Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

[Lizzy_F]

Hi Stephanie! Just thinking about you and wanted to pop in and say hi before I head to the sofa with my grapes! Your food pics are SO BEAUTIFUL!!! It all looks so delicious! I want to decorate my kitchen with your food pictures!

One of these days I will show up on your doorstep and eat you out of house and home!!! You will have no beautiful food left!

Hope all is well and that you are having a good week of McDougalling!

[squealcat]

Hi Stephanie ! I just want to let you know that I made the split pea soup that you posted about a LONG time ago ! I like that it is a smaller amount as my crockpot is small. It is perfect for one person ! Delicious and easy !

-Marilyn

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi!! Thank you, Health 1st / MakeHealthLast for kind comments... you can get back on the train... JOIN us!!! Love to see you here!!!

Hey Beth, Thank you too and you come on by and eat all food... (I bet you can't)... But, if you do ---- then no dishes, you can take me shopping as we go to replenish food!!! This would be hilarious!!!

Hi Marilyn, GLAD that you liked the split pea soup!!!

Hi All,

Going to post a few pics and then just weekly assessment... (unless I get wordy...)


OK, so weather got to 39 degrees a couple of days ago in the AM when I walk. So, this was an experiment that turned out AWESOME!!! I kind of starchified Jeff Longevity soup recipe... (but then I also didn't put the greens that I will do next time...) So this was, 2 cans NSA crushed tomatoes, Pomi strained tomatoes, frozen corn and riced cauliflower, fresh onion and carrots, sweet potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, NSA kidney and garbanzo beans, minced garlic, smoked paprika, rosemary, parsley, about 2/3 water (of tomato cans)... Threw this into crockpot and was delicious ... will be going on with tweaking this... Very easy!!!


Easy lunch...


OMG, sloppy lentils with corn salad... Yum!


Got a bit off with the oats / water ratio here!! But, still delicious!!!

Below is Behavioral assessment that I will post to the Time & Adherence Group.

Hi Team Time and Adherence!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly no. I did do this a few times. Was excited to get screaming ripe red pears and yellow tomatoes at the Farmers Market this week!!! DELICIOUS!!! (did not eat them together... )

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. Still going oatmeal and fruit for breakfast (takes 5 minutes). Mexican salad for lunch with fruit... until I shifted to warmer starchy stew (with the chilly-ish weather coming on and was excited to make a super easy crock-pot "technique" that was super delicous!). Tons of potatoes, corn, sloppy lentils, Jeff burgers for dinner with various fruit / veggies.


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. Reduced, not eliminated.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course.

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. I did not stuff or starve....


10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.
* 7/7 days walked briskly
OK, well... seriously both the colder weather and the early AM darkness are going to prompt me to shift a bit... Not going to be sedentary, but not loving cold and dark AM walking... (fine so far, but we are still in September!!! )

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Comment:
1): Well, knock me over with self-awareness... I seem to have a tendency to be doing "ok" and then wanting to raise the bar... Not helpful to sustainability of new habits that I want to just maintain and make easier and easier (which has been happening)... So, announcing my plan for Q4 2022 --- A) Follow the 10 point MWL checklist (holistically, without emphasis on any particular point), B) Will be looking to best re-deploy some of my "nice weather" AM walking time into other productive activity (like meditation, relaxation, stationary biking, strength / balance training), C) If I get it into my head to make additional goals, refer to this post!!!
2) Wishing folks the best... Not sure if anyone in group is in path of Hurricane Ian... Hoping all are ok. Have a friend in Fort Meyers who is ok and Riding the Storm Out gracefully (and hosting some coastline peeps)... so sorry to see the devastation...

Question:
Have an upcoming long weekend where some parameters for preparation are not in my wheelhouse. Hoping if anyone could weigh in to critique my plan / offer additional suggestions. My baseline assumption would be that I should pack all of my meals (but I will be happy to be proven wrong!!!). Hotel we are staying at does not (and will NOT ) have microwave (no control over where we stay as with a large group)... Pretty packed schedule of activities... (so, not seeing time to do something different...).. Anyway, here is my plan (bringing a cooler):
1) Durable / portable fruit --- bananas, apples / pears, grapes
2) Veggies --- Carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower
3) Starches --- Jeff Burgers, potatoes (just a bunch of whole ones baked)
4) Vinegar --- small bottle in purse

Considering pasta salad, hummus... I am pretty not picky (but do prefer at least room temp food!!)... Maybe simpler to eliminate what I am considering --- as I don't see opportunity to "do own thing" except maybe breakfast...

Beyond critique... anyone eat oats made with cold water??? Never tried... but curious... or maybe I try before going??

Sorry for perhaps dumb question...

Leaving all with this quote:
"Cover me in sunshine
Shower me with good times
Tell me that the world's been spinning since the beginning
And everything will be alright
Cover me in sunshine" --- Pink and Willow Sage Hart

Hope that everyone has a wonderful week!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Anna Green]

Stephanie, had to come see your food pics. Nice! In answer to your question. I like the idea of hummus and pasta salad. Of course I'm looking at this through my own lens. May not be the best for you. For me, if I haven't been eating much pasta this would be a treat which I would probably want to encourage me to stay the course. And no harm done. I'd use the hummus for a sauce and add some green onion...yum. Bean salad would be good too. Jeffs burgers is a good idea.

[VegSeekingFit]

Thanks, Anna!! The green onion with hummus does sound good to me!!! Hope that you are having a great day!!

Saving below from WG / Sept MWL thread!!! Have purchased thermos.

... anyone eat oats made with cold water??? Never tried... but curious... or maybe I try before going

Stephanie, I have a wonderful routine for overnight traveling oats. It requires a wide mouth Thermos (mine is this one) and a small electric kettle (only big enough to heat sufficient water to fill the Thermos — mine is 0.5 liter. You can use the hotel coffeemaker in a pinch, but I don’t like to do that). Plus a plastic bag of steel cut oats and a 1/8 cup measure.

Technique (adjust quantity of oats if your Thermos isn’t the same size as mine):

The night before you want to eat oats…

• Fill kettle with water, bring to boil. Fill Thermos with boiling water, screw stopper cap on. (This preheats the Thermos, a must for nice warm oats.)
• Refill kettle with water, bring to boil.
• Empty hot water out of Thermos.
• Put four scant 1/8 cups (not quite full measures) of steel cut oats in the bottom of the Thermos. (Yes, you can use a 1/2 cup measure — I use the 1/8 cup because it fits inside the Thermos, along with the plastic bag of oats, for easier packing.)
• Fill Thermos with boiling water, screw stopper cap on snugly (you don’t want leaks).
• Shake Thermos well to distribute water and oats.
• Wrap Thermos in a towel. Lay it ON ITS SIDE (important) overnight.

In the morning, unwrap your Thermos and you will have delicious warm oats.

I’ve done this a lot in hotels over the years. Having a nice familiar hearty breakfast goes a long way toward getting the day off to a good start.

But definitely try before you go. You need to get the amount of oats determined for the consistency that you like. I’ve never done this with rolled oats, only steel cut. The Gander sometimes shares, but he likes them so well that I’ve gotten him his own Thermos.

By the way, to answer your original question, people do make overnight (rolled) oats with cold water, refrigerate them overnight, and either heat them (which I know you can’t do) or eat them cold in the morning. I’m just not a fan of cold oatmeal.

Goose

Here is link --- other answers / ideas to question https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewt ... 4&start=75

Below are some pics.


Lots of bees on these native plants in my yard!! Most of them were a bit camera shy...


Farmers Market and Jewel trips. OMG, the apples are DELICIOUS!!! Just Gala apples, but seriously good.


Oats again... a little heavy with the cherries...


Easy lunch... the salad has Farmers Market tomato -- also super good.


Was lazy about dinner - so pasta sauce is just Pomi tomato sauce with a little garlic and oregano. Just threw some salad with it - more Farmers Market tomatoes... eat them while they are here!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi !!

A couple of food pics and then still trying not to be wordy... Best to all!!!


So, yeah... sometimes still pre-load.. usually not Breakfast, but I was super hungry today...


This was the starchified (calling it stew)... really delicious!!!


Was seeking beans for breakfast instead of oatmeal... anomaly, but was yummy breakfast...


Random easy lunch!!!


So, #2 of starchifying Jeff Longevity soup... Used 1 lb. bag of "root vegetables" and NSA pinto and cannellini beans. Else pretty similar to #1 scenario. So, I did not have greens again... Anyway, loving this for lunch!!!

Below is Behavioral assessment that I will post to the Time & Adherence Group.

Hi Team Time and Adherence!

Sorry that I am reporting early ... have a plank to walk with work stuff tomorrow (and maybe Saturday too) and wanted to report for the week... I am pretty sure that I am not going to deviate from this assessment in the next few hours...

Loved that Noella asked question on food to Jeff, Mark, WG... and now feel like we have a view into pantries / refrigerators/freezers!!! Totally, liked to review the Top 10 foods list from Jeff (and have to say ... LOVE this artwork on top too... pretty cool!!)... Thinking common things for success are: keeping to this list + produce aisle??? Simple, less recipes??? Did I miss something there????

So, yeah... personally try to understand things...I am ok to embrace commodity concept which I think I have been (but just wasn't thinking of in these terms ). I do like to insert a bit of fun into shopping... Like, trying new fruit / veggie / grain... Last week it was kohlrabi for me and I just cut it raw. It was pretty good!!

Anyway, here is my assessment for the week.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly no. I did do this a few times. Was excited to get awesome apples at Farmers Market. Super sad that this weekend will be last opportunity for Farmers Market.

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. Reduced, not eliminated.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course.

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. I did not stuff or starve....


10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.
* 7/7 days walked briskly
Have actually enjoyed (now that I am used to brisker weather) my 6:30AM walks... You can start with a view of the stars and then see the sunrise... Pretty awesome!!! Also, 100% amused by Halloween decorations and such!!!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!!

Hey, glad to see you back Artista!!! I still do the swing thing!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Lizzy_F]

Your food looks SO DELICIOUS that I need to go eat lunch now LOL! I'll have to come back later for journal catch up! Your longevity soup gone starchy looks FANTASTIC!! How did you season it?

I've got a crock pot full of split pea soup going today. YUMMMMM I can't wait! I think of you every time I:
* Eat split pea soup
* Cook split pea soup
* Wish I had some split pea soup

So you are in my head quite a lot!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Beth,

Thank you for visiting!! Glad you are doing the split pea soup... Hope that you are doing AWESOME!!!! Which it sounds like you are from MWL posts!!! Your post reminded me that I haven't made it for awhile ... so check this out... It is super delicous (had for dinner today)!!!

Hi World,

Have struggled with wanting to sundown this journal... thinking it is "the good, the bad, and the ugly" (even along with my prior journals...)... And... Hmm... I want to only be positive ... But, I guess change is messy and sometimes I think this is really hard for me with anxiety ... but then, that would diminish other people's challenges... I guess we each have our own cross to bear... Thinking to start a nice fresh journal for 2023... (where I will still be wearing training wheels...)

I am feeling pretty great about making progress about what I had earlier stated as weakness and opportunity... So, yeah... I have built some self-confidence in being able to ratchet up the calorie density within MWL foods and not fall off a cliff... Tiffany would have been proud of my weight gain... (and I can't wait to tell her!!! )... So, this is all super fine with me... Unless I gain a good clip of muscle, managing my weight 108-111... which is a good range for me... and it is only a bit short of 18.5 BMI at lower end... which is readily cured with a big bowl of oatmeal.. I can eat a good clip of potato fries... best believe that!!! My weakness was internalizing feedback on appearance... so, some self-confidence in knowing that I can influence outcome of weight (duh, pay attention, Stephanie)... has helped...Like, it reminds me of if someone doesn't like my shirt... don't give a rat's behind here... Also, mostly people are struck by seeing me for first time in awhile and have no intention of continually commenting...

I am still reading (OMG... this has taken me a LONG time to go through)... James Clear book "Atomic Habits"... and it is making me feel pretty grounded in some ways. He talks about three layers of change --- outcomes, processes, identity... I had no idea, but can understand things a bit better with this... One thing that in Corporate transformational change that I would call "hearts and minds" ... is changing identity... I think I have been trying to do that since day 1 (unintentionally)... and it is going just fine for me there!!! I started with mindset of that I will just do this MWL Checklist as proscribed... entirely...(and stick with it forever) AND that I would be happy to do this... (so like, I don't take Friday nights off so that I can go to restaurant... or some other stuff that I do understand people do... even though I struggled for months with a couple of 5/7 items in my house, I wasn't trying to justify them... so a bit of the UGLY!!! perhaps bordering on dramatic!!! but I was trying!!!)

Well, here is what James Clear says about motivation... " The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It's one thing to say I'm the type of person who wants this. It's something very different to say I'm the type of person who is this... The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.... Once your pride gets involved, you'll fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits."

I would be remiss not to also state that this JeffN post is super helpful to me... https://www.drmcdougall.com/newsletters ... hy-habits/
So, I take away --- simplicity, consistency, repetition of behaviors ( and manage your sources of information...!!!)...

Similar messages... Clear talks about doing "reps"... I honestly feel that the more times I do follow JeffN checklist, the easier it is... (not that I mean it was hard, but maybe more natural??)...

Anyway, I think I posted in MWL thread that there are many reasons that I follow this ... most are not necessarily outcome related... I just feel really good about this in general from a values perspective... To not go negative... best motivation is PRESENCE of energy, happiness.... No regrets here...

A few pictures... I will stop being wordy!!!

So, got the greens for next Longevity Soup iteration!!! Also, a couple types of sweet potatoes. Of course, since I liked the frozne "root vegetables"... there are none to be found... Oh well... Got a couple McD Right Foods for upcoming trip...

SO, this was my big Pyrex of roasted veggies... About 1.5 lbs. of green beans, 3 bell peppers, big red onion, huge thing of Baby Bella mushrooms... No anything on them... just cooked in oven at 400 about 30 minutes. Will be great in many way!!!

So, totally different than all of my other oat pics!!! Fresh fruit... Golden berries were new to me amusement with shopping this week... Tasting good!!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Matcha]

Hi Stephanie, i liked what you shared motivation from Atomic Habits. i think you are doing really well in maintaining your weight and your food looks good!

[Anna Green]

Loving your journal. I've been craving split pea soup but forgot to get the peas so I'm doing butter beans. Now that I've seen yours however, it's on! Headed to store soon. Or your house for leftovers.

[VegSeekingFit]

Thank you, Matcha!!! Appreciate your comments!

Thanks, and come on by for split pea soup anytime, Anna!!! Will make another pot!!

Hi,

A few pics…


It’s a marvelous night for a moondance… HA!


Here was a quick lunch – used a bit of non-seasoned rice vinegar on the veggies.


Iteration #3 of “starchifying” Jeff Longevity soup. Mostly like prior ones (except no frozen root veggies, finally did add the greens, 2 different kinds of purple sweet potatoes, Yukon golds, kidney & garbanzo beans). Very good and makes a ton – like 16 cups leftover after I ate some of it for breakfast. Following is an after-cooking pic… (probably will add more greens next time…).



My favorite snack – oven fries and fruit. Delicious!

Below is Behavioral assessment that I will post to Time & Adherence group for 10/14.

Hi to All!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

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

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! Lots of potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, Jeff burgers this week. Have switched over to lots of soup (from lots of salads) and making it starchy for main meal. Still had a good amount of oatmeal too – mainly with fresh fruit --- unplanned experiment where I have found that just 15 extra seconds in the microwave is the difference between nice warm oats and exploding berries… OMG!!! Messy, but hilarious (and lesson learned).

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, reduced not eliminated.

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 – no starving or stuffing (just a lot of eating when hungry).

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.
Walked 7 days. Honestly, 1 day was more of a gentle stroll since I skinned / bruised knee in a “graceful” move tripping over some sketchy pavement … which hurt disproportionately… but was all good within 48 hours (thinking it goes to the “heal faster” benefit of eating this way--- in other words, Noella’s “Starch-power”! ).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Thanks, Mark for positive feedback last week. Got some great relaxation in after navigating the work ask and looking forward to some time off. Appreciate how you shared of these great resources on the nutritional sufficiency of this pattern of eating. I think that I get even more comments from friends and family to supplement various vitamins (especially as it relates to COVID lately) than questions on where I get my protein / calcium. Invaluable how Jeff & Dr. McD have shared impeccably sourced and easy to understand material right here (even down to how best to evaluate the plethora of (mis)-information)!

Noella, so sorry for your loss and hope that you had a somewhat enjoyable trip to the US. Hope that you let us know how it went!

Beth, I totally understand about the shift that takes place when moving to “maintenance”. Pretty motivating as losing weight to see the scale number drop (sometimes slowly but steadily)! I do find a couple of concepts helpful and motivating now --- more regarding mindset: 1) Time & adherence – have continued to notice seemingly subtle on a week-by-week basis, but incremental changes in healing (for instance, when I just started bouncing out of bed this summer!) and 2) Long-term sustainable change (from your Jeff signature quote) – patterns get easier and more natural as you continue to practice – doesn’t seem like an uphill battle. Hope you share as you move forward how this goes for you!

From Mark’s question last week, I am excited about / looking forward to watching the leaves change color (especially planning hikes in the woods) – love this every year (although dread the cold to come shortly after). Also, we have nephew’s wedding coming up and will be spending some time in Iowa to celebrate. I had this trip (mostly the no microwave thing) as my challenge a couple of weeks ago but was grateful for lots of ideas which will make this (hopefully) painless (especially the warm oats in thermos – thanks, WildGoose!).

Autumn Colors – Christopher Morely
The chestnut trees turned yellow,
The oak like sherry browned,
The fir, the stubborn fellow,
Stayed green the whole year round.

He also left a message to his friends that was published in New York papers after he died which speaks to me… “Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Best,
Stephanie

[Lizzy_F]

Hello dear Stephanie!!!!!! Life feels like it has been cRaZy lately and I have really neglected my journal and my friendships here on the Forum, which I am not happy about!! So I wanted to pop in and at least say hello. Your food pics are as beautiful as ever, as is your ability to articulate HONESTLY what you are thinking and feeling about your journey. I just love your posts and it would be a loss to this community if you stopped writing in your journal! So whether you continue in this one, or start a new one for 2023, plesae know that you help me so much every time you share your experiences - for better or for worse!!!

It sounds like you are locked and loaded for your upcoming trip! I hope all goes well with your food and with all other aspects of your trip!

[Anna Green]

I'm adding you and your journal to my gratitude list today. Thanks for sharing. Loved the bit of poetry.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Beth!!! Hi Anna!!!

OMG, ladies --- thank you both a million for such kind comments --- awesome to pick up my journal and see them. Sending you both huge smiles and wishes for an amazing day!

Hi Journal,

Below is a link to Mark MWL comments / threads on successful travel for future reference:
https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewt ... 30#p632707

I am back from long weekend in Des Moines, Iowa area --- we stayed in Altoona (which could have been suburban Chicago, Illinois with the huge strip mall across the street and the Burger Den next door… )… but, no – it was Iowa!!

Had a wonderful time – wedding was beautiful and heartfelt. Enjoyed the festivities and was nice to take a “road trip” with my hubby – which we haven’t done since COVID. Lots of music, talk, and laughter… can’t ask for more than that!

From a MWL checklist perspective, I was “spot on” with baseline assumption that I needed to bring my own food or would be nothing adherent. The only times that it was possible to have a compliant choice was at the hotel breakfasts --- as they had bananas, oranges, mixed fruit. Eating wise – here is what I brought with. Large soft sided cooler that I packed: Jeff burgers, a few gallon-sized bags of oven fries, oats with thermos (from WG idea), bananas, grapes, carrots, grape tomatoes. I also took a can of garbanzo beans and a couple of McD Right Foods cups (but did not have opportunity to eat them). Brought some sandwich bags (for stashing some of the food in my purse!), plastic spoons, napkins… This worked out fine.

The non-compliant --- so, I do look to stay on checklist, but also acknowledge ZERO perfection (which is not a good goal for me to seek). I DO try to think about any off the ranch choices that I make from the view of – am I risking losing good habits or falling into the Pleasure Trap (kind of a CBA in a way that will keep me pretty close to the ranch)…

#1 - I will take a “ding” for #7 - eating 2 pieces of refined / white bread at the wedding dinner. The reason that I had them was that it was the ONLY thing that I would even contemplate in the buffet line (which I walked into and yes, likely could have walked back with an empty plate which I would have done if not for the bread). The salad was dressed and had cheese. Other things animal and / or oil. So, not perfect --- but ok under circumstances to me. Bread tasted fine, but is not sending me over the edge to a bakery or something…

#2 – Did not do brisk walking for 2 days - #10. One of them I did dance (rather vigorously at times) for at least 2 hours – so substituting that. Other was complete inactive day. Boo, but not normal for me and I have already gotten back to the brisk walking. Even went today to local sledding hill and did 7 hill repeats (walking and it is a little hill, but still…)

Other stuff -- I always like to read some spooky stories in October – have listened to a couple of Edgar Allan Poe today – "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Masque of the Red Death". Will probably check out some Stephen King too – likely one or two short stories of his. Below are a couple of food pics.


Made oatmeal today with 1/3 can of pumpkin and a chopped apple. Topped it with pumpkin pie spice and it smelled like autumn!!!


Eating up the leftovers from this weekend. Delicious.

Enjoy the week!!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[bunsofaluminum]

Stephanie! I'm loving the food pics. I want to hold these up in front of the eyes of people who wonder about diversity of foods on a plant diet. When I watch Wylie eat a plate of chicken breast and baked potato...everything beige and salt the only flavor...I just shake my head.