Journal for Health

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

Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, carolve, Heather McDougall

Re: Journal for Health

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:48 am

You're being so domestic...I loved that phase of my life, raising my kids and being a homemaker. I wasn't McDougalling then but...

enjoy all that polenta! I love the stuff. :nod:
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: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:49 am

I try my best at the homemaking stuff, lol. It was a lot easier before I started McDougalling. You can cook anything from scratch and make it taste good with cheese, meat, oil, and gloppy cream of something soup. I still cook SAD meals for my family, but not as heavy like I used to. And more often than not, my vegan meals I try to make off the cuff fail miserably. It's a learning curve. I'm getting better at it. I wish Jan Tz was still on the boards because I use her recipes more often than not. They are simple and work well as side dishes for the meat eating family. I made her ginger bread quick bread this morning. She used white flour, but I use wheat. It turns out denser, but oh so good.

I'm reading through the AA Big book in support of my sister who is a recovering alcoholic. One thing that struck me was it said that the only kind of alcoholic that struggles the most with getting sober was the one that cannot be honest with himself. Such as, "I'm not that bad" or "this stuff really doesn't apply to me", and so on. It put me in mind of something someone once said on the boards here. I'm paraphrasing, and I also can't remember who said it, but it was something like, "the people who fail at McDougalling are mostly the ones who come here hoping the diet will cure their emotional problems, like anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. While good food can certainly help, those kind of things need to be addressed for what they are and proper treatment for them sought. Two different scenarios for failure, but I see a bit of myself in both. I think if I separate these thing out, instead of hoping for a one shot cure all, I have a better chance to succeed. Such as, I really AM middle aged. I really AM very out of shape and not healthy. I DO have very high cholesterol. These things can be best addressed with a no oil vegan diet and exercise. On the other side of things, I DO struggle with depression and anxiety. Learning better ways to cope, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, will address the root of the problem in a positive way than masking it with a food binge.

Like last night. We were making the rounds at my son's school open house and they had a cookie table set up. I know that if I eat one cookie, it will turn into three. So, I lied to myself and and took one cookie thinking I would be able to stop. Nope. One turned into three. :duh: Had I just been honest with myself and my inability to eat only one non compliant cookie, I would have stayed on plan. Live and learn.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:07 am

I got blood work done this morning. I've just been playing around with this eating since April, going on and off it as the mood strikes. But now I've committed to giving it a full three months then having my numbers checked again. I'm praying they will be low enough by then to keep me off the statins. My Dad takes them and suffers so many side effects. He'd rather take the statins though, rather than give up his greasy junk food. I used to think this way, too. Then the good Lord created google and now I can read with my own eyes where all this junk food gluttony ends up. And it ain't pretty. :eek:

If I lose 10-15 pounds, I can get my bmi down around the 19-20 range. It's 22 now. And keep up with the exercising. I love the walking but hate weight training. I'm going to have to think of something else. Maybe yoga or pilates? It has to be something I can stick with long term. I want to establish routines and habits so that food and exercise pretty much go on auto and I won't have these on and off periods where I overthink everything all the time.

Today's Eats

Breakfast (late, after blood work)

polenta fried in a dry non stick pan, topped with cooked apples and cinnamon

Lunch

Last of the spicy beans over baked potatoes

Dinner

vegetable soup, whole wheat bread
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:16 am

Oh, I am just so happy. :D I just got my starting blood work results back. I had feared the worst, since I've only been McDougalling by half measures since April. While all my numbers have improved, I wanted to post my cholesterol results:

March

Total: 224
Triglyceride: 114
HDL; 56
VLDL: 23
LDL: 145

September

Total: 200
Triglyceride: 97
HDL; 52
VLDL: 19
LDL: 129

Still high, of course, but they are THE LOWEST NUMBERS I HAVE SEEN IN 30 YEARS!! It's one thing to read about how well this diet allows our bodies to heal, but it's quite another to experience it first hand. So of course, I'll be sticking with this and will check my numbers again in about 3 months. :D
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby Yomom » Fri Sep 28, 2018 3:15 pm

Congratulations, keithswife! Your efforts are paying off!
Kathy
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby choufleur » Fri Oct 05, 2018 1:27 pm

Congratulations on your better numbers! How great that must feel!

Regarding your earlier comment about weight training - this is something I didn't really enjoy for many years. I would make myself go to the gym and do it, but I mostly dreaded it. But last year I joined a pilates studio and I LOVE it. I don't do any weight training anymore in a gym and now use the pilates classes as my strength workouts. I love how it challenges my body and makes me feel strong (something I never got from traditional weight training). Just some thoughts. :)
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby Idgie » Fri Oct 05, 2018 2:39 pm

Image
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby VegSeekingFit » Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:02 pm

Congratulations!!! That's inspiring!! Rock on!! :cool:
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:02 am

I just feel better, too. I'm going to keep at this long term and see how low those numbers can go. 8)

choufleur, I might try pilates. I tried them years ago and quit because they took effort. Yes, I am that lazy :D However, anything beats weight training as far as I"m concerned.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:24 am

Time to dust off this old journal and get back to work. Too many cheats here and there have gotten me no where but fatter and off track. Thankfully, I'm still alive and breathing, so I get another chance to start over. :D

Our lovely fall weather that we usually have in November never showed up this year. We have gone straight into winter, with lots of cold rain and snow. Brrr! I still have to get out there and walk, though. This staying wrapped up on the couch in a blanket is doing me no good. I was doing a lot of horseback riding, but the weather but a stop to that too. So, the horse gets a vacation with lots of hay, and I get to pull on my boots and walk before the arthritis takes over and seizes up my joints for good. I can't wait. :angry:

I also need to dust off my McDougall cookbooks. I've gotten so lazy with the cooking. I need some new ideas.

Yesterday's Eats:

Breakfast; coffee, not hungry
Lunch: microwaved sweet potato, microwaved cauliflower
Dinner: oatmeal, just too tired to fool with anything

Today So far:

Breakfast: skillet dish with potatoes pan fried in a dry skillet, topped with baked beans and spinach
Lunch: Chili made with beans and bulgur
Dinner: not sure. My son's orchestra concert is tonight. I'm hoping the chili fills me up and I can get by with fruit and bread when we get home
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby Idgie » Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:14 am

I like your attitude. Every day's another chance to get it right. I'm cheering you on!
Idgie, Southern CA
My recipes (mostly MWL) are at https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=58361&p=586527#p586527
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:33 am

I stayed on plan yesterday. I am already starting to feel better. I did end up going for a 20 minute walk. I'll try to get the same in today.

I'm starting to experiment with portion size. Since I'm an "easy keeper" as we say in the horse world, I don't need that much food to maintain my weight. Also, I noticed when I try to eat the same plant sized portions as I do with SAD food, I end up being uncomfortably stuffed. So now I try to pare down the portions and get in a better variety of food. Like, instead of stuffing down a huge bowl of chili, I'll have a small portion with a roll and a bit of salad. I like that better. But since I've been a glutton most of my life, this has been a challenge. I am working on it. :-D

Today's eats:

Breakfast: toasted whole wheat roll with strawberry jam, a handful of almonds, coffee
Lunch: carrot sticks and a small bowl of leftover chili, apple slices
Dinner: might be eating out. If we stay in, I'll make chicken fried rice for the family and veggie fried rice for me. I'll toast mine in a dry pan with a bit of soy sauce
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Sun Dec 02, 2018 12:22 pm

I have stayed compliant the past few days, and I'm starting to feel better. It takes about four days after a long period of SAD eating for my body to clean out all the sludge and get energy back. I did go out for my birthday last night. I ate vegan, but with oil. Not too bad. And I'm eating less and slower, which is an amazing feat for me. My favorite food of all time is deep fried clams slathered with tartar sauce. That hit of salt and fat hits my brain and I eat as much as quickly as I can. But WFPB, my brain says, "meh", and I can eat like a normal person. I could get used to eating normally. I'm sure my heart will thank me for it.

Today's Eats

B: 1 cup of mixed berries mixed in a bowl of oatmeal
L: leftover seitan BBQ sandwich from the restaurant, and baked fries
D: veggie "fried" rice, baked sweet potato
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby keithswife » Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:21 am

I'm struggling so much with insomnia. It takes forever for me to fall asleep, and then I can't stay asleep for more than a couple of hours at at time. And if I try to nap, I can't fall asleep either. I think the amount of coffee I drink is part of the problem and lack of good exercise is the other part. And I'm driving my poor husband crazy because he get to put up with me being moody and grouchy from lack of sleep. Plus all the complaining I do about being tired. Heck, I'm driving myself nuts just typing all this out. :duh: So, the plan is to cut back to just my morning cup of jo and see how that helps. Also, to get my fragile butt outside in the cold and walk. It won't kill me, and I have the warm clothes for it. It will even be worth it if I can get some quality sleep.

Today's Eats

B: bowl of corn chex cereal with soymik (only had time for something quick)
L: broccoli in a spicy peanut sauce with a sweet potato
D: hmmm...I want some kind of comforting casserole. I'll have to see what I can come up with.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf
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Re: Journal for Health

Postby Amberlicious » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:10 pm

I can relate to your insomnia, having had insomnia really bad earlier in my life. I can sleep now, but I have to take a melatonin first otherwise I won't get to sleep. My goal is to stop taking that eventually, but not right now. I have sleep apnea and a very active brain, so it will take some time.

I am really sensitive to caffeine and stay away from it starting 8 hours before bedtime. It takes a long time to get out of your system.

Good luck! I hope you find a solution to your problem. Bad sleep is a life destroyer. You deserve to feel rested. :)
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