When the McDougall diet stops working.....

[Ruff]

Long post.....

I am a long time McDougaller, lost lots of weight, took up running and a martial art, got my life back, nobody believes I am a formerly obese person. All good.

I have been Mcdougalling since 2012, but over the last 18 months my health has been going downhill. Tired all the time, aches and pains, mouth ulcers, digestive stuff that won’t respond to the MCD digestive tune up, terrible leg cramps, anemia....... I put it down to menopause, stress, life in general. My family all agreed it was a good thing I didn’t work full time, or I’d be in bed all the time. I started organising my life around my naps. No running on the same day as aikido. An hour in bed after a run or before aikido. It even got to a choice between housework and running....and that’s without a job outside the home.

Of course the entire world blamed the diet. Suggested that ‘going vegan’ might be good in the short term, but ‘all those deficiencies eventually catch up with you’. I know my stuff, I’ve done the Cornell course, but even I was beginning to doubt myself. Should I eat eggs.......I can’t go on like this.....maybe this diet isn’t for everyone......

My hair was by now thinning, and so, rather startlingly, were my eyebrows! I went to the doctor to have my iron pill prescription renewed. We had, with intensive supplementation with iron and vitamin c, managed to get my iron over 20! I was at a whopping 22! She asked how I was feeling, and being a little down, I actually told her....

I left the doctors with a script for a long list of blood tests. Popped in next door at the blood centre and got them done, went home and forgot all about it. The next day the doctor is on the phone. TSH, Hashimotos antibodies and coeliac antibodies all through the roof!and a positive gene test for coeliac too! She wanted to send me for a coeliac biopsy, but I refused. What would be the point? With those test results I wasn’t going to be eating gluten anyway!

So...2 weeks later....the pain in my joints is subsiding, I haven’t had a mouth ulcer since going off gluten, gradually I am less tired...I didn’t have a nap yesterday! And amazingly....I had a formed soft stool for the first time since I can remember yesterday too! Sorry if this is too much info, but for at least the last 18 months I have had total splat poos.

I am very sad about bread. I love baking and make artisan bread almost daily. My lunches for the last 5 years have been soup and freshly made bread. I want to try g-f bread baking but I have no idea what alternative flours are ‘McDougall friendly’. This is another whole new learning curve, living with Hashimotos and coeliac, but I am so happy to finally know what is going on.

After I found all this out I found a McDougall newsletter from September 2005 I think, (sorry, I’m hopeless at links) saying the same thing...if the diet isn’t working, it might be something else, like coeliac, but of course I didn’t know to look for coeliac! It never occurred to me.

So folks....if the diet stops working....it might not be the diet that’s the problem!

[jamietwo]

I'm glad you figured it out! Thanks for sharing!

[Grammy Ginger]

I used to bake artisan breads plus make homemade pastas, tortillas, quick breads, etc. About the same time my issues with gluten were discovered, I found plant-based eating. At first I tried to replicate my old diet with compliant food. I was always disappointed. Eventually, I changed my whole relationship with food and invented a whole new way of eating. It's satisfying. Less time with my hands in food and therefore in dishwater, means I have more time for other creative pursuits. I mourned it. It passed. Now, I'm good with my simple but very satisfying diet. Call one of the plant docs and ask their advice before your doc puts you on paleo.

[Ltldogg]

Hi Ruff,

I'm glad you are finding relief. I have been through something similar. For many years I experienced great health, but my digestion kept getting worse eventually I have been stricken with 5 autoimmune diseases (I surely have more). I believe my issues all stem from past alcohol abuse, antibiotics and stress; not the McDougall woe. Unfortunately I have not been able resolve my issues, but I keep trying.

I have written about my struggles many times on these boards. If you are interested, search my posts.

Good luck and good health to you,
Scott

[Vegankit]

You are not alone Ruff - I have a similar story. Not only celiac's but I react to corn and rice which means most of the "bread" alternatives are not for me. I've just give up on bread. I ate my fair share so I can't complain. With time I've lost interest in bread. I've put it in the same category as meat, fat, cheese etc. -that category is "it may be food for other people but it's not food for me".

If you love artisan bread - there are books that with gluten recipes that look great.

[viv]

As soon as I read some of the symptoms I said "It's Hashimotos and Celiac" They tend to run together and I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's over 30 years ago. Great thing about the McDougall Diet is the Hashimoto's stabilized and I was able to lower the dose of levothyroid. Sorry it took you so long to get a diagnosis. But better late than never and now you can continue eating this way and having a great, energetic rest of your life.

I've never felt better, I go ballroom dancing 3-4 times a week plus a full time job teaching high school where I'm on my feet running around all day. I'm 70 next year and I have all the energy I need.

Viv

[Grammy Ginger]

I've been thinking a lot about your post.

In the beginning, I thought that if I eat this way I would feel like a teenager again and not age and not get sick and blah, blah, blah. While eating this way gives us the best hedge against disease and often reverses it, the plant-fueled human body isn't immortal. We will age. Some of us will get ill from germs or DNA. But...and this is a big but...we won't get as ill and things won't be as bad as they could have been. I thought going through the change of life would be such a terrific thing, but it's been hell. My body is aging despite my perfect adherence to a plant-based no SOS lifestyle. For a while, I was pretty upset by it until I remembered my grandmothers.

Dad's mom had type two diabetes, heart issues, arthritis, and a missing lung from Valley Fever. By my age (55), she could barely walk from arthritis. By 59 she was dead from diabetes with her organs black with necrosis. Although she was insulin dependent, she loved eating all her favorite goodies. Man, could she cook a tasty pie! I'll never forget her delicious biscuits and gravy at breakfast.

Mom's mom had T2 diabetes, hypothyroidism, heart issues, breast cancer, arthritis, kidney disease, and obesity. By my age, she had a radical mastectomy which left her right arm swollen with edema and barely usable. Soon after she used a walker because of her obesity and arthritis. The walker was her constant companion for 40 years. Even after her knee replacement, which almost killed her because of the edema problem, she used that darn walker. She had her first heart attack at age 60 and so many stents and heart attacks and valve replacements that we all lost track. When diabetes came along, she was religious about counting her carbs and sticking her finger and taking her pills. Even back when I was a tiny girl I remember her proud ritual of pill taking each day. She had been at it for about 60 years when she passed at 98. She lived so long as a sick woman with pills and procedures. Maybe if she had eaten like I do, she could have gotten rid of most of them. Maybe.

So, no! I don't think it's our strict plant-based diet causes degenerative disease. As they say, heredity loads the gun and food pulls the trigger. If we have the loaded gun for these things and didn't eat this way from the beginning, surely some of our family issues might come along. However, they surely won't be as bad as they could have been. Go and read all the research that Dr. M has available on your diseases. Try to get over your sadness, frustration, disappointment, and feelings of failure. Our mortal bodies do get ill, do deteriorate, and do die. But as with a car, if we put the very best fuel into them they will last much, much longer and won't need nearly as much maintenance. Nutrient and fiber filled plants are the very best fuel for the human body.

Don't give up.