Noella,
Thanks for posting this link to a McDougall Moment back in January. There were a couple of bits of important information for me.
https://youtu.be/1udAyTEtT8k 1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly yes.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
In the McDougall moment referenced above, Dr. McDougall states we can go as high as 2/3 starch. I just saw the video now. I'd independently decided to do this during the week.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
I don't add these.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
I believe in honesty, so, here goes. I had a Green Chile Slopper and fries on Monday. I was feeling woozy, and this is the only thing that sounded good.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). If I don't eat something high fat like peanut butter each day, I don't feel well. I think I need both the fat and salt.
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes. Maybe there is some in peanut butter. There was added oil in Monday's meal
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. No, as noted above.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
I don't
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I wasn't feeling well due to medication, so I didn't get much activity.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Concern: I know we aren't supposed to count calories, but I did a cursory analysis to see what's going on. According to my Fitbit, I burn about 2150 calories a day. From past experience, I know if I eat what the Fitbit says I lose about a pound a week. This means the Fitbit is underestimating. I lost 5.6 lbs during the last three weeks.
Not counting vegetables, here is what I need to eat each day to get 2150 calories:
400 grams potatoes
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup uncooked beans
1 cup uncooked quick oats
3 bananas
This is a heap (pun intended) of food and more than I've been eating. This may explain the need for excursions. It's only going to get more difficult as this is the time of year I increase my exercise and burn about 2,800 calories a day indicated. It's probably over 3,000 real calories.
Obadiah