Thinking of separating out my food log from the personal journal, but we'll see. I'm paying close attention to hunger and fullness today. I stopped eating breakfast when I felt pleasantly full, and I am checking in with myself from time to time to see how I feel. It's nice to be full and not feel sluggish afterwards.
Made up a batch of black bean burgers using Jeff's recipe from Fast Food Burgers and Fries. It's chilling in the fridge until lunchtime.
Breakfast: cold tomato soup; air-fried potatoes; sugar-free ketchup (Checklist:
-- I just had soup and potatoes (half and half) so I'm not sure if that means I should also have had some veggies, but at breakfast sometimes I'm wanting simplicity, so the soup was my vegetable)
Snack: had a blood sugar crash. Ate a bowl of watermelon. I unthinkingly went out on an errand without taking emergency food or glucose tabs, and it was 69 by the time I got home. Dumb especially since I had every intention of taking the rest of my breakfast potatoes with me but forgot.
Lunch: 50/50 plate: veggies with a little soy sauce and garlic; black bean burger; barbecue sauce; unsweetened green tea
Snack: black bean burger with barbecue sauce, leftover potatoes from breakfast
Dinner: Sweet potato with Fox Point seasoning
Snack: blueberries
Checklist:
0. Do your best -
I think I fell a little shy of my best, but I did pretty well1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. -
I can work on this. I think I need to have a batch of soup ready at all times.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.
I did this for breakfast and lunch (I don't usually do dessert).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. --
I replaced the regular ketchup with sugar-free and my husband didn't notice. I'll slowly replace everything that way and it should be fine, but we're not there yet.4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
No problem5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
No problem6. Eliminate any added oil.
No problem.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 problem, though I did want those things. I had enough other stuff to eat. I am concerned about the oats in the burgers, but I wanted to try the recipe.8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Missed my tea with almond milk and sugar9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself.
This was a big win today. Ate (and stopped eating) completely based on hunger.10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Honestly, I'm going to give my body a couple of weeks to reduce pain before working on this item.