Artista’s Journal

[Artista]

I once heard an artist and teacher say that “wabi sabi” is a Japanese term meaning “the beauty of imperfection”. In creating art sometimes the imperfect can be more beautiful and perfect than whatever the artist may have had in mind as perfect when starting out. I know in adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle, though, that that is not so much the case and that the better the adherence the better the results. I wanted to keep in mind, though, that if I don’t do it perfectly, that isn’t a reason for me to be discouraged and give up. I like this quote from Mark Cooper,

“We don't expect perfection, because making these changes in behavior is extremely difficult; however, the intent of participation for the group is important - are you willing to make an honest attempt to follow the guidelines as intended, and keep trying to work toward improvements when you are struggling?”

So this journal is a record of my honest attempt to follow the MWL guidelines as intended. My goal is to record what I eat and how it stacks up against the 10 point checklist. Two weeks ago, I rounded up all the food in my kitchen that wasn’t MWL. Even though I hadn’t had any days of successfully following MWL for awhile, just the act of cleaning out my kitchen made me feel optimistic and empowered. I think it was key to the successful days that have happened since then.

I do know how extremely difficult these behavior changes can be. I have tried and given up so many times and I've seen many others come and go on the forums. I've been rereading Jeff Novick's 10 Secrets to Success and also the 10 reasons people fail. I've identified some of the things that have caused me to derail in the past. One is that I'm easily swayed by plant-based doctors, nutritionists, and others who say that an optimal diet should include different foods, nuts, seeds or whatever. I’ve learned that eating more calorie-dense food just doesn’t work for me, so part of my strategy is to tune out all of the outside noise coming from differing opinions.

This is what I ate yesterday, May 26th. I’ll be back later today to report on what I ate today.

Breakfast
orange
arugula, oat groats, blueberries

Lunch
raw carrots,
steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, kale, & collards)
Yukon Gold potatoes, chickpeas

Mid-Afternoon
Apple, grapes, a few bites of potato from lunch

Dinner
cucumber
red cabbage salad, sweet potato, chickpeas
a spoonful of homemade natto
banana "nice cream" with carob powder


MWL 10-point checklist for Thursday May 26th

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, the natto was made from soybeans. I’m going to try making it from chickpeas next time so that it will be in line with MWL.

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’m learning to find the balance with this one. The day before I ate too much at dinner and was too full so I’m trying to be more careful and remember what doctor McDougall said in the guidelines that “it’s okay to be hungry”.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes. I did 30 minutes of brisk walking and 15 minutes of strengthening type exercises.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
Orange
Arugula, oat groats, blueberries

Lunch
Raw vegetables
Steamed vegetables (cauliflower, kale, collards, carrots)
Yukon gold potato, chickpeas

Mid-afternoon
Grapes, apple

Dinner
Steamed broccoli and green beans
Sautéed mushrooms, onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes
kidney beans, sweet potato

MWL 10-point checklist

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. 40 minutes of brisk walking.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
orange
Arugula, oat groats, blueberries

Lunch
raw vegetables
steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, kale, & collards)
potatoes, kidney beans, sautéed mushrooms, onion, tomatoes

Mid-Afternoon
2 apricots, grapes, banana

Dinner
green beans
sweet potato, chickpeas

Exercise:
40 minutes brisk walking + 15 minutes strengthening exercises

MWL 10-point checklist

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.   Mostly, I forgot to preload at dinnertime.

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, I tend to be very careful with this one. 50/50 is easy to eyeball.

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, I completely avoid sugars and my use of salt is very minimal. I don’t add it to cooking or at the table and try to find packaged products that have no salt added. If I do buy something like a can of beans that has salt, I make sure the milligrams of sodium in a serving is lower than the total calories per serving. Sometimes I use a little white miso when make a dressing for salad or steamed vegetables.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, no animal products for 5 years now.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes, giving up traditional soy products like soy milk, edamame and tempeh was a challenge at first but I’m mostly used to it now.

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, this is becoming easier and more intuitive as I go along.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, 40 minutes of brisk walking and 15 minutes of strengthening exercises today.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I’ve been following MWL for 2 weeks now. I weighed myself this morning and I’ve lost 2 lbs. I’m really happy about that. I tend to lose weight slowly so I wasn't focusing on weight, just focusing on nailing all of the 10 points, so it was a nice surprise to find I had lost weight. I’m really enjoying eating this way. I have a sense of wellbeing both physically and emotionally. I feel like I could do this for a long time but I’ve seen so many people come and go here and I’ve come and gone myself. There are people who stay with it for the long term, though, I'm doing my best to be one of those.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
orange
Arugula, mixed whole grains (buckwheat, millet, steel-cut oats), blueberries

Mid-morning
Mango

Lunch
raw vegetables
steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, & collards)
1/2 sweet potato, kidney beans, sautéed mushrooms, onion, tomatoes

Mid-afternoon
2 apricots, grapes

Dinner
raw veg
green beans
Yukon gold potato, chickpeas

Exercise:
30 minutes jogging on mini-trampoline

MWL 10-point checklist

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

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.

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.

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

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).

6) Eliminate any added oil.

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.

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

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

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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Today was more challenging than previous days. I didn't feel like exercising or eating the right foods. Somehow I managed to do both. I've been working on a difficult art project and feeling frustrated about it and I think that was getting to me. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
orange
Arugula, oat groats, blueberries

Mid-morning, I was really hungry for some reason
kiwi, carrots, tomatoes, 1/2 sweet potato, apple

Lunch
raw vegetables
steamed vegetables and greens
potato, chickpeas

Mid-afternoon
2 apricots, grapes

Dinner
Large salad w/chickpeas
1/2 sweet potato

Exercise:
45 minutes brisk walking,

MWL 10-point checklist

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. Not sure about this one. I ate enough salad at dinner to count as preloading and 50/50 but it wasn't sequenced into those two separate things.

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, 45 minutes of brisk walking.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I was hungry a lot today for some reason. I'm glad one of the principles of this way of eating is to eat whenever I am hungry until comfortably full. I would never make it if I had to deny hunger. I'm in a support group for people with eating issues and many of the people in that group weigh or measure their food. I tried it a few times but just couldn't do it for any length of time.

I watched a video today of a young Dr. McDougall interviewing Nathan Pritikin. That was so interesting. He was quite a pioneer in his time, as is Dr. McDougall. I also listened to a couple of short Dr. Lisle talks. There is a wealth of resources available on this website although the videos were easier to find before the website was redesigned. I was glad to see that they are still there, just harder to locate. I like to listen to the videos or recordings while I'm working in my studio. I hope everyone had a happy Memorial Day.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
Green tea
small orange
Arugula, oat groats, 1/2 c. blueberries

Mid-morning
green beans, apple

Lunch
raw vegetables, 1 apricot
Steamed Normandy vegetables
potatoes, leftover bean-mushroom-onion-tomato thing

Mid-afternoon
1 apricots, 1 c. grapes

Dinner
tomatoes, carrot
steamed vegetables & greens
sweet potato, chickpeas

Exercise:
50 minutes walking, mostly at a brisk pace. On the way home I was carrying groceries so not as brisk for the last 10 minutes.

MWL 10-point checklist

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. I think I ate too much at dinner tonight.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, 50 minutes of mostly brisk walking.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
Green tea
slice of cantaloupe
arugula, oat groats, blueberries & strawberries

Lunch
raw vegetables
Steamed vegetables & greens
chickpea hummus (no oil/salt), sweet potato

Mid-afternoon
4 apricots

Dinner
salad
green beans, potatoes, pinto beans
banana

MWL 10-point checklist

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, 30 minutes jogging on mini-trampoline

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I went to the Farmer’s Market this morning an picked up lots of fresh vegetables and some berries. I also bought potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a few cans of NSA beans. I wanted to make sure I have a lot of healthy, compliant food in the house that I like. In Jeff's post "Compliance on a Healthy Diet" one of his recommendations is to keep it simple, just a few different starches and beans, some vegetables and fruits. It doesn't have to be super varied or complicated. My favorite starch is the Japanese sweet potato. I could eat those every day.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast:
piece of cantaloupe, arugula, oat groats, blueberries & strawberries

Mid-Morning:
apple, small potato & vegetables

Lunch:
salad, steamed vegetables & greens, pinto beans, small potato

Mid-afternoon:
Mango

Dinner:
salad, black beans, medium potato, sautéed mushrooms, peppers, onion, tomatoes

Exercise: 40 minutes brisk walking

MWL 10-point checklist
10 out of 10

Comments: I was hungrier today than I usually am and I ended up eating lunch twice. I did remember to preload, though, and to make my plate 50/50, and I didn't overeat, so I’m still calling it good. I hope everyone is doing well out there on their journey to better health.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
orange, arugula, oat groats, blueberries & strawberries

Mid-Morning
Banana, raw veg

Lunch
raw veg with chickpea hummus (no oil), green beans & carrots, sweet potato

Mid-afternoon
Pear, raw veg

Dinner
salad, steamed vegetables, new potatoes

Exercise: 50 minutes yoga (strength/flexibility/balance)

MWL 10-point checklist:
10 out of 10.

I’m becoming more comfortable with all of the 10 points. I don’t miss the foods I gave up as much as I did at first, and I’m getting better at knowing when I’m full and stopping there even if there’s still food on my plate. Keeping this journal has helped me stay on track. There have been times when I wanted to engage in some recreational eating but knowing that I would need to report it here helped me to stick to the plan.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
cantaloupe, orange, arugula, oat groats, blueberries & strawberries

Lunch
raw veg, sweet potato, kidney beans, mushrooms, onion in marinara sauce, steamed vegetables & green

Dinner
leftovers from lunch, green beans

Evening Snack
Oats, buckwheat, strawberries, apple

Exercise: 40 minutes brisk walking

MWL 10-point checklist: 10 out of 10.

I often browse the McDougall forums in the morning to see what inspiration and information I can pick up. This morning I came across this quote by JeffN in a post from 2008:

But don't do it out of fear, do it out of love. For love of exuberant health. For love of life. For love of a healthy future with your family and children and grandchildren. For love of things you enjoy so you can keep doing them longer and in good health.

BTW, there are several published studies on people who have had to adopt very strict diets either by choice or because they had to, and they have been followed for a year or more and in almost all cases they report a greater quality of life in every measure. Same thing in the National Weight Control Registry, as over 98% reported an improved quality of life even after having to make the most dramatic changes to get the best results then ever before.

But don't do it out of fear, do it out of love. Don't be afraid of what you will lose. Look forward to what you will gain.

The whole post is beautifully written and full of wisdom and powerful argument. For me, fear can be a strong motivator in the short term but eventually it begins to lose it’s effectiveness. I don’t think I could successfully make decisions every day for the rest of my life that were based in fear. But I could make decisions for the rest of my life that were based on what I am reaching toward, not running away from, decisions that are based on love of life, family, and the health and freedom to do the things I enjoy.

[AlicefromBelgium]

Thanks, I love that.

I often say to myself that I choose this WOE. It is not about restriction. It is about choice. Choice to be healthy, to have energy, to let love & respect for live enter my home.

[Artista]

Thanks, I love that.

I often say to myself that I choose this WOE. It is not about restriction. It is about choice. Choice to be healthy, to have energy, to let love & respect for live enter my home.

Hi Alice,
Thank you so much for visiting my journal, and I agree with you 100%! I love this way of eating. Whatever foods I have given up don't begin to compare with what I get in return in terms of health and wellbeing.

[Artista]

What I ate today:

Breakfast
orange, arugula, oat groats, blueberries, green tea

Mid-morning
oat groats and blueberries leftover from breakfast, 1/2 banana

Lunch
salad, steamed vegetables, chickpea humus (no oil/salt), sweet potato

Dinner
raw vegetables, steamed vegetables, new potatoes, kidney beans in a marinara sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic & peppers
1/2 banana, cherries


Exercise: 40 minutes brisk walking

MWL 10-point checklist
10 out of 10.

Comments:
I’m getting better at knowing when I’m full and just putting away whatever is left on my plate rather than trying to finish it. Also getting better at remembering to start a meal with soup, salad, raw vegetables, or fruit. I’m really beginning to love this way of eating. I’m sure there’ll be times when I struggle, when I experience “adherence fatigue” or cravings for other foods. That has happened to me in the past and it was the beginning of my going off the rails. I hope I don’t do that again. I think keeping the daily food journal really helps, also joining the MWL group is really helpful. I’m also trying to spend time every day reading or listening to one of the resources available here on the website. Today I listed to Doug Lisle’s talk about The Slow Fast Way. He says to aim for 80% compliance. It was a little under-inspiring to hear this at a time when my resolve is high and I’m keen to do it 100%, but if a time comes along when my resolve isn’t so high, 80% might look pretty good to me. I’m hoping to eventually work my way through all of Dr. Lisle’s lectures.

[AlicefromBelgium]

Good morning Artista

It seems you are doing a great job.
I find it difficult at the moment.

Where can I find Dr. Lisle’s lectures ?

Thanks !

[Artista]

Hi Alice,
I notice that Daydream gave you a great link to Dr. Lisle's lectures. Here is another link from the June MWL thread where Mark provides a really helpful list of resources including several Dr. Lisle talks. https://drmcdougallforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=62206 At the end of that list is a link to "Amy's Giant List of Links to Dr. Lisle's Lectures" which provides links to many more of his lectures.

Don't give up, Alice! These are just bumps in the road, not insurmountable obstacles. I agree with what you said in your journal that compassion is your friend and tomorrow will be better. As Mark said, "We don't expect perfection, because making these changes in behavior is extremely difficult". They are difficult in the best of circumstances but even more so when having to have tempting food in the house. Be kind to yourself, look forward, and don't forget to reach out for help when you need it. There are many people here on the forums who have been where you are now and are very willing to help.