It's the OIL!

[Montse de Paz]

I began following the McDougall program about two months ago... I was convinced after reading some newsletters in the website and watching several videos. But I did not follow it completely. There was a "small" detail missing.

Because of my digestive problems I have cut many foods in recent years. Refined sugar, milk, meat and dairy... But there was one small detail...

It was the oil!

I come from a Mediterranean culture. Olive oil is almost sacred, the liquid gold, the panacea for cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, even dementia! Many many doctors recommend to their patients to take extra virgin olive oil, for the omegas, and so on. To cut olive oil is almost a heresy.

Well, I had nothing to lose so I tried. Just three weeks, I said to myself. And I completely cut oil, every kind of oil or fat. The only fat I coudl take would be the natural fat present in nuts, seeds or legumes.

And it has been AMAZING.

I cannot believe it, but I have passed three weeks without a single heartburn, nausea or indigestion... After years of suffering from all those nuisances. Just quitting the oil!! And following a starch based vegan diet, of course.

Thanks, Doctor McDougall, for sharing all your knowledge and good practice with everyone who wants to make positive changes for health.

Thanks to your team and the people in this discussion board, who generously share their experiences.

I feel great! And I will tell everybody about your program. This has been a turning point in my life.

[Gershon]

Congratulations on your find. I found eliminating oil, even a small amount, helped me lose weight more quickly.

[dlee]

Good for you! I guess it wasn't such a small detail after all! Great story. Dlee

[MINNIE]

I am happy for you!

Thatwas the missing information for me too. I had bad digestive problems most of my life, and had stopped eating meat and dairy, but still had problems UNTIL I stopped using oil! The problems are completely gone.

My family was from a Mediterranean country, and I didn't know how to cook without olive oil.

But it was easy -just cook without the oil :lol: .

It's been like a miracle!!!

[Atheria]

This post had perfect timing for me.


Atheria

[Timaca]

It sounds like, from your post, that your digestive issues cleared up almost immediately. Is that the case? Or did it take 3 weeks?

Congrats on your digestive success!

[Montse de Paz]

It's been days I have not entered the discussion board... Sorry for being so late to answer.

Thank you for your testimonial and encouragement! Minnie, I felt like you after the first week of NOT HAVING heartburn and nausea. Just like a miracle!

To your question, Timaca. The effects of quitting oil, for me, were immediate. In the first and second day I already felt the difference.

After some weeks (it's been more than a month) I see that I must be careful with other things that may cause some trouble (I will open another post). Of course it's not only the oil that causes digestive issues, but I think it is a factor most neglected.

The fact is: since I do not take oil I have no stomachache. I used to suffer from heartburn almost daily, so the change is huge.

I have watched some lectures by Dr. McDougall, and Jeff Novick, and Dr. Klapper, about the dangers of oil, they are very didactic and clear!

[mapat]

My experience is that even small amounts of added oils result in various aches and pains and less energy overall. Every time.

[JaniceYvonne]

I agree, my energy goes down immediately with oils.

[jimbo2010]

Not to mention the damage to your blood vessels.

7 years no oil

[Montse de Paz]

My experience is that even small amounts of added oils result in various aches and pains and less energy overall. Every time.

It is a long time I do not review this subject. Thank you for posting, Jimbo, Janice and Mapat.
I agree totally with you.

[mapat]

For anyone else, like me, who has had difficulty totally stopping oil, maybe this will help. I imagine other oils are produced in a similar manner. Nothing at all left to be consider 'food'.

"How Canola Oil Is Made

How does a cruciferous seed become a uniformly odorless, almost tasteless product? It starts with huge quantities of canola seeds, which are pressed by machine at extremely high pressure to extract the oil. “Canola cakes” are left behind as a byproduct, and are essentially made of protein; but there is a portion of oil left that cannot be extracted by pressing. So the cakes are immersed in a chemical solvent to separate the last bit of oil from the protein. The remaining protein, now free of oil, is sold to farmers as feed for animals (another reason to choose grass-fed, free-range meats!).

Next, the oil is “washed” or mixed with sodium hydroxide, also known as lye. If you’ve ever worked with or around lye, then you know how caustic this material is. The lye-oil mixture is spun in a centrifuge to separate the oil from “impurities.” What that means is removing anything that would give the oil flavor, color, or other properties of whole, natural foods.

The byproducts of the lye bath, not surprisingly, are sold to soap manufacturers.

The natural wax from the canola seeds still remains in the oil at this point, giving it a cloudy appearance. To remove this wax, the oil is chilled for the wax to separate out from the liquid oil and solidify. This wax is then sold to manufacturers of margarine, shortening, and other products that contain hydrogenated fats.

The final steps involve washing, filtering, and bleaching the oil via steam injection. This creates a highly-refined, odorless, tasteless oil that consumers use to fry foods and manufacturers use to create a plethora of boxed, packaged, processed “foods.”"

http://saveourbones.com/canola-oil-good ... our-bones/

[ricmeu61]

Question to those who do not use oil at all:

How do you get your Omega 3 fatty acids?

I have no health issues and eat a mostly plant based diet, but am very interested in nutrition!

Many thanks, Richard

[Montse de Paz]

Hello!

MAPAT, thank you a lot for your exposition about canola oil. Yes, I guess most refined oils suffer similar processes. Ufff! As doctor McDougall and others say: THIS IS NO FOOD. At best, it may be a medicine, at worst, it is poison.

Ricmeu61, your question is interesting. If you check McDougalls newsletters and type "omega3" in the search engine you will find some articles on the topic.

An interesting point is how much omega 3 do we really need? Maybe not so much as we believe (or are made to believe). Dr. Barnard explains in an interesting lecture about Alzheimer that excellent sources of omega 3 are broccoli and green vegetables, as well as algae.
See the video here: https://youtu.be/nm-I5CcccIw

Yes, it is true that omega 3 from plants is not exactly the same as omega 3 in fish, but the primary source of omegas are finally algae or plants. How many people are omega 3 deficient? I think the main problem, rather than omega 3 defficiency, is imbalance in the intake of omega 3 and 6, and this is due to high consumption of vegetal oils.

When I explain to anybody that I eat with no oils people look at me frowning and sometimes they say this cannot be good. But I feel great and my skin looks healthy, not dry and scaly, as it could be supposed to be. I have no vision problems, neither, and my nervous system works OK. In fact, since I have better digestions I feel in a better mood, more lively and emotionally stable.

I have fats from avocados, nuts and seeds, as well as the natural fats present in vegetables (few, but sufficient, I guess).