The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - January 2024 Group

[Mark Cooper]

My thanks and praise to all participants! So far 2024 seems to be shaping up very nicely for our group!

Earlier today, I was made aware of some writing Dr. McDougall shared recently and I thought I should reproduce it here. Some great "food for thought".

Dr. McDougall's Quotes
Representing 55 years of Study and Practice

(Without claim for originality -- rough draft)

1. I have published research in my books dating from 1984, using available
science.
2. Scientists had it right by this time. Most chronic diseases are due to food
poisoning.
3. Food poisons are animal and oil products.
4. I quoted "dated studies." Fortunately, "the truth don't change."
5. Current publications show that important truths in medicine and nutrition were well established before 1984.
6. It's the Food! People are starch-eaters, starch-ivores, starch-itarians.

General Nutrition:

7. Juicing: The quality of fruits and vegetables is not improved by hitting them a thousand times with a steel blade.
8. Taking vitamin supplements cause nutritional imbalances; increasing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and death.
9. There is no such thing as dietary calcium deficiency.
10. Protein deficiency is impossible, even on a pure vegan diet.
11. I have never seen problems from nutrient deficiency, but millions suffer from excess.
12. I have never seen problems from calcium deficiency, but millions suffer from excess.
13. Cow's milk is ideal for a calf, but causing overnutrition in babies.
14. Dairy is a dirty word: full of chemicals and microbes.
15. I have never seen problems from protein deficiency, but millions suffer from excess.
16. Excess protein damages the bones, liver, and kidneys.
17. Simple sugar provides calories (4 calories/gram), rot teeth, these are empty calories, triglycerides increase.
18. People need minerals, too little and too much salt can become problems.
19. Plants, not fish, make all omega-3 (good) fats.

Weight and Obesity:

20. The fat you eat is the fat you wear.
21. Sugars do not ordinarily or easily turn into body fat. (de novo lipogenesis).
22. Sugar satisfies the hunger drive. So does starch. Fat is unsatisfying.
23. Sugar makes diabetes better.
24. Dieting causes hunger pains few can tolerate and sustain.
25. Low-carb diets cause ketosis (seen with serious sickness); suppressing the
appetite.
26. GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic) are derived from reptile venom. (Gila Monster)
27. GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic) make people too sick to eat (nauseas, vomiting,
diarrhea).
28. The McDougall Diet is the anti-Ozempic Diet.
29. Give in! Starches make you thin, healthy and satisfied.

General Medicine:

30. The body is always healing. Unfortunately, the damage continues.
31. Heart surgery does not save lives with chronic disease (old scars).
32. A low-fat diet stops chest pains (angina).
33. A low-fat starch-based diet lays the foundations for reversal of atherosclerosis.
34. Early detection is really late detection.
35. Breast, prostate, and colon cancer have been growing 10 years before discovery.
36. A starch-based diet slows and/or stops cancer growth.
37. PSA, mammograms, and colonoscopy are the ultimate in disease mongering
38. Aggressive treatment of diabetes kills.
39. Type 2 diabetes is nearly 100% curable with weight loss.
40. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease -- cow's milk can be the culprit.
41. Supersaturation of bile with cholesterol causes gallstones.
42. Die with your gallstones. Stop the pain with a low-fat diet.

The Doctor-Patient Relationship:

43. I cannot feel your pain.
44. I cannot remember my pain from yesterday. Time heals wounds.
45. Sick people take drugs, healthy people don’t.
46. Sick people have body parts checkered by surgical scars, healthy people don’t.
47. Stay away from doctors. The body will tell you about troubles that need
attention.
48. In order to "get “the cure,” you must stop "the cause.
49. Moderation kills:
50. Partial adherence is neither partial nor adherence.
51. Minor and occasional indulgences are often neither minor nor occasional.
52. Tell them to just eat sweet potatoes and broccoli.
53. Talk to John if anyone recommends anything for my family.

General Thoughts:

54. Consider yourself a healthy, trim person to be revealed by a starch-based diet.
55. People like to hear good news about their bad habits.
56. Civilized people protect their children.
57. Criminals take your money and hurt you. Someday members of the food and medical industries should face the fate as tobacco executives.
58. I want to be remembered by being on the right side of history.
59. Soon everyone will eat a starch-based diet by choice and/or necessity.

The wisdom of a lifetime of service toward healing patients and our world.

My best to all. May the days ahead be marvelous and filled with inspiration! Take care & be well!

[Artista]

- On a similar note, the best time to come to the groups and post and share your recent experience is not only when things are going good but also when they are not. The group is here for you. No one will be shamed, scolded, reprimanded or ridiculed, only encouraged. As you may have noticed, Mark and Goose may be 2 of the most encouraging people with the most encouraging responses you are going to get anywhere.

Jeff, thank you so much for your post. I was seriously considering quietly dropping out of the group because I wasn’t doing all of the 10 points, but I read your comments and it encouraged me to stay in and keep trying. I’m so relieved to know that MWL isn’t all or nothing, and that there is still a place here for those of us who haven’t gotten it all nailed down yet. And I so agree, Mark and Goose are two of the most encouraging people we could find anywhere. I feel fortunate to be in this group.

[JeffN]

You are welcome!

[BambiS]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes


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 desert
Yes


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).
Yes

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).
Yes


9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself
Yes

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful

Thank you for posting Dr McDougall’s recap, it’s great information.

It was a good week, I have sore muscles! I made a point to get my fitness in early in the morning. It’s been really cold, so I’ve been doing YouTube videos along with stretching. Eating has been on point. I also did a little journaling, noting big.

[Rebecka22]

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
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
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. NO Two days of birthday celebrations included sugar and salt.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO 1 day some almonds in food
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO 2 days of eating out
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 Same two days.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NO Had one mocha
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

This week I had two off plan days, but I was able to get right back on track for these last five days. I felt good about getting back on track again and not struggling the whole week.

[Starflower]

Hi MWL team!


1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES

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 desert. YES

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). YES

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). YES

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

A lot of things clicked by the end this week, including losing my cravings for high fat foods and salt. I found a few very easy recipes that I love. Cooking large batches of rice and quinoa helped keep me on track. Beginning yesterday, I increased my exercise time and variety, which I’m enjoying. I still need to add some strength training. Next week!

Wishing everyone a wonderful and healthy week!

[rlechols]

Hello Time and Adherence Team! Happy Friday!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, 7/7

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, 7/7

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, 7/7

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes 7/7

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 5/7 this week. 2 days some nuts snuck in. One was on a restaurant salad.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 7/7

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. 5/7. One day I woke with a migraine, felt ravenous, tired and stressed. I ate some popcorn and almonds. And one day I also ate restaurant bread and a whole food plant based dessert for my daughter's birthday.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes 7/7

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes, 7/7

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 4/7...I am pretty strict with my exercise schedule but I had some challenges this week, to include a migraine headache, time constraints with family problems (my sister was in the hospital all week) and an injury.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: This was a frustrating and challenging week. Gratefully, eating well, doing a 50-50 plate, drinking water, etc is my norm and it's some of the finer points that trip me up when I'm having stress or other challenges. We have 3 family birthdays in January and the last one is Sunday. Next week is also my week to cook (3 of us take turns) so there shouldn't be so many challenges. In the winter when my exercise is all indoors and I have work that is always needing to be completed (I work at home), it is so easy to skip my workouts, especially if extra unplanned activities take up a portion of my day. In the summer when I walk or run outdoors I hardly ever miss my exercise. This is just a hard time of year, especially when the weather is cold and gray. But it makes me feel better to do it so I'll get back at it this week. I can't do upper body strength training because I apparently have a shoulder injury, but I can walk! Here's to a better week next week!

Also, no weight lost or gained this week.

[Artista]

Greetings Time & Adherence Team!

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.  Yes

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 desert. Yes

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). Yes.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No for the first 3 days of the week (soy milk) and Yes for the rest of the week.

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). Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
A big improvement for me this week. The higher fat plant foods are the ones that usually give me the most trouble but, except for the soy milk at the beginning of the week, I stayed away from those foods. I gave up tea this week which is where the soy milk usually comes in, and I think that will help. I was away from home for a few days with siblings sorting through my mom’s belongings and getting her house ready to sell. I took a lot of food with me so it went ok and I didn’t need to eat anything that wasn’t in line with MWL. My sister is a healthy, naturally thin omnivore and she brought cookies with her. There was a moment when I thought of eating one but there's a quote by Victor Frankl that's been coming to mind in situations like that. I don’t remember where I heard it but it says, “Between the stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”. Thinking of this reminds me that I do have a choice.

Wishing everyone a stellar week. Thank you, Mark, so much for your excellent moderating of this group!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope that everyone is hanging in there through the winter! I am already looking forward to the spring and the longer days, sun and flowers that it brings. I guess a two month wait! Here is my week.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly – 16/21.

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.

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).
Yes.

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Mostly. I had veggie sushi at one meal that included some avocado. Avocado isn’t a problem food for me or a food that I keep in the house. Reminds me that I really do want to learn how to make my own sushi (I wouldn’t use the avocado). Have watched a Youtube clip and reviewed a couple of recipes – just need to get the ingredients and make the attempt. I have a feeling that the first few will be sushi bowls…

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).
Yes.

9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
I am still focusing on eating mindfully.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Less than normal due to subzero weather, snowstorms, and gym closings - 5/7. I paced a bit around the house and did some jumping jacks a few times during the “rest” days.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Awesome post last week from Dr. McDougall – thanks, Mark for sharing it!!!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful week and success in continuing to build healthy habits.

Cheers,
Stephanie

[JaBee]

Hello everyone!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, 7/7 days
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, 7/7
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, 7/7
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, 7/7
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No, 5/7 due to busy schedule, grabbed protein bar with nuts
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 7/7
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, 5/7 see #5
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes, 7/7
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes, 7/7
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, 7/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Noncompliance in 5, 7 this week due to not having enough food pre-prepared, will endeavor to do so this week and make sure noncompliant food unavailable in my space; victory is posting results for the week despite the setback..I am aiming for progress and not perfection, have a great week everyone!

[Gimmelean]

MWL Post for week ending 1/19/24

Hello MWL Team. I apologize for posting after the close last week

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
Yes.

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,)
Yes

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu,soy).
No- some nuts

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.
No- some bread

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes

11)Posting before the close of the week
Yes

Victories,Comments,Concerns,Questions:
Hello MWL Team. I hope the new year is going well for all.
To prepare for the coming week, I have Mexican stuffed bell peppers with quinoa, black beans, and corn in the oven. ( hmmmm- last week was a pot of chili with pretty much the exact same ingredients). To maximize use of the oven, I filled a baking sheet with mini foil wrapped whole beets and mini potatoes and another with whole Brussels sprouts that won’t take quite as long. It’s a weeks worth of grab and reheat meals and snacks for the whole family along with washed fruit, 2 containers of steamed broccoli, and raw veggies in containers in the fridge. The prep time is needed and worth it because there is no decision making needed when I’m really hungry, stressed, and short on time.
For progress
8 yes/ 2 no last week
8 yes/2 no this week

I have not regained the weight I lost following MWL beginning here in July 2020. At times I really struggle and other times are easier after a lifetime of battling the scale. I appreciate the privilege of participating here with structure, advice, education, and your kind support. I marvel at the fact that I am at my lowest weight ever and smallest clothing size ever in my adult life. I’ve tried a more lenient approach but it spells weight gain. Maintaining for me =MWL. It really is all about the food and willingness to change. I discovered that eating this way really does prevent my hunger from going into overdrive once I initially adapted, and understood why. I’m going to read the 1/13/24 McDougall quotes over and over. Wonderful post!

Have a good week everyone.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - A 10/10 on your self-assessment! I bet your muscles ARE sore! I think scheduling in fitness activities for early in the day is a really useful practice (that is what I do, myself); happy to know your planning, journaling, and effort made for what seems like a good week. Continue!

Rebecka22 - Getting right back on track after those two "feast days" seems like an important achievement. You kept deviations from the recommended behaviors confined to those two days; what's more, it appears maintaining the recommended pattern of behavior for the rest of the week didn't feel like an unbearable struggle. I think that is a big deal, and I'm pleased to know you felt good about it! Keep it up!

Starflower - Woo-hoo! Everything is clicking! I can imagine that the fading out of cravings was a welcome experience that made success feel more attainable, right? Finding a handful of reliable, easy, delicious recipes has been SUCH a helpful part of my practice, too. And, it seems to me that getting exercise in ways that feel enjoyable is a big piece of the puzzle, as well. I love your confident spring into next week! May it be wonderful!

rlechols - Kudos to you, Rachel, for your consistency in the face of challenges and frustration! I think having some of the foundational recommended behaviors habituated, as you do, makes for a reliable baseline routine. I totally feel what you expressed about wintry weather making outdoor activities more daunting. Tuning in to how it makes you feel when you engage in daily exercise seems like a helpful and appropriate strategy for bolstering motivation. I hope your shoulder heals easily and well, and cheers for focusing on what you CAN do, over what you can't (right now)!

Artista - That seems like a week filled with progress! Being able to eliminate those things one finds most troublesome is not a small achievement, especially when the course of events serves to throw temptation right into one's path. I observe that your excellent planning, preparation, and admirable mindfulness were a big part of the success you achieved while away from home. That Victor Frankl quote feels so apt; thank you for sharing it! I recall wildgoose expressing some similar thoughts. Thank you for your very kind words. I hope your week is stellar, too!

VegSeekingFit - Still in the groove! This week has me really dreaming of spring, too, Stephanie. I love sushi bowls because of how easy they are to throw together. In my experience making sushi, I would definitely say PRACTICE is what makes perfect. I think this video is the one that finally made rolling sushi click for me, but I feel like I've gotten much better at it over time. Stay warm and have a wonderful week of habit-building!

JaBee - NICE! I think continuing one's practice in the face of setbacks is among the most important victories to be achieved! Targeting your efforts toward progress instead of perfection seems like exactly the right aim. And you have already identified what you believe led to those setbacks and outlined actions you can take to surmount them. We couldn't ask for much more than that. Make it so!

Gimmelean - I always find your prep work to be so impressive and your menus really seem to strike a lovely balance between inventiveness and ease of assembly!

The prep time is needed and worth it because there is no decision making needed when I’m really hungry, stressed, and short on time.

100% agree.

I have not regained the weight I lost following MWL beginning here in July 2020.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge and honor this achievement. It is a BIG DEAL. In its own way, maintenance can present as many challenges as attainment of a healthy point of equilibrium.

Maintaining for me =MWL.

That statement is true for me, as well. Onward in progress!

[Mark Cooper]

It sure seems like January is moving quickly! My congratulations and thanks to everyone participating here!

This week I'm closing with a couple of highlights from the group reports and discussion, as well as a question for participants.

Artista shared a wonderful aphorism that feels so appropriate and useful for our efforts here:

My sister is a healthy, naturally thin omnivore and she brought cookies with her. There was a moment when I thought of eating one but there's a quote by Victor Frankl that's been coming to mind in situations like that. I don’t remember where I heard it but it says, “Between the stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”. Thinking of this reminds me that I do have a choice.

And Gimmelean described what to me seems like a high-level class in meal planning and preparation:

To prepare for the coming week, I have Mexican stuffed bell peppers with quinoa, black beans, and corn in the oven. ( hmmmm- last week was a pot of chili with pretty much the exact same ingredients). To maximize use of the oven, I filled a baking sheet with mini foil wrapped whole beets and mini potatoes and another with whole Brussels sprouts that won’t take quite as long. It’s a weeks worth of grab and reheat meals and snacks for the whole family along with washed fruit, 2 containers of steamed broccoli, and raw veggies in containers in the fridge. The prep time is needed and worth it because there is no decision making needed when I’m really hungry, stressed, and short on time.

Finally, I would like to ask the whole group:

What are you hoping to see in this space in the year ahead?

Are there any changes or additions to our operations here in the group that you have been wishing would be included?

Feel free to think about these in whatever context you like, but I would like to focus the thought and discussion on TOOLS rather than POLICIES, broadly speaking. You can reply here in the thread, or direct message myself, Jeff, or wildgoose, if that feels more comfortable. I make no promises about including or adopting suggestions, but I am definitely curious to take the temperature here, and check if it feels like something important or exceptionally useful is missing.

May your future be bright and cheery! Take care & be well!

[a-great-hunger]

Mark, I am a silent lurker, practicing the principles of MWL (with varying levels of success) and one of the things that I've found extremely helpful is your MWL journal with pictures of your meals. The visual representation was extremely helpful in understanding the MWL system.

Tips & Tricks:

Batch prepping salad and vegetables. I create a giant chopped salad of red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and spinach and divide it into containers. I steam or air fry some vegetables to add to the containers. Now I have days worth of pre-prepped salads ready and I just need to add in starch.

Cooking starch at the beginning of each day so I have it for later. I don't have to eat it all today, but if I need it, I'll be glad I have it.

Stocking up on canned beans.

Keeping fresh fruit available to grab in a pinch.

One of my personal struggles is feeling unsatisfied with meals, so I end up overeating calories - even though I'm full on low calorie density foods, my brain doesn't feel satisfied with that amount of food, so I end up reaching for starch even though I don't really need it. Sometimes drinking water and sipping salty broth helps, other times it's a real struggle not to eat more and I give in.

Ah, well, it's a process! I will find my way eventually.

Thanks for everything you do with the MWL program!