I am 47 years old. I have always been interested in proper eating, but never knew what exactly to do. Last year I watched Forks over Knives, and the documentary immediately rang true to me. In fact in inspired me to change my way of eating the very next day. I began looking up more info on the internet, and stumbled on the doctors Mcdougall, Barnard, Fuhrman, Greger and others. I spent a lot of time reading, researching, watching youtube. I bought books, among others The Starch Solution and The China Study.
It is now almost one year later. The results are shocking. My weight has decreased and I am now literally 80% of the woman I was a year ago. And I wasn’t even overweight to start with, at least not by the regular standards. I weighed 122 pounds, BMI 21. To be honest, I was skinny fat (but still a lot leaner than most woman). Now I weigh 97 pounds, BMI 16,5. I feel great. My weight seems to stabilise now, time will tell if that is true.
I can hardly believe these results. I eat whenever I want to, no restrictions, no portion control, no calorie counting. I have no idea of the amount of calories I consume. Dinner is my favorite meal and that’s always a big plate full and mostly seconds and sometimes thirds. I like fatty plant foods. I eat: peanut butter (organic, no oil added, no additives), nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, coconut milk (I make mashed patatoes and creamy sauces with that), raw unprocessed cacao. I don’t eat all of these everyday, but everyday at least half of them (okay, some days all of them
). I have not decreased alcohol consumption. I like a glass of wine with my dinner and a beer in the weekends. I drink about three to four days a week. I have cut down considerably on the coffee. Now I only drink the occasional coffee, water, alcholic beverages.I go to the supermarket every other day and buy fresh produce. Sometimes something packaged, but without oils and additives.
Weight is one thing. It is an added bonus. I am now free from a number of conditions, some of which I didn’t even know I had.
1) Arthitis. For the last twelve years the joints in my fingers hurt. I thought this was because of the RSI (repetitive strain injury) I had back then. Not true I know now. Joint pains are gone.
2) Joint pains in my hips. Started when I was about forty. Hurt when walking more than half a mile. In retrospect I see that it was the same feeling as in my fingers. Hips do not hurt anymore. I can now walk and run as long as I like.
3) Hot flashes, my periods stopped four years ago, so I am officially post menopausal. Hot flashes gone accept an occasional one when I drink to much alcohol, or when I eat cheese at a party.
4) Constipation: never realised I was constipated untill this WOE. Also the occasional hemmroids have disappeared.
5) I now have much more enery. I never fall asleep anymore watching a movie after dinner. I need less sleep at night and during the day I do not have dips anymore.
Then my husband:
1) Lost 27 pounds.
2) Is off all medication within 6 weeks of starting WOE (blood pressure and cholesterol lowering pills). The cardiologist had told my husband his BP could never be treated with dietary measures and he would need stay on the medication the rest of his life. Now his BP is lower without medication than it ever was with medication. Needless to say he does not have to go back to that doctor. The "treatment" has ended.
We are not completely complacent to the diet. When we eat out, or at a party or at friends, we eat what is served, and of course those are mostly non McDougall foods. As over 90% of our food we eat at home, I do not think it is a very big problem. Vacations are a bigger challenge. When eating non McDougall stuff for days of weeks on a row, I notice one joint (my little finger) starts hurting again. It then takes about a month of “good” eating for that to heal. So I guess my little finger is my “canary in the coal mine”.
This is a long post. I would like to add one more thing. Despite the fact that we are visibly doing well and we look great, some friends and family members seem to be very concerned about our health. It cannot be healthy, eating without the meat you really need, and the dairy which is essential for your bones. My sister thinks I have become a full blown anorexic and orthorexic at the same time. I have been called “sickly thin”. I am not sickly thin, I have the figure I had when I was sixteen years old, and I think it is great!
Thank you for reading this post. I am very, very gratefull to Dr. McDougall. I hope he will read this and add our thanks to his undoubtedly long list of gratitudes.
