1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.----No. I have not always been having meals per say. In the winter I normally eat maybe 1 piece of fruit per day + that in my oatmeal, but I have found myself eating oranges + apples, maybe 1 each per day, + sometimes fresh squeezed lemon in tea. Was able to get a 1# organic spring mix and organic baby cucumbers a few days ago + have thoroughly enjoyed snacking on these!
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, when we've had vegetables. Probably starting Monday I have consistently had veggies available--such a blessing that is so easy to take for granted during normal, healthy times.
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 usually never use honey, but of course you hear about all these home remedies, so probably 4 out of 7 days I had maybe a total of 2 teaspoons of raw unfiltered honey in tea. At times I squirted a bit of honey right in my throat to help alleviate coughing + it really helped! I'd much rather have that than OTC cough syrup. -----Sometimes I ate more salt than I usually do or would have preferred due to trying to minimize time preparing everyone's food, + so I consumed a bit more salt a few meals/times.
4. Eliminate all animal foods, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).----Yes, except for the by-product of raw honey used for medicinal reasons above.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).----One time I had some salted peanuts roasted in the shell, a small handful, so even less when you take away the shells. But still not MWL. Had them when barely had anything to eat in the house. Other family is all pretty far away, + our closest friends + co-workers also had covid, so there really wasn't anyone to drop off/shop for us. Never have done online shopping + only have pre-installed apps that came on the phone.
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.----One morning I had 2 slices of NSA whole-wheat toast just to change things up + it was super fast. Again, not MWL, but at least it was not something that triggered me or I had because I just had to have it. Again, it was when we were low on food.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).----Yes, not a problem except for above mentioned honey.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.----Yes. Had more hunger this week, so I actually see this as a good thing.
Never thought I'd welcome having hunger, but I see it as a sign of returning health!10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).----Nope. Has not even been a thought until now answering this question, "LOL". I have been quite active helping my dad. He's had the roughest time + has needed a lot of help in all ways, including physically.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
----I am so thankful to God that we are alive and are all improving. Without going into details, there were some really scary times. Age really does appear to be a factor in severity of covid, despite excellent eating habits and wonderful #'s (b/p, cholesterol, etc.).
----This week the 1 month anniversary of my recommitment to MWL occurred + I feel wonderful (sans covid). I have reaped huge rewards physically, have lost a lot of weight, my appearance is slimmer, + I don't feel the "need" to have anything off-plan. With still being very over-weight, I do not know if I would have faired as well covid-wise had I not had the at least 10 days in of MWL, because I have co-morbidities. But they are all getting better!!!!
----I am still dealing with issues from covid. I am not yet fully recovered. I am dreadfully behind in literally e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in life. I was forced to learn to be okay with this. But now that more energy is returning, I struggle with doing too much only to put me further behind because then I am forced to rest/sleep. I 1st now came on to the forum and saw what a smashing success this new format is, though I'm not surprised as I figured it would be a real hit! But there is no way I can read everyone's past posts or the other thread for off-topic discussions at this time. One symptom I'm having now are headaches pretty much non-stop and being on my phone (Internet) is not helping. If I do not post next week or the next ? weeks, this will be why: my eyes/head bothering me, trying to catch up with life while still recovering and helping my family. I really look forward to becoming more active by posting more and interacting with you all.
----Please stay safe and as healthy as you can! And if you can put some left-overs away in the freezer, you'll be that much more ahead if you get covid or have some other reason why you just can't cook but need to eat. If you can have a spare freezer, that would really help. If you can't tell, we don't and I had no left-overs frozen and hardly any frozen veggies. This made it really hard, especially when we were in the thick of covid.
----Hope I filled this out okay since I haven't been reading everyone's posts as examples. Thank you, in advance, for any needed grace. Thanks for all the hard work you, Mark, Jeff, + Goose put into making this such an awesome resource, + all thanks to my fellow MWLers for linking arms in our journeys.
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 
Carry on as you are! 
