Increased Energy?

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Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:59 pm

Hello, this is my first post here. I found Dr. McDougall's videos on youtube and watched a lot of them. One stood out for me. Cloudy Rockwell said "I have so much more energy. I used to say, 'well, it's time for me to go to bed.'" Those words jumped out at me because I say the same words, in the same tired way, every night...anywhere from 8pm on. Then I came to this website and read many other testimonials and the energy seems to be a recurring theme.

My question is this...is the increase in energy the result of the change in food, or is it from the weight loss? Maybe I should rephrase that. Has anyone here gotten the increased energy without losing weight (those who were not overweight to begin with), or before losing a significant amount of weight?

Thank you for reading.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:04 pm

Hi Sally. I found the increased energy, and did not have any significant weight to lose. I rarely have coffee or tea anymore. It’s like the food gives you energy instead of slowing you down, does that make sense? Also, I sleep more soundly, too.

I’d you haven’t tried it yet, just give it a go for a few weeks and see how you feel. No more after lunch slow down. You just keep going!
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Sat Jan 26, 2019 8:07 am

Thank you, Lyndzie, for your reply! I must admit, I'm almost a little disappointed. :lol: This diet sounds very restrictive. But I think I will give it a go because I feel rather miserable and tired most of the time and it's no way to live.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Lyndzie » Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:22 am

That is a fair point, you can’t eat all the foods, but really any dietary change is going to require altering what you eat. Unexpected benefits of it are how crazy affordable it is, and easy. With any change, there is a learning curve. You might need a little while to adjust to the natural joy that whole food provides. Also, this doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. My sister’s birthday is today and I’ll probably have some cake. But then again, I might not. The better you eat, the better you feel.

What is surprising is you don’t realise how bad you feel. This website has everything you need to get started. The food can be as fast and simple, or complex and gourmet, as you like. If you want to see some ideas, I have a journal called Adventures in Eating that has photos. The link is below.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby haze5736 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:22 pm

We just completed a 21 Day WFPB challenge at my place of work. We had almost 300 people sign up. The intent of the program was to encourage people to add more plants to their diet, not to be militant about being 100% WFPB. Most people were not 100%. Many could not give up the oil or the cheese or whatever. However, there was a common theme among people that were putting in some level of effort. Most of them reported feeling better overall, having more energy and sleeping better. Hopefully we'll get a good survey response rate to better quantify the numbers.

A lot of people found that making a reasonable effort lead to feeling better which in turn motivated them to want to do more to feel even better. Most people had no idea what WFPB was and were very surprised at what they could eat and were even more surprised that eating those items could lead to feeling better and possible weight loss. People were thrilled to hear they were "allowed" to eat potatoes and that bread was not off limits (although somewhat restricted).

My opinion is that for someone starting out it is not so important (and maybe detrimental for some) to focus on being 100%. Do what you can and reap some benefits then capitalize on those benefits to motivate yourself to go further. I'm an all or nothing type of person so I had to jump in 100%, but I can understand why it is hard for a lot of people to do that. Find what works for you.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Idgie » Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:38 pm

I'm a lot more energetic when I eat this way, both physically and mentally. At first, it even reads to my brain as anxiety, because I'm almost buzzing with energy.

As for restriction, I feel like the restriction of what to eat is outweighed by the loss of restriction of how much to eat. I like eating until I'm full -- not painfully full, but clearly done eating, and not still wanting food. I can do that every day on this food plan, and I continue to regain health and lose weight without ever restricting calories or food volume. To me, that's a worth-it trade-off.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Hal » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:46 pm

I have more energy and better sense of well being and clearer mind - and was not over weight before. :)
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:33 am

I'm so sorry that I did not see these responses sooner! Thank you all for helping a newbie. I haven't committed to the McDougall program 100% yet. I've been trying to increase my fiber slowly so as not to cause any stomach upset and I'm still on the fence about whether or not McDougall is the way to go. The reason I'm on the forum today is because a video interview with Dr. McDougall came up on my youtube suggestions yesterday and it was disturbing. I was unsure before, but after seeing this video I'm wondering if decades without fat can be deleterious to one's mental health. (I'm sorry if that sounded cruel or harsh, but if you saw the video you will understand.)
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby frozenveg » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:32 pm

SallyR wrote:I'm so sorry that I did not see these responses sooner! Thank you all for helping a newbie. I haven't committed to the McDougall program 100% yet. I've been trying to increase my fiber slowly so as not to cause any stomach upset and I'm still on the fence about whether or not McDougall is the way to go. The reason I'm on the forum today is because a video interview with Dr. McDougall came up on my youtube suggestions yesterday and it was disturbing. I was unsure before, but after seeing this video I'm wondering if decades without fat can be deleterious to one's mental health. (I'm sorry if that sounded cruel or harsh, but if you saw the video you will understand.)

Sally, I don't know what video you saw, but you need to realize that this is NOT a no-fat diet. All plant foods and grains have fat inherent in them. As I have analyzed my food over the years, I get about 10% of my daily calories from the fat in the foods I am eating. For example, oatmeal, corn, zucchini, potatoes, rice, corn--they all contain some fat. What this way of eating strongly recommends is that we cut out all ADDED fats in the form of oils and of course butter, lard, etc.

What was this disturbing video with Dr. McDougall? I can only assume you were not seeing a Dr. McDougall video if it was talking about it being bad for humans to have brain damage from decades without added oils.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:13 pm

Wow, frozenveg! You're a hero of mine! I've watched your testimonial several times. I misspoke (mis-typed?). I should have written "decades on the McDougall diet" not "decades without fat." I understand what you're saying about the fat in this diet. There's a discussion about this video right now in the Lounge called "Dr. McDougall is STILL pissing off people with truth lol".
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby frozenveg » Fri Apr 05, 2019 5:58 pm

SallyR, thank you for the praise and for the clarification. I saw the video a few minutes later. I haven't watched all of it, but in any case I've seen Dr M speak any number of times, so I know what to expect! If you look at the comments in the Lounge, he can speak for himself.

My take, without having seen much of the video, is that he is getting really sick and tired of people constantly spouting diet myths and nonsense, and sometimes he just doesn't find a way to tolerate the BS, and it breaks through!
5'3", 74 YO. Started Jan. 11, 2010
Starting weight: 222.6
Current weight: 148.2.0


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https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/st ... -rockwell/
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Willijan » Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:26 am

haze5736 wrote: My opinion is that for someone starting out it is not so important (and maybe detrimental for some) to focus on being 100%. Do what you can and reap some benefits then capitalize on those benefits to motivate yourself to go further. I'm an all or nothing type of person so I had to jump in 100%, but I can understand why it is hard for a lot of people to do that. Find what works for you.


I agree with haze5736. You can start out and go part way. However, if you don't eliminate most animal products and oils you might not get enough benefits to notice feeling better. When I started out I was eating ice cream and cake on the weekends!! Nutty, but I was 100% on the weekdays, and I did notice how different I felt on compliant days. That was in the 1980s.

When I really got serious about 2011, I was 100% except for the first few months I ate some frozen foods with oil, as I tried to figure out what to cook. But only for a month or two.

Another important point is that this food, even the very simple stuff, tastes really good! Don't knock it until you've tried it. You may think it's not so great at first, but if you stick with it, or keep trying it again, your tastes change. I know I don't want to eat that other food!

Most important, if you're young, or you're in good health, you may just want to lose weight and not be really looking at the health benefits. Rest assured, if you start this diet now, you will be a LOT happier with your health, and beauty, when you are older. There are things this diet can reverse, and things that it cannot. Eat right now, and you will never have to regret your bad habits when you are (perhaps only a little) older.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:25 pm

Willijan wrote:Most important, if you're young, or you're in good health, you may just want to lose weight and not be really looking at the health benefits. Rest assured, if you start this diet now, you will be a LOT happier with your health, and beauty, when you are older. There are things this diet can reverse, and things that it cannot. Eat right now, and you will never have to regret your bad habits when you are (perhaps only a little) older.


I wish! I'm over sixty, have fifty pounds to lose and have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and am pre-diabetic. :eek:

My husband says to do keto. I wouldn't like that. I'm scared to believe the new information about cholesterol. So far I'm learning about how my body reacts to different foods. Potatoes seem to be a problem. I get stomach upset and I think my bad knees hurt more when I eat them. I like brown rice a lot and so far it's not a problem. I already eat gluten free. I'm learning. But my blood sugar goes really high when I eat carby food, so I have to decide and really commit before I do myself more harm.
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby Lyndzie » Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:24 pm

Have you seen this post from someone who is switching from keto to plant based? viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59523#p599563

Also, here is some good info on monitoring blood sugar: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=59097#p594963
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Re: Increased Energy?

Postby SallyR » Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:47 pm

Those are great links and very helpful. Thanks, Lyndzie!
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