A funny thing happened to me at lunch...

[Zena]

Hi All,

Just wanted to share a funny story about my lunch yesterday that maybe some can relate to

I was at work and fixing my super-simple lunch in the breakroom. Most of it came from the cafe downstairs and consisted on a huge salad w/ greens, tomatoes, bell peppers, kidney beans, corn, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, bean sprouts and raisins. To this I added more greens I brought from home, a cup of steamed rice, and homemade salad dressing. As I mixed this whole conncoction in a big serving bowl, one of my co-workers said "Wow, that's A LOT of food!!" I replied, "It's just my lunch." He said "Are you planning to eat ALL of that in one meal??" Of course, all eyes in the room turned to look at me and my "enormous" meal.

Far from feeling embarrassed, I proudly answered with an emphatic "YES! And then I'm going to have this banana for dessert, too".

Doing a quick calculation, I said my meal contained about 400 calories (and maybe 2-3 grams of fat as my salad dressing has 2 grams of fat for the entire batch that last me about 8-10 days!). Not bad for a whole meal. The banana would add another 100 cals or so. I looked around at what my other weight-conscience co-workers were satisfying their hunger with. Yep, the room was filled w/ itty-bitty Lean Cusines and WW meals. I sneaked a peek at the back of one of the WW boxes. It was about 290 cals and 10 grams of fat.

Someone in the room said "gees, I'd gain weight if I ate that much in a meal." Well, as modest as I'd have liked to have been, I couldn't keep my mouth shut and piped up "hmmm, really? I've already lost 80 lbs eating like this." The guy who'd started the whole thing, knew me at my heaviest and said, "Yeah, and you really look great!" That kinda made the room go quiet.

Of course, a bit later when I went to get a cup of water, I found 2 of the people back raiding the vending machines. A candy bar and bag of chips were now being consumed while they both complained of how hungry they were. At this point, I thought it wise to keep my mouth shut, got my water and quietly left. But, as soon as I was out of sight, I found myself unable to hide a really BIG smile

[hope101]

I can just picture everything you wrote, Zena, like I was there. And I've had exactly the same experience, albeit with different people in a different location. We really like to lie to ourselves, don't we? Sounds like you are gentle enough in your modelling that you may have people asking you for advice in a while.

[fall down 7 stand up 8]

great story Zena !!!
i LOVE it !!!!
haha
i dont know if i
could have been as nice
as you were in your responses!!!
that salad sounds delicious, by the way...
would you mind sharing your salad
dressing recipe??
janet

[Zena]

For salad dressing, I use several of the McDougall recipes from the newsletters. My faves are the creamy style ones (links below to the ones I make all the time). I also use the Tofu Dips and/or Tofu Sour Cream recipes and thin those out with a little extra water and use them as dressings too.

The trick is to make sure to use the Mori-Nu Lite Tofu. A single package has only 2 grams of fat. This will make enough dressing for me to fill a dressing bottle up. I put these dressings on everything from salads to potatoes to rice dishes.

Creamy Ranch-style Dressing:
http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougal ... ecipes.htm

Creamy Cilantro Garlic Dressing:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/ ... ecipes.htm

Tofu Dips:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/ ... ecipes.htm

Tofu Sour Cream:
http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougal ... ecipes.htm
I'll add spice packets to this and thin it out to use as dressing. Make sure spice packets have McDougall-acceptable ingredients.

[Wendy]

Zena,

I live in Southern California, too, and cannot find Mori Nu Light Tofu. The only "health food" store around me is Henry's. Any suggestions. I live near Disneyland, so I can travel is all directions.

[Zena]

Hi Wendy! So nice to meet another McDougaller in my neck of the woods!! My folks live close to Disneyland, too, so I'm in your area all the time.

I think the place closest to you would be Whole Foods... I've bought the Mori-Nu Lite there in the past, though it's been awhile. The location is in Tustin, so that should be not too far out of your way. It's near Irvine Blvd and Newport. Maybe call them and make sure they're in stock.

Here's the address and phone:
wholefoodsmarket.com
14945 Holt Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 731-3400

I usually shop at Mother's Market which is in HB on Beach Bl at Utica. There's also a Mother's in Costa Mesa on 17th Street near Newport.

I think even the Mori-Nu regular tofu is still pretty low on fat (4.5 grams for the whole box), and I've used it in a pinch when the Lite version was out of stock. Considering store-bought salad dressings w/ oil and/or dairy have about 12-15 grams of fat per a serving of 2 Tbs, it's still pretty good. But the Lite version is the best if you can get it.

It comes in the aseptic packaging so it doesn't need to be refridgerated. You can buy extra and keep it in your pantry for several months (check expiration date on pkg).

Good luck!

Zena

[Faith in DC]

I get those same looks. I am not a morning person, so bring my breakfast to work and lunch and waters. I carry this big bag, and folks stare at me when I'm unpacking it at the fridge. It's nothing for me to have 7-8 containers each day filled with soup, many veggies, a tater, oatmeal, 3 fruits.

I've gotten the I don't understand how you are losing, you always are eating. Those who sit around me understand.

At 49 my starving days are long over. I have to eat.

[Zena]

hehehe! I've also done the huge bag (or 2 bags!) thing at work. I look like I'm stocking up for the winter, but it's only food for 1 or 2 days!

BTW, I love your "In training for maintaining" quote...it's perfect

[Faith in DC]

Thanks. It finally clicked a year and half ago, and that just popped out of my mouth. The journey of lossing weight is my education for keeping it off - finally.

[kimba]

Loved your experience. I can just see them at the vending machine. Eating that, and STILL not satisfied.

Thanks for sharing.

kimba

[Frank]

As an anti-fat fanatic, I have to boil over and urge you to even ditch the salad dressing you confess to using. Try vineger or other tasty toppings (steak and barbeque sauce) rather than the stuff that has the cool names like Ranch, Green Goddess, Thousand Island, and Puppyseed. I spot my oatmeal, now and again, with vinaigrette. Umm.

For some people the "that could never happen to me" syndrome means that, miraculously, they are preserved from the awful consequences of the typical American diet. Some of your wondering co-workers probably fit in here. It's really sad when the effects of poor eating start attacking and disable good people who probably heard about cigarette smoking and quit, but didn't do anything about what they ate.

[Cindee]

Loved your story. Felt like I was there.

Wonderful!!!
Cindee

[Karen]

This reminds me of a time at a picnic where I brought tons of salads and fruit and stuff (it was potluck), then I filled my plate to the brim and went to sit down.

A consultant for our company (who was already drunk by the time this outing started), started yelling really loudly "OH MY GAWD....YOU AREN'T GOING TO EAT ALL THAT ARE YOU?" Really obnoxious and rude....

I ignored her. But she got up and stood over me ranting and raving and poking me in the side. HOW CAN YOU EAT ALL THAT? NO WONDER YOU ARE SO HEAVY....

I was mortified. My co-workers, who had told me how wonderful this woman was (I'd never met her), said nothing. The consultant herself was rather obese, outweighing me by at least 75 or a hundred pounds, but I'd never think of ever talking about, even just in private.

I just ignored her and she just stood there, grinning, laughing in that raspy, choking, smoker's breath. I looked over at her plate and she had it piled with bunless hamburgers and hot dogs -- no veggies, salads or fruit, just meat and butter.

YOUR GOING TO DIE FROM BLOOD SUGAR EATING ALL THAT STUFF -- DON'T YOU KNOW THAT? I THINK I'LL BE SICK JUST WATCHING YOU GORGE LIKE THAT...

I knew it was a useless cause. I really wanted to just kick her in the groin and tell her to shut the f*(^k up, but I didn't. I just kept eating. And I had another plate of food.

When she started in again, I told her to shut up and I sat down and finished my dinner.

I think the thing that bothered me the most was that no one, not my friends an co-workers that I had known for 10 years said a word, either way.

At least I can say that she was gone from the company within a couple of months.

But I've always wondered what happened that day when friends would let that kind of thing go on in front them, regardless of how they feel about meat or my being veggie. Maybe they all agreed with her, I dunno.

When I see my perpetually dieting co-workers starving on their processed food lunches, I don't say anything. I might think it, but I don't say a word. I just much away on my endless supply of food all day.

And they haven't lost much weight and haven't much improved their health, while I have.

I think about this event from time to time, wondering if it should have been one of those times to be more of a bitch...or less.

It was really bizarre.

[Faith in DC]

I can't believe she said that - twice. Well, you acted like a lady. I probably would have acted like a sailor.

I get looks. I just see folks staring at me and my lunches here when I fix them. They don't say a word since I'm losing and they've seen me eat my way down all this weight. But I know they are thinking How Can she eat all that and lose?

One thing as a lifelong dieter I pretty well have the calorie count memorized on anything I eat. If not dead on, then pretty darn close. So I would count up my plate in calories, and then theirs and compare. I often use that as an example for folks. You know the this plate of food has 350 calories. What does your lean Cuisine have? hehe

[Cindee]

All I can say is that people like you with manners and class look absolutely wonderful when others use you to make themselves look like ***holes.

I am in total agreement. Keep it to yourself. What good will it do anyway but keep the fire burning.

And, I don't know why people don't step in and save or rescue a friend, or get the other person away or walk them over to their heart clogging food.

Maybe they are trying to be classy or maybe they don't know how to handle it.

I think you are the winner either way. Reading the story, she is the only one who stood out and looked stupid.

And maybe that is why no one said anything.

Congratulations for your successes and for your class. At least you won't have any regrets as you look back. You're a compassionate person.

I think the tendency is for all of us to open up our mouth and shut the idiots up. But the better part of valor is to let it go.

Take Care,
Cindee

PS would love to hear the ingredients of your wonderful salad.