Sonoma Diet and the Mediterranean Diet - Sonoma/Med Feb 2009 Support Thread

I'm thrilled, it seems we have a small little forum going here at long last. I'm hoping my Feb. will be a lot better than my Jan. this week has been a good start. I got to pilates and yoga and took my dogs for a couple good walks and have been pretty much on plan all week.

Looks like I made it to February!

I have to tell you guys, I was so discouraged after not losing for two weeks. I went from resolving to do better to saying why bother. Friday I did pretty well though, that is usually my bad day, but Saturday I waited too late to eat and ended up eating ice cream. But today, I realized I didn't want to go back to that way. I want to eat healthier and I HAVE been able to stay with this diet, so I want to keep trying and maybe weight loss will catch up with me!

Today I have done very well. I probably should eat more vegetables, but at least I have not eaten a lot of other things or any junk.

I haven't logged calories the past few days either. I may go back to it later but not right now. I was focusing on the calorie count and it gave me a false expectation that I would show a loss. So I am going to try to be moderate in my eating, stick to my plan, and not obsess about calories or feel cheated when I "did it right" but did not get the reward.

I have also done my exercise video four days in a row. I was supposed to do a 4 days in a row "boot camp" and then go to every other day. I plan to do that. Also shows progress for me!

Petra65, glad you got in the exercise and are having a good eating week! I am also really glad to see that more people are posting here now. One more reason that I can't back out now!

Best wishes to all for a good week. :)

Heather in SC

I'm struggling a little more this week despite having plenty of healthy food available to eat. I'm on call which is always a bit stressful-you never know when you are going to be interrupted and TOM is coming to visit this week so I'm having cravings for unhealthy things. I at least bought sugar free chocolate yesterday which I suppose was an improvement but would have been better to skip it altogether. My scale is still looking okay so I guess I haven't done any significant damage yet and I'm going to pack my lunch today for work. I also can't go to yoga or pilates when I'm call because I can't have my pager going off in the middle of class.

Down two pounds today; yay! I plan to consult the Sonoma diet cookbook tonight for a good way to prepare my salmon.

Winter is very hard for me; I just want to hunker down under a quilt and eat comfort foods.

Great job Thinfor5minutes!

Glad everyone is hanging in! Good job, thinfor5minutes, congrats on the loss. :)

I am still struggling to get enthusiastic again after my no-loss weigh in. I know you are tired of me harping on it. I had candy yesterday for heaven's sake. Then I felt terrible for doing it.

I have done all right today. I am going to keep trying and stop whining. I think.

Still plugging away...tried a Weight Watcher Smart Ones breakfast wrap this morning; it was just okay. I'm running out of dinner ideas...my husband is a vegetarian and it's hard for me to find foods on the Mediterranean diet that will work for him also. Obviously the chicken breast recipes and the rest will not work for him, and I get very bored. The alternative is to make two separate dinners, which is what I did last night. I had salmon, and I made him a Quorn "chicken" patty with barbecue sauce over it. We shared a bag of frozen broccoli and I heated up leftover brown rice.

Well, I am struggling. I am not gaining weight but I am not losing :( which of course is the goal of any diet. I started out saying I wanted to learn to eat healthy, regardless of the amt. of weight loss ~ so I am trying to keep that in mind. It is so nice here in the West I have been trying to go for daily walks and I think I will get back to my controlled Spa Cuisines (at least for Lunch) which the book says are okay to make it a little more basic. Is there a good Olive Oil based salad dressing that I can buy at the store for my salads? My stores here are Smiths(Kroger), Von's (Safeway), Albertsons, Fresh and Easy, and Whole Foods. I am all about making it easy for myself :D Also, I am going to re-read my book but are there any good chicken recipes that I can adapt for my little crock pot. I don't mind making myself and indiv. meal at dinner time (making my picky eater Hubby something else, he doesn't eat chicken or fish). I was thinking of trying to make a Mexican chicken by spraying the pot with Olive Oil then placing the Chicken in the Crock Pot and smothering it with Salsa what do you guys think (maybe alittle Fat Free Cheese on top at the end)? I have to get this under controll...............

I am not doing so great either, but today went well. It seems to matter a LOT whether or not I go into a store where unhealthy goodies are available. So, since I stayed home today, things were okay. Still hanging in...

Dorothygailflyer, I think the chicken you mentioned sounded good! Did you try it?

HeatherinSC, I did try the Chicken in my small crockpot. I liked it and will make it again!

Hi ladies. Thin-congrats on your loss. I have had a not so good week. Between being on call and TOM, I have been eating everything that is not naiiled down. I'm afraid to get on my scale. Fortunately, the call is over at least for a few weeks. I got my meal kits in the mail that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. I'm going to try one or two out and I'll let you know what I think. I"m going to try the turkey chili for sure and that one is Sonoma friendly. If these are good, they are another convenient alternative for those of us who tend to get time stressed and the cooking becomes a problem.

There is a lady on the Sonoma site who has lost 80 lbs. She gave us a couple chicken crockpot recipes. One was chicken with canned black beans, frozen corn and salsa. The other was chicken with crushed pineapple and salsa. I tried the black bean one. I found it to be okay. She recommended serving it over brown rice. I served it over this exotic rice blend I happened to have and wanted to use up.

Thin-for lent this year, I am going to try to eat mostly fish and vegetarian meals so I will let you know if I find some that I'm thrilled with. I like eggplant parm. Do you make that? I also have a recipe for a Morrocan stew that is vegetarian that I am looking forward to making. Haven't tried it yet but it looks interesting. Moroccan is probably my favorite ethnic cuisine. I love the blend of spices they use. I also plan to try making falafal patties(made with chickpeas). Those will be somewhat labor intensive but I know I like them.

My little package came with Jonny Bowden's "The Healthiest Meals on Earth" book in it. There are several vegetarian and fish based recipes in here and I thought I'd share one for Thin that looked not too hard and like it might be pretty good. This is the entree for a whole vegetarian meal that also includes Confetti Basmati Brown Rice, Citrus Avacado Salad, and Strawberry Soup.

Black Bean Cakes
2 cups dried black beans, picked over, rinsed, soaked overnight and drained or 5 cups canned, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 cups water or broth
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup salsa

Combine the black beans, cumin, water or broth in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer until beans are tender (60-70 minutes). Drain well.

In a large bowl, mash the beans and garlic together well. Stir in the cilantro and salt. Form the mixture into 8 cakes (patties). Transfer to a plate and refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a large, nonstick frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the cakes and cook, turning over once until warm and the outside is slightly crisp, about 5-7 minutes. Serve immediately with salsa. Left overs keep well for 2-3 days in the fridge.

The book doesn't say this but I suspect these would also freeze well. If anyone tries them, let me know how they are. Would also be easy to cut this recipe in half.

Well, hey! I am doing a good job eating today, lol. I ate black beans for lunch myself! Never tried it in cakes though.

I got the book Super Foods Rx, after reading Glory's success story on here. Most of the foods it mentions are Sonoma Power Foods so it ties together well. Then, I've lost some inches with my T-Tapp exercise routine, so I am happy about that. But I still want the scale to go down too. :)

Hope everyone is doing well.
Heather

Petra, I missed your thread about the meals you are ordering. Where are they from?

thehealthypantry.com
Tried one for breakfast this morning-not completely sonoma legal but pretty good. Will make the turkey chili for lunch and let you know what I think. I ordered a sample pak so it had some things in it I wouldn't have ordered if I was doing it ala carte.

The weather here is beautiful this weekend. I took the dogs for a nice long walk this morning. Everyone is tired now.

The turkey chili is a winner and completely sonoma friendly.

Okay, so I am doing hopelessly bad on my eating the past few days. I do okay through the day and blow it at dinner. My husband's schedule at work is messed up, we have not had a sit down meal since last Friday, and I have been overeating and today and last night had a lot of white stuff...um, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, tonight is was homemade pizza with white flour crust... I keep thinking I will get a handle on it, but have not done so yet. Thursday is DH's last work day and then he will be on vacation the rest of the month, so maybe I can get this back on track. I hope so.

Heather, I am sorry to hear your struggle. I think this is a good diet but I have to say I haven't been able to get into the groove as I have in the past on Weight Watchers. In the past I would get past a certain point and then it was smooth sailing, I haven't found that with this diet yet. It may just be the time of my life or something..............ugh, I wish I would just get with it though. Heather you can be proud of the good start you got on this diet, that was very impressive. Hang in there:hug:

Thank you, Dorothy! I am just terrible with diets. I have never reached that groove you mention, aside from 5+ years ago when I lost 40 pounds in 5 months with the Weigh Down diet. But that is basically losing through not eating, and when I plateaued, I gradually gave it up. I am sorry to be a downer to everyone. I am also low on veggies...I will be able to do a big shop Friday and try to get back where I need to be with the eating. I have been exercising regularly though. This post sounds rather disjointed! I will let you go and get to bed!
Heather

I have been stuck at between 144.5 and 145.5 for quite awhile now; and it's depressing. I did not eat well on Sunday -- did not overeat, but the quality was bad, and the same for dinner on Monday -- I have a yoga class at 7 pm which plays havoc with my eating schedule, since you are not supposed to eat for two hours before you go. I scarfed a banana in the car at 5:15 so I would at least have something in my stomach to keep my blood sugar from dipping too low. Then when I got home I didn't want a meal, so I made toast. :( I did better yesterday. Tonight I plan on making the roasted tomato sauce over pasta from the Sonoma Diet Cookbook, but I know my H will complain because he likes "traditional" pasta sauce like his Italian family always used to have. You should have heard him when he saw I bought capers. You'd have thought I was trying to poison him.

Heather in the book it said to start all over again if your get too far off course. Maybe its worth a try? I have to say I feel great and its working for me. I do cheat on the weekends but not totally. If I am planning pizza then the rest of the day I am careful. Sometimes my portions are off but the food choice good. I did mess up yesterday at work influenced by others having candy. On a weak moment I bought a little bag of peanut mm's ate them all. Felt awful after like wow that wasn't smart now was it. Oh well pulled it tog. in the evening. I purchased the cookbook made the turkey burgers kind of adjusting to what I had at home. Not too bad. But for the most part staying away from the wt. sugar , flours etc. and no real craving other that the candy. I like looking slimmer and that helps. So I am going to continue to work on this. I took a hr. Personal time to leave early to go workout and it felt good to do it and have extra time it was me time something I wanted to do so I am pleased with accomplishing it. Exercise has to be in my calendar for the week or I won't do it. Well good luck and hang in there maybe another time around the wave 1 will make it happen for you. I feel it is a sound diet and not a bad lifestyle one to live with

Exercise time is quite a challenge for me...I have a 40 minute commute in the morning, so no time to get to the gym there, and if I stop off at the gym on the way home, again after a 40 minute commute, I don't get home until nearly 7 and still have to prepare dinner, eat it and clean up. And my husband is starving by then and threatening to eat cereal, which gives me the guilts big time.

cacmsc54, That was inspirational, thanks for posting. That starting over thing may not be a bad idea (for me at least). I am out of my Spa Cuisines that I usually have for lunch, so I may make some Barilla Plus Rotini with diced tomatoes. Has anyone tried the Barilla Plus pasta, I have not yet I hope it is good. I really like that it as Omega 3 in it.

I tried the barilla plus pasta, and I thought it was good. If someone (such as your child or husband) does not know you are using it, they probably won't notice much difference. The color is not as obvious after it is cooked. I also thought it tasted less "pasty" than regular pasta.

Another round of Wave One might be a good idea. I had no trouble with it and lost well. I didn't have sugar cravings or anything. I was quite enthusiastic the next two weeks into Wave 2 as well, just the no loss totally blew my confidence. Guess I need to put up or shut up!

Still working out though. That is going very well. Hope everyone had a good eating and exercising day. :)

Made the pasta with roasted tomatoes and pine nuts last night from the Sonoma Cookbook. My fears were unfounded...my hubby loved it! As soon as he saw the healthy tomatoes and spinach in there, with the pretty colors, he was enthusiastic. He's a vegetarian and really appreciates veggies of all kinds. AND ta da! My weight went down a pound. Yessss!!!

Well, here comes the big Valentine Day. We are going out to a restaurant called Claim Jumpers Sat. and I am sure I will get the usual chocolates. I think I will try to be careful for sure but I will relax a little for this weekend. Happy Valentines Day everyone! PS I thought the pasta was good yesterday, that will be my left overs for todays lunch :)

We're going to a pizza pub...should be interesting, to say the least! At least the wine will be "Sonoma friendly."

Thinfor5minutes, the pasta dish you mentioned sounds really good. I think I skipped the pasta recipes in the Cook Book. Will have to go back and check it out.

I have done pretty well on eating today, and worked out both today and yesterday. Maybe I will weigh one day this week too. :)

Today my eating went well. I am taking a break from working out today. My thighs are kind of sore... I joined a challenge team over at Spark People, so maybe that will help me get motivated.

Hope all are doing well. :)

Heather

I made the best choice I could on Saturday night; it was a veal dish with peppers and onions, and I had cappellini and tomato sauce on the side, which I only ate half of. I brought my own salad dressing and drank red wine. I think it went well because I saw a small decrease in the weight on the scale this morning.

Well, I walked 4 miles today at the Zoo!

I am also doing much better at refusing to eat food my husband helpfully makes "for me". I hate to hurt his feelings, but I have told him I don't want to eat "x" already! A lot of times I would eat things I did not even want because I felt like I couldn't refuse after he went to the trouble. NSV for me!

Good day today! Feeling upbeat, slimmer and healthier...it's so much easier to keep going when you feel like that.

Having another good eating day (so far!). Had pork loin for dinner. I also got my workout in this morning.
Have to leave soon, but hope everyone is doing well.
Heather

Not much new going on today, but I want to keep this thread going -- where is everyone??? I hope you're all still on track and still eating that good Sonoma way!

Hi Everyone!
I weighed in today and I lost 2 pounds! Yay!
I am not sure how long it was since that last weigh in when I lost nothing for two weeks and got all disgusted and nearly gave up. Been doing better here lately with the eating and exercise. Now only 72 more pounds to go, lol.
Heather

I'm glad someone is still posting here! I gained weight :( but I am hoping it is just TOM because I was "good" all weekend.

I am still here! I am making the marinated flank steak for dinner; just got it all done and it is setting...

Thinfor5minutes, it feels so unfair when you KNOW you did a good job and don't see positive results. Just don't be like I was and let it discourage you. Who knows, I could have lost even more weight by now if I hadn't let a couple weeks of no loss throw me off course. I hope everything works out and you show a loss next time.

Heather in SC

Well it is not my T.O.M. and I have totally fallen off the wagon so I have no excuse.........I need to rethink what is going on with me. Heather it is good to hear you are feeling good about it though. I have not been walking or doing very well with my exercises. I don't know..........very bummed and feel I need to get my motive back.

Hi, dorothygailflyer! It is good to hear from you. I know what you mean about falling off the wagon, but hopefully you will be able to get back on. I got to thinking I liked the way I felt when I ate better, healthier food. Maybe that will help you to think about that as well. It took me a few weeks to decide it was better to keep trying. :)
Heather

Better today...I got on the scale and it was back down. Must've been "water retention."

Wow, I am so inspired "lurking" and reading your posts. I started cooking "the Sonoma way" a couple of weeks ago by mistake. My 15 year old daughter and I found a couple of good recipes in the Sonoma Diet Cookbook and tried them. I thought, this diet should be a good thing. I didn't realize the sugar and white flour ban until the second "true" day of the eating plan. WOW! I love pasta, pizza, chocolate cake. I have shied away from eating plans that limit flour and sugar in the past. I have to say, the third day on the plan my head hurt so bad. I'm understanding now that I had a physical reaction to the elimination of sugar.
While I've lost about 8 pounds in 8 days (I realize it's just first weeks water loss), the real advantage is the leveling off of my emotions. I hope it's not placebo. I'm in the process of mourning the loss of some of my favorite food "friends." I'm not sure where this process will take me. I just know it is the most healthy I've felt at the beginning of a new eating plan. Time will tell.
Cherry

Hi, Cherry -- pizza and pasta are not totally gone from your life - but they are in the forms you were used to. You can eat whole grain pasta and make your pizza crust from whole grain flour (or buy it at Trader Joe's the way I do sometimes). You can even find recipes for desserts that are "on plan." It just takes more thought and planning, but it can be done and you can be satisfied.

Hi, Cherry, good to see you posting!

You can also make pizza with whole grain pita or tortilla as the crust. It is pretty good! The Sonoma Cookbook is great too. Glad you joined us. :)

I'm glad you all kept this thread going. I have been on and off plan. Tomorrow is ash wednesday and I have already made a decision to try to go meatless for lent. I'm still planning to do that. I will be eating fish. This should be interesting. Hopefully it will help to get me refocused.

Hi Petra, good to hear from you. :)
Is Lent 40 days? I think you could go meatless if you try to plan really carefully. I have been sort of on and off plan too, but more on than off and I feel better for it.
Hope you can regain your focus.

Going meatless is a good idea. My husband is a vegetarian, so I eat that way a lot of the time anyway. I used to not eat chicken or red meat either, only fish, but I got really bored with that. I get tired of "10,000 ways to fix tofu or beans," LOL!