DASH Diet thread

emmamcgarity

I use the disposable ones similar to ziplock containers. They are technically 1.3 cups each so I just under- fill them. I also have some of the same containers in half cup size. I noticed the larger containers that I sometimes use to pack salads have cup markings on the side. I use all the same brand (Kroger store brand) so that I can mix and match lids more easily

emmamcgarity

After poking around on Amazon I found very similar but brand name containers “Glad Designer Series 5 Small Rectangular 9oz Containers & Lids”. When shopping at my grocery store I find these containers near the platstic baggies and aluminum foil. I have more than 20 of them. I intended to use them for my workday lunches only but find them really convenient and use them often at home to help with portion control.

zeejane03

emmamcgarity wrote: »

After poking around on Amazon I found very similar but brand name containers “Glad Designer Series 5 Small Rectangular 9oz Containers & Lids”. When shopping at my grocery store I find these containers near the platstic baggies and aluminum foil. I have more than 20 of them. I intended to use them for my workday lunches only but find them really convenient and use them often at home to help with portion control.

Thanks for the info!

zeejane03

Still around but struggling with my recurring issue with MFP-it sucks up so much of my time If I added up all the post counts from the accounts I've had over the past few years I would probably break some sort of record, ouch lol.

Every time I promise not to get sucked into my 'trigger' topic threads (low carb/keto, diet soda etc). And Every.Single.Time. I end up in them arguing the same old arguments, sigh.....

Sooo, I'm still here but I'm going to try really, really hard to only use MFP for this thread, for now. I have no problem with any other site (I deleted all social media sites a while back etc), but for some reason MFP gets me every time Lol.

emmamcgarity

I’m happy you are here. I know several friends who are doing Keto. I have no desire to go there. I much prefer the DASH way of eating and find it gives me plenty of energy. As an aside, I often find myself re-listening to n=1 podcast on DASH and them joking near the end about “check for carbs under the bed... shake out your boots...”

zeejane03

emmamcgarity wrote: »

I’m happy you are here. I know several friends who are doing Keto. I have no desire to go there. I much prefer the DASH way of eating and find it gives me plenty of energy. As an aside, I often find myself re-listening to n=1 podcast on DASH and them joking near the end about “check for carbs under the bed... shake out your boots...”

Now about 2 months into experimenting with DASH I'm really liking this pattern of eating. Starting out I wanted to try it mostly out of curiosity, but I'm really enjoying the (loose) structure of this method and I love ticking off the servings for all the different categories

I've got this thread bookmarked on my desktop's main page and all the other sections of MFP's forums blocked now lol. Should save me a bit of time every day but I can still hang out with my DASH buddies

lemurcat2

zeejane03 wrote: »

Still around but struggling with my recurring issue with MFP-it sucks up so much of my time If I added up all the post counts from the accounts I've had over the past few years I would probably break some sort of record, ouch lol.

Every time I promise not to get sucked into my 'trigger' topic threads (low carb/keto, diet soda etc). And Every.Single.Time. I end up in them arguing the same old arguments, sigh.....

Sooo, I'm still here but I'm going to try really, really hard to only use MFP for this thread, for now. I have no problem with any other site (I deleted all social media sites a while back etc), but for some reason MFP gets me every time Lol.

You and me both! Not worth it, though.

zeejane03

Fruit - x
Veggie -8
Whole grain -2 +1 serving beans
Dairy -2
Meat - x
Nuts - x
Fats- olives
Added sugar: yes, fat free Catalina dressing

Plus 3 servings of pea crisps. I have no idea how to categorize this, it was 15g of protein/15g fiber/15g fat (330 calories)

zeejane03

Tried a new bread and I'm absolutely in love! If you have an Aldi nearby I highly recommend trying their Seedtastic organic bread-I think it's a generic of Daves Killer bread? It's a bit pricey for Aldi (around $4), but still several dollars cheaper than a similar version at Meijer. It's also very DASH friendly

emmamcgarity

Catered lunch at work not DASH friendly but I will strive for DASH compliant at the other meals

zeejane03

Fruit - 2
Veggie -9
Grain -4 +2 servings beans
Dairy -3
Meat - 4oz salmon
Nuts - x
Fats- olives
Added sugar: yes, fat free Catalina dressing and low calorie honey mustard

Solid day today, though a bit high on calories (there was an unplanned serving of afternoon oyster crackers and an extra serving of beans at supper because I was to lazy to separate the two servings from the container ).

emmamcgarity

Urgent care visit for sick kid threw my dinner plan off. Opting for lean cuisine

zeejane03

Today is not going to be DASH compliant-Subway for lunch and probably pizza for supper, due to all day errands/dentist appt/kid's music lesson/friend over for supper to help my husband (hence the pizza lol). I did eat my regular whole grains bread/cheese breakfast and the sub will include protein and 2 servings of veggies. Then it goes down hill from there Lol.

That's what I love about DASH-we can work towards hitting the recommendations but if we have a day here and there where we have to take a break, it's not a big deal. Seems like a 'real life' way of eating

Emmamcgarity-hope your kiddo is feeling ok!

emmamcgarity

Thanks! I ended yesterday hitting my fruit/veg servings due to my containers being prepared at the start of my day. I snacked on those packed apple slices in the way to urgent care then the celery sticks after the pharmacy. Both of my teenagers now have strep and I am caring for them but keeping my distance in hopes I don’t catch it.

Today should be ok. I’ve already had 2 whole grains, 4 fruit and 1.25 dairy. Lunch will hit 2 veggies and another two veggies planned at my afternoon snack. I find if I hit the goals early in the day I do better

anthocyanina

margbarco wrote: »

How do you all measure/weight/count fruits and veggies?

On a tracking day I weigh fruits and veggies, before cooking if I'm making the meal. If I'm tracking when eating out, I just eyeball servings. I count a serving of cooked veggies as smaller than a serving of raw, depending on how much water it loses through cooking. For example, a serving of cooked carrots is a little smaller than raw and a serving of cooked spinach is a lot smaller than raw.

I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits so I don't worry about not getting enough. It's usually protein that I need to watch to make sure I get enough.

emmamcgarity

Fruit -4
Veggie -4
Whole grain -2.5
Dairy -2
Meat -4oz
Nuts - 0
Added sugar: yes

I opted for Lean cuisine for dinner tonight since the kids are on chicken soup until they are feeling better.

lemurcat2

I'm back home tonight (had dinner on the road). I've been generally DASH compliant for breakfast and lunch, not really for dinner, but back to normal tomorrow.

zeejane03

Yesterday was pretty crappy food wise-started out ok, but by afternoon I had totally gone off the rails. The highlight was when I realized that I had eaten over 150 calories just in orange Lifesavers, while I was waiting around for various appointments (my dd had an hour and a half dentist appointment, followed by a piano lesson...). It was when I I was scarfing down a bakery cupcake (and eating part of my kids), that I had a 'doh' moment-PMS had arrived, the only time of the month where I crave sweet stuff. Made me feel a lot better realizing this, and this morning I'm feeling back to normal and not wanting to do a face plant into a bag of sugar lol!

Should be a solid DASH day today!

Mauitn

I have gotten Marla Heller's latest book and cookbook and will begin reading. I have tried other diets, but find it difficult to eliminate whole categories of foods (meat, dairy, etc.). I don't have as big a problem limiting the sodium. I have a lot to learn, but it's time...

zeejane03

Mauitn wrote: »

I have gotten Marla Heller's latest book and cookbook and will begin reading. I have tried other diets, but find it difficult to eliminate whole categories of foods (meat, dairy, etc.). I don't have as big a problem limiting the sodium. I have a lot to learn, but it's time...

Glad you're joining us!

emmamcgarity

Fruit -4
Veggie -4
Whole grain -2
Dairy -1
Meat -6oz
Nuts - 0
Added sugar: yes

My third trip to urgent care this week... This time for mom for flu. Pre-planning helped with staying mostly DASH compliant. I opted for a side salad with nuggets from chick-fil-s after picking up Tamiflu and other meds for mom.

emmamcgarity

Yesterday
Fruit -5
Veggie -0
Whole grain -4
Dairy -2
Meat -3oz
Nuts - 1
Added sugar: yes

Breakfast and lunch yesterday were very DASH compliant. Then I took a break from life to hang out with friends. Lots of walking and lots of fun. Then margaritas and Mexican food. Back to DASH today. I am liking that even though yesterday was over on calories I feel good about where DASH lands nutritionally over time even when I am not 100% compliant. I also received my cholesterol screening results from the health fair at work a couple weeks ago. All my numbers were good. Another 15 lbs will put me in a healthy BMI.

lemurcat2

I'm traveling so much lately -- off again tonight and then another quick trip at the end of the week and then have to visit my father and his SO the following week (although they always eat healthy and pretty DASH compliant anyway) and then go to Virginia the following week. Although I haven't been reporting in, I find I like doing DASH when traveling because it's easy to just choose the most DASH compliant things. It's not that different from what I used to do (I used to choose vegetables when available, and then lean protein/fish, and then fruit), but it's helpful when I am eating less meat in general and can focus on the DASH categories.

I think I'm going to go plant-based during Lent (although not when at my dad's place, since for family reasons I should eat what is served), so that will not be DASH compliant and I'll probably try to log more to watch nutrients, but other than the dairy should fit in well and I might actually start eating my grains and figure out my best plant-based sources of calcium.

zeejane03

lemurcat2 wrote: »

I'm traveling so much lately -- off again tonight and then another quick trip at the end of the week and then have to visit my father and his SO the following week (although they always eat healthy and pretty DASH compliant anyway) and then go to Virginia the following week. Although I haven't been reporting in, I find I like doing DASH when traveling because it's easy to just choose the most DASH compliant things. It's not that different from what I used to do (I used to choose vegetables when available, and then lean protein/fish, and then fruit), but it's helpful when I am eating less meat in general and can focus on the DASH categories.

I think I'm going to go plant-based during Lent (although not when at my dad's place, since for family reasons I should eat what is served), so that will not be DASH compliant and I'll probably try to log more to watch nutrients, but other than the dairy should fit in well and I might actually start eating my grains and figure out my best plant-based sources of calcium.

Kudos to you for still trying to stick with DASH with all the traveling!

I've been playing around with the DASH categories-I know it's set up the way it is for specific reasons, but I'm also feeling led to go more plant based right now. So trying to figure out what that looks like (still eating fish etc 3-4 times a week but then really working on getting beans to be a focal point of my diet, more veg/fruit etc).

I was also pretty loosey goosey with my calorie intake last month and at the end of the month I missed my target. I'm just working on some vanity pounds so not to big of a deal, but I have 5-7lbs I still want to lose and I'm at a snails pace right now. Thinking about how I want to proceed-I even had a moment of insanity and was looking up Weight Watchers online last night I might try a premium membership at Cron. for a month and see how I like that-with the premium I could divide up my food intake to categories, which I could then set up DASH style (so my categories would be Grains, Vegetables, Dairy etc).

Today was not DASH compliant-had a potluck at church and I ate All The Food lol. Tomorrow I have dental work in the morning, which will put off eating through the afternoon, then I'm having supper out with my husband (I think we're going out for Italian/pasta), and then I have a meeting at night where there will be a dessert bar. I'll be back at it on Tuesday though!

ETA: just re-looked at Libra, my goal for last month was 2lbs and I lost 1.5lbs, so actually not to bad considering I had several high calorie days/weekends!

emmamcgarity

I’ve considered rejoining Weight Watchers occasionally. Their online tracker used to have check boxes for each serving of the WW Good Health Guidelines which are basically DASH. I’d be curious to dig through some of the recipes.

My strategy in February was to increase exercise and be more DASH compliant. That got the scale moving again since I had been pretty lazy over the holidays.

zeejane03

2pm and I've had a grand total of 170 calories, courtesy of dental work blech. I was able to get in my whole grains toast/cheese before my appointment and I'm going to wait until supper at 5 to eat again. My mouth is 'thawing' right now and is pretty sensitive.

We decided on a Mexican restaurant for supper and I'm going with soft food lol. I've got a temporary crown in now and I've got to baby it-no hard/sticky foods until I get my permanent crown in. I'm looking at either a veggie burrito, (a flour tortilla filled with grilled onions, bell peppers, refried beans, Mexican rice, and lettuce. Topped with creamy pepper-jack cheese sauce and diced tomatoes), or a bean burrito, (A flour tortilla filled with our homemade refried beans, lettuce and tomatoes. Topped with homemade burrito sauce and melted Colby cheese). Both are pretty DASH compliant and with my breakfast this may end up being a solid DASH day after all

I also picked up some softer foods for the next few days, going to miss my meal sized salads but no hard veggies for a while. Instead I'll be focusing on things like rice and beans, cooked/soft veggies, green smoothies, a few frozen entrees etc.

lemurcat2

I'm way down south and was eating in a surprisingly compliant way until king cake was pushed on me. Not complaining, I'd never actually had it before.

zeejane03

Fruit -- x
Veg -- 4
Dairy -- 2
Grains --5
Meat -- x Beans (alternative protein)--2
Added fat -- x
Nuts and seeds --x
Added sugar -- x

Got the veggie burrito tonight-it was amazing! I estimated my portions a bit (counted a burrito sized tortilla shell as two servings of grains etc). I also ended up eating a Green Giant veggies steamers this afternoon, which got in some more veggies. Probably a higher calorie day with the burrito but still a solid day considering the dental work/weird eating schedule and then the eating out

emmamcgarity

Fruit -4
Veggie -4
Whole grain -2
Dairy -1.5
Meat -5oz
Nuts - 0
Added sugar: yes

zeejane03

Morning DASHers

Mouth is feeling a lot better today, whew! I still can't chew on that side as much as possible but I should be able to eat fairly normal today.

Been thinking about my goals this morning and I ended up spending some time on the NIH's site re-reading the DASH info. I'm going to try and be more intentional about trying to hit the recommendations. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to track and I found a pretty nice list style notebook yesterday-it's small enough that I can carry around (in my purse if I'm out etc).

I've played around with different websites/apps etc, but I keep coming back to the old paper/pen method (which is how I tracked calories back during my active weight loss phase). I guess I need to stop fighting it-I'm just old fashioned lol.