Buns Again

[Mark Cooper]

Way to reset and recommit, Buns!

I, too, have found moving my body daily with stretching, exercise, &c has been really crucial to feeling great! Incline push-ups are an absolutely wonderful exercise - with proper form they work not just upper body but core, legs and bodyline. Hang in there, and wishing you success with your plan for the day & week & on.

[bunsofaluminum]

Way to reset and recommit, Buns!

I, too, have found moving my body daily with stretching, exercise, &c has been really crucial to feeling great! Incline push-ups are an absolutely wonderful exercise - with proper form they work not just upper body but core, legs and bodyline. Hang in there, and wishing you success with your plan for the day & week & on.

Thanks Mark. I know it feels a lot better to move around than it does to sit a lot. Ugh. Bad habit, as bad as smoking, they say.

MY FOOD

Tuesday:
B: corn meal mush, GOMBBS style
S: saltines, cucumber
L: Rice congee w.spinach; an apple
D: bbq beans over a baked potato

Yesterday:
coffee and granola bars; saltines; cucumber
Rice congee; spinach; an apple
quesadilla style; salsa; not-cheese sauce

Today:
whole grain saltines, cucumber
nuked sweet potato, spinach
soup over baked potato

Big batch cooking plans:
Rice congee
Ratatouille
Thai Curried Rice

Thanksgiving will be a feast day, but my sister is bringing fake turkey so I might not have my standard one slice of dark meat. I still plan on having the regular gravy, but I am also going to bring fat free vegan brown gravy and a yam dish. I've been assigned turkey cooking, w. my sis in law helping with the stuffing and half the cost of the turkey. Looking forward to some mashed taters and stuffing!

And let's get back on track immediately after. The month between T'giving and Xmas is NOT A FEAST MONTH.

Second day of Intermittent Fasting. We'll see how it goes. My appetite is already adjusting and I feel pretty good. When you really let your digestive tract empty out, it feels light inside. I like that.

[moonlight]

Hi Buns, I like your comment about letting your stomach empty out and how good it feels. It reminds me of the strategy to "think like a thin person". The empty stomach feeling always makes me feel thin. Good luck with the holiday festivities. I like the NO FEAST MONTH between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm going to put that on my calendar with the challenge to exercise everyday for that month.

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi Buns, I like your comment about letting your stomach empty out and how good it feels. It reminds me of the strategy to "think like a thin person". The empty stomach feeling always makes me feel thin. Good luck with the holiday festivities. I like the NO FEAST MONTH between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm going to put that on my calendar with the challenge to exercise everyday for that month.

Yes! It's so easy to suck my gut in when there's nothing in the intestines! and I just FEEL skinny. It's alarming to see my reflection...heavy thighs? Whaaa?!


Turns out, intermittent fasting has many health benefits

10 Evidence Based Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

It's pretty common among the old school naturopaths (maybe current thinking too, now that I think about it) that fasting was a quick way to get healthy, as well. I know for a fact that going without food for a couple of days reduced my reactive arthritis pain tremendously...from a pain level of 12 to about a seven in one day, and down to a three in two days of fasting. Amazing, immediate results. Well, I've tried full day fasting a few times, but somehow menopause hormones have made it impossible to go 24 hours without food...over the top heart palpitations are not fun. However, so far so good on the late start to eating, and the stopping at 6:30.

On weekdays I'm still having my snack of cucumber and whole grain saltines at 10:30, then lunch at noon, and dinner anywhere from 5:30 to 6:30 in the evening. Weekends might be different, since I don't do the cucumber/saltine thing at home. Still, a bite of something at 10:30, then lunch at noon as usual? Or maybe eat a more full meal at 10:30 and have dinner at 5:00 and something later if I feel hungry? This upcoming weekend will be informative for sure.

What if I have to adjust my window. For instance a dinner party starting at 6:30...you wouldn't eat until say 7:00 or later...so it's adjustable. As long as you go more than 12 hours from the last meal, your body will be using your fat stores, as the readily available glycogen from food is used up at the 12 hour mark. My daughter and her hubby have been including workouts in their regimen, and eating a meal right after visiting the gym, which is evidently even better.

Heh. Maybe one of these days I WILL start up a regular exercise routine. Hmmm, *maybe* if IF relieves some of my knee pain!

[bunsofaluminum]

I need to make something with lentils in it. Today. Wish me luck

[bunsofaluminum]

Got through my weekend fasting intermittently using the same eating window that I have been using. I did decide on one adaptation: I eat a piece of fruit at about 7:00 a.m. simply to avoid getting a headache. My mom is a little alarmed "that's a mighty long time to go without food" (about 16 hours) but according to my research, it takes your body 12 hour to use up the glycogen from foods you've eaten. If you go over 12 hours, you start metabolizing stored energy for fuel. I have plenty of "food storage" and hopefully this will jolt my damn system enough to release some of that dang blasted STORAGE.

Eating over the weekend was okay. I stayed compliant except one meal when I had some regular tortilla chips with salsa, and I had a small piece of extra dark chocolate. This is a huge difference from my usual half a bar on Saturday and half a bar on Sunday. Did that chocolate EVER taste good! I didn't have it until late afternoon on Sunday. Oh yum!

Otherwise doing great. I got my rice congee made and did a grocery run at the Asian market for noodles and fungi. I saw prepared gluten/seitan in the cooler section and almost grabbed some but I wouldn't know what/how to do so I didn't. But I'm going to research recipes using the stuff. My mom made a stir fry once when I was a kid using seitan, and you couldn't tell that it wasn't meat. She made her own, out of whole wheat flour soaked in water and kneaded. I might pick some up next time I shop there. I wonder if seitan is considered processed...hmmm...

Speaking of fake meat, my sister and her daughter have gone veggie! yay! and she is bringing fake turkey to Thanksgiving dinner for us. I'll have some, but I am going to keep my focus on the veggies and starches this year but I WILL have some regular turkey gravy. Yum.

Meanwhile, Wylie has come down with his annual cough. I also hear my boss coughing I am taking oregano oil twice a day to fight it off, and eating clean. So far, so good. I know what to do if I feel a tickle One year, he brought home the flu and I did get it. Oy, that was awful! It was a mild case, and I hate to think about catching a severe case! Last year, when everyone around me was hacking up a lung, I remained healthy. Thank you, McDougalling but I must say, oregano oil is a mighty strong medicine. Zinc, too at the first hint of a tickle. The kind you melt in your mouth NOT a tablet that you swallow.

Going to make some vegan spinach-artichoke dip. recipe here I'll give it a try next week, and if it turns out, I'll bring it to the family Xmas party. It looks SO GOOD. In fact I want to try it NOW.

Ms Yeah would make it right in the office but I'll wait.

[bunsofaluminum]

Okay the fight is on. I had a tickle in my throat when I woke up this morning and gave a few coughs as I got out of bed. Grand. But I took my oregano oil, and had a zinc lozenge right off the bat. I brought my medicines with me so I can dose myself throughout the day. Wylie meanwhile is coughing and has a sore throat maybe he'll be strong and stay home today so he can rest.

FOODS:

Monday
an apple
Sliced cucumber, whole grain saltines
rice congee with mushrooms, spinach, onion
polenta with lentils and salsa

Tuesday
a banana
sliced cuke; saltines
grilled veggie burger; veggie stix (tailgate party at work)
(wish I'd brought lunch, but the kitchen was pretty busy last night so I didn't put anything together)
(maybe I'll go get a salad at Cafe Rio and never mind about the BBQ)

Not feeling great.

[Idgie]

Oh, gosh, hope you and Wylie feel much better soon!

[WeeSpeck]

Hi Heidi,

I have been wanting to chat with you for a while about Zentangle. After reading your great post in Amanda's journal, I thought I would take an opportunity now. After reading about Zentangle in your journal, I asked for it and received the starter kit for a Christmas gift last year. The presentation and packaging and music make this so much more than a "doodling" pastime.

In this busy life, I never seem to make enough time to do pleasurable hobbies, like reading, puzzling or Zentangling. I operate under the auspice that I must be productive first to earn my downtime. Sadly, that downtime often gets pushed out of my day. So, yesterday, I pulled out my Zentangle for only the second time since receiving it and completed 4 tiles!

I just love the philosophy of this activity: gratitude, appreciation, breathing, taking the time to relax and focus on the detail, the stroke. Then stepping back to enjoy the completed tile. The complexity and beauty that pops out at the end astounds me. How can some simple repetitive strokes and designs end up being a 3D magical image that I just want to stare at in awe?

I even love signing, dating and making a small note on each tile. I love designing my artist inscription that uniquely identifies me.

I discover so many new things from the McDougall journals. Zentangle is one of those discoveries. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I looked through your Zentangle blog and your artwork is gorgeous!

Now to relate this to McDougalling and food and health, I think if we approached each meal with the same Zentangle philosophy, with gratitude and appreciation, with slow breaths as we contemplate the simplicity of this program, with joy as we build our meals from a foundation of health-promoting foods, we end up with a beautiful palate of delicious and colorful meals, each building on the next until we are quite proficient and desire to continue this for a lifetime.

Too much?

Thanks again Heidi. I find a lot of value in your journal. I hope you and Wylie are feeling better soon.

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi Heidi,

I have been wanting to chat with you for a while about Zentangle. After reading your great post in Amanda's journal, I thought I would take an opportunity now. After reading about Zentangle in your journal, I asked for it and received the starter kit for a Christmas gift last year. The presentation and packaging and music make this so much more than a "doodling" pastime.

In this busy life, I never seem to make enough time to do pleasurable hobbies, like reading, puzzling or Zentangling. I operate under the auspice that I must be productive first to earn my downtime. Sadly, that downtime often gets pushed out of my day. So, yesterday, I pulled out my Zentangle for only the second time since receiving it and completed 4 tiles!

I just love the philosophy of this activity: gratitude, appreciation, breathing, taking the time to relax and focus on the detail, the stroke. Then stepping back to enjoy the completed tile. The complexity and beauty that pops out at the end astounds me. How can some simple repetitive strokes and designs end up being a 3D magical image that I just want to stare at in awe?

I even love signing, dating and making a small note on each tile. I love designing my artist inscription that uniquely identifies me.

I discover so many new things from the McDougall journals. Zentangle is one of those discoveries. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I looked through your Zentangle blog and your artwork is gorgeous!

Now to relate this to McDougalling and food and health, I think if we approached each meal with the same Zentangle philosophy, with gratitude and appreciation, with slow breaths as we contemplate the simplicity of this program, with joy as we build our meals from a foundation of health-promoting foods, we end up with a beautiful palate of delicious and colorful meals, each building on the next until we are quite proficient and desire to continue this for a lifetime.

Too much?

Thanks again Heidi. I find a lot of value in your journal. I hope you and Wylie are feeling better soon.

Ahh, this is so cool! It is fun to meet other people who are into Zentangle and I LOVE IT that my enthusiasm has leaked out on other people LOL Have you found any of the online Zentangle challenges? There are many FB groups, and of course The Diva Challenge and It's a String Thing are weekly challenges for people who aren't in FB. Keeps you engaged and always learning new things.

But I agree with you about allowing the zentangle practice of gratitude and appreciation (I mean, "appreciation for the fine paper and quality tools you have to work with"...is THE most wonderful thing, really) to infiltrate our eating...wouldn't that make a difference. We all know it would. Sometimes I do pause and give thanks for the people behind the foods I prepare. Someone after all did pull those potatoes from the soil, and a season ago, there were fields being planted with potatoes by someone (even if that someone was driving a tractor) ...

What a great thing to ponder. I'm glad you found so much to think about from your start with Zentangle! It's gotten to be a necessity in my life. As in, I can't do the other things until I've had my 20 minutes or so of quiet meditative tangling in the morning.

[Lyndzie]

The spinach-artichoke dip looks AMAZING. Have you made it before? I just had one at a vegan pitch in this weekend, but they used vegan mayo, so I was trying to come up with an alternative. Your recipe fits the bill.

[WeeSpeck]

Thank you for the "I am the diva" and "It's a String Thing" websites. I bookmarked those pages for future exploration.

In the meantime, I am working through the "Zentangle Primer 1" book and learning all the different techiniques. I will need to order some new tiles before long and start building my Zentangle album.

It is so weird. When I am doing the strokes, I feel so awkward, not artistic, sloppy. But, I trust the method and when I am done, and view the completed project, it just transforms. No erasers. No mistakes. I love it.

I think there is so much value that you schedule Zentangle into your day as a meditative necessity, non-negotiable. That might be what I need to do to make sure I stop cheating myself out of this pasttime.

[bunsofaluminum]

The spinach-artichoke dip looks AMAZING. Have you made it before? I just had one at a vegan pitch in this weekend, but they used vegan mayo, so I was trying to come up with an alternative. Your recipe fits the bill.

Hi Lindsey,

I've seen a recipe for this with vegan mayo in it, and skipped right over it! I haven't made this one yet, but plan on testing it the week after Thanksgiving, to see if I can do it, how it turns out, etc. in preparation for bringing it to our family Xmas party. I'm eager to try it and see. It sure looks good, and sounds really good, too. Rich as can be but passable for a feast day.

Speaking of feast, we're getting things together for Thanksgiving. In my family we now have three veg heads!!! so there will be a turkey, but also some fake turkey, and vegan brown gravy, etc...along with the standard yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc plenty of non-animal foods. Family time...gonna be fun. Poor Wylie has this rotten cough so he might not enjoy it as much unfortunately. So far, so good on me fighting it off. I went to bed about and hour and a half early last night and woke up feeling pretty good. I've kept up with the zinc and oregano but it feels like I've kicked it. I'll keep taking the oregano as long as Wylie is flinging germs about.

But we'll be putting the bird in the oven at about 6:00 a.m. and then kicking back, and then frenzy while we prepare the side dishes and people begin arriving, and then food coma, and then a walk around the neighborhood, and then dessert. Hm, I think it'll all be inside my eating window, too!

Intermittent fasting is going well. I get pretty hungry by 10:30 and eat my cucumber/saltine snack then lunch at noon, and hungry again by 5:00, and I eat before 6:30. Heh. Last night, I had noodle veggie miso soup for dinner and kept nibbling the noodles while I cleaned up...hey, my eating window is open until 6:30 and I ate noodles until 6:30 Stepped on the scale and am down two lbs, from the three or four that I gained back after the six I lost when we moved. ugh. Down is good. Maybe this is the start of some actual weight loss. Hope so!

[bunsofaluminum]

Well, I did okay over the holiday. Ate a slice of real turkey, and had real gravy over my mashed potatoes and stuffing, and I had a rich dessert. And ate too much but only on Thursday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were more normal, though I did practice a recipe for vegan spinach artichoke dip that is cashew based so that was rich. I'm going to take that to the family xmas party and I want to get it right. I've made it twice, and it tastes really good, but needs to be smoother and more gloppy.

The food was good, but the family time was the best. Love my family! There's always lots of noise and laughter, and we of course ate until popping, then went back for seconds. Next year my out of town son needs to be there. I miss him, and wish he'd move back darn it.

Wasn't hungry in the morning on Friday or Saturday. Sunday I was empty by about 9:30 in the morning. Like, ravenous. Ugh, so I ended up eating at home, and eating again while out with my girl. and ate a lot throughout my eating window...and woke up not hungry this morning.

On Sunday I made bean soup that never quite got all the way mushy-cooked the way I like my bean soup. Soaked them overnight, and started them at noon, and at 5:30 they still weren't right. So I'm putting them back on the burner this evening and letting them go until they are very soft and yummy. They tasted good but gave me gas...from being under-done? Haven't had gas from beans in ages.

One thing that happened during preparations for Thanksgiving was my not having daily food ready to go. I ended up choosing really simple, a couple of times...sweet potato and spinach, canned soups, etc. Well I've got muh bean soup and I also cooked up six cups of rice that I'll be using in Thai Curried Rice...for this week's lunches. I also want to make a batch of potato soup because I've got potatoes, and I have some not-cheese sauce that is potato based...could turn out to be a broccoli and not-cheddar soup.

Wylie put up and lit the tree on Thanksgiving, and hung a couple of light-up candy canes he LOVES Christmas and hasn't been feeling "at home" in our new place so I'm really glad he put it up. I want to get out the ornaments and decorate it on Dec 1 or 2. Make it purdy and get festive. Christmas isn't a big feast for our family, though we do like orange rolls for brekkie...RIGHT off plan, those are...and of course we'll have feasty stuff on the 30th which is our family get together.

The tough thing will be the various office parties we'll go to. My work offers dinner and a movie, with dinner being not-McDougall friendly. Maybe I'll have something beforehand so I don't overdo it at the party. Then Wylie's work is having theirs on the 15th. I'm sure we'll have a team potluck at the office, too. Maybe I'll bring the vegan spinach/artichoke dip

Many opportunities to eat rich and fall off the back of the McDougall Plan this coming month. A feast day lasts ONE DAY not AN ENTIRE MONTH!

[bunsofaluminum]

Wednesday Foods
S: sliced cucumber and saltines
L: Thai Curried Rice w. peanuts
D: bean soup w. cornbread

Tuesday Foods
L: vegan spinach artichoke dip (RICH!)
D: bean soup w. cornbread
(I didn't have my customary morning snack because I volunteered for cleaning and organizing the closet)

Monday Foods
S: Sliced cucumber and saltines
L: vegan spinach artichoke dip
D: bean soup w. cornbread

Ate the last of the bean soup for dinner last night, and the last of the cornbread. I have lots of Thai Curried Rice in the fridge, but brought baked potatoes and Progresso tomato soup because potatoes sounded so good.

My plan is to make that lentil dal soup I saw posted on Idgie's recipe thread since I have the ingredients for it. I also am intrigued by overnight oats. Maybe I'll set that up tomorrow morning and have it for dinner when I get home from work. Gonna find out if I like soaked-but-not-cooked oatmeal.

Wylie mixed me a strong drink last night. Heh. It was fun and this morning I'm wondering why I did it. But no hangover, really. Just slightly sleepier than I usually am and I woke up an hour later than usual. And when I got to work I was all "Everyone quit talking" for a few minutes. But all is normal now.