Discussion Board

I've been McDougalling for a little less than two weeks and I'm still struggling feeling like the meals out on the table are complete meals... I'm so used to feeding my family meat! I look at what I cook now and it feels like side dishes! Will this go away? What are your main meals like? Is it really healthy to have potatoes or Brown rice as a main component and then veggies...and that's it for a meal? It's so backwards from what I've been taught my whole life!,!!

Color me frustrated and confused...

Have you started experimenting with different recipes?
Here's a good place to start:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/recipeindex.html

My main meals are pretty simple these days, but I only have myself to please:
Breakfast: rolled whole grains + raisins, soaked overnight in water or soy milk.
Lunch: (at work) cooked brown rice topped with veggies, or soup, or veggie stew. I divide lunch between morning and afternoon breaks, and use my lunch period to get in a good walk.
Supper: Something light; a salad or a veggie sandwich on whole wheat.

But, just starting out, and taking your family on this journey with you, you might want to experiment with some of the recipes that are floating around here, to make it feel more "normal" while you adjust. A spicy, hearty vegetable stew served over rice or potatoes, for example.

I approach meals in 3 different ways.

1. choose the starch, just like I used to choose to meat then plan the meal around that. This sounds like what you are currently doing. Brown rice and potatoes are my favorites too.

2. use ethnic cuisine/travels (something I've had in a restaurant) as my inspiration.

3. visit several recipe blogs/websites (McDougall's [both the newsletter and these forums], fatfreevegan.com etc.), sometimes a recipe will capture my interest.

Each day it becomes easier and easier until it's second nature and you don't think about your old habits. Learning tricks to cooking fat/oil free helped too so I could adjust most recipes to make them Maximum Weight Loss friendly. I encourage you to keep up the good work your doing for you and your family.

I know many folks are so use to seeing a meat, a veggie and a starch. That's how I was raised. It's funny that I didn't think my favorite Spaghetti and sauce was not a meal. We use to not always have a salad either.

Are you getting complaints?

The kids are adjusting still, my husband is loving the new meals... I love eating them and cooking them... Just trying to unlearn what I've been taught... Make sense?

Yes, it all makes sense because we have habits that are not easily changed! We have habitual (ingrained) ways of thinking and acting that are quite resistant to change.

For me, it was difficult to trust the information here enough to (finally) give up my multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. Since I had a history of anemia as a plant eater, I was concerned that I may not get enough iron without the supplement. Finally I gave it up and the lab and my experience of well being tell me that I have made a good decision.

It is hard to trust that what works for others will work for us, right? However, in regard to what works for McDougallers--a diet based on unrefined plants with abundant starches--would probably work well for about over 95% of the world's population!

The difficulty is this lack of faith! So, Mama, commit yourself to the program with no reservations and I think you and your family will be delighted with the results!!!

Please keep us posted!

That is fantastic that hubby likes the plan. That is one of the hardest hurdles usually. He may even come up with some ideas for dinners.

You'll get there. it is a new concept. I always use to feel guilty with so much food.