~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:20 am

First, let me answer the obvious question which is: slime mold????

Slime molds are bizarre. Single cell organisms hatch from spores, they go through a water phase, they combine into networks that when artificially seeded on human maps re-create transportation networks, form a breeding mat that produces a sexual organ on a stalk which produces spores, then the whole process repeats itself. They are the craziest thinng in the biosphere. They are the living equivalent of the bagpipe, and Prince Rupert's drops. And if there is one thing I like, it's crazy. So there, me. You like you!

Anyway, I have a previous journal: https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=32729

I've seen where other people lay out their whole story and I love that. Ithink it is an important exercise to understand where you are coming from and I would wager a small amount that people who do it are by and large more successful with the diet and weight loss. I think it also is very humanizing, and helps people connect with each other, and I love that too. Personally, I just don't have the heart, and parts of my story are so dark I'm just not ready to frame them in a socially acceptable way.

So, I will give you the back of the book synopsis:


Enigmatic ~Skye~'s childhood was dominated by a hardworking, well-meaning, but fatally flawed single mother in the 70's and 80's who, having been raised on a dairy farm (like Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn) believed in the power of diet, and experimentation. We tried sooooo many diets. Finally, she came across an article in the NYT which explained that Bill Clinton was WFPB, gave her a science book to read (The Chiina Study), and she thought "if ol' Bill can do it, so can I!"

AND IT WORKED

Did I mention the fatal flaw of the mother figure? Yeah well, don't worry, she's fine, but ~Skye~'s world fell apart and rebuilt itself in stages and phases repeatedly until she found herself riding out the later part of the pandemic %100 disabled due to 20+ years in the mental health system which labled her "schizoaffective", in supported living housing in Sarasota Florida, barely able to afford food, massively in debt, with no car, a case manager who refuses to return her calls and a growing number of friends who are increasingly afraid to talk to her. ~Skye~ has of course gained back ALL THE WEIGHT, shattered her dominant wrist, failed to escape Covid-19 and realized that if she doesn't do something to salvage her situation soon, there will be no situation to salvage....


CUT TO

An attractive, if morbidly obese woman sits at her desk in the master bedroom of a three bedroom suburban house on a street that could be anywhere except for the palm trees and exotic birds. She flips to Facebook - "Redheads are God's way of giving the world roses" Awesome, public opinion of us is trending upward. She flips to YouTube - "Meghan's poor me routine is wearing thin", Mmmm, probably the most difficult role in theatrical history. I think she'll pull it out yet. ~Skye~ flips to Facebook - "How many Covid long-haulers over a year in have changed their diest?" Wow, these people are doing some weird diets! She flips to YouTube - “Everything you ever wanted to know about junk journals”, Well, this is good for reuse and recycle. She flips to Facebook - “Are your voices generally helpful, or do they interfere with your life?” I guess the whole question of what voices are is on pause. She flips to YouTube - “May Plan With Me”, well, if I had any illusion of control, I would.

Through the hazy delusion of productivity, and fog of confused social connections, a dim realization begins to impress itself upon ~Skye~. There is sunlight streaming in from the blind covered window caked with grunge and dust. She makes a decision, a firm determination. Today I will begin to change my life for the better so that I may be of benefit to myself, and every one I come into contact with.

1st - My body needs to heal. I will honor it by nurturing it with good food, adequate rest, and enjoyable activities.

So… My kitchen has the remains of SAD groceries. I have some meat and dairy and cheese along with a little oil, processed foods, and flour products in the pantry. I am feeling my way cautiously through the maze of changing my lifestyle focusing on food. I feel in order to ensure my success, I must plan, organize and prepare, then implement my plan. Funny, it feels a little like I am embarking on military action. Since it is a beginning, perhaps I should start with breakfast. Here are some options:

  1. The Potato Reset By Jeannine Elder has a few breakfast options.
  2. The Fat Free Vegan has a Chickpea Omelet recipe
  3. Fruit is an option
  4. Oats/ Oatmeal/ Cereal - classic choice
  5. Pancake mix is easily adaptable
  6. Banana/Carrot/Zucchini bread
  7. Dr. McDougall has French Toast
  8. Dr. McD - Baked Millet Squares
  9. Breakfast Burrito
  10. Dr. McD B’fast Potatoes - in broth in pressure cooker

...to be continued
Last edited by ~Skye~ on Sat May 01, 2021 6:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby Ruff » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:27 pm

The journey starts! Well done you!

What are you going to do with your non-compliant foods? A poverty mindset has caused me to 'use them up' in the past, but now I choose to not use my body as a dustbin. There is a perfectly good one outside the back door. This time I will donate anything not opened to the food pantry, and bin the rest. Is it 'wasting good food' if I choose not to make myself ill? Of course not, its throwing away poison!

what are good and useful tools on your journey and what is the stuff you are hanging onto but is holding you back or weighing you down? Only fill your rucksack with useful items, ditch the rest.

onwards with the journey. :-D
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Sat May 01, 2021 3:53 pm

Ruff wrote:The journey starts! Well done you!

What are you going to do with your non-compliant foods? A poverty mindset has caused me to 'use them up' in the past, but now I choose to not use my body as a dustbin.


Well, ironically, a lot of the food I have in the house right now came from the food pantry. Apparently, I am not below the poverty line, but about $50 above it or some such. lol Yeah, A friend went to pick up food and got me potatoes and onions, and cucumbers, and eggplants, and beans, and rice, and - I mean, good food! So, most of the SAD stuff I have is stored in a way that it is stable, so I'm going to take option #3 and "not worry about it" and instead focus on doing something this weekend with all the fresh produce I have so IT won't go to waste.

Image

GOAL
  1. Bake 10 lbs Russet potatoes
  2. Run onions through food processor
  3. Juice oranges
  4. Roast Eggplants
  5. Cucumbers - ?
  6. Yellow Squash - ?
  7. Pepper - grill and eat with fried rice

TODAY is a concept that has little meaning for me. I'm not sure it will fit in my rucksack. Instead, I think I will endeavor to use this space to build discipline, good habits and document my truth and record food as I eat it.

-rhubarb and strawberry compote
-coffee with sugar and half & half


I have decided, after conversing with some bovine friends, that I will continue to use half & half for my coffee. I do, however recognize that dairy is best when it is limited in the diet, and will endeavor to refrain from any other dairy.

I have not decided yet what to do with all the cheese I have on hand.
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Sat May 01, 2021 6:44 pm

I don't think I made it clear when I was talking about slime molds that I fee as though I have been torn apart so thoroughly by the last five years or so that I exist primarily as single cells that need to find each other and reform a single organism.

Eating:
Chinese Broccoli dish I ordered a couple days ago.


The broccoli was good, but not on plan. I could feel the fat in the dish, and I don't like it. I'm using this experience to remind myself that fundamentally I want to cut fat out of my diet because I don't like it. Never have done. I always wanted to get as much fat off my meat as possible, stay as far away from grease as I could, and skim off as much fat as I could when I saw it floating in soups. Still, I don't think extremism is for me. I think I will still use a little sesame oil on occasion, and temper my Indian spices in a smidge of oil. Butter - ? I don't know what to do about butter. It is part of my dairy conundrum, and I suspect it will take some time to figure out what to do about it. I know it's not healthy. I know it's not good to eat. But boy is it tasty!

At least I ate some vegetable matter. I haven't had much in the way of vegetables recently. So, there's something to be said for going slow, and taking your time to savor the journey. You never know what you will find if you allow yourself the time to look.

* oops - almost forgot to mention - 10 lbs. of potatoes baked!
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Sun May 02, 2021 6:40 pm

So, yo - yo - yo - yesterday was a productive day! I did this:

Image

That's:
  1. 1 Bag of oranges juiced
  2. 2 Bags of potatoes baked
  3. 3 Bags of onions sliced


YaY!!!!!!

And from this it looks like I'm totally set up to do a Mary's Mini. Now, if I could just remember what a Mary's Mini was exactly...

Anyway, I had these plans for today, then I realized today is my playday, then the day got away from me. BUT - I took this picture:

Image

So... today I've had:

  1. Coffee with sugar and half&half
  2. Orange juice

I should probably mention that due to my struggles with Long Covid, I don't have a regular sleep schedule. I don't have any commitments, or much contact with anybody or anything other than the computer - gosh I feel like I'm in that movie - Cast Away On The Moon - https://youtu.be/eSyIhalV4gU. Anyway, the point is... What's the point?

I think I've lost 20 lbs. of water weight. I weighed 220 lbs. when I woke up "today".
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby Ruff » Mon May 03, 2021 3:04 am

yum, potatoes! I never know if I prefer potatoes or oats. So I have to eat both every day to check!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Long covid....that sucks. You have my sympathies. It is very weird here, we know the rest of the world so badly affected, and India! So worrying. Yet we have no covid here, and therefore no restrictions. no masks, no social distancing, no limits on gatherings....Its like being on a lifeboat watching people struggle in the water and not being able to help them.

I hope this way of eating helps.
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Tue May 04, 2021 4:16 pm

Hi Ruff - well, if any place on Earth should be spared from Covid, it's New Zealand. I saw an article or video or something about how New Zealand reacted to Covid and understand why y'all don't have it. I think though that you haven't actually been spared. The virus's health effects certainly haven't impacted you, but the bend in reality - which is the primary effect of Covid - certainly has. It's been weird all over. Here in the South, which is also called "The Bible Belt", there is a majority that doesn't even believe there IS a pandemic. Those people who ARE willing to admit to there being a virus will just as soon tell you that they had it in 2019. The urgent care I went to to get tested - I'm not sure THEY think there's a virus. So, you can google FL and see - no social distancing, no masks, no crowd limits, and totally random closures and restrictions that are basically imposed depending on the business owner's beliefs, or majority opinion of a particular municipality. For example I went to a dollar store, with a sign on the door requiring a mask, then went next door to a health food market which did not require masks, but the cashier had a mask that he was wearing completely ineffectively (over his mouth, but not his nose).

At any rate, I had Covid in Feb. or March of 2020, and I'm still trying to come out of the tailspin.

It continues to be a forward - backward - treading water thing with me. This weekend I did get some cooking done. I didn’t really do much though. I mean, how much actual work is it to bake 5 lbs of potatoes? But I was surprised at how wiped out I was.

Yesterday was a step back for me. I think I slept 14 of the 24 hours belonging to May 3rd. And, I did not record my food. It wasn't plan food at any rate. It was one of those days characterized by questioning. Who am I? What am I doing? Is it worth it? Why don't I drop dead? (When I was awake at any rate) I think this reached some sort of apex when a homeless woman demanded angrily why I couldn’t take care of myself. After all, I drive a car. And, after pondering her question seriously for an appropriate amount of time, my response is F*** YOU! Why don’t YOU have shelter, bitch? Really! (I didn’t say that to her. I just thought that before I fell asleep)

Today has been better. The voices in my head seem to be cooperating in boundary setting. They are still teasing me with YouTube videos of Doctor Mike (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0QHWh ... EPz3sVb6nw). Let me be unequivocally clear: I HATE being teased. I keep watching them though. The “Love Language” one however, was way too much and I had to abandon it for a video about how Bill Gates is lying to us.

Which brings me to a point that may help explain why I can’t take care of myself. See, I don’t know if you are aware of this but Bill Gates is VERY RICH. I am - well, apparently I’m not impoverished, - poor. Why am I poor? Well a lot of factors play in to it, but basically I noticed something about human behavior and wealth accumulation when I was 16 that prompted me to decide that I would not seek “money”. Unfortunately for me, circumstances change and now I am in a position where I don’t have any option but to “seek” something to ensure funding for not only those things that are fundamental for life to continue (since no matter how hard I try, I continue to fail at dropping dead) and continue in a way that is “appropriate” (more on that later).

It is at this point that I address this nagging question in my mind of why the hell am I spewing all this here? And to be quite honest - I have no clue. I just do what I do.

Anyway, today’s food so far:

  • coffee with H&H
  • baked potato with sauce (veg. broth, lime juice, sesame oil, fish sauce and minced garlic)
  • tea
  • orange juice
  • other liquids


I'm going to the beach
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby Ruff » Wed May 05, 2021 4:10 pm

reading this post made me wonder about a few things Skye. Firstly, what made the homeless woman think you couldn't look after yourself'? I mean, you are still here on the planet, you are learning the best ways to look after yourself, and heal yourself mentally and physically. You are obviously not stupid. so why?

As for her and why she is in the situation she is in....who knows? We never know each others stories. Or how a person gets where they are. One person is poor but had deeply loving parents who prioritise education, and spend long evenings with their kids reading to them, discussing homework, and walking the 2 miles to school with them daily, chatting about everything under the sun as they go, as they dont have a car. The kid has just hit the parental lottery and come out with a scholarship to Harvard. Meanwhile kid 2 is born to wealthy parents who just care about making money. The kid gets looked after by a variety of 'helpers', and when the kid gets into trouble at school the parents use their influence to get the kid off the consequences. the kid loses the parental lottery and ends up blowing out of school, and hanging around with other rich stoners until they do something so stupid even mummy cant get them off the hook. Other things happen that are totally out of our control. You yourself know how vulnerable ill health can make you.

So, what to do? I am a disaster survivor, as so many of us are. What I learnt was standard emergency planning. You do the best you can, in the circumstances you find yourself, with the resources available to you are the time. This is all we can do. And it is our duty to do it, so we are able to hold out a helping hand to others.


Thus our job is to maximise the resources available. Our health is a big one. During the first quake I was over 240 pounds, and put my back out. I was no help to anyone. By the time the big quakes came, I had got my act into gear and was much better able to look after mine, and others.

Very few of us seek money (despite what our 16 year old selfs think :D ) most of us are either pursuing a passion (Bill gates...has it made him happy? Who knows, but I am about to joyfully celebrate my 32nd wedding anniversary, he will never reach his...) or collecting money for what it can give us (freedom to raise our kids ourself in a smallholding in the country....or sail around the world...or whatever). You are seeking resources to reclaim your health. The McDougall diet is one resource, money is another.

Right, I'm getting off my soapbox now.....

PS...I just got back from the beach :mrgreen:
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Thu May 06, 2021 9:49 am

I'll tell you what made the homeless woman think I couldn't take care of myself- nothing. The homeless woman was in no way convinced that I can't take care of myself - as you obviously feel that I can take care of myself.

The reason the homeless woman asked why I couldn't take care of myself is because I told her I couldn't take care of myself. I don't remember the surrounding conversation. But she was envious of me having shelter, and I was like - eh. Fuck shelter! What the fuck good does it do? I can't take care of myself. I was having a difficult enough time before I shattered my dominant wrist, but... down an arm?

I mean, I can do really amazing things... I can make strawberry rhubarb compote with just my left hand. But I can't fucking take care of myself. I can do what I can do, and I'm not saying what it is I cannot do, but - honestly. NO ONE can take care of themselves these days. I had a plan to take care of myself. I think it would have worked too. It did not include a permanent structure, and people surrounding me nixed the plan at every turn. Whatever - let the world burn.

Food yesterday:
two bags of Doritos
bottle of wine
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby Ruff » Tue May 18, 2021 12:53 pm

How are you doing Skye?
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: ~Skye~'s Operation Slime Mold

Postby ~Skye~ » Sun Jun 13, 2021 5:55 pm

Hi Ruff -

Let's just say that the reply I sent to JeffN when he asked that I edit my last post is not fit for prime time. *Insert emoji that says I hope no one ever goes through what I've been through*

So anyway...

Last night I cooked! It wasn't MWL. I'm easing into this thing again - I am persistent.

1/4 ts Garam Masala
1/4 ts Channa Masala
1/4 ts Mustard seeds
1/4 ts Cumin seeds
1/4 ts Fenugreek seeds
1 crushed Cardamon pod
salt to taste

Added all spices (except salt) to minuscule amount of hot oil.
Added two onions chopped
Stir
Added 1 can fire roasted tomatoes
Added 1 can drained and rinsed chick peas
Added 1 can coconut milk (I know, bad! But I had it, and now I don't)
Added some frozen hash brown potatoes - just because

I think this is where I added the salt - not enough for my housemate though.

Added 1 block frozen chopped spinach (pre defrosted in microwave)

Simmered for a while

Noticed a bowl of cooked macaroni from the night before in a plastic container and since I was looking for something to put this concoction up in - dumped it in with the pasta.

Ate - will last a while.
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