Rita<3 wrote:Warm greetings,
I am a discouraged newbie. I’m uncertain where I need to leave my questions & comments. Please advise me on what to do now. I have been implementing the plan & have gained weight- leading me away from the goal weight I was 10 lbs shy of. I’m now trying the MWL diet; but it’s challenging to me because I’m a long time vegan that just started The Starch Solution book, because I felt it may have much to offer. Is there anywhere a list of all items that are not permitted? I’m reading conflicting information here. What milks are on the plan? I’ve read rice/soy/almond milks are not part of the plan. What other items other than rolled oats are allowed for breakfast? Are steel cut oats permitted at all? What are most folks batch cooking? Thank you so very much for any help you can render. I’m finding this to be waaaay more challenging than I believe it should be.
@Rita<3 You are absolutely right. This doesn’t have to be challenging. Let’s see if we can figure this out so that you’re not so stressed.
Breakfast. Steel cut oats are wonderful! I eat them all the time. Likewise hot buckwheat cereal (I use Bob's Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat), or any other hot whole grain. Dry cereals are discouraged because they are calorically dense. Think
wet starches.
And who says you have to have "breakfasty" food for breakfast? If you want mashed potatoes and broccoli, have it! Or hash browns (no oil), or smashed (cooked) potato in a waffle iron. Or dinner leftovers. We talk a lot about oatmeal because it’s easy, but it’s certainly not your only choice.
Milks. The guideline says "Don’t drink your calories." That means don’t use plant milks. Especially don’t cook with plant milk. It’s a fast way to pile on extra calories, which is not what we want. Jeff Novick talks about "passive overconsumption of calories" in an excellent post, a link to which is included in the
Resources list that Mark Cooper puts up every month. (This is the same link that
Daydream just gave you. Please read through it all, then join us in the November check-in group if you want!)
Batch cooking. The sky is the limit here. I batch cook potatoes (roast a whole rack of them in the oven at once, store in the fridge), squash, brown rice, and oatmeal. I make huge pots of soups and chili. Jeff's SNAP meals can be doubled and freeze beautifully. (SNAP stands for Simple, Nutritious, Affordable Plan. The template is in Mark's Resources list (link above), and some of Jeff's sample recipes can be found in the second half of
this file.). Same with marinara sauce (whole grain pasta is permitted now, and it wasn’t before — don’t get confused on this one). And, dare I mention it, oatmeal.
My best suggestion is to keep it
really simple, especially at first. Think of a couple things you like for breakfast, and maybe 4 or 5 things that you can put together for lunch or dinner. Get really good at them. You want to be able to do this on auto-pilot. No stress. Some of us have eaten this way for years! If you get bored, you can expand your repertoire later. But to me, the most tiring thing is when I get sucked into recipe chasing, or the latest blog, or the newest vegan post on social media.
This method works. We can help you fine-tune things and answer questions. Glad to have you on board!
Goose