Having a hard time getting started

[tea]

Hey folks,

I'm having a really hard time getting started, and was hoping that maybe you could give me some encouragement and advice. I'm in school part time (done in September, yay!) and have two little ones, so my life is pretty nuts.

I've been keeping a food diary over the last few days, and it's discouraging how addicted I feel to my unhealthy eating patterns. I was just wondering, how did you guys kick these habits? Did you go cold turkey? I think if I lived alone I would go cold turkey, and just throw out all the non-program food in my pantry, but living with three other people makes that really hard to do (although I'm going to run this idea past my husband before I give up on it - he's a very supportive guy and might be okay with it).

Has anyone had any success at just inching over to a new way of life?

I guess I'm just worried I can't do this. I'm really amazed at the power certain foods seem to have, namely: SUGAR. Sugar really seems to be a drug for me. Advice is welcome!

Thanks!

[veggiecat]

Bring lunch to work?What does your family like for dinner?

[tea]

I don't work, I stay at home with the kids. I'm in school in the evenings, so dinner is usually up to my husband, and the kids like the usual stuff; fish sticks, PBJs, etc.

[hope101]

Tea, I inched too. Even as a SAD eater I began making improvements in how I ate about 10 years ago--lower fat, lower meat quantities, more fruits and veggies. But when I shifted to vegan I first did no meat, then do overt eggs (what I put in food), then no cheese, lastly no milk. I live with a previously very enthusiastic SAD eater who I never thought would go vegetarian and two children. When I announced I wouldn't cook meat anymore or eat it myself my kids cheered. I didn't expect DH to come along for the ride, in fact I kept meat in the house for a while in case he wanted to go to the trouble of cooking it for himself, but he never did. He still eats occasional eggs and cheese but has committed himself to at least being vegetarian all of his own accord. Having a husband who is supportive is a HUGE ace in your sleeve.

Wrt sugar, I highly recommend the book "Breaking the Food Seduction" by Dr. Neal Barnard. He stresses that there actually are chemicals in certain foods (sugar, chocolate, cheeses) that mimic narcotics and that this isn't a moral issue at all but a physical condition that some people are more prone to than others. He recommends when you decide to cut a food out you go cold turkey but replace what you crave with foods that do not trigger the same physical reaction. I found, for instance, that my sweet tooth could be calmed very nicely with a date filled with a little peanut butter and an almond. Three of those or so and I completely lost my interest in other sugary sweets. What I liked about his book is it does come complete with quite a few recipes. I have found a few keepers in it.

I know others here recommend the DVD "The Pleasure Trap". It covers much of the same information as Dr. Barnard's.

Don't beat yourself up for being imperfect. As Dr. Barnard says, guilt is a distraction from the goal. Just keep inching your way towards what you want. If you are anything like me, the sense of integrity you gain from living the way intellectually you know is best starts to rapidly help resist some of the temptations that come your way. And finding recipes that make you feel truly satisfied helps too.

[happyalyssa]

I would reccommend planning in advance some, and setting a date.

Say April first. Sounds a way off but will give you time to start breaking old habits and use up the "junk" in the kitchen and replace it with other helathier things. Even if your family continues to eat meat and dairy, at least they can benefit from whole wheat bread & pasta instead of white, and no-sugar all-fruit jam and all natural peanut butter instead of the sugar-salt filled junk.

Although I just made the change of vegetarian to vegan, about 6 weeks before I started McDougalling, I started shopping differently. We used up the overly processed food in the house (boxed mac & cheese, etc) and started replacing it every time we went shopping with helathier options.

During that time, you can (without even saying anything about it) start getting your family used to eating healthier foods. Then when it is time for you to jump on the McDougall wagon, it will be easy changes for you. Instead of being tempted to eat the macaroni and cheese your kids are having, while fixing a salad for yourself; you can still eat your family meal of spaghetti (whole wheat) with marinara sauce.

As far as sugar goes, don't expect yourself to give it up overnight. Next time you're in the store, pick up some honey (or better yet, agave nectar at the health food store) and get used to using that instead. I made cookies this week with 0 oil and 0 refined sugar (used whole wheat flour, agave nectar, honey, applesauce & natural peanut butter) and while they were still delicious (husband ate almost all of them that night) they were definately a few steps above the zero-nutritional-value cookies I may have made just 3 months ago.

This board, www.fatfreevegan.com, and a few other sources have been a real eye opener when it comes to the small cooking and shoping habits we do every day/week. Start sauteeing in broth or water or even wine instead of oil. Start making those small changes and you'll soon realize you can still have lots of flavorful foods. Experiment with all the new recipes and techniques, you'll have a lot of fun too

Best of luck,
Alyssa

[slugmom]

I'm one who has NOT done better "tapering off" ... the times I've tried, I just kept feeding the cravings and it stayed hard. I waffled off and on a lot. I know it works better for some people, but not for me.

Recently I decided I'd try to go 100% for a set amount of time. I did mostly well, and then when February came I declared to myself a no-cheat month, LOL ... but really, I've found that the cravings finally went away when I got serious about it.

I have children and SAD food in the house. I try to make McDougall meals for the most part, and limit the snackies to things that don't tempt me. Sometimes I make meals like soft tacos where the children can use a little cheese and sour cream, but dh and I don't. But the biggest difference has been me deciding that, this time around, I'm not going to cheat. When I start waffling wondering what to eat I'll nuke a potato and eat it with soy sauce to get me over the hump, before I get so hungry I'm searching for junk.

You can do it, one way or another! It's worth it!

[Sunny]

Hi Tea,
Welcome to the board. Moving into McDougalling gradually is a fine idea. If you have a chance to read the 12-day program you will see that
Dr.McDougall did this one step at a time. Once you are full fledge into it, I think it is helpful to have meals prepared and ready to eat . Alot of us here prepare food for the week, it helps keep us on track.

[tea]

Thanks you guys! Reading these responses has been inspiring, and is helping nudge me in the right direction. I've learned in the last couple of days that my blood sugar seems to drop quickly, and that when that happens, I become a BEAR for anything containing sugar.

I'm learning a) to not let my blood sugar drop so fast (to eat a little something more frequently), and b) to eat a "healthy" sugar item.

Just an apple wasn't enough, so I cooked it until soft and then added some brown sugar and oatmeal. Instant apple crisp, and it was a lot better than the HOHOs I usually want. It's still probably more sugar than I "should" have, but it's a heck of a lot better than the junk food. I'm using this as a bridge to getting better at snacking healthfully.

I read some of the success stories here and on the main site, and they were hugely inspiring. I feel a lot better.

Oh, and I DO have Barnard's book, I just haven't read it in a long time. I'll pull it down an dig in again.

[Anne-Marie]

I have the same problem with my blood sugar. Sometimes I'll be thinking it might be good to have lunch soon, then, I'm getting a little hungry and before I know it, I'm full blown starving and shaking because my blood sugar dropped so low. At work, I try to have lunch ready to go and be ready to eat before I am starved.

When I get home in the evening, is a problem too after my long commute. I am trying to have some things in the refrigerator ready so I can snack on healthy stuff while I feed the dogs, cook dinner and wait for DH to come home so we can eat.

I think the trick is to have good food ready to go.

[stevek]

Tea,

If you really believe that changing your eating habits by eliminating meat, dairy, and oils, will be more healthy for you and your family just start doing it. There is no perfect way to transition to a low-fat vegan diet. Some people go cold turkey, but since you have a family it might not be fair to them to drastically change their diet overnight. I agree that it's important to get your husband's input.

A few tips: There are many simple things that you can do immediately. Don't use butter, margarine, mayonaise, or sour cream. Find substitututes that you enjoy eating, ie., fruit spread, salsa, low-fat hummus, etc. In many baking recipes or for pancakes you can substitute applesauce or smashed banana for the oil with almost no effect on texture or taste.

Try to find vegan recipes that you and your family truly enjoy. You probably are already serving meals that with some slight modifications would be much healthier.

Keep things simple. Many healthy foods are easy to prepare. Baked potatoes, pasta with seasoned tomata sauce, boiled brown rice with a steamed vegetable take very little work. Bean burritos with salsa and vegies go over big at our house. And I've found that toasting corn tortillas in the oven makes a good substitute for nachos and tostado shells.

I've been at this for almost 6 months and it's getting much easier. I don't crave greasy food anymore and I've developed enough of a menu that I look forward to eating just as much now as in the past.

Once you start feeling better and losing weight (if you you need to) you will find this new lifestyle easy to continue.

Don't beat yourself up if you backtrack. The other day I binged on Lay's baked potato chips. The next day I was back on program.

Good luck and continue to post if you need support.

Steve