Discussion Board

I found the statin article exceptionally good!

It's interesting to me to hear about the standards from the '70's as compared with today. Once I was knitting, turned on the TV for company (there's NEVER anything good on, of course!!!!), and settled for watching an epsiode of Archie and Edith Bunker...striaght outta the '70's...and Archie was just diagnosed with "borderline blood pressure," which was a big scary deal for the family... --so common today, everybody and their uncle on blood pressure meds, etc...but for them, it was a big deal and he was trying to lose weight and such. Anyhow, I don't remember the exact top number now, but I think it was maybe 160...something like that...I just remember it was so much higher than borderline would be considered now. I remember it struck me as really funny how things have REALLY changed!!!!

Dr. McDougall mentioned this phenomenon in his article on statins...that protocol has changed right along with the development and marketing of new drugs for these things.

It's also an interesting thing that cholesterol, in and of itself, is not necessarily cause for alarm...yet, to hear today's "common knowledge," even among health care people, you'd think cholesterol was THE MOST important thing.

Anyway, I thought the article was very thorough, and Dr. McDougall's experience, research, thought and observation with this certainly shined through!

The June/08 newsletter was valuable to me with information on statins. I'm leaving today for another part of the state to visit my 95 year old mother and (age undisclosed ) sister. My sister told me she was horrified to discover Mom had quit taking her cholesterol medication and she wants to haul Mom to a doctor, who she is sure will tell Mom to take the med (and I'm sure he/she will). I'm bringing my newsletter.

I have a comment about the first article about giving up meat.

Although I agree with the article, my experience when it comes to craving food in the ads on TV is a little different than how it was stated in the article. Yes, meat on its own is pretty bland and the lettuce and tomato do make the sandwich look more appetizing, but I am neither a lettuce nor a tomato loving gal. The bun...maybe. I don't think it is completely accurate to say that people are really salivating over the juicy tomato and lettuce (it isn't the case with me, atleast). I don't think that argument would be very convincing to the average meat-eater.

The statement about craving salt and sweet I think is right on. When I see the ads for burgers and buffalo wings and fried chicken, I am craving the salt and the spices and the corn syrup, the crispy breading, the sauces and all of that stuff they put in to make you eat more than you need. If you took all of the salt and corn syrup out of these foods only the most stubborn of people would eat them. Grease does not taste good without salt.

I was very surprised to read Dr. McDougall's example of a burger and the fixings relating to taste. I flashed back 21 years, to a week before I gave up meat, and the time I was cooking up a couple of burgers.

I was frying the hamburger patties, while preparing the buns and condiments, when I got a phone call. Being distracted while on the phone, I continued to cook. Having finished and taken it to the table to eat, I ended the call and sat down to eat. I couldn't believe how great the burgers tasted! The thought actually went through my mind 'Best Ever'. I went out to the fridge to grab a drink, and on the way back stopped in my tracks to see both the hamburger patties still sitting in the frying pan! Doh! But hey, I learned something that day, and one week later gave up meat for good.

In the following years, I have probably purchased more Veggie Whoppers from Burger King than anyone out there. Not the fake meat patty one - yuck- just the regular one, hold the meat.

Also in the article was Dr. McDougall's breakdown of the reasons for becoming a vegetarian. I think he was 'spot on' in his categories - Health, Appearance, Environmental and Animal Rights. For me it was always the last one, Animal Rights. So I haven't always been the healthiest of vegetarians, but that is changing now as I read more and understand what kind of nutrition is necessary and proper.

Great article! Some good ideas for anyone out there to tell friends and family when they ask you 'Why did you become a vegetarian'?

GreenGenes,

When someone asks why I'm vegetarian, I usually tell them "all of the above" In the past this has given me some strange looks but recently I had a discussion with someone who knowingly nodded and smiled and talked about how she's considered it but her husband is very pro-meat and about how sometimes she just slips it to the dog under the table, lol. It was wonderful talking to someone who actually admired my standpoint instead of criticizing it. I love how times are changing.

I always have been somewhat of an environmentalist, I absolutely adore animals, and I care about my health as well. There are far more reasons for me to be vegetarian than not to be one. I started experimenting with vegetarianism when I was a teenager. I have now consistantly been vegetarian for about 8+ years, but about 10 total (which is over 1/3 of my life )

In fact, meat isn't the slightest bit tempting anymore. Dairy on the other hand I'm still learning how to "just say no." I've read enough literature to know it isn't good for me, and that consuming dairy is just as bad for animals and the environment as consuming meat, but it is taking some work getting past those years of advertisement (and experiences) of pizza as the ultimate comfort food. I've been McDougalling since January first (minus a few setbacks, most of them in a rebellious one week period) and while it is relatively easy for me to turn down the greasy foods and eggs, I still find it difficult to not want dairy. I'm sure someday I'll get to a point where I find dairy as repulsive as meat but, just like switching to vegetarian, I'm sure that may take a little while.

Back to topic though, I think the most productive thing you can do when having a discussion with a meat-eater, is to not criticize their point of view. If you do, that will instantly make them defensive and you'll get an earful about how "wrong" you are. If they understand that they aren't being attacked for their ways (even though this more than often starts out as them attacking your view) then they seem to be SO much more open to discussion and may actually learn something. People are often times critical of me until I tell them my husband eats meat. Then they actually stop and listen. Now, my husband on the other hand LOVES a burger, however he doesn't buy it and bring it home. He only eats meat when eating out of the house...so he eats vegetarian 9 days out of 10. Which is an amazing step in the right direction since before me, he considered a vegetable to be a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips,

Wow that was an earful! Best of luck in your discussions with friends and family!
Alyssa

Thanks for your stories. I loved GreenGenes story about the missing hamburgers. I would have ended up with a ketchup sandwich! I think I reacted a little strongly to the statement that "meat doesn't taste good" because I have been struggling lately with craving meat (and I have personal issues with raw tomatoes ). The food ads on tv are driving me crazy - I can't even watch tv during primetime anymore. Sorry if I came across as nit-picky. I guess I'm just trying to work stuff out in my brain.

Harmony, I used to work in the media (tv and radio) and absolutely can't stand commercials, despite the fact that I've been in quite a few of them (radio only ).

In fact, I don't watch regular t.v. I save a bundle not having cable or satelite though! Anyway I do like a couple t.v. shows....and luckily (sound the trumpets- this is where my post actually has a tip in it!) my local library (which is 2 blocks away) had LOTS of t.v. shows on DVD that I check out for free (sound more trumpets)!!! My library allows me to check out 4 dvd's & 5 vhs's at a time (that is a lot!) and they aren't due back for a week.

It is a totally awesome way to watch shows you want to watch, at your convenience, commercial free, and that you can pause when you need to use the bathroom or remove your easy pleasin' oat bars from the oven! Can you tell I really dig the library?

Anyway, check yours out! You may be pleasantly surprised what you find! They usually have a very good movie selection as well

Best of luck,
Alyssa

Harmony,

I enjoyed reading your original post too. It is good to see some dissenting views about anything - better than hearing "ditto, ditto, ditto" , huh?

About meat, when I gave it up, I totally went for the meat substitutes. The big one that came out around that time was Green Giant's Harvest Burger. I ate them almost daily. It was my route to a transition. I could even bring them to my buddies BBQ to grill and not feel so left out. Have you tried them? Maybe they don't match up totally with the MD plan, but they could fit into the 10% or infrequent catagory? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong there.

I also ate Tofu Pups and Phony Bologna...all the fake meat substitutes. Gradually, I used them less as my tastes changed.



Now I will ditto that. That's why I haven't watched a commercial in more than 4 years. If you have to watch tv, try to get a dvr or tivo from your provider, it will allow you to skip commercials. Your cravings will be greatly reduced. I bought a stand alone hard drive recorder around 3 years ago, it was a little spendy, but totally worth it.

I also "dig" the library, like happyalyssa, and borrow dvds there too. You can get tv series there as well, without the fast food commercials.

I think I'm ready for a tv fast anyway. I was watching way too much reality tv (which I said I would never do, but I just couldn't resist Dancing with the Stars ) One thing led to another and before I knew it there was something on every night of the week. My poor kids had to fight for my attention !
Anyway, now I know better.

Right on about the TV. We use rabbit ears and have ghost images so we dont watch much and don't have time for cable to be cost effective.
My father and grandfather were butchers in a packing house and he was from Germany. We had meat at every meal and not a salad ("that's rabbit food") in sight. I grew up thinking that vegetarians were goofy animal lovers. Now, on Dr. McDougalls DVD's discussing the digestive tract I can follow the progrssion of disease that my parents experienced.
People who express interest get a copy of an article or two that Dr. McDougall has written on whatever concerns them. I think the key is to wait for them to express interest. My response to some of the questions is "so what is there about this manner of eating that is harmful or could prove harmful?" As my Dr. once said when I asked him about something " I don't see anything there that can cause harm and it may be beneficial". As to the original topic, I am currently just off my statins, Thanks to Dr. McDougall. On statins My cholesterol was 166 and after 12 weeks on the eating plan it was 119. I fought the statins for a long time but finally gave in about 1.5 years ago. Now I am FREE. I just love his newsletters. Sorry for the rambling.