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Tag Archives: Dr. John McDougall

Behind Door #2

Many people I talk to don’t understand why I have given up meat…and dairy…and oil. All they hear is, “you are vegan?” I don’t even try to explain a plant-based, whole foods lifestyle. It relates to FINALLY, after 42 years deciding to take my health out of the hands of doctors and into my own hands. While I haven’t been severely sick or injured often, I have used medical services in the past. Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise the level of service provided seems to be deteriorating. “Seven years ago, the World Health Organization made the first major effort to rank the health systems of 191 nations. France and Italy took the top two spots; the United States was a dismal 37th” (source). It is estimated that the US spends $2 trillion annually on healthcare expenses (source).

As I have read in The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and some papers written by Dr. John McDougall much of this expenditure is not geared towards nutrition or prevention. “The health insurance companies and the big pharmaceutical corporations are raking in gigantic mountains of cash and yet the quality of the health care that we receive in return is rather quite poor” (source). The numbers are staggering when you look at the quality of medical care many individuals receive.

Unfortunately a good many number of doctors and medical facilities are not about finding the root cause of an illness, when they can prescribe medication or invasive surgery. “Nearly half of all Americans now use prescription drugs on a regular basis according to a CDC report that was recently released. According to the report, approximately one-third of all Americans use two or more pharmaceutical drugs, and more than ten percent of all Americans use five or more drugs on a regular basis.” It does not have to be this way for a majority of people. Yet doctors don’t want to see healthy people, since they don’t make them or “Big Pharma” any money. Only sick people do. (NOTE: Here are 50 U.S. Healthcare Statistics That Will Absolutely Astonish You)

Thanks to diet (or radical lifestyle change, as seen by many of my friends) I am now on the road to a healthy lifestyle. I feel great! Unfortunately I am still battling a left knee injury from soccer that has slowed me down for the past 40 days. During that time I have been to the doctor’s office twice, seen the orthopedic surgeon three times (totaling 12 minutes), gone through 3 weeks of physical therapy and finally, yesterday received my referral for an MRI. In my opinion that should of happened about 3 weeks ago. Then again, I am not a doctor.

As I wrote a few days ago, the physical therapist is of the opinion I have a mensical tear, NOT osteoarthritis as diagnosed by the orthopedic about 3 weeks ago. The pain has yet to improve when going through physical therapy. So in the words of my orthopedic surgeon, “congratulations you win what’s behind door number two.” That being an MRI. We will see what, if anything the MRI reveals. I am still of the opinion there is something torn in the knee and physical therapy confirmed by nagging feeling. I am still shocked at the lack of complacency by the orthopedic surgeon. To show he did care, he inquired about the numbness in my right knee, which had the ACL replaced in 2009 and tingling in my right toes. Needless to say, the numbness is still there, but he was happy to hear the tingling went away. Thanks doc! Guess I am the first to end up with a numb knee after surgery.

Plant Based Clarity

There was a recent question posed in the McDougall Forums that read, “Has this WOE improved your mood/concentration/energy?” Now that I have been following this lifestyle for 5 months, 15 days I have noticed non-physical changes, especially in energy and clarity coupled with the improvement on my weight and blood work numbers. It hasn’t been easy and I have sacrificed many foods that were promoting atherosclerosis and heart disease, but I would not have it any other way.

The more reading and research I do the more this “way of eating” or WOE makes good health sense. I am now appalled when I walk through the supermarket at the crap that many people buy. I am notice just how obese MANY people in our society are and they are doing nothing to improve their health. Especially as it relates to eating.

Last week I took a trip to Winco to pick up some vegetables and couscous, unfortunately I picked the wrong checkout line. The lady in front of me was severely obese and obviously buying for quite a few kids. The food she was pulling out of her cart was nothing healthy! It was frozen this, processed that, sugar-filled foods and two bags of vegetables. It was amazing to watch the amount of unhealthy food that came out of this cart. Here I stand with my vegetables and couscous…waiting.

I mentioned clarity a moment ago, but I now notice just how unhealthy Americans are. Not sure I paid much attention to before changing my diet. All you need to do is visit the local supermarket and look at these obese people pushing their shopping carts and watch what they buy. Many follow this same regiment, daily. Many are also misled by food labels and don’t pay attention to what the nutritional data or ingredients say, just what the misleading advertising reads.

She’s not the only one. Many people are brought up thinking meat is needed for protein and milk helps promote strong bones. Those are thoughts promoted by the beef and dairy industry, who are all in this for one reason…and it’s not your health. It’s money, the bottom line, they don’t care about your health and only want to promote their food with flashy advertisements and star studded people flashing a milk mustache. I grew up under this misconception and it’s taken 42 years to realize my mistake and make the necessary changes.

I now feel I have an obligation to my son, who is only 6 years old to grow up healthy and strong. That cannot be accomplished on meat and dairy. Scientific research proves this, from doctors such as T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn Jr.

Dr. Esselstyn recommends, “no animal protein, no oil (nuts and avocado in small portions), no sugars (even natural ones like maple syrup, molasses or honey), no fruit juices/smoothies. If it seems extreme, consider the typical western diet that guarantees that we’ll have an epidemic of heart disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, stroke and other chronic killing diseases” (source). Dr. Campbell and Dr. John McDougall both stress a similar diet to prevent and reverse disease.

It’s unfortunate that many Americans won’t get the message and if they do, will ignore it. My personal experience has been nothing but jokes when it comes to how I eat. Very few people don’t understand the reasons why I am following this lifestyle, many consider it a “diet” and due the extreme nature or their hardheadedness won’t accept change to better their health. All I need to do is look around in our office, the message has been well received by myself. Thankfully I have the necessary changes and now promoting a healthy lifestyle.

The Starch Solution (Video)

The Starch Solution from John McDougall on Vimeo.

It’s not for you to understand why I made a decision to change my lifestyle and move to a starch based diet. The results have been short of amazing in less than 5 months. I don’t push anything I want to eat on my friends or co-workers. Sure I share many recipes and relate my story and experiences as they happen, but wanting to change and changing your diet takes commitment and determination to change.

I hear it all to often at work, “I can’t give up my meat!” People ask me all the time, “If you don’t eat meat, what are you cooking?” There is more to life than eating meat and dairy. It has taken me 42 years to realize everything I thought I knew about nutrition was wrong and now I am experience good nutrition as my health continues to improve. Thankfully my son will be able to experience the benefits growing up and not have to wait as long as I did.

Still people I talk to don’t want to change. A comment I hear usually come from women, “I can’t lose weight.” I am sure many of us have said that same thing at some point in our life. Then I tell them I have lost 30+ pounds and they are shocked. This leads me to ask, “Well what do you eat?” Unfortunately, before they answer that question, I know what they are going to say. In some form it ends up being the standard American diet. While they might be able to control portion size they are still eating meat and dairy, while cooking with oil. Instead of feeling satiated, they are hungry because of portion control or calorie restriction.

On the other hand, I don’t count calories or worry about portion size. I eat whatever I want and stop when I am full. In the 5 months I have been following this “way of eating” (or WOE) I have continued to see weight loss, but am eating more than I was prior to changing to this lifestyle. I have replaced much of the animal protein with plant protein and decreased the amount of fat I was eating by cutting out oil. Yes, even olive oil. As Dr. McDougall says, “the fat you eat, is the fat you wear.”

This video is just a brief introduction to what Dr. McDougall calls The Starch Solution. I am sure there will be many who won’t agree with what he says or believe the results be mentions in some of his case studies. Many long standing societies were based around starch, corn, potatoes, squash and rice. Along with eating well, getting healthy I have learned a considerable amount about good nutrition. Your doctor is not out for your good health, that is something each of must take control of.

The China Study

It’s been almost 5 months since I purchased The McDougall Program by Dr. John McDougall. Last week I made the decision to pick up a copy of The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. It’s one of those books that is usually referenced when talking about a starch based diet. While I am only about 282 pages into the book, there have been some very enlightening comments made by the author. His work with the China Study was groundbreaking and complex, in terms of scope. Yet the results are rather astounding, especially coming from a “standard American diet.”

I figured I would highlight some of enlightening details from the book:

 

  • Drugs and surgery don’t cure the diseases that kill most Americans.
  • Your doctor probably does not know what you need to do to be the healthiest you can be.
  • Our health care system is clearly not the best in the world, even though we spend far and away, the most money on it.
  • [Cancer] Promotion is reversible, depending on whether the early caner growth is given the right conditions in which to grow.
  • The results of these, and many other studies, showed nutrition to be far more important in controller cancer promotion than the dose of the initiating carcinogen.
  • …nutrients from animal-based foods increased tumor development while nutrients from plant-based food decreased tumor development.
  • Lower blood cholesterol levels are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer and other Western diseases, even at levels far below those considered “safe” in the West.
  • …there is a mountain of scientific evidence to show that the healthiest diet you can possibly consume is a high-carbohydrate diet.
  • Everything in food works together to create health or disease.

 

These just scratch the surface though, the scientific reasoning behind The China Study and the numbers presented are staggering. Dr. Campbell stresses through out the book a plant-based diet leads to better health.

While I am not quite done with the book, I am interested in learning more about nutrition after reading The China Study. So much so, I am considering enrolling in T. Colin Campbell‘s online courses for a certificate in plant-base nutrition through eCornell. No idea what doors this will open, if any, or where it will lead. I do think it is a great opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge of a plant-based diet.

Back to Basics

I’ve been frustrated recently while searching out more plant-based recipes for my new found lifestyle. It’s been challenging at times, outside of using the recipes found in the McDougall Newsletters or on the McDougall Discussion Boards (MWL and non-MWL, which means “maximum weight loss”), vegan and vegetarian recipes alike rarely make the grade. That’s not to say the recipes don’t look delicious, many do and would rival many non-vegan dishes.

Why? It’s the overabundance (at times) of fat in the recipes, from butters to oil and soy products and creams. As I wrote previously in my piece, Fat Vegan, sometimes eating this way isn’t any healthier. While my dietary guidelines are more strict, limiting fat intake to 10% a day I don’t see my way of eating above that of vegans. Based solely on recipes a plant-based, whole food lifestyle is more healthy when you cut out dairy, oils and meats that could promote disease, like arteriosclerosis and heart disease.

Thankfully I have already reaped benefits from this way of eating to reduce my susceptibility. I am determined to keep this lifestyle, as long as I put food on the table that my family enjoys, which reduces fats, cholesterol and those unhealthy ingredients, why shouldn’t I try? Thankfully we have a few staples we return week after week, but adding new dishes to the menu plan is always beneficial, but hasn’t been an easy task.

Maybe I am trying too hard to convert recipes to make them compliant with how I want to eat and how I would like to feed my family. Instead of looking for substitutes and experimenting with dishes (which is fun at times), I might look at staying with simple, easy recipes that Dr. McDougall and his wife, Mary talk about. I am already looking at The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, which contains 300 plant-based recipes that should provide many good meals.