Dissolution's Solution

[carollynne]

nice pictures, and have a nice time out with family on Friday! You look a lot thinner in the face, and even with the bulky layers of clothes, you look as though you have lost a lot of wt!!
congrats to you!! You have a lot of live for with the family!!

[fulenn]

You definitely look younger, much younger, in the 2nd picture.

Fulenn

[Dissolution]

Went out to that very nice restaurant with my mother, sister and BIL. SOOO disappointed, it was easily the worst restaurant meal I've had out since beginning this WOE.

I asked for the vegetarian menu, and was informed that they did not have one this quarter, but I waitress excused herself to see what the chef was going to be able to do. She came back and said he had some soy chicken available. So I ordered the soy chicken, with sauteed wild mushrooms for my appetizer (I asked for everything to be prepared without oil), then ordered fingerling sweet potatoes and asparagus for my side dishes.

The mushrooms were great, followed by a nice salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Then the soy chicken came. Deep fried breaded processed patties! I just kind of sat there in stunned silence. This place had foie gras, truffles and bone marrow on the menu. I don't think I've ever heard of anything being served there that came out of a box. To make matters worse, my vegetables were covered in olive oil.

I decided not to complain. My sister and BIL had already told me it was their treat. this was one of their ritual outings (every six weeks) to their favorite place. I'm also fairly sure they invited me along to see what I would eat (you know, stare at the vegan). So I made the best of it and choked it down. Regretting it now, feeling pretty sick.

So disappointed...

[lmggallagher]

Aww, so sorry Dissolution, especially about you feeling sick. We try to accommodate and it hurts us - how sad and SAD.

I've found only one vegan restaurant in my area - it's a"Loving Hut" part of a chain, there are a few things I can eat on the menu that are compliant and gluten free. Still it's not a place that I would take others to "dine" at - that's the hardest to deal with, particularly for families and friends that have always enjoyed high end eating establishments.

Hope you feel better again fast!

[Katydid]

I was on a Buisness trip last year and had to eat with a large group of people. Half were friends from work and the others were from a vendor's company who were treating us to dinner in order to thank us for our buying their products. The dinner was a a steak and seafood place where there was literally nothing vegetarian, least of all vegan on the menu. I had a chat with the waiter and ended up with the following: a large salad with just balsamic vinegar. This in itself was a challenge in that the only salad on the menu was iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing. But when I pointed out that many of the dishes on the menu came with grilled onion, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms he agreed that there were indeed raw vegetables in the kitchen and he actually made me the salad himself. For my dinner I asked for dry grilled mushrooms, the same vegetables in my salad, and some asparagus. I made it clear that I had a very bad gall bladder and that I would become physically sick if there were any oil used in the grilling. I also ordered a plain baked potato, but he did tell me that these were oiled before baking, so I didn't eat the skin. Still, it was a huge baked potato and a huge platter or grilled veggies. For dessert, I asked for the raspberries from the creme brûlée with raspberries, but I had to order the entire dessert to get the bowl of berries. That was OK, there were plenty of people at the table who jumped on the creme brûlée. All in all it was a great experience and the waiter himself was quite pleased with his own ingenuity. I also had some interesting conversation about my diet while the others where snaffing down oysters, steak and lots and lots of alcohol.

Kate

[Dissolution]

Katydid Normally I am prepared to do battle with the wait staff and kitchen staff to get food how I want it without having to resort to side salad only meals. I just figured this place was going to be different. The small city this restaurant is located has a very large 7th day Adventist population. So in general most places are vegetarian friendly, which doesn't help much because the 7th days favorite food seems to be grilled cheese.

Long story short, I was up until 3am, most of that time spent on the toilet. We'll chalk this one up to "let that be a lesson to you".

At one of my clients, this one woman wanted me to speak to her husband about my "diet" and the results I have gotten so far. He's 62, 80 pounds over weight, diabetic, high cholesterol, heart disease, stint, angina...In other words, typical 62 year old american male. I told him about the almost complete reversal of diabetes, the ending of angina, my cholesterol levels, how good I felt and the weight loss. Then we had this conversation;

Him: So what is THIS diet?
Me: Basically I eat no meat, dairy, eggs or added oils. I eat ...
Him: Wait! But that's all I eat!
Me: ....
Him: ....
Me: It's what you eat that is causing all of your problems.
Him: See ya.

It would be funny, if people weren't killing themselves. I can understand the trap people fall into. The medical establishment tells you, it's genetic, there is no reversal of anything. Heart disease is heart disease, diabetes is for life. Eat SAD in moderation and you'll live a little longer. For me it was hearing that there is the possibility to reverse these diet caused conditions from people who weren't trying to sell me a magic pill that got my attention. I'm sure that's a rant that most of us are quite familiar with.

Anyways...still felt a little bad this morning. 28ºF out, went out for a walk . Found a great new program for my android phone, called "My Tracks" from google, I used it to track my walk.

Distance: 1.72 miles
Moving Time: 27:05
Average Moving Speed: 3.8 mph
Elevation gain: 499 ft

Nice program, highly recommend it. Will export the data to Google Maps, Google Spreadsheet, pretty cool.

[lmggallagher]

Seems your all better now from the eating fiasco That conversation you had with that man is so typical for me. People ask me what I am doing and then as soon as I say no meat or dairy they can't get away from me fast enough. I am encouraged by people where I swim though; my trainer and some of the other clients are already very health conscience and often ready to try something that improves on what they are already doing to maintain good health. Still, I think Dr. Barnard is right when he says men tend to be addicted to the fat in meat - because men are usually the fastest to turn me off on the subject.

Cool you found that walking app - I will be testing out the MapMy Walk app right now, (was just on the way out and thought I'd check in for a little pre-walk inspiration -- and I found it right on your post). This is the one Rosie uses to post to her Facebook account, seems pretty cool. I have been using Sports Tracker and it's kind of neat too. I'll try the one your mentioning as well. I am just like addicted to apps and have an Android too - hey, that's better then being addicted to meat, hehehe!

PS - Thanks for your recommendations on my weekend trip - with all your travel lately - if you hadn't posted I was going to ask you anyway Also, hey looks like your at your halfway mark - WOW, way to go!

[Katydid]

Anyways...still felt a little bad this morning. 28ºF out, went out for a walk . Found a great new program for my android phone, called "My Tracks" from google, I used it to track my walk.

Distance: 1.72 miles
Moving Time: 27:05
Average Moving Speed: 3.8 mph
Elevation gain: 499 ft

Nice program, highly recommend it. Will export the data to Google Maps, Google Spreadsheet, pretty cool.

Thanks for the tip. I got an android phone for Christmas, but being a MacHead I've only used it for phone calls and checking email. I'll check out that program.

Kate

[Dissolution]

Getting ready to head to the train station to pick up the wife.

Did my walk this morning. Picked a different route, was surprised to see the elevation change was less than yesterday. It seemed like a much more difficult walk.

Distance: 1.78 miles
Moving Time: 29:16
Average Moving Speed: 3.66 mph
Elevation gain: 476 ft

[Dissolution]

The wife is back...

I missed her very much, we had a nice afternoon together. Then it was time to head for bowling. On the ride to the alley, we start talking about my experience last Friday with the nice restaurant and how sick I got afterwards. She considers that PROOF that my current "diet" is harming me. At some point in the conversation I made reference to the 7th Day Adventists in California, that were part of a study. She asked me, "How do you know that?". I told her I had read articles where the study was referenced. She told me I need to get a new hobby.

After bowling we stopped by the grocery store. She's been gone almost 3 weeks, so the SAD food supplies are running low (two adult sons living at home). She's so tired and in so much pain that she rides the motorized shopping cart. She's 47 and having to ride the handicap shopping cart and she's going to be critical of how I eat? This would be comical if it wasn't so sad. She bought $104 worth of junk food, I bought $2 worth of kale and a $2 container of mushrooms.

I would like to mention that our grocery store carries the McDougall line of soups and noodles. They're all very good so far. I don't eat them that often, but sometimes when I don't feel like cooking I will have one.

[Dissolution]

It was 21ºF when I headed out this morning.

Distance: 1.73 miles
Moving Time: 26:46
Average Moving Speed: 3.88 mph
Elevation gain: 537 ft

Getting faster with more elevation gain. Angina almost non existent. Looks like it might be in the 40's this weekend, maybe will try going 3 - 4 miles.

Was reading this thread:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=22599
I'm thinking about trying Intermittent Fasting, maybe on Tuesdays. It's kind of a scary concept for a food addict.

[Dissolution]

Well the " honeymoon" is over. I was cooking lunch (brown rice with black beans in the rice cooker and broccoli steaming in the top) when she finally decided to get up. She made gagging noises for 10 minutes and lit every candle in the house. Bitched at me about how horrible the smell was for another 10 minutes. Then she sat down and cried because she doesn't think our marriage will survive the smell of my cooking. She might be right...

[Summer]

I'm not going to say this is the solution here, however, something we do on occasion in our house when someone is fussing about the smell is to plug in a cooker on the back patio... not sure if that is viable in your living situation, we have a plug just out the back door and an awning, but before the awning I used to set up an umbrella if it was raining. I have a toaster oven and an electric pressure cooker so if for some reason someone doesn't want to smell something that's being cooked (and sometimes I'm afraid it's me! ) I just set one of those up outside and make it. I also have a hepa filter in the kitchen (I have one that just can't stand onions and at least 4 others that absolutely adore them, so... ).

[MixedGrains]

Aw, man. Sympathies.

I just went back and looked at your early posts in this thread. Stuff like

This summer: My diabetes is getting worse. I'm taking 1000 mg of metformin twice a day and glipizide twice a day. Blood sugar almost always above 300. When it would spike up higher I would eat no carbohydrates (mostly animal protein) and take an additional 1000mg of metformin. Diabetic nerve pain in my legs is almost constant. Having a hard time even getting out of the car. Chest pains becoming more frequent. Almost certain I'm not going to reach 50, probably not going to reach 45 at this rate.

And then:

Week 1: 300 Lbs. Confused in the kitchen. Learning to cook in ways that don't involve removing from a box and microwaving. One day at the end of the week, slightly dizzy, sweating. Blood sugar 79, eat an apple and never take metformin again.

Week 2: 285 Lbs. Energy level continues to rise, start walking on tread mill. The cooking is going better. Towards the end of the week cut dosage in half for glipizide (remaining diabetes medicine).

Week 3: 282 Lbs. Feeling great!

Week 4: 275 Lbs. Feel great! No cravings! People starting to notice weight loss.

And it's only kept getting better for you, health-wise. I don't know how that makes you feel, but in my case, a similar progression makes me feel more hopeful and confident about my future than I've been in 20 years. There's literally a spring in my step than I didn't have 100 pounds ago, and I like it!

Call me naive, but I still think marriages have to be founded in love. When they are not, you're better off living alone, or getting a dog, or lining up a roommate on Craig's List to share the rent. And I have trouble comprehending how someone who loves you could look at the terrifying place you were and the hopeful place you are now and still want you to go back to that terrifying place of impending death.

Other than the "none of my business" reticence that clearly isn't crippling my typing fingers (heh) the only thing that keeps me from saying "Dude, it's over, call a damn lawyer already" is that she's clearly still living in that terrifying deadly place herself (see, e.g., electric shopping cart, age 47). And she's now alone there in an important sense. Not being willing to leave it herself (more charitably, I'll assume she's willing to leave but can't see a way out, having discounted your pathfinding for reasons that presumably make sense to her), it only stands to reason that she wants you back there with her.

All the drama and hatefulness appear geared toward that goal. She doesn't want to change but she doesn't want to be alone in her situation, either. So she's trying to reach out and drag you back to that frightening no-futures place where she still is. Is that love? Well it sure ain't selfless love, but it ain't nothin', either. And so I imagine that your patience and tolerance (until they run out) must come from a place of hope that she'll eventually find her own way out. But man, I know it cannot be easy to take.

[AlwaysAgnes]

Well the " honeymoon" is over. I was cooking lunch (brown rice with black beans in the rice cooker and broccoli steaming in the top) when she finally decided to get up. She made gagging noises for 10 minutes and lit every candle in the house. Bitched at me about how horrible the smell was for another 10 minutes. Then she sat down and cried because she doesn't think our marriage will survive the smell of my cooking. She might be right...

Ha. I'd probably be bitching at her about the candles. I can stand that smell for a short period of time, but after that POW!
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/are-sc ... -sick.html

I have a hyper sense of smell, so I understand how your wife feels. I think it's neurological. Brain damage, dontcha know.

Broccoli stinks. Luckily it's a stink that usually doesn't bother me. Instead of trading in your wife, you might try buying a better kitchen exhaust fan. And don't overcook the broccoli! If you're cooking it more than 4 or 5 minutes, you're probably over-doing it. That just makes it stink worse.