Alice's journal - start with 10 days

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

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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Mon Jun 06, 2022 2:11 pm

Thank you both.
I will listen to the lectures.

Why I binge ? Because I feel envy. And I feel envy because I think that "cereals, bread & spreads" are delicious food. I don't think it is much more complicated than that. The think is that this is true. I do find those food delicious.
I want to stop wanting to eat them but I don't know how. I need a good reason to not want to eat them but it is hard when I don't have weight to loose nor any health issue.

I don't like the way I feel after a binge that's for sure. So at least that's a reason.

I need to plan my day in the morning and stick to it. I binge about twice a week. I am working on it but it is difficult. I am listening to the podcast "brain over binge" and I think it helps but I am not there yet.

Today, day 6 today was better

Breakfast: strawberries
Lunch: steamed potatoes, green peas, broccoli & spinach
mid afternoon snack: oats, soy milk, banana
Diner: veggie soup, cabbage curry & brown rice (a receipt from Monkey & Me Kitchen Adventures)
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby squealcat » Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:57 pm

Alice, I have listened to Brain Over Binge and it is informative. Can I suggest that you listen to Justina Froese on YouTube? She eats the Dr McDougall way of eating and has been trained by Dr Doug Lisle and she is great (in my opinion ). Let me know what you think.

I have the same problem with binge eating as you except that I have weight to lose. It is a struggle for sure !

-squealcat (Marilyn)
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby VegSeekingFit » Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:33 pm

Hi Alice!!!

OMG -- would love to see Belgium!! :)

You had a great plan and hoping that you see this experiment through... Will just say that I have been following the MWL Checklist for a good clip of time and I feel fabulous....

You've had great advice --- Just want to say, Keep going .... you can do it... :D

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Wed Jun 08, 2022 2:51 am

Hi all,
I had a very busy day yesterday so no time to come on the forum but I managed well. Certainly when I was exposed to pastries for the whole day while in meeting ! For lunch, I was in a business cantine and the only starches available were French fries or bread…

Day 7:
Breakfast: oats, 50/50 soy milk/water, cinnamon, banana
Lunch: bread, broccoli, green beans + fruit salad
Afternoon snack: strawberries and an apple
Diner: brown rice, curry cabbage (leftover from the day before) + grapes
Exercise: 1h walking + 30’ swim

@Marylin: I’ll listen to Justina Froese for sure. I am sure we can be successful with stopping binge eating. Let’s believe in ourselves. Have you also a threat in this forum where you share your journey ?

Thank you Stephanie for your support !
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Wed Jun 08, 2022 1:26 pm

Day 8 of my beginner’s challenge

I listened to Justina Froese on YouTube today. It was a short video on the pleasure trap. It felt a little bit demotivating because she clearly says that eating WFPB is against our instinct and we need to clean environment (or at least that what I understood).
And I have no possibilities to clean my environment… but if I can be WFPB at least most of the time I think I will be satisfied already.

Today, I was again in meeting a big part of the day with pastries available. I didn’t touch them (I had a lot of fruit that I had brough with me instead). I went to the grocery store after my work day and was tempted by processed food but returned home with only whole foods so cheers to me.

Breakfast: oats, 50/50 soy milk/water, cinnamon, banana
Lunch: lettuce, coleslaw, rice, zucchini + 2 apricots
Snack: (a lot of) strawberries and a peer
Diner: lentils, mushrooms, chestnuts + raspberries

I love chestnuts, I am pretty sure it is a starch but it is calorically dense I believe so I won’t have that too often.
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Thu Jun 09, 2022 1:52 pm

Day 9

Breakfast: chestnuts, raspberries
Lunch: raw tomatoes, carrots and green beans, rice + blueberries
Afternoon: banana, apple
Diner: steamed broccoli and rice + raspberries
Evening: binge on cereals :crybaby:

Until 8pm I was SUPER proud of myself. Because I had resisted again all temptations during the meeting day and also found some steamed broccoli and rice in a small Asiatic restaurant between all those fast foods restaurants at the station.
But then I came home (after a train ride of 2 hours), discovered my husband had forgot to take my smallest kid to his trampoline lesson (normally I drive him but this week I had this 3-day workshop) and also that my oldest kid was still stuck with its hockey shoes because he doesn’t have any other since last weekend and my husband did not “found” the time to go buy a pair with him. And I was tired and I know it is not an excuse but all of that make me fall into my old bad habit of eating cereals the hand directly in the bag.

On 9 days, I have had 7 successful and 2 with binges. I try not to see this as a failure. But this is hard.
However I know that the only way to succeed is to continue trying.
Therefore I am NOT quitting. I will do my 10th day WFPB tomorrow.
Then a break on Saturday (we have a friends party and there is no way I can eat WFPB; vegetarian will do) and I will start again on Sunday, aiming for another 10 day challenge.
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Artista » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:45 pm

Hi Alice, good for you for not quitting. It takes time to break old habits and build new ones. Give yourself lots of compassion and patience. I hope your 10th day went well. :)
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Sun Jun 12, 2022 2:20 pm

Hello Artista,

Unfortunately my 10th day didn't happened. I weighted myself in the morning and I had gained 1 kilo on the 9 days. I was very disappointed and I had a "F it "day.

I am on this forum because I want my relationship with food to change. I am learning. I know that my binges are what makes me gain weight. And I now that my restricting mentality is what makes me binge. Even if I believe that restricting keeps me at the weight I want, it makes my life once or twice a week miserable.

So I ate a lot including processed food on Friday and on Saturday. Today was already a lot better, apart from 2 cookies I had a WFPB day but contrary to the beginning I did not restricted myself on portions. It ends with quite a caloric day (2200kcal!) which causes me some anxiety but I have decided that I don't restrict anymore. I need to learn to stop eating when I am full and not because of some restriction rules.

I must say I do fear gaining weight but I don't see how to learn to stop restricting another way. I don't plan for the days ahead. I will do my best. The main objective is to quit dieting and to eat good nourishing food as much as my body wants. We'll see.
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby VegSeekingFit » Sun Jun 12, 2022 2:53 pm

AlicefromBelgium wrote:I am on this forum because I want my relationship with food to change. I am learning.

I must say I do fear gaining weight but I don't see how to learn to stop restricting another way. I don't plan for the days ahead. I will do my best. The main objective is to quit dieting and to eat good nourishing food as much as my body wants. We'll see.


Hi Alice, :)

I agree with what Artista said above about treating yourself with compassion and patience!! It is so hard to make forward progress if you are feeling disappointed in yourself.

As we are learning, mistakes happen --- unless someone is the unlikely "perfect" person ... So, dust off, think about what could go better next time, and continue on without beating yourself up. (I have been learning how to do this and it has helped me tremendously!)

Also, changing our behavior / habits takes time & adherence... (stealing this directly from JeffN / MWL group name).

With regard to fear of gaining weight, did you watch Jeff Novick's Calorie Density lecture? It is linked here - toward the end of the post... https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewt ... jkxNi42MA..

Wishing you all the best as you continue on.

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Artista » Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:33 pm

Hi Alice,

I understand the “F it” thing. To make sacrifices and then not see the hoped for results is disappointing. Stephanie has shared some good things with you. The calorie-density lecture is excellent. You shouldn’t have to restrict or go hungry. The most important thing is to make sure you’re eating enough of the starches like potatoes, corn, brown rice, oats, etc., with the addition of some fruits and vegetables. Some people here who aren’t following MWL may eat foods like whole grain bread although the calorie density is higher. I don’t eat bread because I’m trying to lose weight and because I tend to overeat it, but it may not be a problem for you. I find that the unprocessed starches fill me up and keep me from wanting to overeat unhealthy food. I’m glad you’re still checking in here and posting to your journal. Don’t lose heart, you can do this!
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby AlicefromBelgium » Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:00 am

Thank you both for your messages.

Continuing to listen to the podcast “brain over binge” I have come to realise that my binge eating is due to the restriction. So the goal of the past days was to eat enough. I am still convince about the WFPB diet but I needed to increase starches and for the moment at least, I keep a joy food per day (a piece of dark chocolate most of the time).

Monday and Tuesday were good days. Yesterday I went to a party and I had alcohol and then a lot of non compliant food. However I have no regrets because I truly had a great time and this was not a solo binge. I want this to be the exception however.

I am not sure about the people on this program / forum. Are you 100% compliant. Do you allow yourself a cheat meal per week / per month ?
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Daydream » Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:26 am

AlicefromBelgium wrote:
I am not sure about the people on this program / forum. Are you 100% compliant. Do you allow yourself a cheat meal per week / per month ?


Hi Alice, to answer your question, I am 100% compliant because 1) I love the food and find it satisfying and 2) I don't want to wake up the Pleasure Trap. If I eat a cheat meal, I'll just wake up the Pleasure Trap and then I'll start obsessing for more non-compliant food and I don't want to put that food in my body. I don't obsess or crave non-compliant food if I don't eat it. I eat the MWL diet all year except for Christmas Day when I make a vegan lasagna, which has cashews and tofu in it. I don't think most people are as strict as I am but this is what works for me.
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Ruff » Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:00 pm

Hi Alice, I have been reading though your journal. I find MWL doesn't work for me...too many rules, too restrictive, and then I fall off the wagon in a big way. Then I eat dried fruit when I binge dates, mango apple rings...also cold oats with soy milk and stewed fruit, which I could eat until I burst!

I haven't totally solved this yet, but like you I live in a house with non compliant food easily available. Its normally vegan but my husband is a super skinny ultra runner who eats dried fruit, nuts, and lots and lots of vegan baking. Also I make sourdough bread for him which he has with nut butter and homemade jam.....agghhhhh.......

One thing I do is have a jar of overnight oats in the fridge, all nice and compliant and ready to eat. And I make cupasoup...this is just homemade pumpkin soup, or another thick soup...maybe kumera and lentil...and I dehydrate it. Then a 'treat' is a cupasoup mid afternoon. But yes I hear you. When I have just made a huge batch of sourdough rolls and the house is full of fresh bread smells, and the nut butter is right there on the shelf.....sometimes my self control is just not enough.

Its like taking cold showers, its training our mental resistance muscles! But its not totally solvable. Unless one lives alone in the wilderness, or with another deeply compliant person this is going to keep happening. Its not going to go away. We are real people in the real world. And we need real world solutions. I just wish I had more of them. I do keep a VERY strict vegan fence around things, which helps. But its not as helpful as it was 10 years ago when I started this as more and more places serve vegan food!

anyway, onwards, each new meal is a new chance to get things right. And my porridge is cooked so I am going to have my breakfast now...porridge and blueberries.
Katie

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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Trinity » Thu Jun 16, 2022 7:49 pm

Dear Alice,

You’re doing a great job. If there’s rich food around we’re always going to want to eat it—it’s our nature to seek out rich food. When I first started I was 100% compliant because it would be too easy to get off track and go back to “normal” eating. Now that I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years, I am compliant making food for myself at home day-to-day but I don’t worry too much if I go out and something has some oil in it. My husband doesn’t eat this way and my children eat some non-compliant food so it’s always going to be in the house. The longer you go not eating that stuff the easier it will be to continue not eating it—“time and adherence” is really the key as everyone has been saying.

Keep it up!
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Re: Alice's journal - start with 10 days

Postby Ejeff » Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:02 am

I have heard another plant based doctor speak about this concept of cheating, He basically says this...

Cheat is not a good word to use, it has a negative connotation. For example people cheat on a test or on their spouse. It also suggests that what you are cheating on is too difficult or uncomfortable so you had to cheat on it to get relief. This is self talk that is not helpful in any way. You are saying to yourself that healthy eating is too difficult, you are talking yourself out of success and therefore you need to cheat. The reality is even if you decide to eat something unhealthy your body knows. You are actually only cheating yourself. It’s perhaps better to try to understand why you feel the need to cheat.

And I say...

If you choose to eat something less healthy from time to time you can still have very good health. I don’t follow MWL and I sometimes have entrees with oil when eating out, but overall my diet is very healthy. If you are feeling a very strong desire to “cheat”, perhaps you are being too restrictive or just not eating enough. I think if you can better understand why you might plan to cheat it would be helpful.

Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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