Fine-tune your plant-based June

Mihani

Today was another repeat day for meals. Loving the heirloom tomatoes. Got the treadmill time in this morning plus 5 minutes with the dumbbells and another 5 minutes stretching. I have had 100% WFPB no crackers or pretzels for 3 days in a row.

Marilynsretired

Hi my name is Marilyn and I have just joined this team.

Not sure how active a group it is - could you let me know

Also I have a few questions please

1) why is everyone eating this way - because it is healthy or because of health problems that led them to eat this way

2) how long have you been eating this style

3) anyone here following the outline of Dr John McDougall re no animal, no dairy, no oil

4) does anyone here have kidney disease and using this program to correct this disease

Look forward to many of you answering these questions as a lot of these answers will tell me whether I should be here on this group as I do need the support. Also I am a senior (74) so am also wondering how many of you are near my age

Mihani

Hi Marilyn, welcome to the group. We try to check in most days but I don't think anyone here is online all the time so it could be a day before you get a response. We started the monthly threads to have a place to touch base easily, which reminds me we need to start the July thread!

I became vegan over 10 years ago because I was already vegetarian for many years and thought it was the next logical step. I started down this road solely because of animal welfare and I was a fat vegetarian! Then I started reading the books by Fuhrman, McDougall, Esselstyn, Campbell, Barnard and it made so much sense to me. I know when I'm sticking to WFPB, no oil, etc. that I feel so much better and my weight stays in check.

After going full vegan I realized I probably had a diary intolerance because my complexion cleared up and I had no more digestive issues.

That said I'm still struggling to lose the last 20 to 25 pounds that I need to lose, but I am 70 pounds less than I was at my highest weight 10 years ago. I'm not much into sweets but I do love salty snacky stuff like crackers, pretzels, and blue corn chips, and I tend to overdo the starches sometimes. Plus I tend to indulge in alcohol on weekends and then I really overdo the starches and fats. I recently joined a gym and I've committed myself to 100% WFPB and no alcohol for 90 days.

We have a range of ages of people hanging out here but Magic is in her 70s. I'm 58.

I don't think anyone here has specific kidney issues, but I've read statistics and just looked it up to refresh my memory. Over 1 in 7 people in the US have chronic kidney disease. Yikes, right? If you haven't read How Not to Die by Dr. Greger, I highly recommend it. I didn't particularly care for the second book, How Not to Diet.

Off to finish getting ready for work. If anyone has inspiration for the July thread please get it started. Have a great day y'all!

Marilynsretired

@Mihani - thanks for the welcome and letting me no more about the group. Much appreciate. I am still somewhat in the learning process but have made lots of changes.

Started with no dairy as I was having 2 eggs every morning - stopped that and felt better pretty much right away. Then got told about having Kidney Damage Stage (my GFR is down to 32 and should be higher than 60)

So was told to do the following
1) 64 oz of water daily and up to 90 oz would be best

2) absolutely NO salt and no processed food whatsoever meaning anything with a label or packaged for long shelf life is not to be eaten as it has been preserved with salt and sugar which are both hard for the kidneys

3) animal protein to be no more than 2 oz once a day preferably none getting all the necessary protein from the vegetables, legumes and beans.

So that is what I have been working on - and amazingly the first 4 weeks have been somewhat easy but the last 3 days I have gone off the deep end and have had so much sodium due to eating hot dogs and MacDonalds. But that was yesterday, today things are looking better as I am looking forward to having the great vegetables I am enjoying eating now - and am really liking eating brown rice and/potatoes at both lunch and dinner.

It is a new month now so am planning to get through July with eating correct - also looking forward to watching the scale go down with making these better choices.

Should you want / need another person to help out with leading please let me know as I am on MFP each day to log in my food so would be willing to log into the group just to let others know that there is someone there each day to read the messages.

Mihani

Mornin' all, I'm setting up the July thread now so I'll see you there

Marilyn, at some point in the journey you stop thinking of some things as "food" and that's kind of cool when that happens! I love making (and eating) tasty recipes, but I do best when I keep it very simple. Just lots of whole grains, beans, raw and cooked veggies, nuts and seeds, fruit. Nothing fancy just throw together bowls and top with a nut based sauce, dressing or salsa. I love spicy brown mustard so I often use that as a dressing. Plus then I'm not overwhelmed with having too much food to eat up during the week and/or having time to do all that cooking.