Shmookitty's Journal

[Ejeff]

That’s very interesting that the lady was asking about the price of grains. I find eating this way super cheap. Meat and cheese which is what most people seem to eat are so expensive. I buy a large bag of rice and it lasts forever.

I like getting into discussions when people ask about the food I’m buying. The other day I bought some jackfruit and the cashier was asking how long I’ve eaten this way etc. She said she had just started eating plants and was learning. The lady behind me in the line joined in the conversation also.

I should probably start measuring out my brown rice when I cook it. I cook it like pasta so I dump it in my big pot, rinse it a few times and boil it. I usually end up with quite a lot, but if I can’t eat it all I freeze it.

[Shmookitty]

Ejeff - if you cook the rice like pasta you really don't need to measure. Maybe I will start doing that with my barley to avoid using measuring cups. I can't do that with amaranth though, because even cooked, it would go right through even my micro-strainer!

One thing I have noticed since starting McDougall nine weeks ago - my breasts have lost a full cup size. Is this normal? I had lost significant weight - 92 pounds - before McDougall so it's not just that initial thing where you lose there first. It's only been since starting this WOE that I've lost it.

I'm wondering if it has to do with giving up cheese and any hormones that are in it. I was only eating chicken once every week or two, but there was that little bit, and I was already using almond milk and soy yogurt instead of dairy. I can't imagine there is a connection with oil, but that is my most significant change in my diet, giving up oil. I was eating a lot of processed vegan foods and things like Amy's Organic canned chili.

Just curious if anyone knows about this. I think it's a big relief and am happy about it, just don't know what it is about McDougalling that is the magic solution!

[Shmookitty]

Have another non-scale victory to add to the list. I hadn't checked my auto CPAP unit for progress on number of apneas per hour or amount of pressure needed (my unit auto-adjusts according to how I'm breathing that night) since I started getting serious about weight loss again this past March.

This morning I finally remembered - my pressure has decreased from 16-17 to 10-11 and my apneas have gone from 5-6 per hour to 0.9. Those are both HUGE differences!

I am encouraged that maybe I can stop using my CPAP machine after I get to my goal weight. We'll see if the numbers keep improving.

Watched Forks Over Knives today. Not much new information since I have been researching WFPB eating for a while now, but I'm glad I saw it.

I made two servings of the spicy white bean pitas from the Quick and Easy Cookbook again yesterday and did not measure. Also had a grain bowl for lunch today without using measuring cups. I feel so much more at ease with food when I don't measure! I had been afraid that I would purposely undereat at first to make sure I didn't go over my self-imposed calorie range. But now that I am not counting calories anymore, I seem to just know what I need to eat at that particular meal. I feel SO MUCH BETTER!

I feel satisfied after eating...finally...and I am learning how my body wants to eat. More at breakfast and lunch and less at 3:30 and dinner. I am learning to listen to its cues and take care of myself naturally while balancing my own nutritional needs.

I had been so married to the diet mentality, and 1400 calories, it was just a matter of time before I derailed, after restricting for nine months . I am only about 20 pounds lower than last time I went off the rails back in 2011. Not only did I gain from 228 all the way up to 319, but I went from a (admittedly unhealthy) vegan diet back to SAD. I found Dr. McDougall just in time this year. I was starting to really stress about calories, portion sizes, wanting to binge at every meal, ability to keep restricting...losing "control"...all "diet" mentalities.

It's taken me all of the last ten weeks to learn these lessons, but it worked! Before McDougall, and even partly into starting it, I felt myself starting to fail at the whole weight loss thing, even though I was steadily losing weight. I was in a danger zone for sure of "dieting" too long and wanting to rebel. Even at the beginning of my McDougalling, I wasn't eating all my body was craving, so I wasn't really "doing" McDougall yet. Sure, I was eating about 75% starch, but I was restricting overall.

I have slowly integrated new healthier ways of approaching food and rescued myself. I really see how this is not a diet but a way of life. It's only been in the last week that I've been able to make these changes, but I can fully understand why and how they work. I
haven't changed the things I eat in a day, but I've supplemented with more energy from food than I was "allowing" myself, some as even more starch, some as fruit. My body is finally getting what it craves...and surprise, surprise, it no longer wants to binge now that I am not restricting. It's only when I worry about how much I am going to be allowed to eat next time that I feel a sense of urgency to eat a lot NOW. Quitting measuring really helps with that.

Thank you Dr. McDougall...again!

[bunsofaluminum]

now see? This is more amazing to me than weight loss, FOR SURE! Your relationship with food is healing! I love it!

[Shmookitty]

Thank you!

It's all just so OBVIOUS now that I am seeing clearly. I was reading more and more helpful info about this stuff in the past few weeks, here and on Sparkpeople, but I needed to have it all come together and click, and it has. I get expert advice here from Dr. McDougall and Jeff, not to mention interacting with other McDougallers who have much more experience with it than I do, and on Spark I am able to relate to people in their blogs and community team posts who are in the same place I am making peace with food. I have built quite a wonderful little support system!

Now. I need to go read Jeff's "Get a Life" thread again.

[Shmookitty]

Funny, I can't find the Get a Life thread again. The search function doesn't work because it says the words are too common and I couldn't find it as a sticky. It's probably obvious but I am not seeing it this time! It was one of the first threads I read here when I started. Oh well!

Yesterday I was feeling very content with where I have come in my wellness journey, and I googled "intuitive eating," feeling like that is what I have been starting to do.

I didn't realize it's a "thing." An Amazon search yields many results but the original was written back in the 1990s by two dietitians (intuitiveeating.org). The book has been updated a couple of times, with the newest revision coming out next June. I think I am going to order the latest update when I place my next Amazon order in January. It's under $10 and I think I was led to do that online search to find it. I have seen recommended books from others on Sparkpeople about healing your "head" issues to learn how to lose weight and keep it off, including the Beck Diet Solution and 100 Days of Weight Loss with Linda Spangle. Those don't resonate with me, but I just came up with "intuitive eating" out of my own head, so I want to read about that.

From the limited amount of reading I did on their site, they are right in line with McDougall as far as not counting calories or measuring portions. They say no food is off limits, where we choose not to eat animal products of oil. But I don't view those as me restricting myself from those things out of weight loss obsession, it's because I am choosing health that I avoid them, not because I am afraid I will binge on them.

Anyway. I will see if the book will be a third major influence on my healing. If not, it isn't a lot of money, and I will donate it!

An odd thing happened yesterday. I had been craving pineapple, so I bought three cans of chunks. Had one after dinner last night...and within five minutes started itching all over my face, arms, and trunk. I couldn't see hives or anything, but it felt like they were there. It took a good two hours for it to stop. No shortness of breath, thank goodness, just itching.

I re-checked the label and there was nothing in it except pineapple and pineapple juice (which I dumped down the sink instead of drinking). I don't know why I don't react to fresh pineapple at our favorite restaurant but I did react last night to the canned. I will find another good home for the other two cans though!

[AnnetteW]

Just a few weeks ago I gave away all my low carb and keto books and the intuitive eating book you mentioned. Also a "health at any size" book. Nope, they aren't for me. Of course when I tried intuitive eating was when I was at my highest weight, had given up yet again and decided to just be where I was. I just ended up eating junk. Intuitively when one is eating junk, that is what the body will want.

Having my limitation works best for me. I can say NO animal products and do fine. If a little sneaks in, oh well. The same with NO fat, I can do just fine for the most part. But I still can't get myself to go all the way as too many NO's don't make me happy.

I'll be curious to hear what you think when you read the book.

[Shmookitty]

I can't afford to buy it until January (my husband and I pre-budget what we can afford to spend on extras each month and I spent my December money), but I will order it.

I am drawn to it because it's only been on McDougall that I have been able to practice intuitive eating, now that I have found the way of eating that is best for me. Prior to that, it was a matter of calorie counting and restriction and forcing progress then giving it up. McDougall doesn't count or measure, and that was so absolutely foreign to me, I didn't know if I could handle it.

A few weeks later and I am no longer using the Sparkpeople nutrition tracker, allowing myself more food, and I am not using measuring cups to serve my meals. I rely on my body to tell me what it needs and I give it. I don't worry about whether's it's only 8:30 a.m. or whether I just had a bowl of frozen cherries at lunchtime but now I want more at 3.

I am listening to Dr. McDougall - eat when hungry - basically, intuitive eating. I do follow his "limitations" as to no animal products and oils, true, but that is a health decision. It doesn't make me feel at all deprived. That's why I was so relieved to find Dr. McDougall. I had been a junk food starchitarian earlier in my life and gained weight - lots of white bread and pasta along with vegan junk foods and fake meats. Dr. McDougall introduced me to how starchitarian was meant to be. I needed someone to show me what I was trying to do and not doing a good job of on my own!

To me, "eat when hungry" is intuitive eating and something I am naturally learning how to do the longer I am McDougalling. I am interested in seeing what the book has to say and will post here about it when I get to read it. As of now, just reading on their website and not the book yet, I am seeing it as naturally going along with McDougall. Like I said, I didn't even know it was a "thing!"

Worst that happens, I wasted $7.99 and donate the book to Goodwill. But maybe it will be an integral part of my eating disorder recovery. I'm willing to gamble eight bucks to find out.

I'm sorry you didn't like it! Thanks for sharing that with me! (And also, I am sorry to hear about your kitty. My Shmookitty passed in December 2006 and I miss her every day)

[Shmookitty]

My appetite doesn't want to shut down today. I ate oats in soy yogurt for breakfast but it didn't hold me until lunch so I steamed about a half pound of Brussels sprouts at 11 and ate those. Then I had a big grain bowl for lunch. With a bowl of frozen cherries. Then I had my 3:30 p.m. snack of my amaranth bowl which usually fills me up. It didn't, so I had another bowl of frozen cherries. Followed by my third bowl of cherries of the day.

I have very little left in the cherry bag, I will probably polish those off after dinner! I am having another big grain bowl. Lots of food in those bowls, I don't know why I am so hungry today. I am trying to be a good girl and eat when hungry, but today I am hungry all the time! I hope it settles down. It's like I'm on prednisone!

I do my every-ten-day weigh in on the 20th, I hope I don't gain from all this eating I am doing! I don't think I will, it's all lower calorie density food. I am just eating a LOT of it!

Oh well. Dr. McDougall says to eat when hungry, and I am following calorie density. Not eating off-plan so I am okay. Thank goodness I gave up oil, I can't imagine the mess I would be in had I been eating my previous vegan junk foods and oily soy burgers and cheeses!

Hopefully I can get a grip here and be satisfied after dinner. I am fairly satisfied now an hour before dinner, so by the time I eat that I should be okay. I had a batch cook day since I am expecting contractors to work inside the house the next two days and I knew I wouldn't be able to cook then. Lots more barley, sauteed (in water) onions and peppers, and amaranth. I'm set through the weekend...if I don't eat it all today!

[deweyswakms]

Bravo on the CPAP #s! terrific.

Boy today, this morning, I could not eat enough to not be hungry. I ate a lot. Annoys me actually as I just want to eat and be full. I have stuff to do! Finally a sweet potato seemed to fill me up.

Marsha

[Shmookitty]

Take this in the playful way in which it is intended - I have you beat! I ate over two pounds of frozen cherries today!

I can't believe the volume of food I have consumed today. But really, I ate normally except for eating over two pounds of cherries. I didn't measure them, but I know how much was in the bags before I started devouring. Yes, bags, PLURAL.

It's okay, I forgive myself. Everyone has an off day sometimes.

Besides, just think of how much fiber I ate today! Before McDougall I was lucky to hit 12 grams a day, now I am sure I am over 30. I don't track anymore, but when I did, I was consistently over 30g. Today was prolly more like 50. The cherry bulk will be gone by Friday morning's weigh-in. Woot!

[Shmookitty]

Decided to order the Intuitive Eating book now. Found a used copy from the Charlotte Goodwill for only $6.30 including shipping. I can afford that. I also joined the official IE forum and have been reading a lot there. Like Starch Solution, it is something that I have naturally been gravitating toward, but I need help to "get it." When I think back to how I was previously "doing vegan," in 2010-2011, it makes me sad that I didn't find Dr. McDougall back then. I could have saved a 100+ pound weight regain and a lot of heartache.

Now I am at a weight where my husband has never seen me. Woo hoo!

My hunger seems to have calmed down today. I have water boiling to make my morning oatmeal and don't feel famished. Hopefully it stays that way. Yesterday was as close as I've come to a legitimate binge since I started losing weight again in March - and I don't want to go back there. Frozen cherries aren't going to kill me like pastries and cheese, so I'm okay.

[AnnetteW]

I'm going to guess you still deal with a lot of "diet mentality" and that will get better (I would think) as you continue to follow this plan. I feel the same way myself. I often catch myself doing a quick calorie count in my head, thinking I should postpone a meal a bit later (if I'm hungry too early). Sometimes it's hard to let this go. Just now I was feeling so hungry, and lately have been eating my breakfast much earlier, like 2 hours earlier than before. I'm not sure what's changing, and then I worry that I'll be hungry for my lunch much earlier. But I haven't been, lunch still is right at noonish. I was wondering if my gut (not my stomach) is saying "feed me" as it's wanting its morning supply of whole grains, fiber, water and fruit.

[Shmookitty]

Oh, I am still very caught up in the diet mentality, that's why I am so drawn to the idea of intuitive eating combined with McDougall. Up until the past couple of weeks, I also did as you described, worried about when my meal times were and not letting myself eat at other times. Basically not listening to my own body and what it needed. I have now given myself permission to eat whenever I need to - that's HUGE for me. Even allowing myself to eat a snack at 3:30 was a big deal when I started that on McDougall.

As I've vented about on this journal previously, I didn't know how NOT to count calories and measure portions. I really felt a conflict because Dr. McDougall seemed too good to be true. You mean I don't have to be on a diet again but I will still lose weight if I do what you tell me? I couldn't imagine eating freely and still releasing weight. And I couldn't imagine not logging my food and measuring every morsel. Calorie density was a major breakthrough for me.

I just started allowing myself to listen to the good doctor and fully following his advice in the last two weeks. And I feel SO MUCH BETTER! It's been I think four days of not measuring (except when batch cooking grains and getting the grain/water ratio right). I love not getting the 1/4 cup/1/3 cup/1/2 cup/1 cup set out to appease my inner diet freak. My first diet was when I was 12 years old and I've been on many since. If I wasn't dieting, I was regaining to prep for my next diet!

In the beginning, I wondered whether McDougall was just another diet with its own set of restrictions. I no longer see it that way. It's teaching me freedom, and how to nurture myself with the foods I choose to eat, that I love the most, whenever I need it.

I've done a good bit of reading on the IE forums - it seems there are a lot of people who use IE as permission to let themselves go rather than learn to take good care of their bodies. Just because you can eat anything at any time doesn't mean you should. Cake is still not an optimal food. Eating it every day has consequences. I can't judge based on message board posts, but I saw a lot of people gaining weight on IE. I can't imagine that's any healthier than dieting. I still fully intend to follow the McDougall lifestyle, even if it excludes certain foods, because I choose to exclude them for health and personal preference. I honestly don't think it's a "diet" as I have come to know the word. Frozen chicken breasts were basically just a reason to deliver Frank's Red Hot. Now I mix it in my grain bowls and am happier.

In my case, I am a child sex abuse survivor so I have a lot of unhealthy ideas about body image and weight. For most of my life, fat = safe. I am at my lowest weight now since 1994 and was starting to panic a little after doing so well. People have been noticing and paying more attention to my body. I'm not really cool with that. I recognized the danger and talked myself through it while keeping releasing this extra weight since that is where I feel I should be now. I have been happily married for 16 years and no longer need to hide behind walls of fat. It's time to heal. I'm ready. That's what intuitive eating means to me - eating without being self destructive about my body image. Not an excuse to stuff myself with whatever I want. (Frozen cherry obsessions aside!)

[bunsofaluminum]

I've done a good bit of reading on the IE forums - it seems there are a lot of people who use IE as permission to let themselves go rather than learn to take good care of their bodies. Just because you can eat anything at any time doesn't mean you should. Cake is still not an optimal food. Eating it every day has consequences. I can't judge based on message board posts, but I saw a lot of people gaining weight on IE. I can't imagine that's any healthier than dieting. I still fully intend to follow the McDougall lifestyle, even if it excludes certain foods, because I choose to exclude them for health and personal preference. I honestly don't think it's a "diet" as I have come to know the word. Frozen chicken breasts were basically just a reason to deliver Frank's Red Hot. Now I mix it in my grain bowls and am happier.

When I went through a phase of IE recently, it really was just like giving myself permission to eat, and then EATING, everything my flaky little mind lit upon. Whole bags of potato chips being the biggest nasty of that era. Like, family size. And I found myself fretting over rules even more when I was doing that "Intuitive Eating" because I had set myself a basic rule of not eating between meals.

I think Intuitive Eating might work for people who DO listen to their bodies and eat when hungry, stop when full, push their plates away, etc. AKA, naturally thin people like my son or my sister. For people who don't know what full feels like, or who are used to eating past the point of satiation, who eat out of boredom or emotional comfort, etc...well, our intuition is screwed up. Possibly, those who are gaining weight on that IE board...maybe that's a temporary thing, and their bodies will kick in with the appropriate stomach hormones eventually. But if you gain 15 lbs before the body processes heal up and start working? ack!

You're smart to continue with the McDougalling along with listening to your body. I like it!