Becky's Journal

[Letha]

Just stopping by to say hi. I’m looking forward to your report about the McDougall weekend. Take care Becky.
Letha

[Becky]

Letha - thanks for stopping by!!

Some food thoughts today...

In the past DH and I used to go out for Valentine’s Day, but this year we decided not to. Instead, he bought me a very nice card, and I baked a Red Devil Cake from Esselstyn’s book. It came out very, very good, and got even better (moister) over the next couple of days. It’s cooked with a beet, a jar of baby food prunes, a couple TBLs of ground flax seed, along with the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and leavening. Such an unlikely bunch of ingredients, LOL!! I topped it with a “frosting” recipe from the same book, which is really just chocolate tofu pudding. All in all very rich, and not recommended for everyday eating, but it did make our Valentine’s Day quite special! (And I wonder why my weight seems to be creeping up a little?)

I signed up with Engine2Diet.com, founded by Rip Esselstyn, son of Caldwell B. Esselstyn. I saw information about this on a thread I started in the Lounge on Favorite Esselstyn Recipes. For signing up (it’s free), you are sent 5 free recipes – breakfast, lunch, dinner, salad dressing, dessert (which includes two recipes). They look really good, and now of course, I am intrigued with the new book coming out this month called The Engine 2 Diet, which includes 125 recipes. So many books, so little time!!

When we were staying in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas (way South, near the Mexican border) last winter, we lived in an RV park that used to be a citrus orchard. We were allowed to pick all the fruit we wanted. There were ruby red grapefruits (the most abundant), oranges, lemons, and tangerines. We decided to buy a juicer to take advantage of all the wonderful fruit, and now we haven’t been able to go back to store bought OJ. I know for MWL juice isn’t recommended, and in general too much juice isn’t a good idea. But once a week we juice up a bag of oranges and each day we have a 6-oz glass with breakfast. Today was juicing day, and in addition to our OJ, we juiced up a concoction of carrots, beets, celery, apple, ginger, lemon, and spinach. It is so good!! We only do this occasionally, but when we do, what a treat!

[seestorcoo]

Your juice sounds wonderful! I have a friend that has a champion juicer and I used to take fruits and vegies over to inspire her to juice. I loved it so much that they got us one for a housewarming present! Found one (Letha should love this) in a thrift store and totally cleaned/fixed it and surprised us with it one time when we went over for juice. Even better since they didn't spend hundreds of dollars on it. Now, I have to admit that we are more likely to juice in the summer but you are in Cali right now where its perpetual summer (?) so I can certainly see some juicing happening. My favorite is apple/carrot/pear/ginger....yummmmm.

How soon til you leave? Are you getting excited to be on the road again?

Have a great day...

[Becky]

Seestorcoo - thanks for visiting!! Well, maybe in some parts of California it's perpetual summer, but not in Sacramento. We get a true, if brief, winter - about 2 months. I always say Sacramento gets 6 months of summer and 2 months of the other three seasons. That being said, our farmers markets do run year round, even here, and there is always something to juice. The reason we don't do it more often is not from lack of available produce, but because we know we should limit our juice intake. Talk about shifting perceptions - thinking too much juice is unhealthy - that's funny!!

What a cool gift from your friends, so very thoughtful, on all levels.

We hit the road again on March 17th, and will probably not be back this way again for quite a while. I am excited, but also a little sad to be leaving behind my kids and grandkids. That will be hard (again!).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Went on a ski trip today, but I didn't ski. I opted out at the last minute. We went with DH's brother and girlfriend. All ski very well and very fast except me. I'm a mediocre slow skier. I didn't feel like trying to keep up, or having them feel like they had to slow down, or being the focus of attention. So, I happily read my book in the ski "lodge" (more like cafeteria). It was actually a fun, relaxing day away from everything. Food wise I could have done better (see Roberta's corner), but it wasn't all that bad, either. Like I said, tomorrow will be better. And, it's supposed to be sunny, so I'm planning on running for the first time in a month! Woo Hoo!!!

[Becky]

I finally ran today - one month after getting the flu - and it felt so good!! I started out slow, walked for one mile, then for the next two miles I did a slow run/walk/run routine, then walked for one more mile. My legs are a little stiff tonight, but not too bad. I'm sure I will be able to move back into a 3 day a week running schedule now, especially if the weather improves.

Tomorrow at noon I leave for the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend! I will see you all on Monday! I've decided not to bring my laptop with me - it will be hard to be away from it, but since I'm going with my sister, I would rather focus on our time together when we aren't at the sessions.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Becky

[Letha]

It’s so great to hear you are back to your old self after that nasty flu. Looking forward to reading all about your trip. Best wishes.
Letha

[Becky]

Thanks, Letha, it is GREAT to finally be feeling my old self again!!

The McDougall weekend was wonderful! I'm still processing all the information that was presented in about 48 hours. I took lots of notes, and there are many things I want to follow up on: websites to investigate, recipes to try, books to consider, and new ideas to consider and absorb. All the speakers were good - the "regulars" (Dr. McDougall, Doug Lisle, Jeff Novick, whom I've heard speak before) - as well as the guests: Dr. T. Colin Campbell (AWESOME!!), Dr. Pam Popper, Dr. Neil Nedley, and guest chef Jason Wyrick. So many ideas from a range of perspectives really did help define this as an "Advanced Study Weekend". The food was abundant and delicious, with buffets at each meal, and tea and snacks available all day long. I ate way more than I normally do and was so worried about gaining weight, but when I got home and weighed myself, I hadn't gained an ounce! Dr. McDougall said everyone worries about this, but most people do not gain anything, LOL!! Of course, I was slightly depressed when I got home and realized I would have to start cooking my own meals again, and wouldn't have 35 items to choose from at each meal, hehe!!

I will try to share tidbits of wisdom gleaned from the weekend as I continue to process and investigate all that I picked up. I highly recommend the McDougall programs for anyone who can manage them. I would go to every single one if I were in the vicinity and could afford it!

[Letha.]

Hi Becky,
I’m so glad you had a great time. I’d love to go just so I could have someone else cook for a change. Talk to you soon.
Letha

[Bambie113]

Hi Becky,
I'm glad you enjoyed the 3 day! I wanted to go, but I'm saving up to go in September! Very excited although its a long time from now . My boyfriend's mom was just at the 3 day and then she's going to go with me in September also! Shes always telling me about them so I need to go!

I'd love to have buffet style (cooked by someone else) all the time too!! AND not gain weight! What a treat this diet is! ; )

[Becky]

Letha & Nell - Thanks for stopping by!! Nell, I think you will have a wonderful time at the McDougall weekend. September will be here before you know it!

Thought I would share a little about each of the speakers from the Advanced Study weekend, starting with Dr. T. Colin Campbell.

Dr. Campbell is very passionate about his work. He is so excited about the information he has to share, you truly get the impression he would just like everyone to be able to have access to the material covered in his book. But he is also very modest - it seems as if he feels privelaged to be in possession of this knowledge, like it was "out there" and he was somehow one of the lucky ones to tap into it, and now he is the conduit, responsible to share it with others. He is definitely a scientist, and some of his material is, well, scientific. But his obvious passion and devotion to his work shines through and you can't help but get caught up in it. He had a line of people waiting to talk to him and get there books signed after each of his two presentations.

He is also working on a second book which should be out later this year on the concept of integrative nutrition. One of his quotes was "Nutrition = the integrated effects of COUNTLESS constituents", and another, "Nutrition, supported by sunshine, exercise, water, and rest/sleep, is bilogically greater than the sum of its parts. It is a body-mind symphony".

I really, really enjoyed hearing him speak!

[Becky]

A beautiful spring-like day here! Got out for a run this morning, which felt really good! We are having family over for dinner tonight and tomorrow night, and friends over on Sunday. I'm a little concerned because even though we will be on plan, the food served will be a little richer than normal. Don't like several days in a row like that, I get worried I am over indulging. It's funny how my preferences have changed over the last few months. I like it!!
I've weighed in at my goal weight the last two days (130), and am wondering if this is "it". I sort of arbitrarily picked that as a goal weight, not really knowing if I would get there or not. Now that I am here, I have an expectation that now I will be done with loosing weight. Whether I am or not, I don't know - my plan is just to continue eating the way I am and assume that my weight will settle in at a natural weight for me at some point.

Share #2 from the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend: Jason Wyrick

Jason was great! At one point in his past he was diabetic and 100 pounds overweight. He corrected both problems with diet, and then became a chef. His cooking demonstrations (read: samples!) were wonderful! I liked everything he prepared, even tried plantain for the first time. I thought that would be sweet, like banana, because plantains look like bananas, but it was actually more like a potatoe - starchy, and not sweet.

I learned from Jason's cooking demos that you don't need to add water AT ALL when sauteeing onions. In fact, no liquids whatsoever are needed nor recommended. The heat must be on medium-high, and of course non-stick pans work best. What happens is the onions brown rather quickly, instead of just boiling or steaming in water or other liquid. You just keep giving them occassional stirs until they are browing well and starting to stick. At that point, you add just a little bit of water (1 TBL) to loosen them up and bring up the "browning" flavors. I've tried this at home, and am very pleased with the results!!

Jason also has a vegan food delivery service. For $100 a week (plus shipping of $25 or $35 if you can't pick the food up yourself), you get 6 2-serving vegan meals. They are packed in dry ice and delivered to your house. That's between $8-$11 per meal, depending on if you have them delivered or not. You can also sign up for a free recipe a day from Jason at the following website:

http://www.veganculinaryexperience.com

(Information about the catered meals can be found here, too!)

That's all for today, not sure if I'll be around much the next couple of days with all the company we will be having, but I will be back!

Becky

[Lin]

Becky,
Congratulations on reaching your goal weight!
I'm still a long ways off... don't know if I'll ever get there. But I'm not concerned about it right now. If it ever happens,... good... if not,... so be it.

Thanks for the tip on cooking onions. I'll try it soon. I've always added a little liquid at the beginning.

Hope you have lots of fun with your company!

[Letha.]

Congratulations Becky on reaching your goal. It will be interesting to see if that’s where your body decides to stay or if you will lose more without trying. Next time I go to sauté onions I’m going to try it without the water and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.
Letha

[seestorcoo]

to see you're running again! And I'll add my congrats to reaching your goal weight - that's a big deal. Are you doing anything to celebrate?

Have a good day!

[Becky]

Lin, Letha, & Seestorcoo - Thanks for dropping by and the words of encouragement, I really appreciate it!! I don't think I will be doing anything in particular to celebrate reaching my weight goal because this weekend we are having many different people over at different times and I will be eating richer than normal - I don't know why I think celebrating has to include food, though!! It could be something else, huh?

Share #3 from the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend: Dr. Neil Nedley

Dr. Nedley is an internest who specializes in treating depression through a 10-day live in program in Oklahoma. He has also written a couple of books. Although I really looked forward to hearing him when I read his bio, and I actually did like listening to him - but - I really disagreed on some of his approaches. He felt in general (not just for depressed people) that we should avoid all music except classical, do not read fiction, only watch CSPAN on television. I found this a very limiting philosophy - I think so much can be gained by being open to a variety of ideas in art, music, literature, etc. His nutritional approach was mostly in line with the McDougall plan, though, so that part was good. He quoted a lot of scripture during his talks, which sort of turned me off. No offense to anyone who would have appreciated that, but for me personally, it was a distraction from the overall message. And finally, I wondered at the fact that he wasn't a psychologist or psychiatrist but had made treating depressed people his specialty. All that being said, I still got some good stuff out of his presentations, like how to recognize depression in yourself or others, the role of melatonin in helping staving it off, and the nutritional things you can do to help keep yourself emotionally healthy.

That's all for now - daughter and family are on their way over!

Becky