McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

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

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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby moonlight » Wed Apr 17, 2019 6:52 am

Hi Salo,
I hope you get out of pain today. Those nerves around the teeth are so sensitive.
You are doing so well with your diet plan. :)
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:37 am

Day 7

My 7th day started with an endodontic treatment. I had such a pain before I visited the dentist that I cried and screamed. Now the nerves of this tooth are dead. Right after the treatment I was finally - so far - out of pain. Had a huge portion of whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce yesterday in the evening and hope the eating part will improve from now on.

Bottom line of week 1
Although weight loss wasn't my main aim I didn't lost weight but actually body fat. I reduced my body fat from 31% to 29,2% - that's why I appear thinner but still weigh the same as on day one.

Since weight loss wasn't the main aim, I did not care much about being completely SOS free.
I used to salt my foods and the store bought hummus had some oil as well. I will try to eliminate them in the next week.

I noticed my recovery heart rate is much lower than it was on KETO. Now my heart rate is between 60 and 67.

As you can see I did not exercise. I don't want to excuse, but my toothache wouldn't allow me to. Hopefully the pain should now be gone and I want to start Pilates next week. :)
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby OneLeggedPig » Thu Apr 18, 2019 3:31 am

Hi Salo,

It's good to see your efforts and dedication here, well done.

Just to note regarding SOS- small amounts of salt and sugar are permitted on the McDougall diet, if added on top of food at the table (or they might be in a sauce that you like, like sweet chilli). Definitely do cut the oil out though.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby bunsofaluminum » Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:22 am

Ooh, sorry to learn about that toothache! there's nothing worse, IMO. Hopefully it's resolved soon.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Fri Apr 19, 2019 12:58 am

Thanks OneLeggedPig. I only use salt on the table as a topping for my foods. But I feel I use it to often.
You are sooo right, bunsofaluminum. Toothache is a nightmare.

Day 8

No brekfast, since I wasn't hungry. Instead of eating in the morning I seem to prefer preparing my lunch, lol. I took a big jar of cooked and cooled down potatoes, carrots, parsnip, cucumber and hummus to work. I ate one half at 11.30 am and the second at 2 pm.

Later at home I was too ambitious about the frozen kale I bought before, lol.
I prepared a big portion of cooked potatoes and kale, but I underrated the oats I used to thicken everything up. I could barely finish half of my bowl. But the meal as such was simply great.

Today I made a somehow strange experience.
It was the first time I talked to my sister about my blood levels and the maybe-cancer-diagnosis. Actually I didn't want to talk to my family about it before the second blood test is done. But she had the feeling something was wrong and so she called and I told her. First she was shocked and worried, then she got somehow...I would say upset. My sister still follows a ketogenic diet and it seemed she didn't want to hear about the consequences. Instead of this she found friendly words for "Well, then this is YOUR fault and it has nothing to do with the diet itself." Then she told me she does OMAD ("one meal a day") and feels great. I told her about the McDougall plan and explained it on examples. But all she replied, in a nutshell, was that carbs and starches will kill me and that Keto would be the only way to stop cancer.

For me it was the first time I experienced a kind of resistance from my family. Did it really have to come to that? Of course she told my parents and my mother sent me a wall of text about how dangerous a meatless way of eating is. Sine you don't know them in person you may not understand the cutting irony here. First, my sister follows a ketogenic diet five days a week and then fasts for the weekend. She, a mother of two, tells me it is okay to have only 500 cals daily...the body doesn't need more. :roll: Second, I'm sorry to say this but my mother suffers from several diseases and is obese. And she wants to tell me I need eggs and meat for my health?! I really don't want to appear disrespectful. I love my sister and my mother, but right at the moment they are my "anti-motivation" not to go back to eggs, meat, milk and so on. When an adult person tells you vegetables are bad for your health..well, how brainwashed is our world then already? :(
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:51 pm

Sorry to hear about the family turmoil, Salo.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:51 am

Thank you, Lyndzie. I expected that one time...but actually not right at the beginning.

Day 9

In my opinion this was a quite good day.
For breakfast I had nothing. Like usual I wasn't hungry in the morning. Early lunch was then cooked brown rice with frozen asian vegetables. I put all together in a pan and fried it with 1 tbsp of my less salt soy sauce. That was tasty!

Since I was in the mood for some prep, I cooked onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste and Dijon mustard with a lot of great spices for one hour and then blended everything to a sauce. After it cooled down I filled the sauce in an ice cube tray and now I have some hearty gravy on hand, whenever I need it. :nod:

We've spent the day with my parents in-law. Sat together in their garden, enjoyed some coffee and the good weather.

For dinner I had potatoes, red bell-pepper, corn and kidney beans with some of that sauce. Amazing!

Later that evening I had two slices of dinkel sandwich with hummus and cucumber. Since the store bought hummus had oil, I prepared my own earlier today. Just made from chickpeas, lemon juice and spices.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:15 pm

Day 10

Today I prepared a second sauce which I stored in an ice cube tray. I made this sauce from corn, potatoes and sundried tomatos. Didn't add any spices, because it's super sweet and tasty. I hope I can use it for my son's meals or my stews.

Like usual, I had no breakfast. My husband found vegan bread rolls at our bakery and they were quite big. So I had one with my homemade hummus and some cucumber for my first lunch and the other one with hummus and tomatos for second lunch. In the evening I just boiled some potatoes and warmed up 2 cubes of my gravy I prepared yesterday. It's very interesting how filling the gravy is by itself.

Also in the evening I bought The McDougall Program for Women on this site and started to read. Very interesting! I would recommend it to every woman. But, not only because of the book, I feel flooded with information. Usually I am browsing through the recipes of this page and also found some journals which I am reading from beginning to the end. But recently I started to read the answers of JeffN on particular questions. The books, the forum, the Jeff-topics... it's obvious, it's necessary. But it's interesting and scaring at the same time. I feel like "the wisdom of the world" is shared with me and I am not able to implement all this information in my daily foods. Do you know what I mean? Currently I feel like I'm doing it "okay" but not good enough for achieving health benefits - which was actually the plan of these four weeks. I feel like I'm that close to doing good but still too far away from doing it right, lol. Does that make any sense? It's really difficult to describe for me...

And at this point I start to stress myself.
It was so easy to change and a great experience so far. But with each additional information I read about I feel like I am worlds apart from the actual McDougall plan. And I start to feel bad about my food choices as well. While boiling some potatoes I start to think quinoa would have been the better choice. While eating kale I think broccoli would have been the better choice, and so on.

This whole thing felt so good and right at the beginning. Now it starts to get terrifying... :-(
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Lyndzie » Sun Apr 21, 2019 7:06 am

When feeling overwhelmed, here is an article that can help you feel better:

High Quality Foods: How To Optimize Your Food & Nutrient Intake or
How Much Kale Does It Really Take To Reach Nutrient Nirvana?
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=28413#p283877

It definitely can be a lot to absorb. You’re doing great already.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:14 am

Thank you, Lyndzie. I've read this yesterday evening and you were right - afterwards I felt better.

Day 11

It's Easter and we are usually invited on Sunday and Monday to my parents in-law. On Sunday they usually serve white asparagus, with potatoes, hollandaise and cutlets. On Monday they usually make a big barbecue for the family. So I was afraid how I will 'survive' those days...

As usual I did not have breakfast. I already was quite nervous about the family meal. My in-laws are somehow sensitive when it comes to family meetings and cooking for everybody. Difficult to explain but especially my father in-law feels offended quickly if you dislike something. I haven't talked to them about my current WOE - I wasn't even sure if I could eat like this by myself! And then there was no opportunity to talk about it plus actually I am not that kind of person that needs to inform the whole world. I never did so, whether I was on a diet or followed a real plan like Keto.

They really spend a lot of time decorating the whole garden, the table and so on. Usually we have good weather around Easter and so it is, besides some coffee drinking or cake eating outside, the first family meal outside in their garden. It's a big thing for them and they want it to be perfect. My first strategy was: Hoping they don't see it. :mrgreen: So I put potatoes, asparagus and some mixed vegetables on my plate and tried not to arouse the attention. But as soon as all wanted to start my mother in-law looked at my plate: "Wait, Salo has no cutlet yet. And where is the hollandaise?" My husband peeved me the whole morning that it will be so funny watching me explaining his parents I don't eat meat. I didn't expect any help from him but then he said: "Remember? Salo had an endodontic treatment. It is not finished yet. She cannot eat the cutlet. And she has to be careful with that sauce because of the infection in her mouth." Everybody was instantly understanding and quiet and started to eat.

Later when the men were plaing soccer with my son I tried to continue the conversation about my eating with the truth. I explained my mother in-law that I had real bad blood levels at my latest test and that I really have to do something about it. I told her that I am following a plantbased way of eating for almost two weeks now and that I am starting to feel better. She was understanding and also curious. "So after a month, will you eat dairy and meat again?" And I replied honestly. "I don't know, yet. I am not missing anything at the moment and I feel I am doing something good for my body. But to be honest, I don't know what I will do after this 4 week-experiment."

When we sat together again for some coffee my mother in-law took over the planning for the barbecue and said to her husband. "We will need some jacket potatoes for tomorrow. And do we have enough vegetables to prepare a colourful salad?" He was confused. "You already prepared a big bowl of your potato salad." And she said "But there is eggs and mayonnaise in it. Salo can't eat this. End of discussion." I felt terrible and thought I caused discomfort. But then I had the idea. "I could make a salad as well. For the barbecue I am usually in charge of the bell-pepper salad. I will just leave out the cheese if it's okay for you? And for honesty's sake: I already left out the oil for years. :mrgreen: " We all had to laugh and my mother in-law was impressed how I could prepare the salad without oil the rest of the day. (side note: This salad is usually made with lot's of oil, but one day I hadn't enough oil in the house and so I just combined water and vinegar and brought the quantities to perfection over the years. I found out that although the oridinal recipe contains a lot of oil you never taste that oil - so why using oil at all?)

In the evening I cooked some whole-wheat pasta and warmed up 2 cubes from the corn-potato-dried tomato tray in the freezer. Afterwards I prepared the salad. The cutting work takes some time but I like to prepare food that way. Years ago at school I had cooking lessons. My teacher always set great value upon such cutting work. Everybody was hacked off but I actually saw the difference. Everybody was like "It will end up in your stomach anyway" but I liked to say "You eat with your eyes first." :) So I always look if my cut vegetables "fit together". And for the salad I cut a lot of bell-peppers in tiny cubes or stripes so they fit together with the bulgur or rice or what you actually want to use. I used rice yesterday so I made tiny stripes, lol.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:10 am

(Already) Day 12

It's late afternoon over here and so I can already sum up day 12. Like usual no breakfast. Around 12 pm we went over for the barbecue and it started great. No dairy and no meat for me, fully on plan with my homemade salad, jacket potatos and even roasted peppers. Unfortunately I couldn't say no a glass of wine during the barbecue and also not no to a dish of red berry compote with custard sauce. :o

I'm so glad Easter is over now. Although I didn't find it difficult to follow this way of eating, I have to confess it's occasionally difficult to stay on track. This afternoon nobody forced me to drink wine or eat the compote with custard sauce, but I didn't want to exclude myself either. Now at home I am angry with myself, because I do know nobody would have said anything if I just declined both. But during these moments my head was looking for some stupid excuses like "Oh everybody will think you are somehow strange" or "It's impolite to decline the compote your sister in law prepared for everybody."There was no social pressure - I created the pressure on my own. And I am angry because I absolutely know this.

But like I said, let's check off Easter for this year. Tomorrow is a new day and it's also the first day of my short vacation. I'm planning to start Pilates and my husband asked if we could do a little hiking in the Harz mountains as well. (I live ~30 mins away from them). I really need to get off my backside, lol.

This evening I will eat some leftovers from my salad while watching Game of Thrones. I hope this distracts me enough not to stay angry the whole evening.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby sirdle » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:24 am

Salo wrote:When we sat together again for some coffee my mother in-law took over the planning for the barbecue and said to her husband. "We will need some jacket potatoes for tomorrow. And do we have enough vegetables to prepare a colourful salad?" He was confused. "You already prepared a big bowl of your potato salad." And she said "But there is eggs and mayonnaise in it. Salo can't eat this. End of discussion."

You know your in-laws better than I... but this made me cry. The fact that she would back you up and defend you with no questions asked... and do so in a matter-of-fact way speaks to her affection for you and a very strong will. I like her. :-P
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:07 am

As long as you do not force her to eat the way she respects any way of eating, sirdle. :D But yes, she would always defend me like her own child. :nod:

Day 13

I started the day as planned with Pilates. (30 mins)
Afterwards I was hungry and had two slices of dinkel sandwich with my homemade hummus and tomatos for breakfast.

Since I had my breakfast quite late, I left out lunch.
We went to a lake for a little walk. (45 mins) I brought you some pics...

Image
Image
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In the evening I prepared a salad of greens beans, pinto beans, corn and peas. I used some salsa as a dressing and ate some of the salad with boiled potatos.
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Lyndzie » Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:26 am

Salo, I’m loving your journal and the candid observations you’ve posted in the other thread about your experience with keto. What is a dinkel sandwich? Also, the pictures you posted are lovely. What type of birds are those? Geese?
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Re: McDougalling for the next 4 weeks

Postby Salo » Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:42 pm

Dinkel is another word for spelt. The bread is made from spelt-flour. And you are right, Lyndzie, this is a little wild geese family. :nod:

Day 14

We all have been waiting for this day...okay, okay....at least I have been waiting. Why? Because it's time for a date with my scale! I was sooo curious what happened. When I look into the mirror my face is getting thinner and thinner. Last week the weight didn't go down but my body fat did. So for this week I can announce *drum roll* : 84,7 kg / 186,73 lbs

Little review so far
Start: 87 kg / 191,8 lbs --- 31% body fat
Week1 : 87 kg / 191,8 lbs --- 29,2 % body fat
Week2 : 84,7 kg / 186,73 lbs --- 29 % body fat

I cannot even remember when I was below 85 kg the last time, lol. Actually 85 kg was the weight when I was told "Congratulations, you are pregnant." From then on my weight went up and never really down again. So you maybe can imagine who was pleasantly surprised this morning in the bathroom. ;-)

My day started with Pilates. (30 mins) Afterwards I had some oats with a fresh Granny Smith apple for breakfast. We decided to go to the Harz mountains today, so I prepared some whole wheat pasta and combined it with my bean salad from the fridge for lunch.
Here are some pics for you again:

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This is the Wurmbergseilbahn. How do you call a "Seilbahn"? Ropeway? Cable car?

Image

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For dinner I had some iceberg lettuce with cucumber and tomatos and baked potatoes. Not very spectacular, but I like it simple. :)
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