Amazing results from following diet

[Varius]

Hi everyone, I am a 27yr old man who started adhering to a whole food plant-based diet 100% (it adheres to McDougall program guidelines) early this year and have had amazing results.

My reason for following the diet was primarily for long-term health and also because I thought it would help with digestive system problems I was having. What I have found though is that following the diet has aided me greatly in a myriad of ways in the short-term. The thing is I had been suffering from multiple crippling health problems, namely, the previously mentioned digestive issues, severe insomnia, severe eye strain and also a wrist injury that wouldn't heal. I had been searching for and trying ways to cure these conditions separately. Incredibly, adhering to the diet has substantially improved all four of these conditions. The digestive problems and eye strain have been near eliminated and the insomnia and wrist injury have improved quite significantly. It has been life-changing for me because the aforementioned problems were seriously affecting how I could live. Now I can focus more on what I want to do in life rather than the things that are preventing me from doing what I want to do. I have also experienced a lot of other benefits such as decreased body odor and improved aerobic performance. Something I want to mention is that for most of of last year I was following the diet about 85-95%, but I only experienced these benefits once I was adhering 100% (apart from the digestive issues which had gotten a lot better at 85-95% and improved further at complete adherence). It was very surprising, I had decided to start adhering 100% for long-term reasons but sometime after starting noticed I was feeling way better and realised that it must have been due to the change in diet.

I am very grateful to the people who have spread the message and educated the public about a plant-based diet -- Dr McDougall, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Campbell, Dr Barnard, Dr Gregor and others -- and want to give them a huge thanks as I take my health very seriously and wanted to follow a diet that would set me in good stead for the rest of my life. I must say that Dr McDougall is my favorite though! I am a huge Dr McDougall fan and love watching his informative, entertaining and passionate talks. What I am most grateful to Dr McDougall for, is his "starch-based populations are healthy" nutritional paradigm which has which has cleared my eyes and allowed me to see past the confusion and complexity that characterises nutrition science. I started researching nutrition quite intensively a few years ago in order to find the optimal diet and it seemed like an impossible task with all the different factors you could take into account but Dr McDougall showed me how I was missing the forest for the trees and how there was a simple nutritional paradigm that could explain why some populations suffer high rates of chronic disease and why others were largely free of them. The starchivore paradigm has completely changed how I view humans' relationship with food in terms of what we are designed to eat. So again a huge thanks to Dr Mcdougall, you are one of my heroes.

[geo]

Congrats! As Dr McDougall would say "results are typical"

Merry Christmas

[Varius]

Thanks geo.

[DWu]

Congrats Varius.

It's interesting to hear that something as relatively small as the extra 5-15% further compliance led to even more benefits. Was it the oil?

Anyway, as Dr. McDougall would also simply put it, "It's the food."

[DangerousKiwi]

That's great! I love it when this diet helps people in unexpected ways. Maybe they shouldn't be considered so unexpected at this point.

[Varius]

Thanks guys.

To DWu asking if it was oil: I was still eating some animal products at the time when I wasn't adhering 100%. Basically the main infraction in my diet at that time would be 1-2 modest side servings of meat a week. I would sometimes eat something with oil or dairy in it but this was quite infrequent. Apart from this everything I ate adhered to McDougall guidelines (so my main dishes would always be prepared without oil). I am inclined to think that the animal products were the main problem even at low doses. I think if I had continued to eat a bit of oil I would still feel a lot better but that the effect would have been blunted to some degree. (My digestive issues would be an exception though as oil basically has a linear relationship to how bad they will be along with animal products.)

[Montse de Paz]

Congratulations, Varius!

I share your feelings of joy and gratitutde. You are true: when you follow the McDougall program 100 % the results are just amazing.

In my case, the big difference was to ban OIL from my diet.

I am also a fan of Dr. McDougall and some of his friends, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Barnard, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Klapper... These are great doctors who really care not only for their patients, but for the public health everywhere. Without their generosity, by making their knowledge available through the Internet, I would never have been able to solve my digestive issues.

And the best thing is that McDougall's program allows you to eat, to enjoy food and to be healthy for life. It is a long sustainable diet. Or better: a pleasant, healthy, sustainable way of life!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Montse
From Barcelona - Spain

[Varius]

Thanks Montse.

[Varius]

Earlier this year I had a blood test for the first time since adhering to the diet and I thought I would share my cholesterol results. I have included previous results for comparison:

2012: 162 mg/dl
My prior diet could be classified as the mainstream version of a healthy diet, less meat, more fruits, vegetables and legumes than average, and I would eat processed and restaurant food less often than most people.

2013: 205 mg/dl
This is near when I first started looking into nutrition science seriously and I had come to the conclusion that it was okay to eat more saturated fat and fat in general lol.

2015: 162 mg/dl
When I was almost adhering the guidelines completely. I had expected it to be lower and it was one of the reasons I decided to hurry up and start fully complying.

2016: 143 mg/dl
This is at 99% compliance.

My triglycerides went up somewhat, in previous years they were in the range of 70-80 mg/dl, this time they were at 106 mg/dl.