Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hi Annette,
I think you've got the right attitude about this. I felt like I really struggled all last year without making much progress. When I finally decided to just take a break, relax about it, then get started again, I feel so much better and I'm ready to work at this some more. I may have gained 3-4 lbs. over about 6-8 weeks. You may be up a couple of pounds but giving yourself permission to relax and acknowledge you need to relax a little is wise. Just be sure to not let your 'break' last too long.

Oh no...I didn't mean to make it sound like I was skipping out on the plan, actually not at all. Just do the plan and not think too much about it. I know what to do, I just think too much at times.

Oh good! I thought you might be headed down the slippery slope to SAD!!

When I just eat without thinking, I eat weird food, and definitely skimp on the veggies

Breakfast - oats, blueberries, oat milk, coffee with oat milk
Early Lunch - 2 baked potatoes cooked into fries in airfryer, ketchup
Snack - mixed nuts with raisins (this has got to stop)
Snacking while making dinner - fixings for my sushi (cucs, avocado, carrot, nori, rice)
Dinner - lots of homemade veggie sushi, soy sauce, homemade pickled ginger

Maybe tomorrow I'll eat some veggies. After going 6 months without coffee I've decided I want to have coffee in the mornings again.

No beans today and my belly definitely feels so much less gassy. No veggies either though...hmmmmm

I cooked a lentil loaf from NoraCooks for dinner tonight and it was quite good. My husband even said it was good. It has onions/mushrooms/carrots/lentils/walnut and some seasonings too. Along with it we had mashed potatoes (with soymilk) and steamed veggies.

I've been a bum all week, no exercise. The weather has been crummy, and we're expecting snow tomorrow. It just makes me want to hibernate.

Stepping on the scale tomorrow will be a bit scary to be honest, since I haven't actually "tried" to drop any weight. I have no clue what to expect. My tummy feels quite soft and mushy, a bit bloated I guess.

So I actually bought a garment today. Now you might think that's a normal thing to do, but I actually sew most all my own clothes. I even, on occasion, sew my own bras and underwear.

Well the Kansas City Chiefs are on the way to the Superbowl, and I'm always the one person at any sporting related party that doesn't have on a team shirt. Today both my husband and I bought Chiefs t-shirts. I got a women's medium and it didn't even cling to the "parts" of me. Also viewing myself in the dressing room mirror is always a bit of a shocker. I looked better than I thought. I can see that I need to get my butt in gear and lose the last of the fat, but I can tell it's loose and soft, ready to be "released."

My weight hasn't changed since November. I'm just too lazy lately.

For the most part my foods is good, though I'm still eating the darn mixed nuts and raisins most days. Now it's become a bad habit. I need to be strong and STOP!!!

I also started back on the coffee. That should probably stop too. I don't know if it matters that much though. Okay, I guess I do know, but it sure is nice to have 2 cups in the morning rather than a pot of tea. I'm still drinking my green tea, but obviously not as much.

I'll have to think about that a bit. Life is a bit easier when I'm not so strict. I don't do well with too much regiment.

It's time for me to make a doctor's appointment too. I'm calling a bit later this morning. I've noticed that my throat has been feeling swollen, and I just realized yesterday that it is the same feeling as when I was having thyroid nodules. So I'll make an appt with my primary and get all my blood work done, so I have it to go to the endocrinologist and have it checked. I've been a bit curious about my lab numbers though I was going to wait till May.

So that's all that's going on, I'm not losing weight, just holding steady at 147. I'm also feeling lazy about exercise. Chatting with my husband the other day, I mentioned just feeling blah. It dawned on me that it's probably a bit of the winter blues. I don't have issues with depression, but I'm feeling "bored". I'm one that can always find something fun and exciting to do, just sewing or knitting make me excited. Right now I feel like something is missing. There probably is...a walk in the sunshine. Cold and snow do nothing to make me feel better. Maybe I need some Vit. D.

But no aches/pains or anything like that. I don't feel like it's diet related, just winter related. I hate winter.

Hi Annette,
Your post this morning resonated with me!

AnnetteW wrote: I'm also feeling lazy about exercise. Chatting with my husband the other day, I mentioned just feeling blah. It dawned on me that it's probably a bit of the winter blues. I don't have issues with depression, but I'm feeling "bored". I'm one that can always find something fun and exciting to do, just sewing or knitting make me excited. Right now I feel like something is missing. There probably is...a walk in the sunshine. Cold and snow do nothing to make me feel better.

I have felt the same way for over a week! Bored. I have plenty of projects to get into (I like to sew, too). I can't even find anything on TV I want to watch. I'm not interested in hiking.... (besides, this week I'm tending to my new pup who had her spay surgery). I realized it was probably the winter blues. It's good to have a reason for the malaise.
Also, just a thought about the nuts and raisin obsession, if they weren't in the house, would you buy them? If they're in your house for your husband, you might ask him to "hide" them from you for a while. I had a hard time with crackers and chips. My husband keeps them in his home office now. I could go look for them but I won't. It seems it's just enough distance away. They were so easy to grab when they were in the kitchen. It was a little embarrassing to ask my husband to do that but he supports my efforts and has been super good about it.

moonlight wrote:Also, just a thought about the nuts and raisin obsession, if they weren't in the house, would you buy them? If they're in your house for your husband, you might ask him to "hide" them from you for a while. I had a hard time with crackers and chips. My husband keeps them in his home office now. I could go look for them but I won't. It seems it's just enough distance away. They were so easy to grab when they were in the kitchen. It was a little embarrassing to ask my husband to do that but he supports my efforts and has been super good about it.

Ha...I'm just as smart as you (just slower) as I asked my husband to keep the nuts and raisins in the car so I won't eat them. They'll be out of the house during the day and he can snack on them in the evening, when I'm not even hungry.

I hate to feel weak, but it's become a bad habit.

I was doing a lot of googling yesterday, and still going to the Dr. today, but I think I'm having reflux issues most likely, laryngopharyngeal reflux. I have all the symptoms. This has felt like a long winter, with one sore throat after the other, post nasal drip, ear aches, feeling like I have a possible low grade sinus infection, always clearing my throat, and now the lumpy feeling. I even had a mouthful of canker sores this weekend when the throat started to hurt again (before the lumpy feeling.)

Coffee??? Did I say I just started to drink coffee again? I did, and that I will stop. Luckily following the appropriate diet isn't the hard part, so I'll see what the Dr. says, but I'm pretty anti-meds, but I think this is a fairly regular problem for me, looking back.

I know I shouldn't play Dr. Google.

I'll keep you posted.

So it was confirmed, all this not feeling well lately in my throat, nose, ears is due to a throat reflux or LPR. To start I am to follow a low acid dietand no caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, mint, onion, garlic, fried foods, sodas, tomato, vinegar, citrus, wine. After a month or so you get to start adding in things like cooked onion, tomatoes, etc.

Looking back now, I can see that I've had so many of these symptoms for years, and just always thought allergies. Which I have been tested for allergies, but heck, it's the middle of January, I'm not having Spring allergies.

I've been doing some online research, have a couple books and a cookbook coming today. Luckily lots of the healthy starches and veggies and fruits are fine. Not all fruits though.

I can't look forward too far yet as I don't know what all I need to do, but I'll get started and go from there.

I've been eating so much vinegar lately, often twice a day on salads. I adore raw onions on salads. Luckily my alcohol level is low, and dropping coffee again is okay. But for now green tea is out too. And mint? Oh my....I chew a lot of gum daily, usually because my mouth always felt gross. Huh, it will be interesting to see if the diet change will be affecting that.

Just a quick update. Obviously I'm sticking to my starch diet, just having to adjust it a bit more, and hopefully that's only temporary and I can get things healing again.

The doctor said to give it 3 months and if I don't improve then we go on prescriptions (which I obviously hope to avoid) and get scoped etc.

What's interesting is that I can look back and have always said that things like tomatoes and citrus cause issues. If it's because they are acidic and reacting to the pepsin that has found it's way up from the belly, wow, that makes so much sense. Because another time they didn't affect me at all. I'm just so curious to see how this will change things. I sure hope it does and I find I can just avoid things like caffeine and alcohol.

Now to find a good salad dressing substitution. And I thought I was doing so well with just vinegar...ouch.

That does not sound fun at all. Throat reflux...ew. sorry you're going through it, and I hope you find a food-centric cure and can avoid meds.

I've always wondered why dr's have things like onion and garlic on their list, because they are alkalizing foods. I mean, overall the foods we McDougallers avoid are acid causing, while our beloved starches and veggies are alkalizing for the system. I guess raw onion might stimulate production of stomach acid. Hmmm. Peppermint, same. I use it to eliminate heartburn, and it works for me every time.

Hopefully you'll be able to do it without medicating!

Have you read Digestive Tune Up? I recently pulled out my copy because my daughter was diagnosed with reflux. Trying to figure out what foods to avoid has been confusing. Hopefully you’ll be feeling better soon!

bunsofaluminum wrote:That does not sound fun at all. Throat reflux...ew. sorry you're going through it, and I hope you find a food-centric cure and can avoid meds.

I've always wondered why dr's have things like onion and garlic on their list, because they are alkalizing foods. I mean, overall the foods we McDougallers avoid are acid causing, while our beloved starches and veggies are alkalizing for the system. I guess raw onion might stimulate production of stomach acid. Hmmm. Peppermint, same. I use it to eliminate heartburn, and it works for me every time.

Hopefully you'll be able to do it without medicating!

The issue with caffeine, chocolate, mint, onions, alcohol is that they relax the different sphincters from the stomach and allow the acid/pepsin to reflux. Other foods are specifically acidic and then react to the pepsin in the airways. See, I'm learning something.

After a time without certain foods, you get to add them back and see how you react, for instance, cooked onions/garlic, etc.

Lyndzie wrote:Have you read Digestive Tune Up? I recently pulled out my copy because my daughter was diagnosed with reflux. Trying to figure out what foods to avoid has been confusing. Hopefully you’ll be feeling better soon!

I have read the book and will go through it again. It's not regular reflux though, so though some things will be similar, others will be different. I've never had heartburn in my life.

I'm still learning and will be doing a lot of experimenting. I hope you daughter will be okay.

Just a silly little post as a note to myself. Yesterday I wasn't farty at all. Usually I'm so farty by the evenings that I embarrass myself.

The only thing that I did differently was no potatoes yesterday...hmmm. Perhaps it's time for a real food journal. I also have been avoiding vinegar, coffee, mint, etc. I also had a kale/banana smoothie for breakfast rather than my oats, but later I had toast with jam, and had oats/apple later in the day. Yea, yesterday wasn't necessarily a good food day, but no farts.

I also had 2 T of chia in my smoothie and 2 T of ground flax in the oats. That's a lot of extra fiber. And for the past few days I've added a roasted chicory "coffee" (no coffee) to my diet.

So I officially start a food journal. It was nice not being farty. I might skip the potatoes again today at lunch, but we're having them tonight for dinner, aloo gobi (cauliflower/potatoes), dal, and probably Indian cabbage and rice of course.

I hate to play detective.