Well, I think I've lost 2 lbs., not certain.  The needle jiggles when I bend to have a closer look. I guess that's the disadvantage of spring scales over beam scales.

The other night I watched the Jeff Novick DVD, "Should I eat that?". Pretty painfully enlightening. When I first entered Weight Watchers, long ago, we did a similar label course, multiplying the fat grams by 9, figuring out total percent of fat, etc., but Jeff's version is more thorough, covering sodium and carb/sugar content. Also, total grams of fat per serving is on the label now, which makes the math much easier. I had not realized one slice of typical bread has much more sodium than a serving of potato chips, though. You don't taste it, because the sodium is in the dough, masked by the other ingredients. Novick also makes plain with math how the demand for "low carb" has pushed both fat and sugar up on the label, in order to fool the consumer. That's right, both are much more prominent in recipes than the same items from the 1980s-90s. I never liked a lot of junk food all that much, I mean, I don't eat chips or cookies at home, except rarely, but that's just outrageous. Not a surprise to me, though. I knew about label chicanery. And the sodium content remains unbelievable. His point about sodium is that the bulk of sodium is hidden in processed foods where you can't really detect it, 20-30% naturally occurs in the food, and maybe 10-11% is applied at the table. You can totally eliminate what you apply at the table, making food tasteless and joyless, and you are still way over the sodium guidelines for health and for lowering blood pressure. Then people complain to their doctor that lowering sodium doesn't work for them, and the Dr. says, "You aren't salt sensitive, it will have to be drugs." Instead if you can eliminate the bulk of sodium from the diet, you can apply salt at the table, and that will work much better. Sadly, finding processed food without overloaded sodium takes a serious search. Hence Novick's approach is to eat an unprocessed diet, which thankfully tends to be food I prefer anyway. Cutting down on sodium I fear is going to be harder for me, until my taste adjusts. I got used to my mother's low sodium, low sugar diet a long time ago, and my taste did adjust, I do remember that. When I ate normal food after spending a couple of months with her in Colorado eating her food, I was blown away by how salty and/or sweet everything was. Almost inedible. I'm actually looking forward to that again.

Pretty much a similar day as yesterday. Ate the same things in a slightly different order. I almost didn't go for the humongous salad again... but then I thought wow, I'm lucky to eat it. Compared with many people in the world,  my salad woe so trivial. And anyway, the salad was delicious. Even if I haven't found a good dressing yet, I will.  I ate the Moroccan Lentil soup today, much less oil. No potatoes. Had to get some more bread, after I took Mike + Bob to work. (Mike's car needs new alternator.)

Didn't get much done in the kitchen today, distracted.

I'm really missing the pinto beans from Lubys... I wanted to find a glass corning 2.5 quart casserole dish, so I could make beans and rice. But no one has them any more. They have the french white ones, but I don't want those, I want a transparent one I can also microwave broccoli and chinese cabbage and the like in, and see how it's doing through the door. If I can get up early tomorrow, perhaps I'll go to the corning outlet store on N. 75 tomorrow. I can always bake brown rice in my other cast iron dutch oven, the enamel one.

I got another electric kettle from Walmart today, also, because I've long wanted one for upstairs too, so I don't have to go to the kitchen when all I want is hot tea.

Countdown towards Health Day 2

I weighed myself this morning. I have a big, clunky scale that dates from the late 70s, or early 80s, not sure. I bought it at Sterling department store, when that still inhabited the building where the Half Price Books mothership sits now on NWHwy. It's made by the same people who make those balance beam doctor's scales, same mechanism inside, same size (except for the post) they assured me, only with a heavy spring and a dial. It's been the most accurate scale I've ever had. Only I guess I've never measured it against anything except the huge agricultural scale that was at the Hillcrest State Bank, that became a Texas Commerce Bank, that became a Chase Bank, and is now none of those things, since the branch moved, all the safety deposit boxes were drilled, and may be in the process of being torn down, for all I know. Now, that was a scale. It, too, had a spring.

Be that as it may. I weighed, as of this morning, 189 lbs. Which surprised me, as I was expecting 10 lbs. more. I feel fatter than a year ago, bigger, and that may well be true, loss of muscle, growth of fat, that kind of thing. Anyway, it's too much. I'm 5'6. The Fuhrman guide says that barring matters of individual composition, I should weigh in the neighborhood of 118-124 lbs. I don't think I've weighed that little since high school or before. I'm 52 now, so some time ago. In my 20s, I went though Weight Watchers, and got to 140... I think 138 was where I stopped trying to lose. I stayed at 145 for some time, then the weight crept on again, especially after the then boyfriend exited the scene. So I'm going to peg my goal at 130, and see how I feel when I get there. 50+ lbs is a respectable milestone. It's heavier than my godson.

This morning I woke up starving again, and there is still no food in the house. Let me explain that. I have not entered my kitchen in months, literally months. The dishwasher is broken, well, it works, but if I used it, a leak would overflow and ruin the hardwood floor. Why haven't I gotten it fixed? That has to do with my depression and procrastination issues. Dirty dishes litter both sinks, and most flat surfaces. So I went out to get food, as I did yesterday, and most of the days this year, frankly. Only I wanted to do better than I did yesterday. If the kitchen had allowed, I would have made oatmeal, and made coffee. But I don't have any oatmeal that isn't stale, with attendant moths. I threw out my coffee maker, and had started to rely on cold brewed coffee concentrate made in the refrigerator, but you need 5-12 hours in advance for that, so no coffee. I almost drove myself to IHOP to have a farewell to French Toast and greasy hash browns, but I don't want to give into the slippery slope this early. So I literally drove around for 20 minutes, with strong hunger pangs, pondering what I should do. Then I recalled the first McDougall workshop video, watched last night. He was describing what research topics he'd written about in his newsletters since the preceding study workshop. First, he'd said something about "trying to win the war." By which he meant, he was fighting for a bigger picture nutritional improvement, rather than focusing on elements that were not ideal, such as his old patients when he was a younger doctor, who refused to eat brown rice, because that was for peasants. He didn't fight them on that, because the bigger picture of rice based diet was much healthier overall. Another point he made later was that he'd reprised a study as a challenge in a later newsletter, the 12 slices of bread challenge. That no matter what you ate otherwise during the period of this study, you had to eat 12 slices of bread per day, and that the participants health improved dramatically anyway. So he'd offered that study to his readers as a challenge, in a spirit of fun. It's certainly not a standard McDougall practice. But, I thought, that would fix my problem of breakfast. I could eat bread, even though it wasn't ideal. Because I'm trying to trend towards better choices, even if my kitchen won't let me fix oatmeal and healthier food right this second.

So I drove to Whole Foods (which happens to be right down the street from me, it's not like I'm trying to be snooty with the food, it really is the closest grocery store), and bought half a loaf of a wheat arisan bread, which by its extensive ingredient label had whole wheat flour, sourdough culture, wheatberries, no fat, no added sugar, no dairy products, no eggs. And I got a pint container of fresh fruit from the salad bar, blueberries, watermelon and mandarin oranges. I had some illusion of taking that home and making a full breakfast of toast, tea, and fruit, but in fact, I snarfed the whole pint of fruit in the car. Then I went home and cut up the bread, and went to make some tea, when I discovered some unknown time ago I had left 3-4 inches of water in my beloved water toaster. It was cloudy, and fortunately the insides hadn't rusted out, but I was unsure of its potential bacteria content, and rinsing alone didn't seem adequate. That really bummed me out. No idea where my old revere tea kettle was. Then I remembered I could boil water in the mug in the microwave, so I did that and made tea from a teabag, because my loose tealeaf spoon was in the silverwear drawer... that turned out to be full of horrors. There was a baggy of brown slime in there, I have no idea what foodstuff that had been, and the baggy had tiny flies, and there were other things crawling around in the drawer, and when I pulled it out further, I saw that the huge waterbugs had obviously been lurking on the sides of the drawer inside the cabinet when it was closed, because they had left droppings behind of some size. So today instead of making the kitchen ready, I went to the hardware store to acquire weapons against creeping bugs, mostly boric acid, a new scrub brush,  chlorine disinfectant wipes and the like. And a hose connecter and another oscillating sprinkler, you know, things.

But for breakfast, I had bread, plain wheatberry bread (just baked, not even toasted, no topping), fresh fruit, and Lemon Lift tea, with a single squeeze of honey, and a spoon of vice, lite dry creamer. Which I had checked carefully for inhabitants, none. Because while not ideal, fresh bread is better than I would have done, and trending towards better choices. I watched some more study workshop videos, and went to Sweet Tomato's again. I don't know that I can stick with the Furhrman version of this lifestyle, so much salad. He'd like you to eat a salad every day something bigger than your head, preferably two salads. But then for you to get the bulk of your calories from starches in addition, agreeing with Dr. McDougall.... so far there's just not that much room inside the E for all that food. I like salad, fortunately... but I'd rather have it as a side rather than a main feature. Today I rationed even further my salad dressing, I had half a tiny paper tub of vinaigrette. I ate a baked potato with just tomato salsa and green onions on it. I'm not happy with the salsa at Sweet Tomatoes, I can tell it has oil in it. I also had a cup of minestrone. There's oil in the minestrone. And a piece of canteloupe and 9 grapes after. I rolled out of there. I'm still stuffed. If I get hungry before bed, guess what? I'm eating some bread.

After that I drove to Holley's Yarn Shoppe, and picked up a pair of metal No.7 circular needles with a 40" cord, since the cable on my interchangeable needles kept pulling out. So I can finish my current baby blanket.

I am somewhat dreading the kitchen clean up. It's icky in there. But I put the new batteries in the timer. If I just plug away at it 10 minutes at a time, it won't overwhelm me, and I can handle it.

Health Countdown

Okay. I am jumpstarting my sad little blog. Which I haven't touched since 2010. My friend P called me up and told me his wife A had gotten to the point in her medical journey where they were going to have to try a plant centered diet, taking in advice from one of her bazillion doctors, and the film Forks Over Knives, which I had recommended they see, it being on Netflix currently. P made the post on Facebook about their changeover, called to arrange a visit for advice about encroaching vegetarianism, so I rewatched Forks Over Knives myself. That was last night.

This morning I woke up and there was no food in the house and I was starving to death, it seemed. I decided to nip off to Whole Foods and have a bad for me small breakfast so I could wait for P to arrive without hunger pangs. I got a soy latte and a cranberry orange muffin. I would have gotten a bagel, but nothing they had seemed breakfasty to me, there were only onion ones and the like and I wanted cinnamon or blueberries. No bagel is on the list of a plant strong diet ala McDougall, the direction I favor, nor a bakery muffin, so I resolved to enjoy mine with an eye towards finality. At least for a while.

I have been wanting to make the change towards a more healthy vegetarian diet for some time. I'm the only veggie I associate with regularly, although I know a couple more, and I'm afraid I've been eating out way too much, and totally avoiding the kitchen. That's way, way too much fat, and way too much cheese, not that it takes much cheese to be too much. I have been putting on weight again, the weight I dropped and kept off since 2003 when I became an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and my pants are too tight. This morning I noticed my jeans were ripped by the ass pocket, a new hole for me. Generally my jeans first develop holes on the knees, or often the thigh seams, since my inner thighs touch and whiffle when I walk. Whifflewhifflewhiffle. Hence the abraded thigh seams. But not this time. My fundament is busting forth. Sigh. But besides that, I've noticed more abdominal fat, poorer sleep, possible sleep apnea issues, some other deeper health problems, but since I'm rarely sick, I haven't been to the Dr. in forever. Not since I broke my thumb last November, and that was no checkup.

When P came over, I told him that if he was game, I was game, I wasn't going to preach to him any Plant Strong Diet I was too hypocritical to take up myself. So I'm on a countdown to the same. I bought P a copy of McDougall's new book The Starch Solution, and another copy of Appetite for Reduction for myself, since mine was ruined in the plumbing emergency over the winter. I mostly plan to look it over for salad dressings, which I remembered some good sounding ones, and a few new recipes for when McDougall seems too stark. I downloaded Fuhrman's Eat to Live, since I've never read it, and I know it's well regarded. I already had the Starch Solution on my ipod.

After the bookstore, I drove P. to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and bought P&A a serious nonstick saucepan with a lid, which they didn't have, then we went to the Dollar Store. I got some batteries for my kitchen timer, and a pyrex glass measure and a cheap calculator for P., since he's going to have to be tackling food labels, which take math. While we were still at my place I tried to find Jeff Novick's What to Eat lecture online, but I couldn't find any more than a preview. I donated my food scale, which needs new batteries, and P. took off for home.

I went to the McDougall Site and reupped for the most recent Study Weekend, which was in February. The next one is in September, apparently. Sadly, this version has no Jeff Novick in it, which was a highlight of the last study series I watched, last time I dimly planned a dietary change, in late 2010. So I ordered his DVD.

Oh! And I dropped by Albertson's to use the blood pressure machine, it told me I was 139/78 pulse 78, which is on the cusp of High Blood Pressure on its little chart, which is alarming. I haven't weighed myself yet, it's going to be ugly. I'll do that in the morning. I estimate, by Fuhrman's book, I'll need to lose about 80 lbs.

I went to get some food at last, went to Sweet Tomato's. Big salad, greens, spinach, carrots, cabbage, green peas, corn, red onion, tomatoes, chickpeas, cauliflower, two pickle chips, and I succumbed to some vinagrette dressing, damn it, but only about a teaspoon. I have got to start carrying my own salad dressing. I had two cups of the Navaho bean soup, and one of Minestrone, both way salty, and two small sweet potatoes the size of small pears, with nothing on them. Thankfully they were overcooked and soft. I don't think I could have eaten them if they were firmer.  I had no bread or muffins, or anything with refined flour, finished with a couple slivers of canteloupe and about a dozen red grapes. And water with lemon to drink. I'm still stuffed. It's not the target food yet, but it's better than I've been doing. I'm still counting down.

A brief stop at Whole Foods on the way home, long enough to download the ebooks I already had to the ipad, since I don't have wifi at home. Tonight it's McDougall lectures on video, tomorrow I tackle the kitchen.

Obligatory time-passing post.

My eating lately has been terrible. I'm bored with the places around, but still not cooking at home. This means way too much fat and oil and cheese.

On the whole, I'm still happy that becoming a vegetarian in 2003 was the best decision I've made. Haven't really regretted it one minute. Only that it's harder to eat with others sometimes.

I had a large weekend which I'm still processing. By which I mean, a lot of stuff happened or was discussed that I'm going to have to think about. I don't want to lose the momentum building recently, but these incredibly dense few days have wiped my batteries temporarily. I seem to spend a lot of my spare time since writing obsessively in my notebook, or sleeping. And whereas making the best food choices might speed my recovery and general health, that's not what I find myself doing. Instead, I'm going out for mexican food. The number one comfort on my list.

Anyway, better to post some info rather than cease posting and appear completely dormant.

Forgotten I'd started a new blog

Mostly because posts so far have been between me and my dinner plate, which no one close to me cares about, except maybe the dog.

I've been eating at the Whole Foods grocery store a lot recently... I'm going to have to examine that further later. Because there's not much there I couldn't prepare myself. For a lot cheaper. Except I like to get out a little.

My brain runs a thousand miles a minute sometimes, especially lately. Only memory is not quite as sharp to help retain the rambling. Am I going to have to take notes? I develop new passions and interests suddenly, and I have to watch myself to keep from launching headfirst into them before the next shiny thing comes along. I've always thought that was a drawback, that I'm a magpie without a lot of stick-to-it-tiveness, and something else new and shiny snaps me out of it. But then I think it's a strength, that if I can sustain the fire of interest long enough to blog about it, there's a variety show in the making. Posts. Or video, if I can learn that. Notes might help. Planning. Lists. My problem isn't ideas.

So.

What have I been doing this week to improve my food. Hmm... I spent a lot of time reading the past archives of Jennifer McCann's Vegan Lunch Box. All the way from 2005 to the present time. I took a look at her newer blog, but I'm not so drawn to that one. What do I like about Vegan Lunch Box? First it's a touching record of loving care for her son, the little Schmoo, on a day-to-day basis, and by extension, her devoted readers. Second, not a lot of repeats. Some things repeated, like blanched vegetables, nuts, pretzels, but not the central food item. So it's a gold mine for nutritious lunch plans. I got sidetracked on a quest for bento box sets and the like, but in the end, rejected them. That's not quite my style, anyway. I'm a washed-plastic-baggie, former salsa jar, recycled margarine tub kind of lunch packer, in a little plastic cooler I've had for close to 20 years. I don't want to have to buy a matching, carefully tailored insulated cold-pack tote. I'd rather make some large ice cubes frozen in plastic cups I kept from the water machine while shopping at Whole Foods, and toss them in my cooler with the stuff.

However, have I done any of those things? Lately? No. Because I'm generally home for lunch. But maybe I should pack a lunch anyway. First, because now that the weather is warm, I could picnic or something nice. But mostly because I'd have a calorie-controlled finite nutritious meal, something defined, other than the current open-the-fridge graze-a-thon experience. Plus it would be an opportunity to express gratitude and love for myself and my providing abilities. Ala Louise Hay. That makes me cringe a little bit, but I'm trying it on.

Also in Food News, I checked out Aldi, a recent grocery chain to my area. I brought back a lot of food, especially produce. A big pack of fresh strawberries, a buck. Likewise, fresh button mushrooms, a buck. A 3-pack of pears, likewise. A baggie of frozen berries, $1.89. Cans of beans, 59c, etc. Prices were like when I got my first apartment, in the 80s. I think I like Aldi.

I hunted up 3-5 new food blogs (most of them are complete, but there's a lot of material to get through) to watch, and fantasized about sharing nice food with friends while garage saling.
And I'm knitting up a bunch more kitchen scrubbies (one of the best uses for Red Heart supersaver yarn) in preparation.