Having more and smaller meals helped with the GERD, but not completely.
Banana, then a plate of carrots and brown rice with some capers
Beets, then a plate of bean pasta and roasted zucchini, banana
Zucchini, then brown rice and string beans
Spinach, then whole grain pasta and squash with nutritional yeast
30 minute walk with light hand weights
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6/1/22 - 6/3/22 MWL thread post
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes, except for one snack. 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 mistakenly used sweet corn as my 50% starch at first, but Jeff left a note explaining that doesn’t work for most people. Adding a heavier starch worked.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).
I never eat these.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).
I only had water, coffee and tea with nothing in them.9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
The first day I tried to fit all my food into three meals, but I was too full. Eating small amounts more often worked better.10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
30 minutes of walking dailyVictories, comments, concerns, questions: Thank you for welcoming me to the group! I only started MWL on Wednesday, and I’m surprised to feel improvement in just a few days. I enjoy the food and the simple guidelines.Thank you for the support and guidance here!
Question: Does the first guideline apply to snacks, or can a snack be just a piece of fruit or some raw vegetables?
Mark’s answer:
Mark Cooper wrote:Regarding the question about snacks:As Jeff discusses in the quote below, the application of the recommendations may require some situational judgement, but the more recommendations one follows, the greater the benefit.
JeffN wrote:The MWL guidelines are guidelines, not black and white rules and are based on the principles of calorie density, satiety, fiber/kcal, food form, chewing, etc. etc. The more you do, the more you can benefit.
Starting meals with a soup, salad and/or fruit, helps to lower the overall calorie density of the meal and increase the overall satiety. This helps to decrease the overall caloric intake without giving up any weight or volume of food, which usually increase. Hence the saying, eat more, weigh less. Eat more food in volume/weight while eating less calories. Some will start with huge salads and/or soups, some will have small ones. Some have both, some have none. It is a guideline but all based on the science of pre-loading. Fruit is included because it works better for breakfast for many. However, many people like “savory” breakfast and have oatmeal with vegetables.
While using these as a pre-load work, they also work as part of the meal (50/50 plate) which is based on the science of dilution. Some may end up needing to do both to hit their goals, same may need to do one or the other.
This is probably MOST important when faced with a plateau or some other instance where results are lacking, so it might make sense to assess one's actions within the context of the results you are experiencing.
The situational context matters, too; I recognize that there will be occasions where a simple snack feels more appropriate than assembling a full "meal" with preload, 50/50 plate, &c. Likewise, in some situations the most important thing may be choosing whatever adherent food is most likely to help one avoid choosing a non-adherent item within the context of that given moment. Does that make sense?
Speaking personally, if I were going to have a snack, I would do my best to make it something that satisfied the 50/50 recommendation, for all the reasons Jeff mentions in the quote below. I think one important, but sometimes overlooked, aspect of making MWL work is to be very sure to include adequate starch throughout the day, so making snacks 50/50 can really help with that.
JeffN wrote:slugmom wrote:So ... if optimizing weight loss is my goal ... and I'm legitimately hungry, or really munchy and want a snack ... which would be better? Popcorn? Fruit?
IMH(P&P)O, and based on calorie density, of the two, I would say fruit. However, vegetables would be a better choice and/or a meal of 50% starch and 50% vegetables (and/or fruit) by volume. A meal of 50% starch and 50% vegetables by volume would have a very low calorie density. So, a bowl of 50% oatmeal and 50% berries by volume or a bowl of 50% rice and 50% veggies by volume may be the better choice. You get the starch to help satisfy you and the fruit and/or veggies to help lower the calorie density.
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Remember, this is not a vegetables based diet but a starch based diet. Diluting the starches with vegetables and/or fruit to lower the calorie density is the best solution.
