McDougall Made Easy

[viv]

After 5+ years on the McDougall Plan I have found that I am very happy eating very few ingredients. I eat the same every day except when I go out occasionally to Panera and have black bean soup, veggie sandwich, salad etc.

It's such a relief not to spend time worrying about calories, what to eat, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, points, and all the other stuff that took so much of my life. Who knew I could be happy and satisfied on so few ingredients in the best health of my life? Do you eat very simply?

Starch: Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal, gold potatoes, Ezekial bread
Fruit: apples, bananas
Veg: bag frozen mixed veg, kale, baby carrots
Non-dairy: almond milk
condiments: in small amounts: salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup, barbeque sauce. Tea and coffee

[kirkj]

I do eat the same things over and over again but I think I eat more different things than you do. For example, today for starches I will eat oatmeal, wheat berries + black beans + green peas + corn in a salad, brown rice, potatoes and winter squash. Everything I cook is quite simple, and I usually cook enough to last several days. I still end up cooking almost every day but usually for an hour in the morning.

It is strange that I don't get sick of any of this. I've eaten oatmeal every day for breakfast for about 8 years and I look forward to it every morning.

[viv]

It is strange that I don't get sick of any of this. I've eaten oatmeal every day for breakfast for about 8 years and I look forward to it every morning.

I agree, I also find it very strange that I can eat the same thing over and over and it never seems repetitive or dull. As far as oatmeal goes, it's the gold standard breakfast! Like you I have eaten it every morning for years. This diet is the miracle that never goes away. I've never eaten wheat berries, so next time I'm in the store I will look for them. Do you add them to your oatmeal?

[colonyofcells]

I eat mainly boiled steel cut oats that I pour over some high calcium greens like kale, collard, turnip greens, bok choy and mustard greens, and a b12 supplement.

[AlwaysAgnes]

I have favorites which I tend to eat more regularly, but I don't intentionally limit or restrict my choices within food categories (unless I just don't like a particular food--beets for example ). I lean towards a variety over time because 1. Different plant foods have different phytochemicals and 2. I prefer some variety. Eating more variety doesn't necessarily mean things have to be complicated. Look at it this way: Sometimes you feel like cucumber and radishes in your salad; sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't want salad. Sometimes you feel like kale. Other times you feel like spinach. Both are equally good in enchiladas.

I think for me variety in the world of plant foods is probably more help than hindrance. I mean I love russet potatoes and eat a lot of them, but if something along the lines of a russet potato famine were to occur, or those times when all the russets in the store look like crap I still have other options.

Looking at Jeff Novick's healthy eating placemat, the foods I eat less of are fruits and maybe intact whole grains. I do eat a lot of sweet corn, but I think that's a starchy vegetable. I have been eating a bit more fruit lately, but probably nothing to write home about.

[MINNIE]

Viv,
You eat pretty much the same way I do.

I didn't plan this - it just happened.

I eat mostly the same foods at the same times each day. I love it because I don't have to think about food or plan menus.

It's all one bowl or plate meals too, for more simplicity.

It's there. I eat it. Then I can think about other things:).

[frozenveg]

I'm a lot like AlwaysAgnes--I eat very simple foods, but my food changes along as time goes along. And along with most of you, I've been eating oatmeal for over 8 1/2 years for breakfast and never tire of it. It took me a few months of experimenting with Uncle Sam cereal, the muffin recipes from the free program breakfasts (I don't know that those recipes are in the newer version!), and those labor-intensive scrambles/burrito-type breakfasts. Oatmeal is it for me.

And my food does stay relatively the same. Brown rice or any kind of potato as starch, baby carrots and grape tomatoes as munchies, frozen: mixed vegetables, kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, corn, peas, and the occasional stir-fry veggie pack; and I use cans of no-salt-added tomatoes as my sauce for almost everything. My go-to condiments are ketchup and grey poupon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and my go-to seasonings are garlic, onion, chili powder and cumin. I do drive my husband nuts with this--he likes variety in every meal in every day. We are not food-compatible!

[Willijan]

I tend to eat mostly the same very simple foods for months, then I change and eat something different for months. Right now I'm eating:


oat groats with chopped dates, then diced apple on top ----Yum!!!

mashed potatoes made with soy milk, with corn mixed in ----Yum!!!


veggies: mainly green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts and asparagus


I love what I eat! Right now I am having some delicious mashed potatoes and corn.

[dlee]

I like to keep my meals pretty simple too. Potatoes, rice sweet potatoes and green veggies, salads, fruit that is abundant. Where I live ,Mangos are super right now.
I noticed that all of the above postings omitted Legumes or beans. Is that for any reason??
I like to have a small serving like maybe 1/4 c to 1/2 c per day , in homemade hummus or black or brown beans.. without oil.
Just wondering if I've missed something? Dlee

[PJK]

You folks must rank very low on the need for variety.

Not all of us do.

I get bored eating the same thing. Leftovers? Maybe for 1 night. The 2nd night is a slog.

Also, while I know Dr. McD. advocates a very simple range of foods, doesn't it make sense that one would get a wider range of nutrients from a wider range of foods? For ex., apples and oranges are both fruit, but their nutrient profiles vary.

[f00die]

variety is one of the 5 pillars
(jeffn has nice thread on variety somewhere)
these are natural products
which vary naturally
no one potato is like another potato
plus fruits and veggies
and grains
compare that to "meat"
most ppl only eat 2 or 3 kinds of animals
(except if theyre eating fast food)
so, they are not leftovers
its todays food: beans again
pintos, then black beans, then
navy beans, etc.
it helps reduce eating as entertainment
really just making tomorrows turds

[frozenveg]

dlee, I noticed that my reply didn't include fruits OR legumes! I do eat them, but I think that I didn't list them because they aren't essential parts of my food--I could go for days without adding them, and then I can eat them daily for a couple weeks. I like a variety of them--my favorites are pintos, and I like garbanzos, cannellini, kidney and black, too.

PJK, I feel like I get a lot of variety. (I've never been able to commit to a Mary's Mini, for instance, because I have oats as my starch for breakfast, maybe rice at lunch, and maybe potatoes for dinner--or pasta). I have all sorts of frozen veggies, and lots of fresh vegs! But I know what I like, and what I don't like, how much prep time I want to spend, and what is just not worth the time to me--so I keep it really simple. But if I made a list of what I do use, it would be boringly long!

As far as variety and nutrients, 2 things: I plug my days into Cron-o-meter every few months to check on my nutritional levels, so I stay on track that way, and "simple" doesn't necessarily mean "identical" from day to day. For example, my "simple" fruit selection includes (frozen blueberries, cherries and mango, and fresh apples, cherries, grapes, bananas and kiwi.

[spinner]

I tend to eat the same things, but also eat seasonally. My breakfast is almost always old fashioned oats and either bananas or berries or seasonal fresh fruit. My lunch is almost always home-made veggie bean soup (onions, carrots, celery, black beans, green pepper, potatoes, green peas, oregano, canned no salt tomatoes) that I batch cook in my Instant Pot. My dinner is almost always a large mixed veggie and green leaf salad, 1 or two oranges, and a starch (potatoes or rice or corn). Right now it's been corn as the yellow corn has been available. Sometimes I make compliant lentil or black bean chili and have that instead of a salad. Great over mashed potatoes! Sometimes I have more fruit for dessert if I'm still hungry. I like to cook. I like to have control over the ingredients and the freshness of my food. There are a few common foods in this way of eating I really dislike (garlic, mushrooms) and I can cook to avoid them.

My husband is starting to become interested in following this way of eating and I want to make sure he has plenty of his favorite fruits, veggies, and starches available so he does not feel deprived.

[Grammy Ginger]

I settle into a grove for months at a time and then something new strikes my fancy.

My newest regime includes:

B: Oatmeal with applesauce and cinnamon--sometimes blueberries--plus a pound of steamed greens of some kind with vinegar and mustard dressing

L: Greens and Beans and Green Beans--It used to be greens and beans and rice but post-meno has my metabolism licked. I had to cut calorie density. Green beans replaced the rice. I top this with chopped tomatoes and peppers and cilantro and lime juice. I prefer pintos and occasionally split peas.

D: a huge pile of stir-fried veggies with brown basmati rice OR giant salad and hashbrowns

Sometimes I eat seasonal fruit for dessert or a snack.