Discussion Board

Hi there,
I'm brand new, just started to research this style of eating over the last week and today is my first day trying it out.

My challenge, aside from the usual challenge of changing a lifestyle, is that my husband worked as a chef for many years and cooks delicious food. He's the one that got me eating cheese in the first place, when I met him I didn't like cheese. And then he gave me artisan cheese and I quickly changed my mind! He's supportive, but naturally keeps the weight off pretty easily, so he's unlikely to change his eating habits.

Now I'm 35 lbs overweight and just got a "high normal" blood pressure reading at the doctor's office for two visits in a row. I worry that if I don't change something now, I'll join the rest of the older folks in my family who inevitably get high blood pressure in their 50s. And I'm only 39!

Wish me luck!!

Welcome, tobethinagain!!

You will find lots of support here.

Many with spouses find that as time goes by, they slowly adopt this way of eating as well, but even if not, at least he is supportive. That goes a long way.

Keep us posted as you go thru the Journey!!

Welcome aboard, Tobethinagain! I am glad you found us. Perhaps you can challenge your husband to McDoguallize some of his recipes.

Use the great resources and keep us posted on your successes!

Welcome! Maybe your husband can become an expert chef with this new WOE. We never can have too many good chefs turning out some great new meals for us....

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I've found a great compromise dinner--tacos! I had fat free refried beans with fat free corn tortillas and he had chorizo (and beans) and flour tortillas. Plenty of salsa and guacamole without oil. And a cucumber salad (vinegar only). Everyone was happy.

LOL, my 5 year old is totally into vegetables and not so into meat so he's kind of Mcdougalling already.

I am 48 yrs old and have high cholesterol,high blood pressure probable ms and weigh 190 lbs. Looking for a way out. Am researching fruits nad vegatables juicing. I met someone who follows Mcdougall need some advice on how to start, have been eating just fruit and vegatables for 3 weeks. My husband is 47 yrs old and weighs 300 pds and has very high cholesterol. We have no medical insurance and are finding that eating this way might be to hard to afford. Please contact us. we are in need of help.

You are so lucky!

As I've learned here, many rustic (peasant) cooking traditions are quite frugal, and begin with veggies as soup stock, or sauce base, and feature veggies, grains and roots. All herbs and spices are also plants. And there's a huge variety of vegetable, grain and root salads.

Perhaps your husband can help you explore these bases behind everything?

Another option is use meat as condiment, for his plate. Most dishes should adapt well to this.

We took opportunity to learn Indian dishes with Asian spices, as way to add dishes and have fun, so this lifestyle is not just hair-shirts and taking things away.

We also were juicing vegetables and vegetarian before finding Dr. McDougall. Getting started is often half the battle.

If you haven't already, I would recommend viewing Dr. McDougall's "The Starch Solution" video.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19731
It explains how starches, with green & yellow veggies, should be center of diet. Then find some every day recipes that can appeal to you. For example, I like rolled oats and fruit breakfast, dal soup and cucumber salad lunch, and leftover soup & salad with brown rice and curry dinner.

There's lots of other videos and reading here. Explore, and use the search tool.

A lot of this is just every day following the guidelines, while living life.

Well...maybe I can sway him if he can see results...
Mainly, as a chef, he's horrified by the idea of cooking without oil. I'm still getting over it myself. I'm half italian, so olive oil is a mainstay. Still, it's remarkably easy to saute onions and garlic in veggie broth, so oil suddenly doesn't seem that necessary.

By the way, I weighed myself this morning and I was 5 pounds lighter! Interesting. I feel lighter too.

Look at the "free program" on this site to see what foods are and are not allowed. You can actually eat very cheaply on this plan. Starches (whole grains, potatoes, winter squash, beans) are the main part of the meal, with fruits and veggies added. Brown rice is a lot cheaper than meat!

Appears to me that oil primarily lets you turn up the heat, and cook faster. Traditional slow cooking doesn't need it. For example, if I simmer onions on very low heat, covered, for 1-2 hours, they turn very nice brown, without any burning.

Italians have so many fresh vegetables: eggplant, zucchini, radicchio, endive, fava beans, fennel and artichoke...

If I find a sauce that I feel really requires olives (very rarely), I toss in a few sliced whole olives, rather than using oil. Obviously, olives like avocados and nuts, are rich foods, and don't go well with loosing weight.

Dr. McD likes to say expect results.

Hopefully we'll be seeing some good Italian recipes from you. I'm reading a cookbook right now that has 140 Italian vegetable-bases sauces, however I've still got to adapt for no oil and no cheese.

Welcome tobethinagain!

When I started eating healthier, my then-husband was not at all supportive. He was the chef in our family (and a very good one), and he really hated that I didn't want to eat oil or salt anymore. He kept making me things that had salt and oil in them, and then getting upset with me for not eating them, sigh. I had to really be firm and tell him this was about my health, it wasn't just some lose-5-pounds kind of thing. He finally adjusted.

It sounds like your compromise meal was a great solution! Your husband sounds a lot more supportive than mine was, so that bodes well. And as soon as he sees how great you feel, I'm sure he will be even more supportive and hopefully start making you lots of yummy dinners too. He might even start eating healthier himself, especially as your son doesn't like meat either.