Dr McDougall encouraging eating disorder?

[TominTN]

Any condition can be medicalized, as the "laxophagy" example given above suggests. Back in the '80s, a psychologist invented the term "pronoia":

Pronoia is the positive counterpart of paranoia. It is the delusion that others think well of one. Actions and the products of one's efforts are thought to be well received and praised by others. Mere acquaintances are thought to be close friends; politeness and the exchange of pleasantries are taken as expressions of deep attachment and the promise of future support. Pronoia appears rooted in the social complexity and cultural ambiguity of our lives: we have become increasingly dependent on the opinions of others based on uncertain criteria.

So, if you have high self esteem and enjoy interacting with other people, according to his definition, you have a disease! More recent research suggests that people with positive delusions are actually happier and longer lived than those who see themselves and their world "realisitically" (I wonder who gets to decide what's realistic?)

http://soarwiththeeagles.blog-city.com/delusions_may_2007.htm
http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/9/M567.abstract

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Anyway, according to the list of symptoms, we all are headed in the direction of an eating disorder. Reading labels excessively is one of the symptoms.

Well, this explains a lot.

Reading labels so I know what I'm buying - is BAD?

[Rob]

I've seen a bit of this overly obsessive behavior. I would characterize it as someone who, for example, freaks out because something has trace amounts of oil in it.

I don't cook with oil. However, if I'm at someone else's home and I'm offered something that has trace amounts of oil in it, I do eat it. I won't eat anything swimming in oil. But, if they used a small amount of oil I don't freak out.

I'm the same way with meat. I don't cook it myself. However, if I'm at someone else's home and I'm offered meat, I eat a bit of it. I'm not going to eat an entire steak, but I'm not going to freak out if I have a few bits of chicken.

I accept that the best I will probably achieve is 99.5% plant-based while still maintaining a social life. However, I do draw the line with meat.

We can control 99.99% of what we have in our home. If we are with friends at their homes I may have a cookie, a small piece of cake or a piece of fruit pie knowing that the cake or cookie may have egg or milk in it and the pie crust may have some shortening or lard in it. I would not have ice cream with the cake or a custard pie.

Meat is something else. I just can't stand the taste or thought of eating it. Imagine that you found a mouse dropping in your food. You would not want to eat the mouse dropping much less anything that had touched it. Meat became simply repulsive to me on a very basic level and this is coming from someone who grew up on it.

[AlphaFemale]

Meat is something else. I just can't stand the taste or thought of eating it.

Yeah, I wouldn't eat anything that I found repulsive. I've become this way with a lot of fast food. I just can't stomach it anymore.

I understand why someone who is a vegan for ethical reasons wouldn't want the meat and I understand how someone else might simply find it repulsive.

I still like chicken and although I don't cook it at home I won't refuse it if someone gives it to me provided it isn't cooked in an extremely disgusting way.

Of course, I will admit that I'm not 100% compliant with the McDougall diet. I would say that my home is compliant (with the exception of my peanut butter), but I'm not.

[Rob]

I still like chicken and although I don't cook it at home I won't refuse it if someone gives it to me provided it isn't cooked in an extremely disgusting way.

Of course, I will admit that I'm not 100% compliant with the McDougall diet. I would say that my home is compliant (with the exception of my peanut butter), but I'm not.

I've been doing this for almost 15 years. In the beginning, after just a few months I lost my strong desire for meat. After a year I became indifferent to it. After a few years I lost my taste for it. And after 6-7 years, meat became really repulsive to me - even the smell of it.

At the same time, I had an almost inverse relationship with vegetables. I went from being indifferent to them (other than sweet corn which I have always loved) to having a really strong desire for them.

I can't really say why my tastes changed so dramatically - it's not something I expected but it certainly makes it easy to continue with the McDougall Plan!

[bunsofaluminum]

Let's coin a new term: "laxophagy", to describe eating anything without concern about its health or other implications. Laxophagy is largely responsible for the epidemics of obesity, heart disease and cancer. A laxophage shouldn't be calling anyone an orthorexic.

I like it!

[Lynn M]

How does one "read labels excessively," anyway? What does that mean? Like, you sit there and read them over and over? No one does that!

I tend to - I have to. My husband eats processed foods (although he is getting more into McDougalling), and he has numerous life-threatening food allergies. During a trip to the ER, the emergency room nurse advised that labels be read each and every time he decides to eat processes foods. It is surprising at how often they change the ingredients in all those packages!

[Steelhead]

I like what Dr. McDougall wrote in his book about how it is alright to eat some meat on holidays, and have some cake on birthdays, etc.

Also, in The China Study, on the page with the chart of what to eat it does list fish as a food to eat in moderation. Also, the science shows that our diets should not exceed 10% in calories from animal protein (at least this is what The China Study says).

So while it may be possible for us to have eating disorders, Dr. McDougall's plan definitely does not ask us to become food nazis or develop eating disorders.

So on St. Patrick's Day, maybe having some corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage is fine (as long as the corned beef is less than 10% of our daily calories), and maybe for Easter we can have a little ham, etc. The point is to eat a healthful diet period. If someone wants to become a "vegan," then that is fine too, but "veganism" is a politically charged word that really doesn't by itself result in healthful living: we all know junk-food vegans for example.

Eat well, live long, and prosper.