The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - November 2022 Group

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 11/4/2022

Hello everyone-
Welcome Holly. This is the best space to be supported, to learn, and to be successful. It has been so for me thanks to every member and moderator.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
Yes.

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.
Yes

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes

6) Eliminate any added oil.
Yes

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.
Yes

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.

Victories,Comments,Questions,Challenges: got sick with a cold or flu last Saturday and consequently worked from home this week. Despite feeling awful, adherence was much easier in an environment I could manage. I filled up on 50/50 soups for the most part and had no desire to eat. I’ve got lots of fresh green and yellow vegetables ready to cook now that I can taste them again and thanks to your suggestions, threw sweet potatoes in the instant pot and that’s going to be my go-to method from now on. I found white sweet potatoes for the first time as suggested here too,and they are really wonderful. Going back to the office is my challenge this week and advance planning will be key to staying on track. I will batch cook grains on my work from home Mondays, have a starch based soup with vegetables ready, and pack “my food” every day so that “their” bagels and doughnuts and junk don’t get the best of me. I look forward to moving and exercising and resumed week 4 of Couch to 10K even though I walk almost every day. In the winter I’ll use the treadmill now that I’m back at the gym. Fingers crossed.
Have a great week ahead!
**** I just stopped at the produce store and bought a romanesco for $2.00- locally grown. Can’t wait to try it. Online it’s described as looking like partly psychedelic broccoli and partly alien life form!

[Lizzy_F]

Hello Team Time & Adherence! Here is my report for the week ending 11/4/22. We can just call it The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, with all the caveats previously discussed. I feel good about where I am with this one. I have been doing well with batch cooking my soup. I do want to figure out a superfast single serving type solution “just in case.” Perhaps using my stash of dehydrated veg. It’s just a matter of taking a small amount of time to figure it out.

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. Yes, with the previously mentioned parameters.

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. Yes – reduced not eliminated.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). I had a slip last night involving almond butter. I’ve been giving thought today to what happened – this is NOT a direction that is safe for me to go. For me, a little always leads to a lot (as it did last night), and I don’t want this to become any sort of regular practice. I also recognize the need, because of this group and what I have learned here, for self-compassion. I forgive myself as I learn from this experience and move on. I had some stressful and triggering events happen this week, and I think I let the pressure get to me seeking “relief” through food (which is not real “relief” – only temporary blockage!)

6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes

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 – two meals that included corn tortillas. Then BREAD last night during my over-eating episode. The corn tortillas were planned, but I wonder if that departure from this check-list contributed to a “setup” for the unplanned eating last night? I really am better off keeping things simple and sticking to whole, minimally processed, simply prepared basic starches, veg and fruits. I think oatmeal would have made a better “comfort food” if I really wanted to do that. I don’t usually eat breakfast, so don’t always have oatmeal at the ready in my fridge. Since I’m OK with how it turns out after being frozen, I think I need to keep batch cooked oatmeal ready to go. That would have been a much better choice that I would feel a lot better about in the bright light of today.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. I stuffed myself last night. The good news is that I can come here and be honest about it, knowing I am not alone with these struggles. I am learning self-forgiveness and I don’t have to let “last night” turn into a months long eating binge.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I did miss one day of exercise this week, but I am definitely giving myself grace for that one day considering the kind of week this has been. (we closed on the sale of a rental property, which was cRaZy the day before and day of the closing, and my father-in-law passed away, and I had to be up close and personal with a car full of cupcakes!) I am very happy to report that my accountability chart for October had only 3 red dots. My accountability chart for November has all green dots so far! I walked 3 miles yesterday AND the day before. I walked 2 miles on Nov 1 and Nov 2. So I feel so good about the progress I am making! I read what Stephanie wrote last week about loving to walk outside – ME TOO!!! In fact I just ordered some lined exercise leggings from Old Navy to hopefully help me extend outdoor walking as the temps start to drop. I do have many indoor options (treadmill, elliptical, a zillion DVDs, hula hoop, etc.) for indoor activity as needed.

Victories: I DID NOT EAT THE CUPCAKES!


Comments: Some of the hallmarks and triggers of my past binge eating life were very present this week. Stressful stuff in general, combined with being alone in my car with dozens of cupcakes, then being alone at night in my home with my husband’s high fat stuff (he is out of state with his family re: his Dad’s passing). Definitely an atypical week.


Concerns: I realize how deep my fear runs that I will somehow not be able to sustain my new healthy lifestyle. I think my best tools right now are 1) Accountability (I really didn’t want to be honest about last night, but here I am!), 2) Planning and prepping, and 3) Keeping it simple. I will be doing a lot of batch cooking this weekend.


Questions: I am interested in hearing from others who have learned to get right back on track after eating off-plan. My past is littered with slides down that long slippery slope directly into the Pleasure Trap, and I want to change that pattern of behavior. I don't want perfectionism to derail me, and I also don't want Pleasure Trap foods to derail me, which they so easily can! I'm trying to learn how to balance all this, and I feel a bit befuddled right now.

[MakeHealthLast]

For 11/4/22:

I apologize for not posting last week.  Last minute we ended up taking a quick, action-packed trip last weekend.  I thought of trying to post, but we were non-stop busy, + I was severely sleep deprived before, during, + now after the trip.  Eating-wise I did pretty good because I pretty much ate only microwavable frozen vegetable bags from Wal-Mart (including corn and peas [starchy]).  Falling into the, "I'm on vacation...time for 'treats'" mode, I did have 1/2 of a waffle (no syrup or butter), a couple of foil-wrapped chocolate coins, and a serving of prepared mashed potatoes without gravy from a grocery store's hot deli.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.--Except for a few days of having an apple pre-meal, I did not do the best with this point this week.

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.---Never had fruit for dessert, but almost all my meals were 50/50.

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.---Yes, except for the "treats" listed above.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).---Yes, except for those mashed potatoes mentioned above.  I'm certain they had butter and/or milk, + who knows what was in the waffle batter?

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).---Had some cucumber avocado sushi + the abovementioned, otherwise yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.---Yes, except for a breaded and fried dill pickle spear that was from the trip but we ate on Tuesday.

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.---Had 2 slices of Ezekiel bread, a microwave bag of no oil or salt popcorn on the trip, and that half of a waffle.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).---Yes, except a cup of OJ in the morning at the hotel.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.---Yes, for the most part.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).---Pretty much.  Had lousy walking weather a couple days, but did a fair amount of walking when shopping.  Still have to be very careful because my heart's been in a fragile state.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

---Mark, thank you so much for your very helpful response to my post from 2 weeks ago. You always ask insightful questions that really help me to explore more why I did or didn't do things. The links were fabulous as well!!

---I really need to consistently see food as fuel and eating as a necessary act to keep my body running in an optimal way.  I don't want to have mindsets of: "I'm (finally) on vacation, let's have 'treats'!.", "Oh, I used to eat that here as a kid when we were all still alive + I want to relive those wonderful memories by eating that here again.", etc..

---Lack of sleep is still a very real issue + I know that it is not serving me well in many ways, including being able to resist tempting things to eat, though ultimately I just have to really work on my mindset. I realize that by us taking the trip, it did cause me to think, "Well, since we'll be going + it's only a couple days away, I might as well have a few 'treats' since we'll be there + I didn't have a perfect week this week anyway". Still a work in progress trying to move away from that perfectionism mentality.

---Looking forward to reading everyone else's entries, + may everyone have a great first full week of November.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Cheers! I'm glad you were able to make it through the "Halloween gauntlet," in spite of the struggles. Jeff discusses flavor-infused balsamics in the thread Infused Balsamics (or Balsamic Crack!), and California Balsamic specifically in this post. If you choose to include these in your diet, we would recommend treating them the same as any other added sugar, applying a very modest amount to the surface of your food at the table.

Ejg - Seems like a pretty decent week, Eric, even though you were struggling to maintain attention and discipline. Glad you've been enjoying the pressure cooked potatoes! Pair them with an equal volume of non-starchy vegetables and some no-salt-added tomatoes and chilies and you'll be 10/10. Here's the RO-TEL version, and I've seen a similar product in various grocery store brands.

Noella - Hooray for new possibilities!

I have been at equilibrium for several months; I haven’t gained or lost weight. I see these months as a success because I have established a solid foundation of healthy habits to build upon.

I agree. This week looks great for all the dietary recommendations, and thank you again for sharing the various strategies you employ to make avoiding the non-recommended foods kept in your home an easier task for yourself. On the exercise front, what feels achievable for you right now? Does any particular form of physical activity feel most appealing? Start with what seems manageable at present, and build on that foundation over time. You will get there!

VegSeekingFit - Kudos to you for your continuing efforts, Stephanie! You have clearly established a really good groove for yourself (maybe one lined with crunchy dry leaves!?! ) Those decorations do sound a little ominous; I'm glad you've been able to continue enjoying your walks with that added light!

Hjklost55 - Off to a nice start! As you observed, Holly, it seems like you have several of the recommended behaviors mastered already, and the checklist provides a clear roadmap for where attention and focus can help support continued progress. Jeff discusses Kombucha in this thread; for MWL, the recommendation is to avoid liquid calories, which would include eliminating the Kombucha. In regard to volume - I'm a volume eater myself, so I can relate to what you are describing. In addition to adhering strictly to the MWL 10-Point Checklist as a whole, the key factors for me have been preloading with calorie dilute foods and balancing starches with an equal volume of non-starchy vegetables. I do still eat a volume of food that I'm sure would shock many folks (I eat my meals out of a giant stainless steel mixing bowl), but I've been maintaining a BMI on the low end of the healthy range for years. It is a matter of "dialing-in" an overall calorie density that can deliver a point of equilibrium that lands in the healthy range. At this point, were I you, I would focus on attaining and maintaining the recommended pattern of behavior, and let the volume sort itself out. Jeff discusses this in more detail in his article Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety.

Rebecka22 - 10/10! Awesome! I'm so happy to know that prepping the afternoon snack has proven helpful in managing stress and hunger. Wishing you great success during your travels!

Ellen Withrow - Happy November to you, too! Travelling can definitely make adherence feel more challenging to attain; these threads on Dining Out and Travel Food may be of use for future expeditions. What does your home food environment look like right now? Are there any changes or adjustments you can make to best support further progress and adherence to the guidelines? Making it really easy to access the recommended foods, and as difficult as is feasible to reach for items that aren't recommended can go a long way.

Gimmelean - Fantastic adherence, especially considering you were ill! I'm wishing for your full recovery to be imminent. I love the white sweet potatoes - among my very favorite foods! That differential between "my food" and "their junk" seems valuable, as is making sure, as much as possible, that "my food" is always easier to reach than "their" stuff. Let us know what you think about the Romanesco!

Lizzy_F - Saying "NO THANK YOU" to cupcakes is a victory worth celebrating! I also want to applaud your honesty and bravery in offering a full accounting of this week and the attendant struggles. Jeff has shared a couple of "(Almost) Instant Soup recipes here and here.

For me, a little always leads to a lot (as it did last night), and I don’t want this to become any sort of regular practice.

I very much identify with this, as is evident from some of my journal entries. It took me a long time to realize it, but for me, NONE is always the better path than "a little." I'm glad you are treating yourself with grace and kindness, and you seem to have processed the causative chain linking this week's challenges in a very thoughtful way. I always tell myself "if hunger isn't the problem, food is not likely to be the solution."

I think oatmeal would have made a better “comfort food” if I really wanted to do that. I don’t usually eat breakfast, so don’t always have oatmeal at the ready in my fridge. Since I’m OK with how it turns out after being frozen, I think I need to keep batch cooked oatmeal ready to go.

I used to do this all the time, and it has proven useful for other participants, as well. I actually really enjoy cold oatmeal, and I would prep several containers with 50/50 oatmeal and fruit to pull right from the refrigerator - I called it my "oatmeal pudding." I think your assessment of your "best tools" is spot-on: Accountability, Planning and prepping, and Keeping it simple. In the days when I was struggling, what would most help me get back on track was two-fold: 1. Adopting the mindset that each new meal was an OPPORTUNITY to resume the recommended pattern of behavior (i.e., doing the "next right thing"). 2. Arranging my environment to be in SUPPORT of attaining and maintaining the recommended pattern of behavior. Sometimes after a relapse, for me, that meant taking drastic action (like throwing things in the trash or giving them away). Try to remember, too, that the overall aggregate pattern of behavior we maintain over time determines our results; a digression (or even a detour) doesn't mean our adherence has been ruined, but rather that we will need to "average out" that slip with more adherent behavior going forward into the future (so why don't we go ahead and get started on that?). You will get there. Onward!

MakeHealthLast - I'm wishing you restful sleep in the days ahead! Sleep deprivation can really take a toll on us, right? Considering the whirlwind trip, it sounds like you feel that things went OK on whole, apart from the "treats," yes? When you had those various non adherent foods, did you enjoy them? How did you feel after you had eaten them? Do they really make better "treats" than your most favorite adherent foods? I think what I wrote to Beth above in regard to aggregate pattern of behavior can be a helpful framework for moving away from black & white, perfectionist views.

[Mark Cooper]

November has begun! My congratulations to all our participants on your continuing efforts to attain and maintain the recommended pattern of behavior.

In celebration of a new month, new possibilities, and renewed attention and focus, I thought I would share a couple of my old favorites. From my perspective, the two posts linked below serve as useful "companions" to the MWL 10-Point Checklist, coming at things from the angle of behaviors we want to move away from in a fashion complimentary to achieving the recommended behaviors.

Passive Overconsumption: The Unintended Intake of Excess Calories
Jeff Novick, MS, RDN

Have you ever ended up eating more calories than you intended? There are certain properties of food that, when we eat until we are comfortably full, result in the unintended consumption of excess calories. This is called the passive overconsumption of calories. We did not intend to overeat, but we did. Many foods contain several of the following properties that lead to the passive overconsumption of calories. Being aware of these can help us minimize the potential to over consume calories. As you will see, all of these go right along with the principles of calorie density and there is some overlap to them.

Here are 10 factors that lead to the passive overconsumption of calories:

1. Higher Calorie Dense Foods
As the calorie density of the food goes up, we are more likely to overconsume calories, especially as the calorie density goes over 700-1000 calories per pound. On a whole-food, plant-based diet (WFPB), the foods that are over 1000 calories per pound are bread products (breads, bagels, crackers, dry cereals, tortillas), dried/dry fruits, nuts, seeds and oils.

2. Higher Fat Foods
As the percentage of calories from fat goes up, we are more likely to over-consume calories, especially from added fats/oils. Adding fats/oils to food increases the overall percentage of calories from fat and the overall calorie density and decreases the overall satiety (per calorie). On a WFPB diet, the foods that are higher in fat are peanuts, soybeans, avocados, nuts, seeds and oils.

3. Liquid Calories
Liquid calories provide little if any satiety for their calorie load, so they do not fill you up as much as solid foods of equal calories. For example, it is much easier to over consume calories when consuming fruit juice, than the whole fruit. On a WFPB diet, the most common liquid calories are fruit and vegetable juices and non-dairy milks.

4. Added Free Sugars
Added free sugars are high in calorie density and low in satiety. As the percentage of calories from added free sugars in a food goes up, we are more likely to over consume calories. Adding free sugars to food increases the overall calorie density and decreases the overall satiety (per calorie). This includes all added free sugars, even those considered unrefined and/or natural such as maple syrup, molasses, etc.

5. Flour (Bread) Products
Most all flour (bread) products are higher in calorie density and lower in satiety, even if they are made from unrefined whole grains. On a WFPB diet, these foods include bread products (bread, bagels, dry cereal, crackers, tortillas) and baked chips.

6. Dry/Dried Foods
Food that is dried (and/or drier) and low in water have an increased calorie density and tend to be lower in satiety per calorie. On a WFPB diet, the foods that are dried/dry are dried fruits (raisins, prunes), naturally dry fruits (dates), bread products (bread, bagels, dry cereal, crackers, tortillas), baked chips, puffed cereals and popcorn.

7. Emulsifying, Pureeing, & Blending
Blending foods disrupts the fiber and reduces the satiety of the food per calorie, making it easier to overconsume the food. On the other hand, chewing food increases satiety. Examples of blended foods on a WFPB diet include smoothies and dried fruit/nut confections.

8. Hyper-Palatable Foods
These are foods that have been salted, sweetened and/or sauced. They stimulate the appetite and lead to over consumption. Examples include cookies, cakes, pastries, etc.

9. Vanishing Perceived Satiety
Foods that fall into this category appear to be high in satiety due to their large volume but are actually high in calorie density and low in satiety. This is because they are dry foods with their volume coming from air as opposed to water (which decreases calorie density and increases satiety). For example, cooked brown rice (high water content) is 560 calories/lb and brown rice cakes (high air content) are 1760 calories/lb, an over three-fold difference. On a WFPB diet, foods that have vanishing perceived satiety include air-popped popcorn, rice cakes and puffed cereals.

10. Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods tend to be high in fat, calorie density, salt, sugar, refined flours, fat and oil. They also tend to be low in fiber, water and satiety and so we are more likely to over consume calories from them.

If you are having a concern with the overconsumption of calories and managing your weight, greatly limiting and/or eliminating the above foods will help.

Top 10 Reasons for Lack of Success.

1) Poor Adherence/compliance. Sometimes from lack of application and sometimes from lack of understanding of the principles.

2) Misdirection of focus/priorities. Focusing on matters that don't really effect your health while not focusing on the ones that do.

3) Minimizing/Rationalizing the effect of certain behaviors and/or personal preferences, **especially in regard to certain foods**.

4) Too many ultra processed, refined and/or calorie dense foods, especially those that are marketing as being healthy, vegan or plant-based."

5) Not understanding the difference between something that is "not compliant," something that is "allowed" on occasion in small quantities, and something that is "recommended."

6) Inadequate exercise/activity

7) Not planning ahead. If you do not plan ahead for success, you will most likely not find it.

8 ) Time. Healing and results take time and for some of us, it may take a little longer than we hope.

9) Mcdougall "Plus" - This is where you mix the McDougall principles with other principles you have read or learned somewhere else that are not inline with the principles recommended here.

10) Adherence Fatigue - A feeling of fatigue over time for doing what is necessary to maintain compliance to the program (ie, special ordering, meal prep, preparing ahead for social situations). Sometimes, people tire from doing the right thing.

Have an amazing, adherent week ahead! Take care & be well!

[Lizzy_F]

Mark - I just wanted to take some time to thank you from the bottom of my heart for ALL you do for us in this group every single week, and all you have done for me THIS WEEK to support my journey as I work through a speed bump on the McDougall Highway! I so appreciate the personal experience you shared - the link to your journal is so on-point. I need to constantly remind myself that what may work just fine for other people does NOT work for me when it comes to certain calorie dense foods!

I also love the general reflection topics you provide to us every week, and this weeks are SO appropriate for me! Thank you for taking the time to support each of us individually, and all of us collectively.

Wiser choices and better planning are in my cards for this week!

[BambiS]

11-10

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Some days


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 desert
Yes


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.
Yes

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes, not an issue here

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes, no problems

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes


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.
Yes

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself
Yes

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Most days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: thank you for the links about the flavored balsamic vinegars, I think I’ll pass and save myself some money too.Next week if my in office days in 2 1/2 years. It’s going to be a different routine for sure.

[Rebecka22]

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 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. YES
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. NO - had a mocha so definitely sugar
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NO the same mocha
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Overall this week was hard, not just in terms of choices, just everything. I definitely noticed my instinct to deal with stress/sickness/cold etc with food or warm drinks. While I have learned to like and even appreciate my black coffee in the mornings, it’s definitely not something I want again in the day. I also have never found tea I really enjoy. So this is one challenge. Also I feel like I have to rely on willpower more than I can sustain when life throws a lot at me. Good planning, setting up my environment and giving myself grace are my best strategies at the moment for this. I think it would also help to have some go to comforts that follow the recommendations. How have others got past this with more than willpower? Thanks! I hope everyone has a great week.

[Hjklost55]

Hello Everyone, and hope you all had a great week. It is getting colder here in Idaho, and still have some yard work to do. Leaves mostly, so have been busy. Thank you Mark for all the feedback on last weeks check in. I really appreciate it. So, for my checklist:

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES…. I keep a big pot of veggie soup in the fridge at all time. So I always have something available.

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 desert. YES, although I need to be more aware of the portions. Sometimes I feel I have more starch than veggies.

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. No, still trying to break using “Everything but the bagel” seasoning that has some salt in it. But it is almost gone, so just won’t buy anymore. At least I am aware of it.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES, no problem with this one.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES, No problem with this one either. No soy curls this week.

6. Eliminate any added oil. YES, as far as I know. I did eat out one time this week, so I may have had some hidden oil, but not positive. I went to an Mongolian BBQ. Had a HUGE bowl of veggies, and a small amount of pasta on top. Only water for liquid.

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. YES….. None this week!! YAY

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES NO KOMBUCHA this week. Thanks for the reference information from Jeff, Mark! (You are like a walking encyclopedia) haha

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. NO. WELL……. Still need a lot of help in this area.

10.Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking) YES Very proud of myself this week on this one. Got in 7 days of activity and most days lots more than 30 minutes.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I still struggle with volume of food I am eating. It is all compliant, but just a lot of it. Therefore the scales aren’t moving. But at least I have been 11 days straight without ANY non-compliant food. (Well maybe the above referenced Kombucha) I just purchase a “Bountiful Basket”. It weighed 25 lbs and has the most beautiful food ever in it. If I knew how to attach a picture I would show you. I’m excited to cook a few different things that I don’t normally have; like red beets, acorn squash, fresh pineapple and a HUGE cantaloupe. I really can relate to what Rebecka22 said in her post: “Good planning, setting up my environment and giving myself grace are my best strategies at the moment.” Thanks everyone for the continued information and support.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Fellow Team Time & Adherence Travelers,

Hope that everyone is having an awesome week!!!! Overall, I’m feeling very positive about following the behaviors this week. So, YAY to that! Hope everyone else is as well!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly not.

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.
MOSTLY, YES. Dinging myself for a dumb thing. I did have a meal with white rice (my bad, husband made it and I didn’t realize, but perhaps should have). Anyway, just calling that out for what it is. Anomaly, not on-going issue. Guess I just better make my own rice! Otherwise, ate lots of oatmeal and fruit, potatoes, vats of veggie / bean soups, salad, roasted veggies, fruit. Tried the Rave apples this week --- hmm… a bit tart. A shout-out to WildGoose – came face to face with Bob’s Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat last weekend and remembered it on your “products you like” post from last month --- pretty darn delicious --- thumbs-up!!!

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.
Yes. Reduced, not eliminated. For this week, I used no sugar, but did salt some potatoes. I do totally eat more potatoes with the salt which is fine for me right now, but may do this putting ½ teaspoon in a jar with some other spices to make sure I am not over-doing sodium.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes.

6 Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8 Don’t drink your calories especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes –no stuffing or starving. I am unlikely to ever stuff (never been a volume eater) --- and I am calling it hunger if that cup of veggie / starch soup is attractive. This is working fine for me – so I don’t worry about it (anymore).

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. Walked briskly 7/7 days. Still loving the “crunch, crunch, crunch” when walking through the leaves (but it’s almost OVER)! Have continued to collect fleece for chillier walks --- if anyone is in same colder weather situation, check out Target --- fleece and sweater lined tights (will fit under any pants) and particularly awesome --- “over the knee” socks – soft and warm. OK, commercial over… Just trying to dress like a polar bear when needed…

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Rebecka22 – I am totally with you on instinct to deal with stress!!! OMG… Not sure if helpful, sometimes I will boil ginger chunks in hot water (since you aren’t liking tea) – has kind of a subtle spicy taste… Also, soup always serves a bit as “comfort food” to me when sick or wanting warm something! Honestly, finding comfort now in “happy” Spotify playlists and laughing…

Everyone --- Does anyone have any specific food plans for Thanksgiving food? OMG – it is coming up quickly! I’ve been asked to bring hummus / veggie tray to event – hummus is MWL ok (except have to be conscious of sodium in the hot sauce – TJ’s has a good low sodium one…). Was thinking to do a tray of potatoes or sweet potatoes as well. Maybe I will bring fruit too…

Appreciate this group. Thank you, Mark for your support!!! Also, thanks to all moderators and participants!!! I continue to learn and grow from everyone’s experience and feedback. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Best,
Stephanie

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 11/11/22

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
Yes.

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.
No

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
No

6) Eliminate any added oil.
Yes

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

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.

Victories,Comments,Questions,Challenges:

Victories-with the weather getting colder, I discovered that all of my fall and winter work clothes, even the tightest before, are now way too big in the waist. I’m on a mission to go through my closet to donate my clothes and get a few new things in a size I couldn’t fit one leg in before I started this. I’m not going to give myself permission to keep bigger clothes because I don’t want them to fit ever again. I’m kind of shocked and it feels very odd. I should be thrilled. When did this happen? When I first started losing weight I wore sizes that were too big but I’m not doing that anymore. Who else has experienced this disconnect?

Mark, the romanesco I bought for the first time was fantastic. I chopped and steamed the leaves in the Instantpot. They are very mild; almost like Swiss chard. It made a huge batch. I roasted the vegetable itself in the oven on a baking sheet with loads of whole peeled garlic cloves and tossed them with whole wheat penne, some of the pasta water,lemon, and lemon zest. It tasted like cauliflower but lighter. It was so good my family asked why I only bought one! Since I had the oven going, I added another baking sheet and prepared a week’s supply of baby Yukon potatoes and whole roasted beets. Lastly, I made an Instant pot of cabbage/beet borscht. I spent one morning cooking for the whole week and that’s it.

That was the good. Now for the bad and the ugly.

Challenges-3 (added sugars), 5 (high fat plant foods), & 7 (bread). At work this week despite the best preplanned, packed, prepared foods I had with me, I ate all of the leftover Halloween candy people brought to work to get rid of it from THEIR houses. I had a bagel on breakfast Wednesday. A huge one at that. At home I ate nuts. One thing led to another line in a chain reaction I could have and should have predicted with the first candy bar. Getting back to following all of the checkpoints immediately and having that checklist is a lifeline for me. This time of year is always a challenge and this is no exception despite months of sailing along and following the list to the letter. Makes me realize just how vulnerable I will always be when I let go.
This is probably the longest post I’ve written in a long time going from one end of the spectrum to the other and so glad to have the support of this community. I so look forward to Mark’s commentary and resources.Have a good week!

[Ejg]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 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. Yes, I think. I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but if I interpret this literally, I'm supposed to start off with salad, then move on to the starch which should fill half the plate, with the other half being filled by non-starchy green or yellow vegetables. I steam broccoli or cauliflower every morning and eat throughout the day. Instead of eating steamed vegetables with my starch (after the salad), I usually just dump them directly into my salad (honestly, sometimes I just dump the starch and beans directly into the salad too - guess I just like to save steps). I dunno. I think I'm following this one. All I know is the weight continues to come off, and I eat so much salad that the vinegar has started to become a problem. More below.
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. Ditched the canned tomatoes with added salt this week. However earlier in the week my stomach was feeling a little lousy so I bought some ginger chews at Rite Aid, and they were quite delicious......actually found myself eating them because they tasted like a sugary treat, not because my stomach still felt lousy. So I found myself in the thrall of the pleasure trap.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
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. yes
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes, mostly. i either run or lift weights, or both, every day. If I don't, its because I'm still kind of beat up from the day before and could use a day to recover. Apparently, recovery time increases with age.

Not sure what the policy is regarding salad dressing. Technically, it probably counts as a processed food laden with things we're trying to get away from, like salt and sugar. I only buy the fat free kind. I can't fathom eating the volume of salad I eat without salad dressing. It seems to be a necessary evil for me. The thought of trying to eat raw kale without salad dressing makes me really not want to eat salad. Anyway, I've been experiencing some really bad throat rawness and general sensitivity for a couple weeks, and believe I've traced it back to the vinegar in salad dressing. If I try to eat straight balsamic vinegar on my salad, bad things happen. I assume its because of the acetic acid present in vinegar. When I actually read the label of my fat free salad dressing ingredients, vinegar was near the top of the list. Mystery solved (I think). I've been trying to find a vinegar-free substitute but apparently, vinegar is in all salad dressing. The best substitute I've come up with is to mix dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, and applesauce, which sounds nasty but isn't that bad. Anyway, if anyone has a vinegar-free substitute for salad dressing they can pass along, I'd appreciate it. Going to Alabama next week for work, so I really need to have my game face on to avoid all the non-compliant food that is sure to be present. I try to not put too much emphasis on what the scale says, but this week the first number of my weight was a 1, instead of a 2. It has been at least several years since this has been the case. I feel quite motivated to keep the positive momentum going. week over week change: -1, cumulative change: -7

[Ellen Withrow]

Happy week, everyone. We talked about this forum on the Starchivore Wednesday meetup on Zoom for McDougall graduates. Mark Cooper and everyone on this forum in invited to stop by Zoom at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on Heather McDougall's Zoom link. We'd love to hear the history of this excellent forum.

Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. NO, room for improvement.

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. YES on several meals this week.

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. OK - I did better at eliminating sugars (Pepsi/Coca Cola) at the end of this week.

Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES

Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No nuts, seeds, or tofu this week. I added an avocado this week to my rice & raw cabbage bowl. I added WestSoy plain, unsweetened soy milk when making banana/strawberry smoothies.

Eliminate any added oil.NO - On Monday when I traveled 130 miles away from home. I ate a large warmed pretzel with salt from Quik Trip convenience mart. I ate the pretzel with mustard and ketchup. It tasted like it contained oil. On the same day I went into the Whole Foods Market in this city to buy Japanese sweet potatoes, Hannah yams and persimmons. I saw three vegan blueberry scones in the self-serve pastry case and bought them and ate them -- I"m sure scones contained oil. The rest of my energy on this trip came from Pepsi and Coke. When I returned home I ate the rice that I had made in my Instant Pot before I left that morning. I got rushed and didn't have time to package my rice for the trip. I barely made it to my appointment on time.

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, three blueberry vegan scones and a salted pretzel.

Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NO, I drank eight 20-ounce sodas at the beginning of this week. In the later part of the week I replaced the sodas with fruit smoothies.

Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.YES

Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

I am up one pound this week

[Lizzy_F]

Hello fellow Time & Adherence travelers! Here is my report for the week ending 11/11/22. Just under the wire once again. I hope to be back later to comment on other people's reports - so much good and helpful stuff. I'm so grateful we have this place to share our journeys, and support & learn from one another!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 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. YES, within parameters previously discussed

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. YES – reduced no eliminated

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES!

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO – almond butter. It is now completely out of my house.

6. Eliminate any added oil. YES

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 – raisins – they are now completely out of my house.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES!! I am still 100% green dots (for intentional exercise each day) in November!

Victories: EXERCISE!!! This system is working for intentional exercise, and I might adapt it for high calorie dense foods for a while. I am now regularly walking 3 miles, which feels good – like it’s doing my body good – but it no longer feels “hard.” YAY!


Comments: I checked in via Klara with Tiffany (my 12-day program support specialist) this week. She always provides me feedback that is so helpful. She never enables me (just like Mark, Jeff, and Goose around here!!!) but her feedback never feels harsh to me. It’s the balance that I need (here and there!) to REALLY help me make the changes I’m trying so hard to make. She just reminded me that I am human, and it’s normal to have a bobble now and then. As Mark always reminds us, she encouraged self-compassion while employing sound strategies to make sure I’m back on track with my food and my goals. So I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on how well aligned my food is with my goal of living a healthy and slender life. I feel good about where I am mentally with this today. I have also been reading lot from the links provided last week specific to my own situation, and to all of us as a group “food for thought.” Shout out of appreciation for all the Jeff has written here on the forum that is so helpful, all that Mark has shared about his own journey, and Mark for somehow being able to have zillions of links at his fingertips!!!


Concerns: The price of 15 pound bags of Jumbo Baking Potatoes went up about $1 at Sam’s Club to about $8.50! THE NERVE! (With the way grocery prices are going these days, I seriously think about just eating a potato only diet sometimes!)


Questions: Does anyone else wonder if some low level depression sets in at this time of year? (holiday related emotions, shorter days + time change making it dark at 4:30pm, colder weather, etc. etc.) I can’t really put my finger on it, but I’m noticing that my train goes off the track a bit at this time of year… I’m grateful to have this group and the MWL guidelines to help me stay grounded through it in the food & exercise department!