After two months

[teddybou]

I thought I might be five to ten pounds over-weight at 152 pounds (I'm 5'6"). After two months on the McDougall plan (I use slight amounts of canola and olive oil) I weigh 137 pounds.. a loss of fifteen pounds! My cholesterol has also dropped from around 225 to the 170's. An added surprise is that my eyesight has improved! I am curious to see what the eye doc has to say. The most I have ever weighed was 158 after a month in Paris. I can't believe I was carrying around twenty pounds of excess fat on me. I'm 66 and haven't been this weight since my thirties! We'll see where I will 'plateau'. Never famished. It's amazing how much bad info is in the media about carbs and protein. Ted

[teddybou]

I have always enjoyed cooking since my teen years living in Rome. So, it was not such an onerous switch from a basically Mediterranean style diet to low fat vegan. I bake my own mostly whole grain breads using the Ken's Artisan book as a guide (especially the long fermentation breads). I use an Instant Pot almost daily, and make lots of soups, especially purees. I think the key is to 'think outside the box', use varied ingredients and herbs and spices in unusual ways. For instance, tonight I made a pureed soup from hubbard squash, sweet potato, pear, banana, lemon and orange juice, lemon zest, veg broth, a touch of curry, fresh ginger, parsley, scallions, garlic, a pinch of garam masala, sprinkled with sesame salt and a side of whole wheat bread. I also ferment my own sauerkraut...very easy and far better than store-bought with lots of free probiotics. Every meal is an experiment, enjoy they quest. Ted

[pundit999]

Hi Ted:
Great to hear about your quick progress.
Your experience mirrors mine. I lost 30 lbs in 2 months and I was eating as much as I wanted.
I also use the Instant Pot and make soups of all kinds.

[teddybou]

Soupaholics! Instant Pot seems to be the enabler here (no more burnt forgotten beans either). I think the combination of the complex carbs and the fiber eradicates the hunger spikes we would otherwise experience. For tonight's minestrone I am making little pasta ears from semolina flour and water, no eggs! Ciao for now. Ted

[JaniceYvonne]

Ted Great and Good for you! Question, I am assuming you are male? Your results sound almost two good to be true for a female at your age. Either way, will you post a day or two of food you have been eating? Thanks!

[teddybou]

Thanks Janice: Yes, my wife often reminds me that men lose weight faster (more easily?) than women, and this seems to be true, though I have no data to cite. She has lost five or six pounds to my sixteen. However, she started about ten days later on the plan and is what she calls a 90 percenter, eating very small amounts of dairy, a few eggs per week, and an occasional off-plan meal out, every ten days or so. I basically follow the McDougall plan when I cook (I'm the resident chef) with the exception that I seem to do fine while using small amounts of canola and olive oil as well as a few more nuts than the good doc would advise. I also probably burn more calories out and about on our ranch than she does.
As to the diet...I usually start the day with a starchy breakfast, cereal hot or cold with a little almond milk and maple syrup, fruit or xylitol for sweetening. Maybe some toast No caffein. Lately I've liked polenta (yellow corn grits) with a sprinkle of pecans or walnuts and syrup. We try to make lunch the biggest meal of the day. Between meals I usually reach for some fruit (a habit formed growing up in California). I also will snack on smoothies made from ingredients like fruit, fresh squeezed citrus, hemp, fresh ground flax seed, alma, almond milk, raw cacao, etc. Every main meal has one or more starch components, e.g.. beans, rice and tortillas (we live in New Mexico). Also I cook from scratch and shun 'prepared' foods...not something everyone is able to do because of time constraints. I bake a variety of whole grain breads, ferment veggies (mostly cabbage), sprout legumes, make crackers from old bread, and make pasta. The Instant Pot and food processor are always out and ready for quick steaming and purees. A vacuum packer is also handy for freezing.
I keep a healthy (pun intended) variety of grains, legumes and flours on hand along with the odder additions like miso, seaweed, asian noodles and about thirty herbs and spices. Variety is key to making appealing dishes that don't include a slab of animal protein and the fun fats. What vegetables I have in the fidge and on the counter help me decide the style of dish to prepare and with which starch as the base. We buy organic when possible and affordable. Cooking at home is more work but makes it easier to adhere to the plan, and it's less expensive than eating out, so you can afford those raspberries at four bucks a box! Youtube is full of cooking ideas too.

I hope I have not gone on too long and that this helps. Feel free to ask questions. Buon Apetito, Ted

[Atheria]

Good job, Ted. My food is so boring. I need to make more of an effort like you. I'm in Albuquerque, FYI, although my special place is Taos.

Potatoly,
Atheria

[teddybou]

Buenos dias fellow New Mexican...I think most Americans think rock, sand and rattlers when you say New Mexico (or indeed, that it's a foreign country!) They would be surprised to see the alpine meadows in bloom among the aspens in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We are in high plains and canyon country along the Canadian River.
Here's a food tip...Yesterday we had baked russet spuds for the main starch at dinner. In the past we would have slathered them with butter, so I had to think of a work-around. I thinly sliced about six cloves of garlic (always remove the green centers as they are tough and bitter) and sautéed them in a scant t spoon of canola oil. When the just turned golden I added toasted sesame seed salt. That combo topped the spuds, and it worked perfectly! To make sesame salt, toast the raw seeds in a non-stick pan at medium heat until they just turn golden and light brown (better under done than burned). Then crush them with mortar and pestle with some salt (you could use a mini-processor). My wife likes this mix sprinkled on apples and pears. It's great on soups and over rice dishes too. It disappears fast! Have fun experimenting, and don't be afraid of the inevitable failures. Adios, Ted

[Atheria]

Hi Ted,

Yep, NM is very diverse! This land is magical, although I'm fed up with the lack of economy here.

I'm fat phobic at this point (due to hypoglycemia) and use zero oil and don't eat nuts or seeds hardly ever. Your simple potato topping sounds good though!


Atheria

[teddybou]

Atheria: You could try a water sauté with the garlic instead. You might get away with the sesame though. It's such a tiny amount that packs a big flavor boost. Ted

[christianvegan]

Like your creative style with food, Ted. Very inspiring, thanks for sharing!

[teddybou]

My pleasure CV.
A thought about cooking vegan style.. I think sometimes we get caught up in the idea of replicating old-habit non-vegan dishes. The veggie burger is probably the poster child for this reflexive tendency. It's almost sure to disappoint though, because we are expecting something else. The most pleasing meals I have made were created ad lib, out of 'whole cloth' without trying to, say for instance, bake a stand-in for meatloaf or stir up a scrambled egg pinch hitter! I am a seitan skeptic.
Abstract painting is a hobby of mine, and I tend to paint like I cook..a splash of this, a dab of that (Hmm..I think this is missing something yellow!). Paint and food give feed-back (pun intended) to the senses in color, texture, etc. I guess that's why minestrone is my favorite soup, a guided random design if there ever was one! Ideally every meal would be a unique experience. Bon Voyage! Ted

[ETeSelle]

Congrats! Now you should REALLY follow the plan and get off the oil. Oil is very much NOT on the plan (even "just a little") for very good reasons. You'll see even better results if you ditch it.

[redbeebe]

I am also at the 2 month mark and loving every day! I feel so much better, have lost 14 pounds and hubby has lost 16! He was always a meat and potatoes guy and hardly any veggies so this is a huge change for him. With the successful weight loss he is on board, but I really hope his blood pressure will continue to go down too as he refuses to take any BP medication. So far it has gone down some. I am 62 and he is 61 so we are more than concerned about health. Sure wish I had done this years ago. My kids don't even recognize me with this new mind set. I love to cook and have literally found tons of fantastic recipes in both books! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO FOK and Dr. McDougall for the inspiration to a healthier me!
Barb