@Mihani - I am so, so sorry for your loss. I am glad you had her for so long, and that you were able to take care of her at the end of her life.

@magic71755 - Thanks for the notes on your nice cream! Your pasta and spinach sounds delicious!

@LizLovesVeggies
Your taco night sounds great and healthy!

One way I particularly like "zoodles" is with sauteed vegetables. I have done a number of variations on this:
In 1-2 T water, saute
- 1/2 onion (sweet Vidalia, regular, red -- whichever you have or are in the mood for)
- 4-6 sweet mini peppers or 1/2 bell pepper (either way, I cut into thin strips)
Once onions are soft, add
- 3-4 mushrooms, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, diced
- 1 T basil (to taste, really; I add more)
- Salt/Bragg's, if desired
- Pepper to taste (I add at least 1 t)
Cook just a couple of minutes, until mushrooms are ready. Serve the veggies over warmed zoodles.

My current favorite salad dressing is a variation of the Avocado Dressing from Dr Greger's Eat to Live Cookbook:
- 1 small avocado, pitted
- 1 scallion (I add more)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 c parsley or cilantro
- 1 t dried tarragon
- 2 T rice vinegar
- 2 t lemon or lime juice (I use lime in my cilantro version, and up the amount)
- recipe calls for a little bit of something sweet, like a date; I skip that
- 1 T nutritional yeast
- 1/2 t white miso paste (I got a tub of this at an Asian market; if you don't have it, add more nutritional yeast)
- 1/2 t of your choice of savory spice blend
- add water to get desired consistency (I usually add 1/4 c)
Blend (I use an immersion blender) until smooth.

I have and use Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Note that it does contain sodium. It's naturally occurring sodium from soybeans. It's a great choice if you are transitioning and want to eat less table salt. If you need to watch your sodium intake of any kind for medical reasons, you still need to pay attention to it.

As far as spicy -- I love flavorful food! I use lots of different spices and make sure I enjoy plenty of flavor.

When making a curry or soup, I start by sauteing onion in a little bit of water rather than oil. They soften up nicely. It seemed like a very strange thing to try, but it does work!

LizLovesVeggies wrote: »

Thank you for the recipes, @AustinRuadhain! Both sound great.

Good luck @00markw ! I second what magic said - taste buds do change, and quickly! I remember thinking a specific airport meal being bland and boring and then a week later thinking it was the most delicious thing in the world so there ya go! That said, I hope you don't find any of the food you're eating bland and boring. Also agreed re: removing food you don't eat anymore as much as possible.

I have a Q for the group - What are some non-eating activities that you turn to instead of food if/when you want to stress/emotionally eat? I'm working on finding activities to do instead of eating when I'm not actually hungry. Thx!

Great question! I am looking forward to hearing what other people say!

- Walk outside for at least half an hour.
- Housecleaning/organizing/decluttering. Anything -- a closet, a desk, a drawer, a cabinet. Sounds odd, but it is distracting and productive!
- Soak in a bath with Epsom salts and a good book or a show.
- Make and then sip hot tea. Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice is an intense flavor that seems sweet because of the cinnamon.
- If it isn't too late in the day, make and then sip a cup of hot flavored decaff coffee.
- Weed something in the yard.
- Study. I have done a lot of reading books and articles, watching relevant YouTube videos.

magic71755 wrote: »

Today's Menu:

black coffee (never in my wildest dreams did I think this was possible...I used to drink coffee as a way to enjoy cream and sugar sort of legitimately) . haha

ezekiel Follow Your Heart Grilled cheese in the panini sammy

32 ounce Joe's Mean Green

Follow Your Heart plain yogurt with hemp hearts and frozen wild blueberries added

peaches and cherries

stir fry fresh veggie mix with rice on the side Well Your World SOS free asian sauce

Nice Cream

I am right there with you! I am sipping on a cup of black flavored coffee, and it seems delicious. It just shows that our palate is so very adaptable!

@magic71755 - Happy Friday! I find your enthusiasm so wonderful! I really appreciate having you in this conversation.
I love the clip for the Game Changers movie. I'll look forward to seeing that!

@Mihani - Thanks for the soapbox talk! I did not know the history of this group -- really interesting. I do know that I love the space here. Like you, I follow some groups on Facebook for ideas, but I don't tend to participate much. And you are right -- what I am missing there is the sense of community and mutual support and respect. If I chime in there, I am likely to get some likes but also some "what about this" and "you should do this, too." Anyway, thanks for your commitment to having this group be such a warm and welcoming place!

@00markw -- "feels more like adding a meditation (mindful eating, food planning and prep) into my life than taking something away like diets do." I think that coming from this mindset, you have very much set yourself up for success. I am so excited for you! Please do check in!

A bit about my journey:
I did 9 months of concentrated work on diet and health (including giving up sugar and going vegan) before I decided I would try ETL starting in Oct, 2018. I decided I would give it 3-4 weeks, to see how it worked for me, and then switch back to vegan/40-40-20 if I quit losing weight. I found the health information compelling, but was really, really worried that weight loss would stop. I made the switch, dropped a surprising amount of weight the first week, and kept losing weight after that (and weight loss sped up, annoying some non-ETL contacts!), so I have not looked back.

I will say that everyone is different. Your version of ETL and mine may differ, based on preferences and what each of us figures out about our bodies.

At this point, I have lost 143 pounds. I am now working to build muscle (so add some weight, but muscle, not fat). I no longer have knee or foot problems. For the knees, I had been told I would need surgery. I never had it, and now have no pain and can do demanding activities for many hours each week (martial arts etc.) with no problems, no discomfort. I don't have swollen ankles anymore. Rosacea on my face is clearing up. A small skin issue on one hand, one I had for years, is going away. It's something only I would notice, but it makes me think I am clearing up inflammation issues.

I went in a month or so back and got my blood work done again (previous numbers done in July 2017, before I started on my health journey, had been part of the motivation). My doctor was amazed at the weight loss! When I got the blood work back, worrisome health markers (I had numbers that were in the normal range, but headed in non-optimal directions) had all improved substantially.