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I am curious how people ate before they adopted this WOE. I was a carnivore/omnivore.

I was low carbing before, so not exactly everything, but a complete opposite

I just came off the Ideal Protein diet, I lost 30 pounds and then gained 20 back over the holidays. It's not healthy. I wish to be healthy first, and thin second. Nice to get both though!!

I ate EVERYTHING...and LOTS of it! Especially sweets, ice cream by the gallon, meat every night, and CHEESE-lots of cheese!!! When I dieted, like on Weight Watchers, I just used "low-fat" versions of all the horrible foods that got me obese to begin with! It makes me sick to think of it now! The result of living that way gave me diabetes and cancer!...But that's what led me to Dr. McDougall, so all's well that ends well, right????? Now at least, my kids know better and hopefully I've been able to spare them the troubles I've had. And best of all, I'll get to grow old having fun with them!!!

I just want to say, I NEVER thought I could give up all my beloved SAD food for good! So, if I could do it, ANYONE can!!! Thank you, Dr. McDougall, for showing me how to get my life and health back!

We thought we were being healthy. I am type 2 dia. so we did not do a lot of desserts. But we were into the whole "Healthy Oil" myth. And we ate meat. I had gone to lots of classes by HMO's about diabetic eating. SO did the portion control , low carb thing. ANd watched my weight and insulin resistance just go up and up.
THe extra and unexpected thing is the reduction in pain!! Plus , I was really having a difficult time walking. Like needing a shopping cart to lean on. NOw, I am walking miles. We even gave up our car. Just walk over to bus stop. A new chapter.

I ate everything, and thought I was being healthy too. Tons of cheese and yogurt, sauteeing in extra virgin olive oil, steak and sausage, lots of veggies, blue cheese dressing on my salads...

About 10 years ago I stopped eating meat but loaded up on cheese, never milk etc. so. Plus I ate way more seafood.
Then I cut out cheese, but still ate lots of nuts and seeds and seafood.
Learning this way of eating, I have a little bit seafood about once a month, no dairy at all and never oil when I prepare our food, but when we go out, which is maybe once a week to once every two weeks there is some oil in the food.
But those years before about 10 years ago, very SAD

Just like several others have said, I ate everything! I kept the local fast food joints in business. My go to breakfast was two sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits with two hash browns and a large diet coke. I also had my share of double whoppers and large fries. ALWAYS large fries. Checker's, Long John Silver's, Mcdonald's, Burger King, Papa John's, KFC, Arby's, and Wendy's all got their share of my time. I was really doing myself in, but what's inexcusable is that I was leading my family down the same path. The only fast food joint I have been in since January 11th, 2011 is Wendy's. Two plain potatoes, and two side salads.

Vegetarian for 28 years. Vegan for a short period of time, tried the no-fat diet for a short period of time. Prior to starting this WOE a few weeks ago a "cheatin' vegan." Would cook vegan at home but when I ate out a couple times a week might have cheese.

But I was an extremely unhealthy vegetarian, eating lots of fried food and using oil in everything and snacking on chips and lots of nuts.

I had no idea that oil was so bad.

I was a longtime vegetarian leaning toward veganism. Because of circulatory health issues, I was already trying to eat a fairly low-fat diet.

Vegan for 20 years, but used oil, ate meat analogs, ate too many frozen vegan burritos, etc. See my Star story for more detail!

I switched between vegetarian and vegan....plenty of junk that's for sure.

I voted vegan, but that's not strictly true. I was about 2 years into veganism when I discovered the McDougall program but I had a lot of "slip ups" eating dairy and eggs (never meat, though). I was probably around 80% vegan on average.

However, I wasn't eating a particularly low-fat vegan diet and certainly not a no-outside-added fats one. I was probably at around the SAD level (30% or so) of fat in my diet. That seems like so much now that I've been back on McDougall since May .

Djuna

I guess I ate the standard American diet because I didn't know any other way, maybe I should say I didn't want to eat any other way. Or I wouldn't be able to sustain an alternate way of eating. I could sit here and make excuse after excuse, but I won't. Bottom line I ate bad.

It was 2 years ago that my doctor had me pay more attention to my cholesterol, so he outlined what I should eat and what I should stay away from. Needless to say, it didn't work. My wife and I were conscience of changing my diet for about 2 months and then it fell by the wayside and I (we) were back to the SAD.

What made this worse was eating out 3-4 times a week at work, not to mention costing quite a bit. Working right near Chinatown, in downtown Oakland there are many different shops offering a wide range of delectable foods. I got hooked on a few that became my staple for lunch. The pounds began to add up. No longer was I 195 pounds, but 205 and my jeans were suddenly tight and shirts not fitting. Well, that story could go on.

Like many have already said, meat and cheese made up a big portion of our diet. Not red meat, but pork, chicken and turkey. The doctor (misinformed) said it was better than red meat. We ate a fair amount of grains and potatoes prior to this, but my veggie intake was terrible. Oil was also a staple in my cooking, be it sauteing or adding to nearly every recipe I had in my collection.

Thankfully that has all changed. I believe my diet is well under control now, thanks in part to Dr. McDougall's books, this discussion board. Still have a long way to go, but this is a very good foundation from which to build.

I was all over the map, but certainly relied way too much on dairy, refined flour and sugar, as well as eating meat, fish and eggs daily. I also did not eat nearly enough veggies, although I ate more than many folks I know.

I thought I was healthy.