Buns Again

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

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Re: Buns Again

Postby moonlight » Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:31 pm

Hi Buns,
I hope you are starting to feel better. Are you still staying away from FB? Why can't people just be kind? We are all hurting in some way from this pandemic. My husband started working from home in March. It has been stressful for him, surprisingly. I guess there's a layer of stress for all of us and then trying to work without your support people around makes it even harder. He freaks out if the internet drops out or the electricity goes out. He's not in sales or anything... Anyway, try to be kind to yourself. It sounds like you are. Hopefully, the nighttime eating will stop. That's a problem I struggle with from time to time. I've found eating a little quick cook oatmeal in the evening for a snack helps me sleep. Also, making sure I get plenty of greens in my diet.
Onward!
XO
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:17 pm

Hi Moonlight

thanks for dropping by.

Sorry about the pissy message before. I got on to say something about feeling a little energized and somewhat hopeful LOL and found my journal on the second page. And since I came to the discussion board with only a few minutes which is why the post is so short.

Anyway. I have been feeling better overall for the last couple of weeks. Still some mood swings pestering me, where I'll just sink suddenly and be so sad, and even crying. But! those sinks come in the middle of level, more "up" times, where for weeks and weeks I had been dragging through a deep apathy and lethargy, always on the verge of tears. It's very nice to be away from that constant drag, and feels like depression isn't as thick and heavy as it was. Like I'm coming out of it THANK GOD.

There are things coming together in other aspects of my life that have relieved some of it, as well. Some self acceptance. Some just acceptance of life as it is. Etc.

Still staying away from Facebook, though there are a couple of groups I'm in that I like to check on. Beekeeping and Zentangle. Good resources for both of those hobbies. And staying in touch with far away friends. Other than that, I scroll past. Avoiding the bad mood generator.

The 3:30 hunger pangs have gone away. I started having a Lundberg whole grain rice cake a couple of hours before bedtime and that's working.

Now I want to sit with paper and a pen and get some things written down. Goals, maybe. A schedule for exercise. Maybe food ideas. A list of what I want and what I can do. ??? Something besides the nothing I have been doing.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Jul 14, 2020 9:32 am

I'm still here. Mostly doing well mentally. Depression is just so boring. Glad to be pulling away from it.

I've been doing 10 minutes or so of deep visualization every day, thin in my mind and emotions. It is helping my mood a LOT. My self confidence is increasing, I'm starting to think about picking up DDPYoga again, eating until just satiated, choosing on-plan foods more often (or should I say choosing not to eat off-plan foods as often) ...

When your relationship with food is "Life is stressful, so I'll eat" a year like this one is doomsday :lol: :? The winter was already bleak and dreary, full of discontent and zero "calm acceptance" of the quiet part of the year, then a pandemic struck THEN a few racially motivated murders happened and riots reigned. At every turn, the stress burden made heavier and me all along trying to fight symptoms of a mental illness while at home my hubby and my mom were clashing. Yeah. Sucky year.

Another thing besides deep visualization has been staying off of Facebook (mostly)...at any rate, I've posted here and there, but I'm ignoring the comments, and scrolling past posts on either side of ANY of the shizz we're dealing with right now. I can't believe I have friends who are griping about wearing masks while out in public. Can't believe I have friends who are wholeheartedly embracing the Marxist ideology of the BLM organization (Black lives DO matter, 100% but the ORGANIZATION is Marxist and we should be very careful about their ideas for what our society needs.)

Getting on FB and reading everything puts me in almost an instant bad mood so...I'll post pics of birds, and there are a few pages with Zentangle focus that I visit a couple times a week. Ditching it has left me with more time for reading, which I hope will heal my attention span a little bit. Now to get Wylie to stop turning on the evening news.

Part of my issue also has been that I work a FT job on weekdays, and every weekend a PT job with three 5 hour shifts. That is to say, not a single day off. So a few weeks ago, I called in for that PT job and we went camping with my brother and his wife. Loved that! It lifted my spirits tremendously. And next week I have three days off from my FT job. We'll do something/go somewhere with that time.

Oh, also in June I got to go up to Idaho for a day to Bristol Cabins to visit my friend who was in town for her daughter's bday. THAT was a wonderful day. Also just spending time outside in the sunshine and creating Vit D. All of it adding up to relieve me of that foggy doldrums I've been in. These days off, these times of relaxing and socializing a bit, are anchors. I draw on them for good energy and that's helping, too.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby AnnetteW » Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:47 am

Popping in to say "hi" and I read back a bit. We're all in a weird place right now, it amazes me all the time to see our similarities in how we handle stress (not very well). I hope things settle down for you and you can stick to your plan.

So now I'm totally curious and will see what DDPYoga is. I started back to yoga a bit ago but haven't been consistent yet. I need to get a good workout schedule planned.

Take care.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:09 am

AnnetteW wrote:Popping in to say "hi" and I read back a bit. We're all in a weird place right now, it amazes me all the time to see our similarities in how we handle stress (not very well). I hope things settle down for you and you can stick to your plan.

So now I'm totally curious and will see what DDPYoga is. I started back to yoga a bit ago but haven't been consistent yet. I need to get a good workout schedule planned.

Take care.


Hi Annette,

thanks for visiting. My oomph for consistent exercise is pretty much non-existent. I'll do a few days in a row of a thing, and then just not do it one morning, and it takes many days in a row before I do another round of three or four days. :\ :|

Still here. Doing okay. I took three days off of work which was lovely. Three full days of zero job related anything. We were going to drive the RV up to Lava Hot Springs but the RV broke down on the way back from getting tires on the front. So my days off were a staycation. That's okay. One evening we went up and parked after sunset, trying to get a glimpse of the comet. No dice. But we made the mistake of heading up to the canyon about a half hour before sunset and the sky took forever to darken. When we left at 10:30 the horizon was still light, though we could see myriad stars up high and to the east. And it was fun just hanging around for a few hours, just Wylie and me.

My mental practice of visualizing myself thin continues daily. It makes a difference for my confidence levels, and I think my behaviors are changing. For instance, I'm going up the stairs without using the hand rail to haul myself up, and also eating just until satiated which is not that common for me. My food choices aren't that great yet, but I'm giving it time and keeping up the mental work. Depression isn't nearly as heavy as it was a few weeks back, though yesterday I got sad suddenly. Had a little cry and wrote in my journal, and felt better.

My hiatus from Facebook. I had two or three non-consecutive days of not even peeking at FB, and these days it just seems boring to me. I did spend some time in there the evening we went up and waited for the sun to set, but that was the first time I'd done any scrolling and responding in more than a week. It just...meh. Someone posts something stupid and I get ticked off, and the non-political, non-tick-offish stuff is a quick scroll. See friends pics, laugh at some comic, and done. It's boring. It's freed up some time for reading, and I feel like I'm healing my attention span ;)
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
by red squirrel

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The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ruff » Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:01 pm

Hi Buns. Its Katie/Ruff from the old days.

Facebook! I now never use it except for groups like "running with Footdrop" and stuff like that. I leave my home page firmly alone, and consider Facebook like a forum for groups I am interested in, and that's it. Its a horrid nasty toxic place that preys on my mind all day if I let it. My husband is a teacher and the poor kids nowadays are under so much pressure from all the different social media stuff, and it runs their lives. My kids are adults, and I am so glad they had a childhood before Facebook, although they are all on all these platforms now. having said that, recently my number 2 child, a son aged 28, committed "Facebook suicide" deleted his account and no longer uses any social media at all. He seems very happy with his decision, and it sort of gives me hope for the future. If all we all decide not to bother with it, it just becomes a place for the others to vent to their hearts content, but won't bother us at all, because we won't know about it!
Katie

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:37 pm

Hi Katie! How are you doing!?! I love seeing old friends here!

I agree about FB being toxic. I’m glad to say that it doesn’t run any of my kids lives and both of my boys don’t participate at all. My older girl gets wrapped up. Her idea of a good time is internet arguing but she limits herself to a set amount each day and does lots of things outside of FB or other social media so... and my youngest posts now and then. They’re raising their kids with strict social media limits which is good. But kids are going to be screen related till the end of time, I’m sure.

Letting everyone else vent about it is my exact policy. I can still see how my friends are doing without responding to every post.

Thanks for posting here :-D
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
by red squirrel

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The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:11 am

Okay, going to give this a legitimate go. No fooling around. Follow the MWL guidelines with zero cheats or flubs and see what actually happens. There's some stuff in my pantry to get rid of...we sure stocked up on snack foods when we came home to quarantine... and I want to put the check list up, so I can keep track of myself more diligently. I just can't go into my 60's with 100 extra lbs on my body! If I could even lose 10 by my b-day in December, I'd be elated. But I do know if I continue in the current trend, I'll be up by ??? lbs by then, so it's time to take action.

Self-discipline IS a thing, after all. :roll:

Huh, today's Monday so I might as well start now, right?

Back in a sec with the MWL checklist.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
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The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
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Re: Buns Again

Postby vegyluvver » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:23 am

I feel like we're on the same path. I'm not allowing myself to go off MWL. I keep reminding myself that if I don't stick to it I won't really know how well it works!
Val in SoCal
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:22 am

so I'll be checking these off. I bolded the ones I have been having troubles with. That trifecta of fat, salt, and sugar is DEFINITELY a hurdle for me. Pleasure Trap, anyone?

DAY ONE MENU

B: frosted mini wheats w. oatmilk and a banana
L: chili over baked potatoes
S: rice crackers
D: faux tuna w. veggie stix
Also had some fat free seaweed snacks SO YUM.

Program outlined in the MWL book, page 60.
1. Eliminate All Animal Foods :mrgreen:
2. Eliminate All Oils :mrgreen:
3. Eliminate All High Fat Plant Foods: Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, Seed Butters, Avocados, Coconut, & Olives. :mrgreen:
4. Eliminate All Flour Products ;)
5. Eat Whole Grains and Potatoes :mrgreen:
6. Eat Legumes :mrgreen:
7. Make Green & Yellow Vegetables One-Half to One-Third of your meal :oops:
8. Eat Uncooked Foods :mrgreen:
9. Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice :mrgreen:
10. Use Simple Sugar Sparingly :mrgreen:


I also wanted to include the healthy eating guidelines to remind myself "eat until satisfied" not "stuff your gut until you can't move"

Guidelines for Healthy Eating in MWL book, page 67.
1. Eat until you’re satisfied
2. Graze<<<<not sure about this one? I think I'll do better keeping it to two or three meals a day without constant nibbling
3. Allow time for digestion
4. Chew foods thoroughly
5. Restrict variety not sure about this one either. I'll do well to keep myself steady on the "no added fats" and "limit simple sugars" stuff.

Daily Activities for Mental Health
1. Visualization
2. Increase Happiness Chemicals in my brain

Image

hahaha wow that's big! But yeah, some practical things to do for my brain chemistry :)

3. Strictly limit social media; choose good things to listen to/watch. :nod:

It's shaping up to another "Zero Processed Challenge" isn't it. Plus helps for the emotional health.

Today is DAY ONE. I'm aiming to get through the end of August, just to check if I lose any weight by being strict with myself. Seems to me, when I did this the last time, I did take off three lbs in a month. Now I've gained it back plus 5 lbs so....Well anyway.

Current weight: 250...hell's bells, I'm up FIVE LBS from last week! Good grief. :\
I'll check back at the end of the day, see how I did.
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:13 am

DAY TWO MENU

B: frosted mini wheats w. oatmilk and a banana
L: a salad; rice and broccoli
S: rice crackers; chestnuts
D: faux tuna; veg sticks; rice cakes


Program outlined in the MWL book, page 60.
1. Eliminate All Animal Foods :mrgreen:
2. Eliminate All Oils :mrgreen:
3. Eliminate All High Fat Plant Foods: Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, Seed Butters, Avocados, Coconut, & Olives. :mrgreen:
4. Eliminate All Flour Products :|
5. Eat Whole Grains and Potatoes :mrgreen:
6. Eat Legumes :mrgreen:
7. Make Green & Yellow Vegetables One-Half to One-Third of your meal :mrgreen:
8. Eat Uncooked Foods :mrgreen:
9. Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice :mrgreen:
10. Use Simple Sugar Sparingly :mrgreen:


Guidelines for Healthy Eating in MWL book, page 67.
1. Eat until you’re satisfied
2. Graze/a snack or two
3. Allow time for digestion
4. Chew foods thoroughly
5. Restrict variety >>> I kind of do this naturally, as I batch cook and then eat that for meals for several days. I guess that counts as restricting variety.

Weight: 248 (Yesterday's weight was due to lots of sodium in my foods the day before)

Energy: feeling pretty good. I was up and doing early and have mental clarity. It's nice
Mood: neutral. I'm not elated, but not despairing. Going to go out in the sun for part of my lunch break today.
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:01 am

HEART DISEASE SOLILOQUY

Found out yesterday that my sister has heart disease, specifically super high cholesterol and plaques in her arteries. She is 51, athletic, and I'm talking triathlete, runs every morning for an hour, is super active with outdoor sports year round, has never been overweight, has never smoked or abused her body with drugs and alcohol. And she's had an infarction, discovered during testing. Oh. She also has been a vegetarian most of her adult life. Not vegan, and not low fat, but she avoids sat fats and processed foods. IOW, this woman is healthy, trim (I'd say her body fat is probably 15%), active, eats extremely well...and she's got clogged arteries.

And this is where genetics come in, because on my mom's side of the family, over several generations, there have been mid-50's "widow maker" heart attacks. That is, my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 56. My uncle, his son, died at the same age of the exact same thing. We've all been eyeballing my brother, as he is in his mid-50's now and obese...but it turns out my petite, fit, athletic, healthy little sister got "the gene." It's a worry, to be sure, but now she knows and the doctor told her in no uncertain terms "If you feel tired, if you have a persistent headache or sore/tired throat, or heavy arms, or nausea out of the blue, don't go lie down. Go to the hospital"

I recommended Caldwell Esselstyn's book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" but I don't remember if it addresses genetics. We talked about the environmental triggers of genetic predispositions in cancer. If she has the gene, but never consumes any added fats, including nuts, seeds, and avocados, will that decrease her cholesterol and wipe out some of those plaques? The cardiologist told her no, lifestyle alone doesn't really effect this genetic cholesterol thing. That book has images of a heart before and after...clearly visible, white lines of arteries fully clogged, vs. clear, dark, open arteries. So how about lifestyle with drugs? Could she get away with a smaller dose if she stayed completely away from oils?

We talked about that. Would cutting out all added fats and high fat foods make a difference for her? I don't know anyone more physically fit than my sister, yet she's got heart disease...Part of her diagnosis is Familial Hypercholesterolemia. FAMILIAL e.g. inherited, genetic. Does that REALLY mean that cutting fats would make ZERO difference?

This was discovered when she had a blood draw to check her estrogen levels...the lab tested for other things as well, including cholesterol, and found her numbers in the high 400's. This led her to having a checkup with a cardiologist, and they found plaques in her arteries, AND discovered an infarction in the veins of the heart's blood vessels. That is, they found damage in the tissue that nourishes the arteries themselves. It was a heart attack, but she never had any symptoms.

God this is scary.

Anyway, she said she'd read the book but also said the doc told her that lifestyle doesn't do much for this condition. I'd love to see her follow it for half a year and see what her arteries look like then. And of course, taking her cholesterol meds. :( I'm so worried.

This also confirms my commitment to just doing this, with no more cheats. I had my blood panels done in May, after she got her high cholesterol report. If it's familial...so I had to be sure. My cholesterol was smack dab in the middle of normal (lower than when I had it done in 2014 and was much more fully following the McDougall plan) Anyway. My numbers are normal across the board, so I'm not worried about my heart but I can't go through the rest of my life unable to take the dog for a walk because it'll kill my feet.

Time to get this effing thing done. Screw the Pleasure Trap. I'm getting out of it. Turning this stupid obesity around once and for all.
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
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:18 am

DAY THREE
B: frosted mini wheats; berries; banana; oat milk
L: salad; rice; Five Flavors dressing;
D: black beans; rice cakes
D2: veggie sushi (Included avocado :|)
S: two otter pops :|

Program outlined in the MWL book, page 60.
1. Eliminate All Animal Foods :mrgreen:
2. Eliminate All Oils :mrgreen:
3. Eliminate All High Fat Plant Foods: Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, Seed Butters, Avocados, Coconut, & Olives. :?
4. Eliminate All Flour Products :mrgreen:
5. Eat Whole Grains and Potatoes :mrgreen:
6. Eat Legumes :mrgreen:
7. Make Green & Yellow Vegetables One-Half to One-Third of your meal :mrgreen:
8. Eat Uncooked Foods :mrgreen:
9. Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice :mrgreen:
10. Use Simple Sugar Sparingly ;-)


Guidelines for Healthy Eating in MWL book, page 67.
1. Eat until you’re satisfied
2. Graze/a snack or two
3. Allow time for digestion
4. Chew foods thoroughly
5. Restrict variety

Going to focus on chewing thoroughly. That's so good for the digestion....saliva starts the process, so when the food hits the stomach, digestion has already begun.

Plans for making a big batch of dal today. Gosh that sounds SO good. And after work, going to my kids' place to help clean, as they are moving and want some part of their deposit back. But I have really good energy so that's not going to be a problem. Even my feet feel good today. Hmmm is it possible that eliminating fat works this fast? or is it just the random nature of my foot pain that comes and goes... hmph.

It feels like a good day :)
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:50 am, edited 2 times in total.
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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Posts: 6551
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ejeff » Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:25 am

Why would she listen to the doctor as opposed to changing her diet? Just because the doctor says what she eats will not matter, doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try clean eating. You say she is vegetarian so does she consume eggs and oil also? I’m with you and if I was in her shoes, I would eliminate all animal products and added fats for 3 to 6 months and repeat all tests.

Alternatively she could listen to this one doctor and risk early death. What does she have to lose really?

I wish her a full recovery.
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:45 am

Ejeff wrote:Why would she listen to the doctor as opposed to changing her diet? Just because the doctor says what she eats will not matter, doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try clean eating. You say she is vegetarian so does she consume eggs and oil also? I’m with you and if I was in her shoes, I would eliminate all animal products and added fats for 3 to 6 months and repeat all tests.

Alternatively she could listen to this one doctor and risk early death. What does she have to lose really?

I wish her a full recovery.


I'm with you Ejeff. It can't hurt to try and if it really doesn't bring her numbers down, no harm done. If it DOES work well hey! whadda ya know. She did say she'll read the book and yes, she never cut back on fats (though she doesn't eat deep fried foods, but olive oil and butter) and she has never eliminated eggs and some dairy/cheese so there is that, eh?

I'm just curious if the doc is right, and diet doesn't effect this genetic thing. Or is it like the cancer genes that stay dormant if they aren't triggered. If she doesn't trigger the gene by eating fat, will the plaques decrease? She might need meds, but she might be able to take reduced meds?
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
User avatar
bunsofaluminum
 
Posts: 6551
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:17 pm
Location: Ogden Utah

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