Some salad which was a flop. Went back for seconds on the tempura zucchini thus stuffing and distending my stomach.

I'm mad at myself, and I won't go to that place again. Wylie didn't think the food was that great, either.

Anyway. I am skipping breakfast this morning. My poor gut, all that food moving through it. What is WRONG with me. I know better. I think I may have to do a hard reset with a water only fast for a day or two. The bible mentions fasting for humility. "I humbled myself with fasting" and the times that I have done a religious fast, I did find that it took me down a notch or two. It slows you down, your energy goes really low, and you realize you're not all that, after all. Right now, my appetite is in control. I eat whatever, just because I feel like it. It's time to humble my...APPETITE...with fasting.

Doing really well with no chocolate. I don't see myself doing away with it forever. It is a blessing, and one shouldn't reject the blessings that are given to our lives. :cool: However, it is much more delicious, much more of a treat, if you have some occasionally, not on a daily basis.

Still struggling with finding quiet time consistently. The quiet commute is good. Hm...an hour for lunch. Maybe I can use some of that time for sitting quietly. Something.

I need to get outdoors, but not in the city. Salt Lake is the Inversion Capital of the World or at least of the United States. The air quality in the winter time is NASTY and it is very cold, gray, and eye-burning outdoors in December/January. Maybe a day trip up to Park City. They'll have clean air and blue sky :nod: It would break me out of this S.A.D. rut I'm going into. Seasonal Affective Disorder...??? I've never really had a problem since starting this diet, but this year is different. I'm feeling quite depressed. Having scary dreams that wake me up and I can't get back to sleep. A tic in my right eyelid. That huge high BP scare when I went to donate blood.

Yeah, time to break away from this little rut. :nod:
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:55 am

Wow was I ever low yesterday. I missed three hours of sleep from a horrible dream that woke me at 2:30 and I never did get back to sleep. The dream was scary and alarming and brought me down as well. Add the inversion covering everything in the city...gray, dirty, bleak. A VERY slow work day with a co worker I wanted to slap...Yes, it was like a cloud over my head all day long.

Some quality time with Wylie after work, and this morning time to do yoga, plus the full night's sleep and today I'm feeling much better.

I think I'm going to make yoga my regular fitness regimen. The gym is kinda boring, and packed with people which in my current introverted frame of mind isn't pleasant. I'll keep the membership but going to get yoga going in the mornings starting today.

Today is St. Nicholas' Day! Time to get out the stockings and my little Santa's. Some lights here and there. Wylie doesn't want to do the big tree but I want SOMETHING. And St. Nicholas' Day is the day for it. There's plenty of other Xmas prep to get on, along with my son's Bday on 12/21. Thank goodness for online shopping. Makes this time of year much easier for me.

Nothing much else to note for today. I am SO GLAD to feel better.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby Shmookitty » Fri Dec 06, 2019 9:07 am

So happy to hear you're feeling better! :-D
My name is Renee, McDougalling starting October 5, 2019
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Re: Buns Again

Postby SilverDollar123 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 5:18 pm

Also glad you are feelling better,+ your birthday is coming up too! :-D Shhh I won't tell.! RAS
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:09 am

Thanks Schmookitty and RAS. Sleep deprivation is a real thing, I'm telling ya.

So...I'm getting older. Closing in on 60 :shock: and 100 lbs overweight. Now, the aches and pains of age are somewhat a part of my life. Especially the foot pain...hate it. I don't really want to grow old, but I certainly don't want to be old and fat and immobile. My current introversion issues mean I'm not going to the gym, but yoga is doable at home before work, in my own space, by myself. And I feel so fantastic after even a 20 minute yoga routine.

On FB my daughter posted some things that mean "Self care" for her. Included is consistent exercise, eating just to the point of satiation without stuffing her stomach, etc. You know, daily stuff. Not "take a bubble bath" or "full body mud mask" but choosing healthy daily things such as foods and amount of sleep. That is actually the definition of self care, isn't it? Choosing healthy foods, creating healthy habits. Things that TAKE CARE OF your HEALTH.

Well, I feel really good after a short yoga session. I'm still obese, but today my muscles are stretched and really relaxed, my knees feel good. Feeling generally strong. I like the way my body feels and I know from previous experience that it will only get better. Self care right now in my life is Yoga. :nod:
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:53 am

Hm, I was going to be a bit grumpy with myself for continuing in bondage to the Pleasure Trap, but looking back over the past couple of weeks on this journal, I see I already am taking steps for self-care. I recognized the onset of depression, took myself out of situations that were feeding that depression (no FB in the morning; lunch alone not griping with coworkers) and decided to start yoga. These are all positive self-care practices that I'm doing. I've gotten started with the yoga, and am not bringing chocolate to work.

Good for me. Too bad for the Pleasure Trap, I'm taking steps to stay mentally healthy.
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Morris » Mon Dec 09, 2019 11:08 am

bunsofaluminum wrote:Hm, I was going to be a bit grumpy with myself for continuing in bondage to the Pleasure Trap, but looking back over the past couple of weeks on this journal, I see I already am taking steps for self-care. I recognized the onset of depression, took myself out of situations that were feeding that depression (no FB in the morning; lunch alone not griping with coworkers) and decided to start yoga. These are all positive self-care practices that I'm doing. I've gotten started with the yoga, and am not bringing chocolate to work.

Good for me. Too bad for the Please Trap, I'm taking steps to stay mentally healthy.


You know, this post is timely for me as I just finished a phone conference with my mom and the caregivers for her and this sort of came up because of all the life changes my parents have happened to them in such a short time -- my sister is a fan of the pills to deal with it, but I am a fan of taking control by changing what you think and/or do. So, your post is good for me because she wants me to attend her when she sees her doctor tomorrow - Good to see and know that self-care helps for some -- just have to do it.

Thanks for your honesty, it is a benefit for me today.
Nancy (aka Morris)

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:09 am

Thanks for stopping by Morris. It helped me a lot to realize that I was already fighting for myself, even though my feelings were telling me how unhealthy my habits are.

So, a really good video for me was Doug Lisle's interview on the McDougall YouTube channel.
Dr Doug Lisle Food Addiction, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss Pt1
He talks about the Pleasure Trap, which helped me understand it better. He frankly states that our instincts always steer us to the high fat, salty, sweet foods. It's a survival tactic for hunter gatherers and even agrarian types. But in our world, this instinct steers us to highly processed foods that are horrible for our health. If we want to eat healthy, we must fight our instincts, because the world around us caters to that Fat, Sweet, Salty taste preference. This helped me a lot because of how extremely difficult it has been for me to break out. I walked into the Pleasure Trap for the four days of my honeymoon, and it took WEEKS to get out of it, and I still held onto that chocolate for a long time after, and I was so ticked at myself for being so fat and so out of control...and here is Dr Lisle saying flat out It's your instincts taking you there.

If we lived in a world where salty, fatty, sweet foods were not on every grocery shelf, it would be different, eh?

He talks about set point: there is no such thing, because biologically there is no way being overweight is the ideal for any body. If we hit a plateau, we can break it by changing behavior...either pick up more exercise, or drop those last few high calorie things. Really, the whole thing is about changing behavior, when you come right down to it.

And there was a mention briefly of this chart he developed, which I looked up and printed several.

Image

I LOVE that this starts on Thursday! LOL isn't that cool? The whole "starting my diet on Monday" goes right away with that, IMO. And I just started filling one in yesterday, a Monday because that is the day that I found it. I put my check marks on the Thursday row :nod: Also, this is about INCLUDING things, not eliminating things. IOW, if I'm eating starches, fruit, salad (which I changed to regular vegetables since I'm not a big salad fan), exercising, and getting enough sleep, I check them off. And I don't worry about off plan stuff for now. Just changing my habits to INCLUDE the good stuff. I like it!

In other news: I'm interviewing/testing for a part time job today. Just want to get some extra cash coming in, to knock down a couple of debts and build my savings. Car troubles depleted my savings in the summer time, and more car troubles meant using the VISA about a week ago and I want to knock that down and add to my long term high(er) rate savings account as well as my emergency fund...etc, etc. Money doesn't make the world go round...it makes my head spin. Anyway, I'm interviewing at my old employer, and I am pretty much a shoo in. Easy peasey, 20 hours a week for a while. While still holding on to my quiet alone time :)

Not kicking my heels together in joy about this, but since I know it's temporary, I'm going to do it. Gotta do what you gotta do, right? As things currently stand, I'm chewing my nails down to nubs between paychecks and that stress I do NOT need.

Yoga today kicked my butt. There was a long session of "chair pose" which uses the quads majorly. It was like squats, not going down that far, and faster. Inhale and rise, exhale and sink. It really maxed out my thighs, and for some reason my hip did some big time clicking. Felt weird but didn't hurt. Anyway, happy to get up and get on the mat. Following a YouTube yogi Adriene. Choosing routines of 20 minutes or less. This is good alone time, with really good centering body activity.

After my realization that I took self-care steps very quickly when depression came at me, that Lisle video, and the self-care of daily yoga, I am feeling a lot stronger than I was last week.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
by red squirrel

simple, humble food
by f00die

The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
by Pamela, a FB user
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