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.
Breakfastorange
arugula, oat groats, blueberries
Lunchraw carrots,
steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, kale, & collards)
Yukon Gold potatoes, chickpeas
Mid-AfternoonApple, grapes, a few bites of potato from lunch
Dinnercucumber
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.