Caro's Sept 2019 Journal

[Caroveggie]

I thought I'd start journaling here because I want to stay focused and on track and journalling can help with that.

I'm following MWL only I do allow corn tortillas for an occasional taco night and whole wheat pitas every once in a while. I don't tend to over-eat these things so that's why I'm allowing it and I really enjoy tacos!

I've been doing really well for the last week or so. I've cleaned up my diet and stopped eating anything fattening, like walnuts which it turns out I love, and anything else off limits. I've switched to oat milk from almond milk and made a trip all the way to Whole Foods, which is now in the town over, to stock up on oat milk. (Oat milk ingredients: oats, water, oat bran.)

Another thing I've done that I think has really helped is I've invested some money into this whole thing. Just this past week or so I've bought a Vitamix, a mini food processor, a spice grinder, a potato masher, an under-blade scraper for the Vitamix, lots of healthy veggies and foods, and best of all a cookbook called Straight Up Food which has a lot of great, yummy recipes that are all no oil, no salt, and no sugar.

With my new doodads I've been cooking up a storm. I want to be prepared so I won't get off-limits food. So far it's been working very well. I've made delicious mashed potatoes from a recipe I found on youtube, "tuno" salad from the cookbook, and a veggie curry soup that I made up from another youtube video. I've also discovered a salsa that's really yummy and a hummus I really like. I omit the tahini because it's fattening but it's still good (or I've gotten used to it).

Right now I'm cooking brown rice to go with the curry veggie soup. it smells good. I like cooking. It's the washing up afterwards that can suck. (I'm the dishwasher.)

Aside from all this cooking, I do eat rather simple stuff too. I like Brussels sprouts microwaved in water, then you drain them, then put lemon juice on them and eat with hummus. That is one of my favorite meals. I also want to make a chili tonight. I think I'll have to get some ingredients but chili does sound good. The last thing I want to do is prep some veggies for quick eating.

I made a lot of hummus but I've been snacking a lot and already it's gone down quite a bit. Good thing I didn't add tahini!

That's about it for now. Hello to new and old friends.

I almost forgot! I lost 5 pounds so far with MWL since I started it 5-6 days ago. Not bad!

[deweyswakms]

Hello Caro,

I too started MWL in early August to get rid of my sloppy eating habits. I've been WFPB for years but wanted to lose more weight and get back to near compliance. Journalling really helps me be accountable, to myself, and set my daily intentions. And I too have lost weight since getting back in line with the MWL guidelines. I bought the Easy & Fast McDougall cookbook to go along with my others. I too like to cook, and admit the prep and cleanup gets tedious, so I cook foods for a few days. Leftovers are great!

[Lyndzie]

Welcome back! I love the Straight Up Food cookbook. When the weather gets cooler, make the beef less stew, it’s delicious!

[Caroveggie]

Hi deweyswakms and Lyndzie! Thanks for stopping by and the warm welcome. I will be sure to try out that beefless stew recommendation! It is also raved about in the Amazon reviews for the cookbook.

That was an expensive cookbook but I think it's worth it. I previously have been an easy only chef. My cooking wasn't too elaborate. But I'm finding I like cooking and putting together recipes, especially when they smell yummy and feed me for a few days with something healthy. I'm trying to find a collection of recipes that keep me happy so I always have some favorites to make.

Today for breakfast I had forgotten to bring my oat milk so I had my steel cut oats not moistened further, which was ok but I prefer them with a little oat milk. I had them with frozen (thawed) blueberries, fresh raspberries, and an almost ripe peach that was still good. I will no doubt remember to bring the oat milk tomorrow.

Lunch: Brussels sprouts with lemon juice and hummus and a few cherries and some of the chili.

Dinner: Mashed potatoes and I cooked up some kale in veggie broth and garlic. I added some lemon juice after I plated it and it was pretty good.

Dessert: chocolate nice-cream

I got in 9753 steps according to my fitbit. That was from two 1/2 hour walks, one before work and the other at lunch, and whatever additional walking I did at work and such. I took the stairs up 10 flights to the 5th floor (I'm counting 2 flights a floor since they round around), anyway, it left me breathless. But that was pretty much my only exercise today. I don't know if I'll go out and take another walk later. I'm feeling lazy.

These past few days I've been listening to the MWL book on my ipod and it's been keeping me inspired. I'm trying to change my habits so I don't back track. I'm also trying to be patient about results. They will come with consistency. It's not even been a week and I'm wanting to wear smaller pants already but they're like, "you just started hun, come back when you've lost the weight!!"

[Caroveggie]

I found another recipe I want to try some weekend when I feel like making a big mess and cleaning it up again.

Oil free vegan onion rings. Sadly, you can't buy them in stores frozen because they all have oil (I checked), but I found some recipes online:

https://frommybowl.com/healthy-vegan-onion-rings/

So I will try it! I know it might not exactly be MWL legal but I will allow it. I caved and had Jack in the Box onion rings twice while trying to transition to this way of eating. Finally I found the strength to resist because I told myself that someone, somewhere out there has made oil-free onion rings homemade and posted it online. I will find them and make them! Too bad the stores don't offer oil-free onion rings in the frozen food section.

I'm not in a hurry. I can wait until after I get my solid month of MWL in and make these onion rings as a reward! That will be fun.

[sirdle]

That was an expensive cookbook but I think it's worth it. I previously have been an easy only chef. My cooking wasn't too elaborate. But I'm finding I like cooking and putting together recipes, especially when they smell yummy and feed me for a few days with something healthy. I'm trying to find a collection of recipes that keep me happy so I always have some favorites to make.

I think you'll like Cathy's book. The beefless stew was the first recipe I tried, and fell in love with it! I tend toward the stews and soups and most of those are very easy to prepare. My wife's favorite is the Split Pea and Yam... which my wife calls "Green and Gold Soup".

Cheers,

[AnnetteW]

Well, you almost sold me on the book, but dang the price is high. I will search around the blog first and try some of her other recipes. I've fallen into a cookbook lake, and rarely cook out of them. I just like looking at the pretty photos.

[AnnetteW]

Dang, just clicked "buy now" and it will arrive today.

[sirdle]

Dang, just clicked "buy now" and it will arrive today.

Think of it as an investment... the dividends will continue to pay out for many, many years.

I had been using her (free online) recipes for over a year when I decided I should give something back. So I ordered (2) copies, one for myself and one for a vegetarian niece. The niece took one look at the introduction and said: "I would NEVER cook vegetables without oil!" Oh well.

Cheers,

[Caroveggie]

Dang, just clicked "buy now" and it will arrive today.

I hope you like the book AnnetteW! I, too, thought it was high but I really like the simplicity of knowing every recipe in there is oil free, no salt added. It's also sugar free which means generally less processed. Another bonus - if you're avoiding nuts like I am there are substitutions listed, usually white beans in place of cashews - but she includes the measurements. And I really like that there are a decent amount of photos of the foods. It frustrates me when there are just recipes without photos. Photos sell the meals for me!

Sirdle, I'm tempted to make that beefless stew soon. Everyone keeps raving about it!

But honestly now I have a lot of food already cooked or made that I have to get through. I am almost finished with the hummus but I have chili (which I'll probably freeze), rice, quinoa, mashed potatoes, and some raw/salad mix kinda veggies. I'm going to compost the curry veggie soup I made because I made it with almond milk before I realized I could do it with oat milk and avoid the nuts. I don't want to gain any weight. So I'll try making aloo gobi (Indian curry with cauliflower and potatoes as the base, also chickpeas, peas, and tomatoes) tonight. That will be pretty yummy with the brown rice or quinoa. I'll probably also make some more of the hummus - which is "smoky" hummus because you use smoked paprika or liquid smoke to make it smoky.

I really like having so much food ready to go.

Anyway, on to serious matters:

I lost another pound over night! Yay!

And for breakfast I had the same steel cut oats with blueberries, raspberries, and a peach. I did remember the oat milk today.

For lunch I just had more Brussels sprouts with hummus, chili, some raw cherry tomatoes with the hummus, and a few cherries.

For dinner I will probably have mashed potatoes and kale which I cooked last night in veggie broth. It turned out good.

After dinner I will cook and then I'll take a walk. I like taking walks in the evenings on occasion.

[Caroveggie]

I searched iTunes and found a Dr. McDougall interview on the Chris Beat Cancer podcast. So now I am reading the Chris Beat Cancer book, and it's very interesting. It reminds me of how I felt when I first read Anti-Cancer. I'm glad Chris stuck with the diet changes and embraced the lifestyle change completely, and happy is he alive and thriving. I was inspired to add raw minced garlic to my curry tonight. I can taste it and it is strong, but I like it and it's a cancer fighter

I've been very good, no desires to cheat and have plenty to eat. Cooking a lot has really helped it turns out. I'm already out of Brussels sprouts for the week and I had bought a Costco size bag.

I've been eating my usual lunch and breakfasts, but for dinner tonight I had the aloo gobi curry which is very tasty with basmati brown rice.

I lost another pound over night. Encouraging! I am also trying to get more steps in because my life can be very sedentary. I try to get at least 10,000. Over the weekend though I was averaging around 18-20,000. Today I'm around 7,000+ and don't know if I'll go out for a walk as I want to keep reading the book! I might though, later.

I keep a calendar on my fridge and I've started writing my weight, body fat %, BMI, and calories needed to maintain, because all this info I get from my high-tech scale. I've never really known what to do with it but now I do! It's fun to see my progress and I believe, seeing the results right there in my face really keeps me focused and on track.

I'm going to go back to reading the book. Happy McDougalling everyone!

[Caroveggie]

Another good day down. I am really enjoying eating mostly MWL. I think the key for me is having cooked so much before. I still have quinoa and rice left, some curry, lots of chili, and some veggies. Oh, and the tuno salad. I like having plenty to eat and choose from.

I decided that each week I'm going to try to make 4 things: hummus, maybe chili, maybe curry, and something from the Straight Up Food cookbook. That ensures a lot of variety while at the same time keeps clean up and food waste at manageable levels.

I had my usual steel cut oats breakfast with berries and a peach (so yummy!), chili and horrible Brussels sprouts from Safeway. I'm never buying frozen Brussel sprouts from Safeway again. They were so mushy, and I followed the instructions exactly for microwaving them. Horrible! Anyway, luckily I had enough chili to tide me over until dinner, which was brown basmati rice (yum) and aloo gobi curry. I cooked the curry with cinnamon and once again, added fresh garlic to the plate. The garlic is strong but I like it. I'm going to have a peach for dessert.

Tomorrow I'm harvesting wine grapes at my boss's small vineyard. It's fun and all her friends and neighbors who come to help out are really chatty and friendly. The only problem is they'll feed us lunch and she's promised to have something "veggie tarian" for me. Since we were communicating through email I didn't want to tell her all my limitations so what I'm going to do is pick at whatever food it is for me and since usually they have a buffet sort of spread, I'll eat fruit and anything else legal and that's it. I can eat light and just dig into a heavier lunch at home.

I am down 7 lbs since I started MWLing 10 days ago, and when I started I still allowed almond milk on my oats.

I've been reading the Star McDougallers for inspiration and watched some of their stories. What a great community this is...and I'm grateful for this extensive website and to Dr. McDougall and Mary. The more I read here the more I want to stay on track.

[Caroveggie]

I got through the lunch yesterday just fine. I had two small apples and then left and had lunch at home. I think I had mashed potatoes and spinach but honestly it's a blur.

Breakfast today and yesterday was the same as always. I really like steel cut oats.

Lunch today I forget also..I think I finished up the mashed potatoes. For dinner I had some curry and brown rice. I did a lot of cooking today, and also shopping for food.

I've been staying on plan and eating MWL. My weight has been the exact same for 3 days in a row. We'll see where it's at tomorrow.

[AnnetteW]

Sounds like you are doing well and your head is in a good place (so important to me as my mind wanders too much.)

I'm trying the cornbread from the Straight Up cookbook for dinner tonight and will report back.

[deweyswakms]

I am down 7 lbs since I started MWLing 10 days ago.

I've been reading the Star McDougallers for inspiration and watched some of their stories. What a great community this is...and I'm grateful for this extensive website and to Dr. McDougall and Mary. The more I read here the more I want to stay on track.

YAY on a big loss!!