Annette's Journal

[AnnetteW]

One thing I tried to veer away from since being on McDougall plan is checking my blood sugar. I do know I have a tendency towards a bit higher blood sugar and perhaps I'm a bit conflicted over whether or not I should be watching it.

I think this thread on checking blood sugar may be of value to you. As you will learn, our recommendation on frequency of checking is not just our recommendation, but that of most major health organizations.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=59097

There are lots of things we can focus on, each of which takes energy. Our goal is to help you see which ones deserve the most attention so you don’t waste your energy, efforts and time.

In Health
Jeff

Thanks Jeff. It kind of freaks me out knowing you are checking up on us, but that really is good. I'll check out your links later when I have time to focus on them. I did just now order some new test strips and perhaps I'll just use them to make sure my morning fasting numbers are in order.

Now that you know I'm a total nut case (literally and figuratively)

[JeffN]

[Thanks Jeff. It kind of freaks me out knowing you are checking up on us, but that really is good.

In Health
Jeff

[AnnetteW]

I'm not totally sure my plan for today. One thing I know is that I'm taking a nice exercise break today and tomorrow. I worked out hard last week and I want my body to recover well. I'll spend a little time with my hula hoop, but 15 min isn't really exercise, and we'll walk the dogs.

I keep saying I'm going to reread the Starch Solution book but I haven't gotten to it yet, I'm currently in trashy romance novel mode, and kind of tired of reading about nutrition.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - oats, pear, ground flax, blended soybeans

Lunch - lunch out with the ladies, probably a boring and expensive salad

Snack - I'll be starving when I get home so I will plan to eat some potatoes perhaps

Dinner - haven't even contemplated it yet

Perhaps this is why I become misguided on the weekends?

[AnnetteW]

Plan for today:

Breakfast: 1/2 c oats cooked, 1 pear, 2 T ground flax, blended soybeans

Lunch: I really could use a nice salad with some beans and airfried potatoes

Snack: pomegranate

Dinner: making an Indian dinner tonight for the kids coming over, not sure which all will be compliant for me, at the worst will be a touch of oil, but my husband is getting better about not using any oils. Dal (I'll make it 100% compliant as I love it), white rice, cauliflower dish, pakoras (I should skip these), sure there will be more

Exercise: none other that maybe walking the dogs, stretching, hula hoop

[AnnetteW]

Three lbs higher this morning from yesterday, that doesn't make me happy. I need to focus as much as possible this week so I can go into Thanksgiving strong.

I have an early morning appt. with the knee doctor. A month ago I went in, my knees hurting something rotten, had an MRI on the one that appeared to have a torn meniscus. The other just was patellar syndrome (runner's knee, whatever). Since I wasn't going to be seeing the dr. for a full month I decided to put much more effort into working out my knees, actually saying, what the heck and using them. So I've done a lot more cardio, like doing Spin and also more leg work at the gym, leg press machine and such, but I'm still not up to squatting. And of course, now my knees feel so much better. I feel almost silly going in today, but darn, I paid for that MRI I had, and am curious as to what it shows. So my knees just needed more exercise, lol.

Plan for this week - Lots of exercise. I will write out a schedule for myself and try to follow it. Foodwise - just do it, and stop the crap I'm doing.

Plan for today:
Breakfast - not really hungry right now but leaving the house early, so will have oats, berries, soybean slurry (time to buy soymilk)
Lunch - Definitely need a salad and some legumes, sorghum
Dinner - leftover Indian, will have some dal and making a sweetpotato/chickpea masala
Exercise - upper body weight, yoga class, spin on my own

[AnnetteW]

Yea, Knee is good. No torn meniscus and the insides all look good (quite nice to know). My knees hurt because they need more exercise, the knee caps are unstable and Dr. just wants me to keep building up those muscles. I can do that.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - 7 grain cereal (new one to try), banana, soymilk, ground flax
Lunch - salad, sorghum, beans of some sort, pear
Dinner - baked potato, vegan chili, some veggie side dish

Exercise - staying at home today and will decided what to do for a workout

[bunsofaluminum]

Yea, Knee is good. No torn meniscus and the insides all look good (quite nice to know). My knees hurt because they need more exercise, the knee caps are unstable and Dr. just wants me to keep building up those muscles. I can do that.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - 7 grain cereal (new one to try), banana, soymilk, ground flax
Lunch - salad, sorghum, beans of some sort, pear
Dinner - baked potato, vegan chili, some veggie side dish

Exercise - staying at home today and will decided what to do for a workout

Oooh sorghum! that is one tasty grain. I need to follow your example and get to the knee dr. See what ACTUALLY is going on in there. Meanwhile, upper body FTW!

[Ejeff]

Glad your knee is okay, that’s very good news. I just watched a video recently that even anyone with arthritis always does better with more movement and strengthening. So keep on trucking! I would like to try hoopla hoop one day too.

[AnnetteW]

Sitting here drinking my morning green tea. Hubby's coffee sure did smell good, but I have not succumbed to coffee since July 4. Over 4 months now, so no reason to start again. It's funny how it pops into my head at times. I was at Whole Foods yesterday, just browsing, and I thought about buying a coffee, then I thought about how I wouldn't be able to sleep at night then.

I really dislike Whole Foods. It's expensive and the atmosphere (at least in this upscale locale) is just not me. I walked up and down the aisles seeing if anything grabbed me, and it's still all junk food. Tons and tons of expensive packaged foods. Individual frozen meals for $5 a shot. Fruits and Veggies no one can afford. I'll stick to my own stores thank you.

So yes, with time the diet gets easier and just more normal. The non-compliant foods are still there, the cheats. I don't know why it's so hard to go all the way. I do hope it will get easier with time. I feel that the New Year will bring a bit of renewed energy also. But I don't want to feel like I'm waiting for that, because I'm not. But I hope to use it as a bit of a push, if that makes sense.

I still want to break that under 145 barrier, and will keep that forefront in my mind as we go into December. The past 2 months have been a bit of a wash for me. But maintaining is an art too. But 20 more lbs to lose is still a lot. Next year at this time I hope I'm not struggling with the last 10 lbs. A goal in my head has been to be at goal by my birthday in May, then really settle into my weight for the rest of the year. It's a goal at least.

I truly am thankful that I found my new way, even though I'm still floundering.

Plan for today

Breakfast - 7grain mixed cereal, apple, soymilk

Lunch - salad, baked potato with vegan chili

Dinner - I am going to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and bringing hummus/veggies and also my husband is making roasted veggies, which will have oil on them. I can easily skip turkey and my plan is to make small choices and not eat too much. I also absolutely have to watch the wine, as I'm not safe around what I call "free flowing wine." I do not want to feel gross tonight. The wine is more of a struggle to me than the food. I might allow myself to have a glass during dinner (none before dinner) and then perhaps a 2nd. But 2 is my limit. And that's if I chose to have any (ha ha...I will, I know myself).

I'm not always the best at setting limits and boundaries. I'm very much an all or nothing sort of person, which is difficult when it comes to food. I've done quite well saying NO MEAT, NO DAIRY, at home at least. Even a smidge of oil pops into the occasional dish, though extremely rarely. I love to cook Indian and 1 t of oil to cook the spices in....darn, it really isn't needed. See, I'm always fooling myself. I know better, but I still do things I shouldn't.

Well, I plan on enjoying my day, luckily Thanksgiving food isn't my favorite, but dessert is.

[AnnetteW]

Our Whole Foods is too noisy and hipster-irritating for me, so I've only been there once in five years. And then the one thing I went for (Woven Wheats, a fat-free version of Triscuits) was stale and rancid! I was so disappointed.

I agree with your description, noisey and hipster, eek, so totally not me.

Since it's now like a 4 day weekend, I won't post my eating plans as it's just a bit more difficult and I don't actually have a plan at this time. I'll just focus on appropriate foods at home, eat some salads too (been lazy about that) and come Monday I'll be back to my normal planning. Don't worry, I won't go off the rails or anything, I just don't want to plan.

I had fresh homemade sourdough bread for breakfast with my own homemade hummus (that I brought along for Thanksgiving). I made an extra loaf for the hostess, wrapped it up all pretty. She has company staying at her home so I hope they eat the bread for breakfast today.

My husband and I want to do a little junking out in spots around the house, the deepest closets that we never see. Sounds like a plan for me. We've been binge watching "Hoarders" lately and feel motivated to do a little work, then realize how little we actually have, minus those deep dark recesses (corners of the basement come to mind too.) I hate junking out.

Okay, off to start my day and enjoy my weekend with my spouse.

[bunsofaluminum]

Oh Hoarders! What a trainwreck...you don't really WANT to watch, but you can't turn away. As long as they don't feature animal hoarders, I have my days of bingeing on that one, myself. But I can't watch the crazy cat owner ones AT ALL. Sounds like you made the energy of that show into work for your own "hoard" LOL

Whole Foods: Same. I don't go in there. Things are overpriced, I'm never dressed for it (me=dorky Boomer not EVEN in style) and I can't get into health food stores that carry so much processed stuff. I'd rather just shop in the produce section at my favorite grocery store.

[VeggieSue]

Whole Foods: Same. I don't go in there. Things are overpriced,

The store closest to us is still an hour away through city (and Holland & Lincoln Tunnel) traffic, but when desperate for sweet potatoes, they're the only store that sells Hannah & Garnet yams and Japanese sweet potatoes that don't smell like fish (Our local Asian store is the most popular fish seller, and that smell permeates *everything * in the store, especially all the fresh produce), and pretty decent plain old orange sweet potatoes. Since Amazon took over, the price of those spuds dropped from $3.99/lb to only $1.99, cheaper than mealy, funky looking orange sweet potatoes in all our local grocery stores and produce markets. The only other thing we get there when I have freezer room is a bunch of bags of frozen baby Brussels sprouts. They're so tasty compared to what our local stores sell.

I'm never dressed for it (me=dorky Boomer not EVEN in style)

Same here. Everyone else is either dressed for the gym or in business suits (We've within spitting distance of NYC) and here's dorky Boomer me in Disney t-shirts, jeans that aren't ripped nor are so skin tight you can't bend over in them, and when weather permits, a nice warm coat, not a designer sweatshirt jacket when it's 20 degrees outside.

and I can't get into health food stores that carry so much processed stuff.

I've been shopping my local HFS since the early 1970's when it first opened. Back then they sold lots of produce, beans & grains in bulk, and was the only place that had salt-free foods, like canned tomatoes and bread. Now it's mostly vitamins, essential oils, organic cosmetics, and oh yeah, some food, mostly frozen organic and/or vegan processed ones. They do have a small gluten-free section, and they sell the Tinkyada brown rice pasta for $1.50 less than the grocery store does, so I do still go to the HFS for that and some Bob's Red Mill grain products. When we do go to Whole Foods, we can be in and out in 15 minutes, even if there's a line at the registers, because we buy so few items there.

I'd rather just shop in the produce section at my favorite grocery store.

I can hit up every chain grocery store and mom & pop produce stand in town and still come home empty-handed, produce around here has been so bad in quality lately. I couldn't even find decent potatoes or sweet potatoes the week before Thanksgiving, and that's usually when all the good stuff appears in large quantities. And now with romaine once again gone from the shelves (and most other lettuce, too, just to be safe), a large portion of the produce section has been quite bare in spots, too. Thanks goodness for frozen and dried/dehydrated foods!

[AnnetteW]

I still haven't even tried the other types of yams. I did buy purples ones once and they were good. I guess yams are okay, super sweet and all, but I'm still really digging the potatoes.

I guess it's time to start trying a few new things also. So I shouldn't feel "weird and out of place" in some of those stores (whole foods). We do shop at the Asian market regularly and I'm more than willing to try different greens and mushrooms, and they do have different yams too. And we love our Indian market and buy different veggies there too.

I've been a bit lax these past few days and really enjoying the feeling. It's so easy to just not eat animal products. I really have to continue to do that, and even continue to pursue the whole vegan lifestyle. I'm not there yet, and I'm sure I'll continue to make lots of mistakes, but I'm definitely headed that direction.

Forcing myself to watch a few shows which include slaughterhouse footage is so painful. I did the other day and was literally choking and gasping through gut wrenching sobs. Images like that and my natural reaction kind of tell me I'm not meant to be eating the meat. Not when I can peaceful and happily eat plant foods. And the fact that it has nothing to do with the fact that I might think cooked meat tastes good or not, it does taste good....but I can't stomach it emotionally, well, that's the direction I have to go.

For awhile there I was getting tired of daily salads and greens, but that's coming back. And I'm already thinking of doing the morning green smoothies again in the Springtime. Perhaps that would be a nice seasonal breakfast for me. The oats are still satisfying, though I'm also doing the 7 grain cereal. Currently I've added back the chia seeds to my morning cereal (I tend to alternate with ground flax, which I'm currently out of). Adding some hemp seeds to my salad and enjoying sunflower seeds in the shell.

I seriously feel better with the seeds added. Oh, I did eat almond butter too yesterday on my homemade whole wheat sourdough bread. But no, I'm not losing weight at this time. And yes, I want to lose weight, but then the restrictions will have to come back into play.

I've even slacked off on the exercise, and low and behold, I AM LESS HUNGRY! That is a difficult one, and I just realize there are so many things I want to do and exercise takes up most of my morning, so I have to do a bit less of it, or figure out a better schedule. Today I'll go do yoga and some weights.

In a few days the new book from Dr. Greger comes out, I'm looking forward to it, I think it will give me a bit of new diet motivation. That's what I'm currently lacking, the motivation, but I'm really enjoying the maintenance and just eating.

[Lyndzie]

You guys are so funny about Whole Foods! I used to work there for six years. Each store has it’s own unique clientele. My husband was actually one of my customers, LOL! He totally suckered me in with his nice dress pants and shiny shoes, and now he’s self-employed rehabbing houses in carhartt and flannel. What I loved about my store is that all walks of life would shop there, and everyone was welcome. A passion for health was the common thread.

[AnnetteW]

You guys are so funny about Whole Foods! I used to work there for six years. Each store has it’s own unique clientele. My husband was actually one of my customers, LOL! He totally suckered me in with his nice dress pants and shiny shoes, and now he’s self-employed rehabbing houses in carhartt and flannel. What I loved about my store is that all walks of life would shop there, and everyone was welcome. A passion for health was the common thread.

What a sweet story, I love it. My favorite Whole Foods used to be in my own stomping grounds, then they moved, and the locale is just out of my area. Our community has a lot of really upscale yuppy areas, and I'm just more down to earth. I need to feel comfortable where I shop, and in that location I don't feel comfortable. My own issues I guess. But it was my mistake not to look for sweet potatoes.

Yesterday I started to watch the new interview with Dr. McDougall and one of the first questions was about why some people don't lose weight on this diet, and the first words out of Dr. McDougall's mouth were that they cheat. Slap me hard across the face with some wet noodles...he is 100% right, and I know it, he knows it, and I haven't even denied my own cheating.

For the most part my "cheats" are nuts and seeds and tofu and avocado. Heck, those are decent cheats. Eating out I try my best. I'm basically satisfied with what I'm doing, though it's not perfect.

So last night I FINALLY started to reread MWL on my kindle in bed, and something did grab me. Basically my primary issue continues to be hunger after lunchtime. That is when I succumb to things like bread with almond butter and honey, and I'm not just talking one slice here. Personally, I'm often amazed that I don't weigh a lot more than I do, I can really pack in the food.

What grabbed me was that he wrote if you are still hungry, your body is craving more carbs. A giant salad with beans and even potatoes is not enough carbs???? Logically I would think it is, but perhaps for my body it is NOT!!! I have no problem later in the evening eating a smaller dinner, but dang, I can sure pack it in during the day.

So that's what I'm going to do. In fact I will try a larger breakfast, instead of 1/2 cup of oats (before cooking) I'll increase to 3/4 cup for instance. And I will eat whatever I choose as my lunch, but be prepared to eat a large bowl of oats or such the moment I get my carb craving. We'll see what happens, if I can stop this cycle.

If I'm out of the house it doesn't seem to happen, so that tells me it's more mental than anything, but not eating isn't helping, I can't fight it. JeffN and Dr.Lisle said it's not cramming if it's compliant food (I'm still not 100% sure about that, but I'll accept their knowledge.) I can be confused about that I too.

Right now I have a pot of barley cooking on the stove. One cup thick rolled barley. I'll eat a large portion for my breakfast, and plan on having the other half after lunch. We'll see what happens.

I will really focus on the starches, focus focus focus...that's my new word.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - Barley, blueberries, dash of stevia and salt

Lunch - leftover dal and Indian spiced cabbage

Snack - Barley cooked with an apple

Dinner - black beans in tacos, or over butternut squash, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa

Exercise - Yoga, weights, hula hoop class tonight