Marla's CRON-o-meter Chronicle

[Veganrocks]

I am really enjoying this journal, and will be sad when you quit!! Quick question: do you mind sharing your recipe for the pineapple salsa you made?

[Marla]

Hi VR! Thanks for stopping by. I have been following your journal also.

I am always happy to share any recipes that I discuss here. Here is the recipe for the Greens & Beans Bowl (pineapple salsa recipe is included in it).

Note: I made it with fresh pineapple this last time, but I make it just as often with canned.

Greens & Beans Bowl with Pineapple Salsa

For the salsa:
1 can pineapple tidbits, mostly drained (or chunks – just chop to tidbit size)
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
½ medium red onion, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of two limes
½ cup cilantro, chopped

For each bowl:
Cooked brown rice
Cooked greens (spinach, mixed greens, kale, or chard, from fresh or frozen), squeezed dry
Cooked black or pinto beans (preferably seasoned)
1 small sweet potato, baked, peeled and sliced into rounds*

*bake the sweet potatoes in their skins at 350F for about 45 minutes or until very soft. Peel and slice.

Make the salsa by mixing all ingredients together. Set aside.

In each bowl, place a layer of rice, a layer of greens, a layer of beans, a layer of sweet potato slices, and a generous amount of pineapple salsa.

Inspired by a recipe posted by Letha on the McDougall forum.

[Marla]

March 23

Everyone in my house has a cold! I felt like I was starting to come down with it on Saturday night -- sore throat and headache -- but this morning I felt better. I have decided to make a note in my calendar of how many times I get "infected" and how many times I actually get a full-blown cold this year. This was my first known battle with a virus in 2014 and I kicked its butt.

I had my Sunday morning homemade soy latte when I got up. Mmmmm. Then I went for my run/walk -- 6 miles of mostly running. We had glorious weather today.

Lunch was my usual. Oh, I picked up more teeny tiny sweet potatoes from the Indian grocery store, which is a small shop located a couple of miles from my house. It is much more convenient than the large Asian supermarket across town, and the potatoes taste very similar. The ones at the Asian supermarket are clearly labeled as "Japanese Sweet Potatoes." The ones from the Indian grocery, I asked and found out today, are called Shakarkandi (which I guess just means sweet potato in Punjabi). I kind of wish that mainstream supermarkets sold these red-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes, but then I wouldn't have as many reasons to visit ethnic markets, which I do enjoy.



For dinner I made a delicious casserole that I found last year on Susan V's Fatfreevegan site. It is a bit richer than my normal fare because it has a creamy, "cheazy" sauce with cashews and nutritional yeast. To be fair, the amount of cashews is only 1/4 cup for the whole recipe, not like some recipes that use a cup or more (I wouldn't make those). I will post the nutrition breakdown of my portion of casserole underneath the photo.





I had a nice bowl of strawberries and tangerine for dessert.



I felt that my percentage of calories from fat today was a little higher than I would like; the combination of my soy latte plus the higher fat casserole was the reason. I don't think it is a terrible thing to have a slightly higher fat day once in a while, but I don't want to make a habit of it.

I ate 3.76 pounds of food in total, with a calorie density of 310 calories per pound.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

[Marla]

March 24

I ate 4.02 pounds of food today, with a calorie density of 301 calories per pound.

Somehow I talked myself into believing that I deserved coffee this morning. I blame Monday. Down with Mondays, I say!

Lunch was, inevitably, a ridiculously large salad and a bowl of white-fleshed sweet potatoes.



For dinner I made the Japanese curry that Vegankit posted a little while back in the Food & Recipes forum. Man it is good! Alongside it, I had a generous portion of steamed broccoli, asparagus, and zucchini.



I was quite full after dinner and didn't need any fruit. I'll have a cup of herbal tea while settling down in front of the tv (I hope we can find something good on Netflix).

CRON-o-meter says I did fine today. I certainly felt satisfied by my food. This time next week I will be doing my last daily post in this thread!

[Marla]

Weekly Activity Report

Tuesday morning.....

I recently updated my weight on my Fitbit "dashboard," so its calculations regarding calorie expenditure should be as accurate as possible. Fitbit uses the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation to calculate BMR (calories the body requires to complete its normal functions, such as breathing, digesting food, and keeping the heart and brain working) based on age, sex, and weight. The BMR (in my case, currently 1231) is then multiplied by an activity factor to give total daily energy expenditure. The nice thing about Fitbit is that it knows how much exercise I get. In the past I always had trouble figuring out my level of activity using the standard descriptions:

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply BMR by one of the following:

1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)
1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week)
1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job)

This is a bit confusing. If you do moderate exercise for half an hour 3-5 days per week, but are sedentary the rest of the time when not exercising, you are probably not "moderately active." I found a website that clarified: "For a 150-pound person, the activity factor lightly active corresponds to walking 2 hours per day, moderately active corresponds to walking 3 hours per day, very active corresponds to walking 4 hours per day, and extra active corresponds to walking 5 hours per day (20 miles)."

Since the 1st of January I've been exercising a lot. Every day I log over 7 miles of walking/running. Fitbit says that I burned an average of 2,290 calories per day last week. That would put me in the "very active" category. For reference, back in December, when I was not exercising much, I only burned about 1,500 calories per day on average.

It always makes me a little annoyed when I hear it said that the average woman burns 2,000 calories in a day. It might be true, since the average includes young women, very active women, tall women, and very overweight women, all of whom would burn relatively more calories in a day. But the way the 2,000 calorie figure gets used all the time implies that burning 2,000 calories a day is something you can take for granted. Nope -- it takes a fair amount of intentional exercise to burn 2,000 calories if you are like me, a woman in her mid-40s of average height and normal weight with an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. (By the way, I'm not suggesting that burning 2,000 calories a day should be a goal - I'm just complaining that the media and therefore the public thinks we are all automatically burning that much).

Anyway here's the latest report. Time to go run.

[Marla]

March 25

Today I ate 4.71 pounds of food, with a calorie density of 265 calories per pound. It didn't really feel like I ate more volume or lower calorie density than usual, though I did.

Lunch was eaten away from home, so I am showing it in its portable mode. I actually started eating this lunch in 2012 when I was working at a job with a long commute. It was always easy to put together and could be eaten at room temperature. I still like it for that reason. For air travel, I tend to pack a couple of Jeff's burgers plus a quart ziplock baggie of cut-up raw veggies and a piece or two of fruit. That way I don't even need utensils or salad dressing.



I went to the movies with a friend in the afternoon, and I brought a baggie of peeled tangerines as my movie snack. The smell of buttered popcorn and the memory of movie candy don't bother me anymore, but there was a long period of at least a couple of years when I didn't enjoy the movies and avoided going because I couldn't have treats. Sometimes you just have to stay away from a situation until you can deal with it. Whatever it takes.



After the movie we went to Starbucks for a chat, and I had a cup of tea (Tazo "Calm"). I brought lemon and stevia from home.

Dinner was leftovers from last night, with fresh steamed vegetables. I don't need any dessert (fruit) tonight, as I am tired and want to go to bed ASAP. CRON report is below. G'night folks!

[Marla]

March 26

Today I sent my sister (who is working on eating more healthily) a link to this thread. I was just sharing with her because we're sisters and she tells me about all of her projects also. Anyway, she posted a link to my journal on her Facebook. I am not on Facebook, so I don't know if anyone commented, but if any of Heather's friends read this....hi and welcome!

For anyone unfamiliar with whole-food, plant-based diets, here's a mini-list of a few good resources that explain more about the benefits of eating this way and how to get started:

Films (all on Netflix)
Forks Over Knives
The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
Food Matters
Vegucated

Websites
Dr. John McDougall - http://www.drmcdougall.com
--(see especially the "Star McDougallers" success stories here:http://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/health-science/stars/)
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn - http://www.heartattackproof.com
Forks Over Knives - http://www.forksoverknives.com
Engine 2 Diet - http://engine2diet.com/

Books
The China Study - Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease - Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
The Starch Solution - Dr. John McDougall, M.D.
The Engine 2 Diet - Rip Esselstyn
Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes - Dr. Neal Barnard, M.D.

Recipes (with pictures!)
http://www.fatfreevegan.com
http://www.happyherbivore.com
http://engine2diet.com/recipes/favorites/
http://www.forksoverknives.com/category/recipes/
http://www.eatunprocessed.com/dietitian.html (videos)

Now...on to today's journal entry.

I ate 4.03 pounds of food today, with a calorie density of 299 calories per pound. One of the questions my sister asked me was "how much food does a normal person eat in a day?" I thought it was about 4 pounds, but I decided to look for a more definitive answer. One of the posts I came across was this one, which I thought was a good primer on calorie density so I'll link to it: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/what-are-your-4-lbs The author (who says he eats a plant-based diet) claims that humans eat 3-5 pounds of food per day: "Indeed, as we approach 4 pounds of food intake for the day, most of us are feeling pretty satisfied." I certainly am! And on around 1200 calories, wow. Plants are awesome.

I had a banana in the morning around 8am.

For lunch I had my usual baked white-flesh sweet potatoes with a huge amount of roasted broccoli, sprinkled with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and onion flakes. The broccoli weighed 536g (about 1.2 lbs) before cooking. It took quite a while to eat, and after I finished it AND my sweet potatoes I was actually a little too full.



Dinner was spaghetti. Whole-wheat spaghetti with homemade chunky marinara, sprinkled with some almond "parmesan," and served with steamed chard, zucchini, and yellow squash. I sprinkled some ground flaxseed on the pasta, underneath the sauce. This is an oversized plate, by the way.



As I write this, I am feeling stuffed, but I plan to eat a bowl of pineapple and strawberries in a few minutes.



The CRON report looks good today -- all nutritional targets met.

[Marla]

March 27

Today I ate 4.14 pounds of food, with a calorie density of 319 calories per pound.

I started off with some unintentional eating. When I entered the kitchen to make my tea in the morning, there was a covered pot on the stove with the remains of last night's cooked spaghetti (plain, but still moist and tender). As I was transferring it to a container to put in the fridge, I put a good-sized ball of it in my mouth and ate it before I realized what I was doing. Oops! I then recreated the same sized ball and weighed it for the record. I think that when I am not succeeding at losing weight, I do a lot of this and don't even remember it.

Lunch was my usual salad with raw and cooked veggies, topped with a modest portion of Walnut Caesar dressing. . . .



...and of course, baked sweet potatoes.



In the early evening I took a trip across town to the Asian supermarket, and while I was in the neighborhood I bought some fresh, warm corn tortillas at the Mexican grocery/tortilleria. They smelled so good in the car, and I knew how good they would taste, so I couldn't help eating two of them on the way home. Again, I think I must do a lot of this sort of thing when I'm not tracking my food. If I wasn't doing this project I probably would have eaten at least 4 in the car, but I made myself stop.

For dinner, I thawed a container of homemade black bean soup that I cooked and froze sometime in February. Along with some steamed cabbage and green beans, and two more tortillas to dunk in the soup, it was a satisfying meal.



I know my calorie count was still very reasonable today, but those two incidents of "unintentional eating" made me pause to think. I have been tracking all my food since January 1, but when I stop tracking, will I start eating a lot more bites, tastes, and unplanned snacks? I think I may need to make a rule for myself that I can only eat at mealtimes. If I am genuinely too hungry to wait for my next meal, that's a different story (and I should eat something healthy), but that rarely happens these days. Years ago I used to make sure I always carried on-plan food with me "just in case," but over time I've become comfortable delaying eating, and it is no big deal to wait. The snacking between meals happens because I'm a little bit hungry and because the food appeals to my taste buds. I think I'll be better off if I just don't put food in my mouth unless it is time for a meal.

My CRON report was a-ok today. I ate a Brazil nut for selenium insurance, but it looks like I didn't actually need it. I could have reached 100% from the (small ball of) spaghetti, the mushrooms, the Walnut Caesar dressing (which contains some nutritional yeast), the black bean soup and the corn tortillas.

One last note - I don't feel very well this evening. I think I might be succumbing to that cold after all, or a different one. My lungs feel inflamed and my throat is a bit sore. Maybe a good night's sleep will help.

[Marla]

March 28

TGIF!

I ate 4.16 pounds of very delicious food today, with a calorie density of 302 calories per pound. I didn't have a problem with mindless/unintentional eating today...but then, I am very aware that I have to log every bite of food for this project. I think it would be almost impossible for me to create a detailed log of a truly "bad" day, because the act of tracking itself encourages awareness and better choices. However, I do have some records of days where I consumed many more calories than I realized (this happened more in January and February, before I started this thread). I think I'll dig up one of those days for show and tell tomorrow.

For lunch I decided to try cooked greens instead of salad. I had some kale and wanted to try cooking it in my Instant Pot. I'd read that even the stems get nice and soft that way, so there is no need to "strip" the kale. Here are my two bunches of kale:



I chopped it up and decided it looked like too much food, so I ended up cooking just one bunch (250g, or 8.93 ounces, just a bit less than the amount contained in one of those 10-ounce bags of washed and chopped kale). That proved to be a mistake. I added half a cup of water to the Instant Pot, locked down the lid, and set it for 4 minutes at high pressure. Of course it cooked down a lot. After cooking, I was left with around the same weight of kale (265g) but it was much smaller. It was very tender and good - even the stems.



I wanted to try a little balsamic vinegar on it. I had some fig balsamic and some Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic, and I sampled each one on some kale. Both were tasty! In the end, I went with a teaspoon of the fig balsamic drizzled over the batch of greens (the entire amount pictured here). I enjoyed my bowl of kale....but I soon realized it was TOO SMALL. My usual salad fills me up a lot more. After eating the kale, I knew that I needed something else before my plate of crunchy potatoes, so I quickly steamed some asparagus:



and then I had my taters, with a little dollop of homemade ketchup.



Next time I decide to have cooked greens (and I will, because I enjoyed them), I will either cook 2 bunches, or have another vegetable along with one bunch. Two bunches seems like a lot though. Kale (non-organic) is usually 89 cents a bunch where I shop. It seems expensive to eat two bunches for one meal....but on the other hand, I guess I am saving tons of money by not eating processed foods and not going out to restaurants, so it's all relative.

Dinner was a "Mexican Bowl" of various starches topped with cheaze sauce and pico de gallo, plus some steamed vegetables on the side (which I finished first, as usual). Here is a series of pictures of my bowl as it was being assembled. First rice and collard greens (these greens were nuked from frozen, so were super-quick):



Then sweet potatoes and beans (homemade "Frijoles de la Olla" which I always have in the freezer):



Then corn and cheaze sauce:



Then finally a ton of pico de gallo on top, and I was ready to sit down to a very satisfying dinner. I love this meal and I usually have all the elements of it in my fridge or freezer - cooked rice and cooked sweet potatoes in the fridge, and greens, beans, and corn in the freezer. I don't always have cheaze sauce in the fridge, but I had it left over from some other dish so I used it. The pico came from the Mexican grocery that I visited yesterday, but any salsa would have worked.



My after-dinner treat will be a bowl of pineapple, kiwi, and mango that I already prepared. It is waiting for me now.



This is what the nutrition looked like. It was quite a low-fat day, possibly my lowest percentage of calories from fat so far this month. It certainly wasn't lacking in flavor though.

[Veganrocks]

I realize we're ending the month here soon.... I will be so sad!!
Ketchup recipe? If you have time, of course.
I made your mango salsa and it is so good!!! Unfortunately, I ate it all... so no one but me knows how good it was!! I ate it on a baked potato, then a little extra, and then finished it and called it dessert!!

[Lizzy_F]

Hi Marla! I started reading your journal this morning and am so grateful you are taking time to document this part of your journey, and summarize all you have learned over 11 years of McDougall! Your before/after pictures are amazing and inspiring - you are a beautiful woman and you look so healthy! Your food looks amazing too.

I can totally relate to your struggles with "why can't I eat *whatever* and be thin like those other people??" WHAAAAAAA!!! What you said about 1) age and 2) not realizing what people at the rest of the time are spot on. My CRAP addicted brain doesn't want to believe that, but I know you speak the truth! This is what I needed to hear today as I struggle to achieve some "time and adherance."

I just wanted to say thanks and let you know I look forward to reading the other half of your journal after I get my hair done this morning!! I look forward to your upcoming summary after the month is done.

[Chile]

Ketchup recipe? If you have time, of course.

She already did.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24227&p=237516&hilit=ketchup+recipe#p237516

[Marla]

Hi Lizzy!

Thanks for connecting with me. I have followed your journal and a lot of what you write resonates with me, also.

One thing I do know is that we all find our way on this journey at our own pace. The important thing is to stay with it and keep coming back even if you are struggling. For me, it has taken a long time for everything to click into place (and I still don't feel confident that the final pieces have "clicked," but I feel closer than ever before). I'm talking about the education, the beliefs, the emotions, the habits, the skills, the motivation, the lifestyle changes, the neurological and psychological adaptations....some of us have a lot to fix on the road to health and well-being, and when we break down we can't just call AAA. We have to do our own repairs. The nice thing about Dr. McDougall's program is that it isn't an all-or-nothing, one-size-fits-all diet. You can make it comfortable for yourself, make it fit your lifestyle and your goals, and do as much as you are willing to do at any given time in your life.

Yes, letting go of the "unfairness" is a big deal for me. Doing this project has already helped me in that regard. I'll explain more when I post the summary at the end.

[baardmk]

I have really enjoyed reading this journal. It may serve as a great resource for those who wonder about the nutritional profile of a McDougall-style diet. I relish in the photos. I understand that it's maybe not something you take particular pride in. Your meals aren't very gourmet. Nonetheless they look very delicious and I take pride in this way of eating by looking at these photos. After a dinner some time ago I felt quite some envious looks when we got desert and mine was just lots of berries and fruits. It was wonderful!

I have one question. I typically eat an extremely simple diet with lots of starches. Normally my greens are very low and seeds and nuts are often none. So I get little vitamin E. Where do you get most of your vitamin E in a day? The greens or walnuts?

[Marla]

Hi Bård,

Vitamin E is an interesting subject. I get nearly all of mine from greens and green vegetables (also a little from whole grains, a little from sweet potatoes, a little from fruits - my kiwifruit last night had .9mg). Walnuts have very little. If I were to use sunflower seeds in my salad dressing, a quarter ounce (about 7g) of them would give me 2.5mg of Vitamin E. If I were to use the same amount of almonds, I would get 1.9mg. My quarter ounce of walnuts, however, gives me zero.

The Vitamin E target in my CRON-o-meter has been adjusted down from the default. The recommended levels are based on a diet that contains far more poly-unsaturated fatty acids than a McDougall style diet. When you consume no oils and little fat, your need for Vitamin E (to prevent the oxidation of PUFAs) is less. My total daily fat intake right now is about 7-15 grams; even if all of this were PUFA, I would only need 3-6mg of Vitamin E to have a ratio of Vit E/PUFA of .4, as recommended in this UN Food and Agriculture Organization document: http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/Y2809E/y2809e0f.htm#bm15

I have my target set to 10mg of Vitamin E, more than I need, and I usually reach it. The Vitamin E question is covered by Jeff in this thread: http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewt ... =22&t=6732

As for taking pride in the way I eat, absolutely I do! I have had the exact same experience you describe, of having a big plate of fruit served to me as dessert at a banquet, while the other people at our table had some kind of chocolate torte. I am not sure if they would have traded desserts with me, but they did look a tad envious, or perhaps admiring.

You are also right that my ordinary, day-to-day food isn't very gourmet. I just recently wrote an email to a good friend who participates in this forum, in which I said:

p.s. I feel conflicted about the photos I have posted in my journal. As you know I am a good cook and I could make far tastier and fancier food (and I love doing so!). I feel like I am posting rabbit food....and all that repetition of the same lunches every day....but, truthfully, it is what is working for me to lose weight. So be it.

I think there are many successful McDougallers who eat more simply than I do, and some who eat more elaborate meals. I love that you can make this diet as simple or as fancy as you want it to be.