I first posted on the discussion board at our 7 month mark.
Jan 14, 2014 was the family anniversary on the plan. My parents and I started together, my brother and sister joined in as they saw how great we looked and felt.
My grandparents and extended family living in London haven't seen my parents in about a year; the reactions said it all. My grandmother commented on how glowing mum's skin was, EVERYONE told her she looked fantastic, they loved the food she made.
That last statement is no surprise, mum is a wizard when it comes to food. The thing is, our family ate the food thinking there was a "full" fat version and the McDougall version. They still don't know, they all ate the McDougall version. Mum simply put the food in two separate dishes to avoid controversy.
6 aunt's, 2 uncle's knowingly, 2 because they don't cook, and 8 cousins have joined the program after seeing our physical results and hearing about mum's diabetes, dad's arthritis/joint pain and my allergy/asthma results.
This last point is our biggest cause for celebration. Not only is mum's daily blood sugar in the 85-110 range but her A1c is down to 6. Additionally, her life insurance premium has dropped, she got a$1300 refund for the 6 months we tried to get the premium reduction, plus there will be future reductions with regular checkups.
It gets better! My father and I are saving $2400 annually in allergy med costs. that was our out of pocket...not including what the insurance company payed or the quarterly Dr. visits plus hours wasted sitting in waiting rooms and cold exam rooms. These are the material benefits (most of which funded a new wardrobe for three of us).
The priceless benefits...Mum is diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure free, dad is pain free (arthritis), all of us feel fantastic, have double to triple the energy we did before, we are actually getting back to doing the activities we enjoyed like biking, canoeing, etc...
With regard to energy, I used to be productive for about 6 to 8 hours a day. Sometimes, I would wake up feeling drained even though I had solid rest. I tried all sorts of tips and tricks including exercise but nothing was helping. Now I sleep 6 to 8 hours and wake up naturally without feeling tired. Sometimes I do a double take in the mirror because my skin looks brilliant!
Confessions...I cheated twice with pizza, about 10 times with ice cream and countless times with chocolate. I'm over everything except chocolate but that it's on the way out too.
Weights:
me- from 178 to 139 (I was 135 my entire adult life until age 30, then I gained about 8lbs per year, even with exercise)
dad- from 180 to 140
Mum-from 180 -158 (I'm attributing the difference in her weight loss vs mine and dad's to muscle and age).
No one thought I'd last a year eating like this based on my penchant for cheese and gelato but I plan to go for the rest of my life. I wish I listened to my grandfather when he told me but better now than never!
Big thanks to Dr. McDougall and all those who left testimonials. Between the research available on the site and the real results we were motivated to action. Now we're part of happy stats instead SAD stats.
This was composed on a mobile phone so apologies if it comes off as remedial English.
, my brother still cooks for himself, my sister is making progress towards getting healthy and both ny parents are in great shape. 
