I started this blog because I wanted a way to hold myself accountable as I work on embracing a whole-food plant-based lifestyle. Originally I was planning to record my efforts with DDP yoga as well, but I've set that aside for now and I'm focusing on getting my eating habits right. I began this journey on January 1st, 2017.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Week 24 Report
This past week felt like re-take after re-take in the "film" I'm trying to make of living healthfully. I never did quite get the scene right. I gained exactly one pound. I weigh the exact same weight I did four weeks ago. I guess the only silver lining in that cloud is that I don't weigh more than I did four weeks ago. That's about all I can find to celebrate. Also...I haven't given up yet. I still made a video. I'm still trying.
Here are a few photos of the healthy stuff I cooked and ate:
White bean green enchiladas. I would post the recipe, but I didn't love them.
Sweet potato, kale, vegan sausage bowl
Indian Vegetable Curry
Curry on rice with tofu ranch dressing
Meals prepared for lunches for hubby and me.
All of the following was in my house one night and I did NOT eat any of it! A friend dropped off the pie when I wasn't home and my hubby brought in the rest for a party, along with chips, soda, and ice cream! I ate too much this week, but at least I didn't eat all of these sweet things...even though I really wanted to!
Blueberry Lemon Pie, dropped off warm and fresh on my counter while I was out grocery shopping!
Large chocolate cake from Costco
Fresh-baked, warm chocoloate chip cookies my hubby made. These were the hardest to resist!
We all need motivation and so feet it is! I know this doesn't work for everyone but have you thought about writing down what you are going to eat for the day and then make some sort of commitment to follow it? I'm thinking about going back to this method as I figure out how to add more grains into my eating. The struggle is real ❤️
Good idea, Cherilyn. I wasn't writing it down, but I was planning in the morning what I would eat that day, and "committing" to myself to follow my own bright lines. For whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to care about my commitment at night. Now that I've committed to Jason, and attached a consequence for breaking my commitment, it's working well. LOL! :).
I hope that you continue to update your blog because you show the REAL struggles that we all have out there. I just watched a video by Doug Lisle about making your home environment completely WFPB and it really resonated with me. Or at least keeping out the foods that are tempting for you. I think the video is on youtube. He also had a great video about the pleasure trap that I really liked on the "Clean Food Dirty Girl" blog recently.
Another thing that has helped me is that I have decided that I owe it to myself to try this for 1 year. All of the foods that are tempting to me will still be there 1 year from now. Starbucks and cakes, and cookies, and soda aren't going anywhere. I can't think of any food that I "crave" that won't exist a year from now. So a year from now if I decide that WFPB doesn't work for me I can decide what I want to do from there. I am hoping that a year from now I will decide to stick with it! It takes away that feeling for me that I can never have something again.
For night snacking I have told myself that I can have plain beans (no salt), rice (no salt) or frozen peas. I started out snacking on these things at night but I realized that they weren't as satisfying without salt so I haven't been eating them as much lately. I get full and I sort of lose interest in eating them. It has really cut down my desire for night time snacking. Although offering to rub my husbands feet for an hour would probably work even better!
Finally have you watched What the Health? It is on Netflix now and I really liked it. My husband watched it too and wants to eat this way too which means now I have to do even more cooking! It is tiring and sometimes I don't want to but I think it one of your early posts you said that you just have to commit to cooking more. So I am trying to stay motivated to keep cooking. Thank you for the update. :)
Hello Zoey, thanks so much for commenting! I love Doug Lisle and will definitely have to check that video out. I have read his book and watched some of his videos, but I haven't seen that one. Yes, my environment is a major problem. I can't bring myself to force the rest of the family to follow my plan. When I try to do it, I go into panic mode because I don't know what to make for the kids that they will actually eat. When I first tried this 4/5 years ago, we tried to get the kids on board, but the stress of their unhappiness with food was more sabotaging for me than actually having food in the house that they can make. My hubby will eat whatever I cook, and does follow WFPB a at home for meals, but he'll eat the sugar...and bring it into the house. If I don't have food for the teens in the house, they will go spend all their money on eating out. I know, it's sounds like a pack of excuses. I KNOW we could figure out a solution, but I'm still working on it. I'm hoping to get the family to watch "What the health?" and see if it might motivate them. Hubby is doing MUCH better at not bringing sugar into the house, except when we have parties. I think if we watch that Doug Lisle video together, it might help him as well too.
I love that idea of the contraband foods not going anywhere. It's true, those foods will always be there if we change our minds later and want to go back to them. I'm definitely going to hang onto that thought, it's a good one. :)
Yes, beans and rice without salt wouldn't tempt me either, LOL! I do allow fresh veggies or fruits if I'm truly hungry at night, but they weren't the problem. It was the simple salty carbs. Without that option, I'm pretty happy not to eat at all. The foot rub commitment is completely helping me in that department this week. No nighttime snacking! :)
Thanks again for commenting and sharing what works for you. It all helps!
We all need motivation and so feet it is! I know this doesn't work for everyone but have you thought about writing down what you are going to eat for the day and then make some sort of commitment to follow it? I'm thinking about going back to this method as I figure out how to add more grains into my eating. The struggle is real ❤️
ReplyDeleteGood idea, Cherilyn. I wasn't writing it down, but I was planning in the morning what I would eat that day, and "committing" to myself to follow my own bright lines. For whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to care about my commitment at night. Now that I've committed to Jason, and attached a consequence for breaking my commitment, it's working well. LOL! :).
DeleteI hope that you continue to update your blog because you show the REAL struggles that we all have out there. I just watched a video by Doug Lisle about making your home environment completely WFPB and it really resonated with me. Or at least keeping out the foods that are tempting for you. I think the video is on youtube. He also had a great video about the pleasure trap that I really liked on the "Clean Food Dirty Girl" blog recently.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that has helped me is that I have decided that I owe it to myself to try this for 1 year. All of the foods that are tempting to me will still be there 1 year from now. Starbucks and cakes, and cookies, and soda aren't going anywhere. I can't think of any food that I "crave" that won't exist a year from now. So a year from now if I decide that WFPB doesn't work for me I can decide what I want to do from there. I am hoping that a year from now I will decide to stick with it! It takes away that feeling for me that I can never have something again.
For night snacking I have told myself that I can have plain beans (no salt), rice (no salt) or frozen peas. I started out snacking on these things at night but I realized that they weren't as satisfying without salt so I haven't been eating them as much lately. I get full and I sort of lose interest in eating them. It has really cut down my desire for night time snacking. Although offering to rub my husbands feet for an hour would probably work even better!
Finally have you watched What the Health? It is on Netflix now and I really liked it. My husband watched it too and wants to eat this way too which means now I have to do even more cooking! It is tiring and sometimes I don't want to but I think it one of your early posts you said that you just have to commit to cooking more. So I am trying to stay motivated to keep cooking. Thank you for the update. :)
Hello Zoey, thanks so much for commenting! I love Doug Lisle and will definitely have to check that video out. I have read his book and watched some of his videos, but I haven't seen that one. Yes, my environment is a major problem. I can't bring myself to force the rest of the family to follow my plan. When I try to do it, I go into panic mode because I don't know what to make for the kids that they will actually eat. When I first tried this 4/5 years ago, we tried to get the kids on board, but the stress of their unhappiness with food was more sabotaging for me than actually having food in the house that they can make. My hubby will eat whatever I cook, and does follow WFPB a at home for meals, but he'll eat the sugar...and bring it into the house. If I don't have food for the teens in the house, they will go spend all their money on eating out. I know, it's sounds like a pack of excuses. I KNOW we could figure out a solution, but I'm still working on it. I'm hoping to get the family to watch "What the health?" and see if it might motivate them. Hubby is doing MUCH better at not bringing sugar into the house, except when we have parties. I think if we watch that Doug Lisle video together, it might help him as well too.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea of the contraband foods not going anywhere. It's true, those foods will always be there if we change our minds later and want to go back to them. I'm definitely going to hang onto that thought, it's a good one. :)
Yes, beans and rice without salt wouldn't tempt me either, LOL! I do allow fresh veggies or fruits if I'm truly hungry at night, but they weren't the problem. It was the simple salty carbs. Without that option, I'm pretty happy not to eat at all. The foot rub commitment is completely helping me in that department this week. No nighttime snacking! :)
Thanks again for commenting and sharing what works for you. It all helps!