25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

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25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby Starchmonger » Mon May 13, 2013 4:00 pm

I have been a vegan for probably about a year now, and a Starchivore for the past 6-8 months. Since going high-starch whole-foods eating, I have lost plenty of weight. I am at about 147 lbs now, down from 160 when I started eating a vegan diet. My BMI is ~19.5 and my blood work is wonderful, with blood pressure around 110/65.

My favorite starch is definitely white potatoes, they are the safest starch to find oil-free. I work on a cruise ship, and there is essentially no option to prepare your own food, but there are of course 24/7 salad buffets and fruits, of the cooked foods, I usually only eat potatoes, since even the rice is prepared with oil! I tend to put a forkful of rice in a small saucer of water, you see the oil bubbles separate to the top of the water, and I won't touch the rice.

My daily diet is based around Jeff Novick's calorie density idea as much as starch solution plan. The main break from the McDougall diet, is I eat fruit ad libitum. I think whole fruits are probably quicker digesting than starches, but they are so hypocaloric, that it would be darn near impossible to gain appreciable body fat. Most days I eat
    *5-8 whole baked potatoes
    *2 large green salads with cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, some vinegar
    *5-8 fruits (apples, oranges, and some cantaloupe)

When I'm hungry, I EAT! I never like to feel deprived, or a dietary style feels too much like a "diet" in the conventional sense. I walk TONS, anywhere from 3 to 10 miles a day. At home in Portland, Oregon I don't even own a car, so I either take the amtrak train, or go on foot wherever I go. I figure I am improving my health while doing a small part for the environment by totally opting out of the traffic infrastructure/direct gasoline consumption.

I don't go to the gym any more, though several years ago I was a full-fledged bodybuilder, squatting 500+ lbs and deadlifting hundred pound dumbbells in each hand. Nowadays I do body weight exercise every day. My favorites are simple bar dips, wall-sits, pull-ups, decline pushups, and slow-motion lunges.

The hardest part about this dietary style is you kind of have to exclude yourself from some aspects of social behavior. People who find you're a vegan find themselves to be judged, even if you make no comment whatsoever about their dietary choices. When people press me for why, I explain calmly that plant foods are simply what were were evolved to eat. There are countless harmful things in animal protein. Cholesterol, saturated fats, environmental toxins and antibiotics, overload of protein and methionine etc. Not to mention the horrific environmental concerns of animal agriculture.

My mother and father both think I either have a terminal illness or anorexia. I explain to them I probably eat more volume by weight of food than they do, and the reason I'm so slender is that I am the weight that humans are naturally supposed to be at. Neither of my parents accept that my protein intake is adequate, nor that my BMI is well within the healthy normal range.

I also feel better than I've felt in my entire life. I am happy and well balanced. I have a very calm and measured outlook, and my joints and back feel no strain ever, because of my healthy body weight.

Dr. McDougall and all of the very influential low-fat vegan proponents, I sincerely thank you for the hard work you've put forth over the years in getting this critical message to the public. We need to tear down the broken American diet and start it from scratch. Animal foods are not healthy, dairy and eggs are not natural foods. Things made by a machine in a factory thousands of miles away are not food!

Thank you all for taking the time to read!

In Health,
Jake J. (Starchmonger)
Low Fat, Whole Foods vegan
Current Diet - Potatoes, fruits, leafy greens. Current weight ~148lbs down from a lifetime high of 260.

Stop counting calories! Just eat the right foods!
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby Ltldogg » Mon May 13, 2013 4:28 pm

Hi Jack,

Congrats on your success and keep it up! I eat the same as you do following Jeff's Calorie Density, eating fruit, veggies and starches (including beans) ad libitum. My results are the same!

Continued Health,
Scott
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby Waingapu » Mon May 13, 2013 8:55 pm

Starchmonger wrote:I have been a vegan for probably about a year now, and a Starchivore for the past 6-8 months. Since going high-starch whole-foods eating, I have lost plenty of weight. I am at about 147 lbs now, down from 160 when I started eating a vegan diet. My BMI is ~19.5 and my blood work is wonderful, with blood pressure around 110/65.
)


Don't you mean "~148lbs down from a lifetime high of 260." which is what I see after your signature.

Sounds very fit. And if you've gone from 260, I can understand your parents concern. I'm a 19.6 BMI so I know what that means and looks like. OK for me, but I doubt I was ever above 21.6

Would be like me going from 227 to 129 pounds at 5 ft 8 in.
I think my friends and family would naturally be concerned I'd keep dropping.
You don't want to go lower do you? Especially not with the muscles you must have from all that exercise.
19.5 is getting fairly low to very low, depending on what type of bone structure you have.
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby soul food » Mon May 13, 2013 9:44 pm

Oh, look how cute you are Jake.

How wonderful that you found this way of eating and lost the weight.

soul food
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby viv » Mon May 13, 2013 10:37 pm

Hi Starchmonger,

Thanks so much for sharing! You are so lucky to "get" this WOE at a young age. You can look forward to a long and healthy life, not having to struggle for years and years with weight and health issues, like millions of others.

I will show your post to my two sons (both early twenties.) Maybe they'll be encouraged. Right now they aren't interested in Mum's latest foray into the world of diet and weight loss. Of course WE know that this time it's totally different!
5'8", Started March 2013
Starting weight: 217
Current weight: 157
60lbs gone--for good!
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby Starchmonger » Tue May 14, 2013 3:17 am

Waingapu wrote:
Don't you mean "~148lbs down from a lifetime high of 260." which is what I see after your signature.

Sounds very fit. And if you've gone from 260, I can understand your parents concern. I'm a 19.6 BMI so I know what that means and looks like. OK for me, but I doubt I was ever above 21.6

Would be like me going from 227 to 129 pounds at 5 ft 8 in.
I think my friends and family would naturally be concerned I'd keep dropping.
You don't want to go lower do you? Especially not with the muscles you must have from all that exercise.
19.5 is getting fairly low to very low, depending on what type of bone structure you have.


I actually meant I was 160 when I started as a vegan about a year ago, that was before I was on the McDougall program.

I was 260 maybe 4 years ago when I started college, that was long before I made the switch. I ate horribly back then! Snack cakes and fast food etc.

As for my BMI, you're right it does seem to be getting down there, which is odd because I eat hearty meals until my stomach is full! I'll try getting more starches in every day. At this body weight, I certainly am not seeking to shed more body fat!

Thanks for your concern and reply :)
Jake
Low Fat, Whole Foods vegan
Current Diet - Potatoes, fruits, leafy greens. Current weight ~148lbs down from a lifetime high of 260.

Stop counting calories! Just eat the right foods!
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby McDouga11Marie » Wed May 15, 2013 9:32 pm

I agree with soulfood who said you were cute! What a smile! :D

Great job, and I just had to say "Hi!" from a fellow PDXer. I'll be moving to Oklahoma soon, and will miss all our green. GO DUCKS!!!
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby jamietwo » Thu May 16, 2013 11:49 am

Good for you! Congratulations!

FYI: The low end of a healthy BMI is 18.5 so you're not in the danger zone yet! : )


edited to reword my bmi comment :wink:
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby ETeSelle » Fri May 17, 2013 8:58 am

Congrats! :)
Elizabeth
Weight now: 124 (20.0 BMI)
Weight in 2010: 207 (33.4 BMI)
Star McDougaller Story
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Trust me on this: One day you'll wake up and realize that it no longer feels like "being strict." It just feels GOOD. :)
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Re: 25 Year-old, life is so good on starches!

Postby coachkathryn » Tue May 21, 2013 2:05 pm

Awesome! Cruises are tough - the last cruise I went on I asked for plain steamed broccoli with nothing on it. Of course I got a plate of buttery broccoli. Stuck with the salad bar after that. I never thought to ask for a potato!
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