Hello Time & Adherence friends. I have had a rough couple of weeks. I had some periodontal surgery on one of my teeth, and the aftercare instructions relating to food and diet really threw me off track. I took a challenging situation (one of the instructions was “no raw or cooked vegetables unless they are blended” and “no fruits unless they are blended” and “only soft foods that don’t require chewing” and “absolutely nothing that will get stuck between your teeth”) and made it worse by taking the recommended food list (which started – no kidding – with recommended food #1 ICE CREAM – and using that as permission to eat soft and mushy C.R.A.P. food (i.e. non-dairy ice cream (fat, sugar), jello (animal products, sugar), pudding (dairy, fat, sugar)in addition to smoothies (don’t drink your calories) and excessive mashed potatoes (FAR from 50/50, even considering the obliterated veg in the smoothies!) I am not quite two weeks out from surgery yet, but I can’t take it any more so I am already migrating back to my regular food, with the one exception that I am still not eating any raw vegetables. (I previously ate only limited raw veg anyway due to my braces). I can’t even tell you how good it makes me feel to be getting back to my normal food! I felt like my world got tilted on its side there for a time!
Bottom line – this report is really ugly. But I decided I want to complete it anyway so I am very clear on where I am, and what I need to do to get fully back on track. I may not weigh, measure, or track my food, but my hips do! LOL – but TRUE!
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yesterday was my first day back to starting lunch and dinner with veg / soup. It was also my first day back to eating 50/50 breakfast oat concoction with veg & fruit. Prior to yesterday, no. I initially made an attempt to accomplish this via smoothies. My thinking was that I was at least trying to start meals with veg/fruit. I was not consistent with this – probably did this 50% of the time.
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. Yesterday was back on track. Prior to yesterday, no. I definitely verified why smoothies are not recommended. They are truly unsatisfying to me now that I am used to eating veg & fruit by chewing them on the McDougall plan.
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. Yesterday was on track for no added sugar. I did add more salt than I needed to on top of my mashed potatoes. There was no good reason to move away from the Mrs. Dash I typically use and back to salt during this time. My inner rebel was on fire here. I completely understand that sprinkling salt on at the table is OK. But we are talking here about a “gourmet garlic salt” that I definitely over-sprinkle, so am better off to leave alone. I’m still eating mashed potatoes, so my goal for the coming week is to leave the garlic salt completely alone, and get back to my Mrs. Dash with a light sprinkle of regular salt if I really feel the need. I also woke up the sugar monster with the jello, pudding, ND ice cream, etc. so I need to absolutely leave the sugared stuff alone again today, and for the coming week. Life is so much more enjoyable without having the cravings and mental battles over sweets.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). I haven’t had jello or pudding for a few days now and I intend to keep that going.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Oh my. I’m glad I’m reviewing the check list because I forgot all about the rebellion peanut butter. That wasn’t even on the “list of approved soft foods.” That was just sheer rebellion. I normally have no problem leaving my husbands PB alone. I haven’t gone there either in the last few days so need to just stay the course. I did also splurge and use some soy milk in my mashed potatoes. Next time I make them I am back to just broth. I felt sorry for myself and thought that indulgence would make me feel better. It didn’t really make me feel better (I was determined to stay on the pity pot LOL) but it sure made the taters taste good! I’m not really regretting that decision too much, TBH.
6. Eliminate any added oil. Foods with added fats noted above, and none for the last few days.
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. Well, at least this one was on track! Now I’m really glad I went through the 10-points! Off the top of my head I didn’t realize I had a “yes” in here!
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Discussed above and also below….
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. OMG. My appetite was a hot mess. If there is one really positive thing that has come out of this situation, it is that I now COMPLETELY understand why the McDougall program does not recommend smoothies! When I first got braced on my teeth in March of 2022, I thought smoothies would be the ONLY way I could realistically eat vegetables. That was back when I was really struggling, and unable to fully get compliant with Starch Solution (let alone MWL!). When I started the 12-day program in May 2022, one of my early conversations with my Support Specialist Tiffany was about “what are you eating.” I told her about the smoothies, and my justification. She of course said ABSOLUTELY NOT and I am forever grateful for her stance on this issue!!!! I would have never fully understood how truly unsatisfying smoothies really are for me had I not 1) spent the last 10-11 months fully compliant (not perfect, but close), 2) gotten to a healthy weight while never going hungry and then 3) started drinking smoothies again. WOW – now that I have a solid base line of what healthy eating looks like and feels like, I can now more fully understand and embrace the program recommendations! I hope that made sense – I’m not sure if I was able to articulate what I really mean to say here. Anyway, the “baby food diet” left me HUNGRY, and I subsequently ate way too much of all food, most of it the wrong food for my health and well-being.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Not perfect here, but I do have some success to report! I found a Silver Sneakers class at a gym not too far from me. It is offered 3 times per week, and I went to the class all 3 times last week. I also walked outside on 2 other days. So I’ll take 5 out of 7 as a victory! I also am really excited – I bought a rebounder. So many people talk about how fun it is and it looks so fun! The rebounder came but the stability bar, which I feel I really need for safety in order to get started, isn’t here yet. But I am excited to add this to my exercise options. If any rebounders are here, I would love to hear from you about your tips for getting started, and what you feel the benefits have been for you!
Victories: Two positive points out of 10, when I thought I had ZERO when I first started writing this! And one full day – yesterday (and the right start on today as well) properly back on plan. I also feel like I know what I need to do. I think I am building more confidence as time goes on that a huge bump in the road does NOT have to spell disaster and the next ______________ (2 weeks, months, years, whatever) back in the Pleasure Trap.
Concerns: Needless to say, my weight is up over my goal weight range. I am using this as my motivation to stick to the MWL plan like glue for the coming week.
Questions: What would you do if your periodontist told you “no veg or fruit unless its blended” and handed you a list of recommended foods with ice cream at #1? I know I could have and should have handled this better – my inner rebel did me no favors here. But with my perio issues, this is definitely going to come up again (hopefully later rather than sooner..) so I definitely want to do better next time.
Thank you so much for being here for support Mark, Jeff, and everyone in the tribe!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is absolutely no way I could do this alone, and without these accountability guidelines that help me so much to be slim as a volume eater. (and not go hungry!)
