Birdy Takes Flight

[Birdy]

I just watched the trailer for the recent McDougall weekend. Wow there were a lot of people there. The Star McDougaller who Dr. McDougalled greeted in the audience looked really great (whose name I forget, but who has followed the plan since the late 1990s and recovered from rheumatoid arthritis).

I've lost another 2 pounds this week, but again it's not because of diet but because one of my adult children was hospitalized and I spent two days there with her. Life the past few months has been a series of one difficulty after another. But we all face these times and just have to make the best of it. When I was at the hospital, I chose to eat salads, vegetable soup, potatoes with vegies (they were cooked in oil but lightly), and a small portion of scrambled eggs. This morning I'm having oatmeal for breakfast, but am still trying to get off coffee with sugar and creamer. In hard times the little comforts like coffee help a lot. Today I very much hope to go for a walk because I haven't gotten any exercise this week and have been indoors too much. It's supposed to be sunny and warm this afternoon in the Northwest. Beautiful fall colors.

Hope you all have a good day.

[f1jim]

The Star McDougaller was Phyllis Heaphy. She is wonderful and is almost always at these events.
f1jim

[Birdy]

Jim (or is it James?), thank you for posting. Phyllis is just beautiful. I'd benefit from attending a workshop but circumstances haven't allowed me to yet. Maybe in February?

Didn't get the walk yesterday. I ended up helping my daughter who is staying with us until she's more stable. And then I went to work for a while to try to catch up on a few things. I did have oatmeal for breakfast but with about 1/4 cup 1% milk, a vegan root vegetable soup for lunch, and for dinner I made a big pot of lentil vegetable soup but put some meat in it for the rest of the family. Someone posted the idea of full disclosure in our journals of foods eaten, whether on or off plan (especially off plan because how can we improve if we're not honest?). I think it's a good idea and worth trying in order to move closer to actually eating all or mostly plant based. I think we on this board tend to forget the first pages of his book The McDougall Plan where he stated that "this is not an all or nothing plan." The more we adhere to the plant based diet, the better results we'll see. I am inspired recently by former President Clinton's change in diet and am happy that someone of his prominence and with such a large sphere of influence is speaking publicly about the power of plant based diets to reverse even severe cardiovascular disease. I wish it could reverse skin cancer!

Well, today's plan is to help my daughter, blob out for a while at home, clean the house, grocery shop, WALK or maybe swim or both (haven't been swimming since early August), and EAT RIGHT. Let's see....I think I'll have oatmeal now with fresh fruit instead of milk.

Have a relaxing weekend!

[Birdy]

Sunday's food:

Breakfast: One small whole wheat pancake (leftover from a large batch made on Saturday morning; contained egg and 1% milk) and teaspoon of peanut butter.
One cup coffee with half n half and tsp. sugar

Lunch: Tabouli salad, brown/wild rice with spicy lentils, cucumber/hicama/red pepper salad and, alas, about 1 cup of ice cream (I know, I know, but I was at a church luncheon and I passed on the lamb at least).

Snacks: More tabouli salad, grapes, decaf black tea with 1/2 tsp sugar

Dinner: Not really hungry but if I don't eat I'll have trouble sleeping. So I think I'll have a sandwich made with a vegan burger, spinach, and tomato, mustard & ketschup.

Went for a walk today about 1 1/2 miles. I could have walked much further but was with my husband and our old lab and neither one of them likes to walk very far!

[Anna Green]

Birdy, I do think full disclosure helps and most of the time I do it. Sometimes I just don't post so you don't get all my foibles but I try to at least mention them when I post next. I may too get back to detailing all my food as I did for a long long time. Anyway, I will be cheering you on for telling all, not judging (I'd be a hypocrite).

I admire you for persisting and hope your healthy eating will be healing for you.

[Birdy]

Hi Anna. It always cheers me up to hear from you.

Life continues to be a challenge. I pretty much can't believe what a roll I'm on. Last week my oldest daughter was in the hospital for two days (and I was there with her), then I brought her home to care for her for another two days. She has mono. Who knew it could be more than just a cold or fatigue?

Then yesterday I got the news that I have another basal cell carcinoma, this one in the area between the corner of my eye and my nose. That means another Moh's surgery. A scary proposition after the first experience I had with it on my chin.

I've done some research on diet and skin cancer, and guess what? No surprise that once again a low fat plant based diet is indicated. It's amazing how many illnesses are prevented or improved by vegan diets. Happily, even the risk of new skin cancers can be reduced by low fat plant based diets.

[Anna Green]

Birdy, Hi! So sorry to hear about the new spot. You are so right though about the eating well having an impact. You have all my support and I'm sending you yearning for healthy food vibes through the airways. I am visioning beautiful plates of veggies and starches that you just love eating and that make you feel wonderful and heal quickly.

Let us know how you are doing. Hope your daughter is feeling better.

[sksamboots]

Your doing great. Keep it up

[nomikins]

Birdy, hope everything goes well. I believe Dr. M. has written something about skin cancer and diet. May be worth taking the time to look for it.

[Birdy]

Hi Nomikins, sksamboots, and Anna! It's so great to hear from all three of you. Anna your post makes me smile and, yes, my daughter seems to be doing much better although she still needs to take it easy for another 2 weeks. I'm hoping she'll take better care of herself in general but when you're 19 you think you're invincible. Come to think of it, I guess there's a part of all of us at any stage of life that secretly believes we're indestructible. Nomikins you are going girl! I'm impressed by your weight loss and hope it's accompanied by lots of other good things, such as feeling great. I've been so busy and haven't had time to really keep up with journals or posts on the other threads, but it's great to see someone making such good progress. sksamboots I bet you're doing well too.

I just spent an hour listening to Dr. McDougall's free lecture on M.S. Thank you Dr. McD! That was really informative, as his lectures always are, and it also clarifies the work of his research foundation which I hadn't previously understood.

As for me, surgery is scheduled for next week to remove the skin cancer near my eye. It shouldn't be too big of a deal, but I won't be able to wear glasses for a few days and can't do much without them, including posting here.

I went for a three mile walk this morning and then walked all over the mall with my youngest looking for a special dress for her homecoming weekend that's coming up. So I definitely got my exercise today and it felt great. Tomorrow, I think I'll go for another nice walk.

My diet is just a disaster, but I'm at least doing better in general with sugar and junk foods like chips, etc. That alone is probably why I've lost 10 pounds and kept that off for quite a while now. I seem to be a person who progresses at turtle pace or maybe worse, a snail's pace. So tomorrow I'm gonna try to be a good McDougaller and eat starch a la the recent lecture on the same subject!

Wishing you all the best.....

[Anna Green]

Birdy, just checkin in to say hi. I'm thinking about you and sending you those vibes. When you can, let us know how you are doing.

[Birdy]

Hey Anna, how are you? Thanks for throwing me a little "life line" of friendliness. I'm still recovering from the last surgery for skin cancer. It's definitely an unpleasant procedure, but minor compared to what people go through with other things. Makes me think about mortality and the preciousness of life. Other than that hurdle, I'm doing well. I went for a long walk today and my flubbery legs made me realize how much I need to get back to walking every day. It felt so good and the leaves were spectacularly beautiful. Autumn is my favorite season.

I made the most delicious split pea soup earlier this week. For years I really disliked split pea anything, but have come to realize that dislike was because of the smoked ham or whatever it is that is traditionally used in making the soup. Here is the recipe I made from Jennifer Raymond's cookbook, The Peaceful Palate. It's very good!

2 cups split peas
6 cups water
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or crushed
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 potato scrubbed and diced
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt

Rinse the split peas, then place them in a large pot with all the remaining ingredients except the salt. Bring to a simmer, then cover loosely and cook until the peas are tender, about 1 hour. Add salt to taste.


I don't know if the split peas I used had been in the cabinet too long or what, but the soup took 2 hours to cook and the peas were still kind of hard. I don't think you have to soak split peas overnight like beans. Even so, it was really good and I'll make it again with a fresh batch of split peas.

My weight is holding steady. I've decided to take weight loss (and resulting health improvement) in ten pound increments. I may have written about this before. Since I've lost 10 pounds this past year and kept it off, I now want to lose another 10 lbs. for a target weight of 143 and to maintain that. My current strategy is to focus on walking every day for at least 30 minutes, to avoid sugar and processed foods, and to eat low- or non-fat vegan as much as possible. It's clear to me that an all or nothing mind set just does not work for me. I need to have a flexible attitude that allows me to mess up, dust myself off, and keep on working on it. I may not get the results that are possible with genuine adherance to the McDougall Plan, so that's a disadvantage of my plan. But I have made some progress and I guess we can only do what we can do.

For now, I'd better go to sleep because tomorrow morning, I'm off to the mall (yuck) with my youngest daughter.

Have a woooooonderful Halloween weekend!

[sksamboots]

Sounds like you have a good plan. Good to see you birdy. Keep on keepin on

[Anna Green]

Hey, how are you? Hope all is well. Thanks for the recipe. I plan to do that soon.

[Birdy]

Hi sksamboots and Anna! Hey, Happy Birthday in a couple of weeks Anna! (I've been reading your journal). Congrats on the running/walking. I ran for years, only 2 miles three or four times a week, but it was my favorite exercise ever. Unfortunately, I injured my Achilles tendon and then had other injuries so I became a walker. Running is exhilirating and I found it to be the best fitness exercise I've ever done.

I was sad to read Mrs. Doodlepunk's journal which is now caput. According to her last post, she won't continue her journal and that's a shame because she's such a bright, funny and honest writer. There have been a number of episodes just like this where people's feelings are offended and off they go. It seems to be a weakness with this kind of format. Or maybe it's just human nature.

I'm not posting much anymore because the journaling has not helped me lose much weight, or more accurately, it hasn't helped me with compliance. Also, frankly, I'm kind of bored with it. Probably if I were making progress I would feel differently.

My health is better now, as is my emotional world. Time does heal all, one way or another. Not much news to report. Life is busy. Life is good.

Anyway, wishing you all the best.