Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I am starting the Mcdougall program , I printed the 10 day plan out and been adding rice to the 10 day dinner plans, is this okay??

Can someone direct me to how to start the maximum weight loss? I see no flour( so I assume no pasta?)
I just need to get a plan of how to start my husband is doing it with me,
can someone send me in the right direction?

Its overwhelming, thank you

If you haven't read it already, I recommend the Maximum Weight Loss book. It will give you a good understanding of what's acceptable with MWL eating. The two links at the top of this thread are also helpful for eating MWL. (MWL guidelines and MWL recipes.)

Pasta is refined so you would want to pick whole-grain pasta and limit it a bit or eliminate it completely. Instead you would have whole grains (quinoa, barley, etc.), brown rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. as your starches. Then add veggies and some fruits, and limit your legumes to a cup a day. Have water, tea, or sparkling water to drink.

Personally, I find Sweet Pea's journal inspiring as well as the Potato Strong website. www.potatostrong.com Along with the Star McDougallers stories and read the McDougall books. (You can find Sweet Pea's journal from her thread in the Testimonials section.)

Good luck, this is a very supportive board so keep coming back for inspiration or if you have questions.

taraburg11 wrote:I am starting the Mcdougall program , I printed the 10 day plan out and been adding rice to the 10 day dinner plans, is this okay??

Can someone direct me to how to start the maximum weight loss? I see no flour( so I assume no pasta?)
I just need to get a plan of how to start my husband is doing it with me,
can someone send me in the right direction?

Its overwhelming, thank you

I am just clarifying, you are looking at the recipes from the online Free Program, right? Many of them have rice in them, but it is certainly fine to have rice at any meal, or any other time of day.

This list is at the top of the Food and Recipes thread, and can get you started: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10076

It connects to a ton of Maximum Weight Loss recipes. Caroveggie steered you right--this is a very simple plan, so simple that is does seem overwhelming at first! The main thing to remember is to avoid using or adding oil to any dish, to learn to start reading labels, (see Jeff Novick's threads and videos on this): https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/pl ... mp=yhs-001

and also to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. Have fun with this, and enjoy! If you make mistakes, learn from them, and move on to doing it well again! And welcome! we are here to help at all times!

I have read the starch solution we started this with the whole family now, do I have a potato at every meal?
tonight we had the tortilla soup but I do not like the potato salad in the meal so we just had the soup? Is that okay ?
I have been on this over a week and really haven't lost any weight?
I am confused
today :
oatmeal with a banana
lunch a salad with balsamic vinegar and mustard as dressing no oil
and a mc dougall black beans and rice cup from WF
i large tea with apple cider

this has been my typical meals over the last week-
I have been using the free 10 days receipes we did the first 5 days-
mostly stews and soups.

any insight would be most appreciated!

taraburg11 wrote:I have read the starch solution we started this with the whole family now, do I have a potato at every meal?
tonight we had the tortilla soup but I do not like the potato salad in the meal so we just had the soup? Is that okay ?
I have been on this over a week and really haven't lost any weight?
I am confused
today :
oatmeal with a banana
lunch a salad with balsamic vinegar and mustard as dressing no oil
and a mc dougall black beans and rice cup from WF
i large tea with apple cider

this has been my typical meals over the last week-
I have been using the free 10 days receipes we did the first 5 days-
mostly stews and soups.

any insight would be most appreciated!

taraburg11, the menu plans in the free program are simply ideas of dishes that you can eat at any meal! You don't have to do the combinations that are listed. I had the same idea at the beginning, too, and felt like I was wearing myself out making all the recipes and putting the combinations together. But relax! For instance, the tortilla soup has the tortilla crisps, so that was your starch. If it was a satisfying meal, then that is a fine meal all in itself. It's great that your family is joining you! Was everyone satisfied with just the soup?

This is a starch-based diet, so starches will form the center of every meal. Starches are not just potatoes. This page will give you an idea of the wide variety of starches that can be the "main dish," as it were: https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... h-staples/

If you are trying to follow the Maximum Weight Loss program, then ignore the "Unrefined Flours" part of the list and concentrate on the rest; limit your legumes to about 1 cup per day. So for meal planning, decide on your starch (or more than one if you like), and plan a few non-starchy vegetables to go with it. That's it, basically!

If you want more Maximum Weight Loss recipes, look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10076

Your meals look fine. The soup cups are pretty high in sodium, and if you have a tendency to retain water with excess sodium, that may explain why you haven't lost. A week is pretty short, depending on how much you have to lose, so give it time. I weighed about 223 when I started and only lost 2 pounds in my first week, which was a little surprising. But keep going! This really works well! And if you have more questions, this is the place to come! You could start your own thread rather than posting in this one, and more people would see it to respond. Good luck!

taraburg11 wrote:I have read the starch solution we started this with the whole family now, do I have a potato at every meal?
tonight we had the tortilla soup but I do not like the potato salad in the meal so we just had the soup? Is that okay ?
I have been on this over a week and really haven't lost any weight?
I am confused
today :
oatmeal with a banana
lunch a salad with balsamic vinegar and mustard as dressing no oil
and a mc dougall black beans and rice cup from WF
i large tea with apple cider

this has been my typical meals over the last week-
I have been using the free 10 days receipes we did the first 5 days-
mostly stews and soups.

any insight would be most appreciated!

Hi taraburg11,

Just a few questions and comments to consider. If you aren't doing so, perhaps you could try making green veggies half of your plate, and starches the other half.

Also, does the vinegar have oil?

Perhaps the apple cider would be considered too processed, and a form of liquid calories that should be avoided.

You might want to skip the large tea with apple cider. Plain tea is fine. If you are trying to do Max Weight Loss plan then the rule is: Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice.

Hi there.. Debbie's initial post stuck at the top of this thread summarizing the MLW program will help you a great deal to simplify, along with those menu suggestions.. you are correct, anything made of flour (which is more refined than that grains it comes from) is left out of this way of eating. IN the standard McDougall plans too there is occational use of silken tofu and a few nuts here and there... those too are left out. In the interest of eliminating fat for the most part these are acceptible from time to time but not useful for losing weight. The WLS way of eating, will definitely keep you feeling satisfied, half veggies and half starch will do it!

Best of progress to you.. consider signing on for the February Weight Loss group when Debbie starts it up!

Support and company, is great.

Here is a great article from the McDougall newsletter of January 2005. It describes the food at the McDougall programs and may give you a picture of what your own meals could be:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... ushing.htm

Good luck!