Lesliec1 wrote: There may be some detail of the MWL plan you are forgetting, such as "half of your food should be non-starchy veggies."
Dr. McDougall does say in the book to make green & yellow vegetables 1/3 to half your meal (page 62). Even in MWLP he stresses the starch as key.
Then on page 72/73 he gives this chart for weight loss approaches:
Moderate: 2/3 starch, one third very low calorie salads
Rapid: half starch, half very low calorie salads
Hasty: 1/3 starch and 2/3 very low calorie salads
The Moderate approach is recommended, but if dissatisfied with the rate of weight loss, you can move to the Rapid. The Hasty approach he really doesn't recommend, stating yes, it leads to rapid weight loss, but "may not be the wisest approach for permanent weight loss."
In another area of the book he explains how meals should be sequenced - start with raw vegetables (salad), then a brothy soup, then cooked vegetables, and lastly the starch. If still hungry after this, repeat the sequence.