Thanks for stopping by! I really hope that one day I will set an example that family or friends will want to emulate to improve their health. Wishing you an amazing and white Christmas in Alberta!Hi Heidi,
Appreciate your comments. I do limit my edible grocery purchases to fruit, veggies, whole grains, and beans. I sometimes use condiments to spice things up. Take care.Hi Journal,
Just found out December is National Cat Lover’s Month. Our cat is enjoying the Christmas tree this month – she is preferring to drink the tree stand water instead of the (fresh) water from her bowl. I am jerry-rigging a catproof cover so she doesn’t get sick.
Here she is looking innocent!
Got up early this morning and headed to Target and Trader Joe’s close to store opening time. Priceless – should do errands this early more often! Anyway, I love the frozen dark cherries at TJ’s that I can’t seem to find anywhere else. I also love their awesome Kumatoes. Have been on a sweet potato tear recently – so bought a few regular ones and a couple of the Japanese ones. Also purchased a frozen rice medley and “mashed” sweet potatoes.
The rice medley is all whole grain with no other ingredients. Going to give it a try – microwave, add some veggies, and eat!
The “mashed” sweet potatoes are just frozen chunks of sweet potato. Again, will give them a try. Maybe I will throw them into a soup. Would be easy peasy.
My standard bowl of oatmeal with fruit for breakfast and a veggie “salad” preload. I guess I don’t get tired of photographing my oatmeal!
Here is another preload from the week. I still like to just throw raw veggies on a plate – sometimes I’ll include an apple or pear or some grapes too.
❤️ this! Being healthy and strong is my goal. I am planning to continue to follow the MWL checklist and to stay active with walking, strength training, and pickleball (maybe other activities – TBD). So, maybe this is really….
Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 12/8.
Hi Team Time & Adherence,
Hope everyone is surviving (and thriving) through the month where it seems like the world is celebrating the holidays all month long with all things food. We have an annual event next week at work called “Miss Piggy Days” where folks sign up to bring dishes and everyone tries to outdo everyone else. I usually bring a fruit and / or vegetable tray --- but this year I will miss it – as I am playing at a club Pickleball event. I will miss our work holiday party as well for that event. So far, I am doing just fine eating what I normally do and enjoying time with family and friends. Last year I found the holiday social events overall a bit overwhelming. I do have strategies to successfully navigate these events in mind and one of them for this year is to limit the time spent at each event. Wishing everyone well as we each take time to celebrate but keep the focus on the people and off the food.
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly. Remains at about 2/3. I am planning to achieve 100% for the upcoming week.
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. Mostly the same meals – oatmeal and fruit, brown rice / corn / beans and salad veggies, potatoes and veggies or whole wheat pasta and veggies. Have been eating more sweet potatoes this week – subbed for my regular Yukon golds. I am enjoying them!
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, I think so.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes – 7/7. Walking, strength training, pickleball. This week I am signing up for various park district opportunities for Winter 2024 – mainly pickleball (surprise!).
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Mark – I always value the material you share at the end of each week. Last week’s links were amazing and quite helpful. Thank you!
Gimmelean – Appreciated reading your experience with Mary’s Mini and how you were able to reset. Way to go!
Bambi – I so relate to what you shared on stress eating. Wishing you well as you work through.
Starflower – Welcome back!!
Rebecka – I am with you on the planning and dodging the holiday food. I love what you said about taking it one day at a time and considering how much better you feel when you avoid the treats.
Jennifer – Great to see you join us! Good luck with getting back to exercise after PF. I have also been managing through the PF since this summer. I’ve found that rolling my foot over a frozen water bottle helps a bit.
Chesca -Awesome to see you back!
Artista – I really relate to what you said about your nephew making something special for you and then feeling obligated to eat some. I have the hardest time when someone goes out of their way to try to accommodate my diet --- and it is so nice that people try, but so rare that they would provide something on plan. I guess I am “lucky” that most of the time this doesn’t happen for me.
Wishing all a wonderful week!
Cheers,
Stephanie
We can all change!
