Looking for some advice

Learn the basics and take the first steps to successfully implement the McDougall Program.

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Looking for some advice

Postby Vintagesan » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:33 pm

Hello,

I'm looking for some straight answers and hope to find them here.
My workmate advised me to read The Starch Solution and so I bought and read the book. I've also read some success stories in the web and testimonials here in this forum. When I walked into his office yesterday he was talking to my husband, who told him I could never follow this way of eating because I would hardly eat any salads or vegetables. They both laughed and made jokes about me...

No need to say that I am convinced even more to start. :unibrow:

But I am down to earth. I know it will be very difficult - especially for me.
I'm literally the unhealthiest person I know. But Dr. McDougall said it's never too late to start and so here I am. Maybe you can help me with my preparation and answer some of my questions?

1. How shall I start?
- Is it better to change cold-turkey or to change slowly be replacing my meals step by step? What's your experience?

2. Do I need to eat salad? Aren't vegetables enough?
- Please don't stone me but I really hate salad. As soon as I chew on a leaf I start to retch.

3. The recipes in the book seem all very demanding. Do you eat them regularly?

4. What could I take for breakfast and lunch in the office? (Problem: I cannot reheat anything there)

5. I am somehow ashamed to ask, but: I am lactose-intolerant and so I just drank some milk to boost my digestion. :oops: How will I be able to do so when I avoid milk?
Vintagesan
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby Dampy » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:12 am

Vintagesan wrote:Hello,

I'm looking for some straight answers and hope to find them here.
My workmate advised me to read The Starch Solution and so I bought and read the book. I've also read some success stories in the web and testimonials here in this forum. When I walked into his office yesterday he was talking to my husband, who told him I could never follow this way of eating because I would hardly eat any salads or vegetables. They both laughed and made jokes about me...

No need to say that I am convinced even more to start. :unibrow:

But I am down to earth. I know it will be very difficult - especially for me.
I'm literally the unhealthiest person I know. But Dr. McDougall said it's never too late to start and so here I am. Maybe you can help me with my preparation and answer some of my questions?

1. How shall I start?
- Is it better to change cold-turkey or to change slowly be replacing my meals step by step? What's your experience?

2. Do I need to eat salad? Aren't vegetables enough?
- Please don't stone me but I really hate salad. As soon as I chew on a leaf I start to retch.

3. The recipes in the book seem all very demanding. Do you eat them regularly?

4. What could I take for breakfast and lunch in the office? (Problem: I cannot reheat anything there)

5. I am somehow ashamed to ask, but: I am lactose-intolerant and so I just drank some milk to boost my digestion. :oops: How will I be able to do so when I avoid milk?



1. Just start by applying the very simple principle: no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, oil. Limit or avoid processed foods. Use some Sugar of salt if desired. It won't kill you.

2. IMO there is no need for salad. Just eat starches and add some vegetables and fruit.

3. I never made a receipe from the book. Cooking is very simple when applying rule mentioned at point 1. I do look up receipes on the internet and adjust them (leaving out oil and other unwanted ingredients). Always works out just fine.

4. Make oat meal at home. It thickens after a while. On lunch break: just add some hot water as used for making tea, and you have a perfectly nice oat meal lunch. Or bread, preferably made without oil, and with an acceptable spread. I eat peanut butter without added oil and also home made hummus (without the oil). Fruits are fine. And of course you can eat left overs from the day before. Patato's and rice can be eaten unheated, just try and see if you like it.

5. You will do just fine without the dairy. The fibers in your new food will take care of your digestion.


Good luck!
Dampy
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2015 6:09 am

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby f00die » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:53 am

my experience
1. eat more oats, rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, barley, grains as part of your meals. eat till ur satisfied. think of everything else as a garnish/condiment. eat 2-3 fruits, some veggies. dont cook with oil/fat. work on getting that right every time you eat. in the beginning i forgot a lot. i'd find myself eating a ham+cheese sandwich and im like drat! i didnt mean to eat this. now i think big plate of rice+pickles, big bowl of bean soup, plate of fruit, oats with sugar etc.

2.fruits and veggies are enough. i dont eat raw veggies either. (it's a food safety hangup)

3. dont like the spices. or involved cooking. i use salt and sugar to flavor food.onions,tomatoes,peppers, boil something. i usually keep containers of cooked rice, corn, beans (mixed and plain), greens in the fridge. mix and match to make a plate, microwave and eat.

4. oats and rice work well

5.eat the 2-3 fruit and the beans daily and drink plenty of water. the food has lots of fiber, needs a lot of water to keep that moving. i'll also eat a big plate of collard greens if im feeling sluggish. but that hasnt been in a while
f00die
 
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Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 2:46 pm

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby Vintagesan » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:05 pm

Thanks!
Vintagesan
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby Willijan » Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:02 am

Vintagesan wrote:Hello,

I'm looking for some straight answers and hope to find them here.
My workmate advised me to read The Starch Solution and so I bought and read the book. I've also read some success stories in the web and testimonials here in this forum. When I walked into his office yesterday he was talking to my husband, who told him I could never follow this way of eating because I would hardly eat any salads or vegetables. They both laughed and made jokes about me...

No need to say that I am convinced even more to start. :unibrow:

But I am down to earth. I know it will be very difficult - especially for me.
I'm literally the unhealthiest person I know. But Dr. McDougall said it's never too late to start and so here I am. Maybe you can help me with my preparation and answer some of my questions?

1. How shall I start?
- Is it better to change cold-turkey or to change slowly be replacing my meals step by step? What's your experience?

2. Do I need to eat salad? Aren't vegetables enough?
- Please don't stone me but I really hate salad. As soon as I chew on a leaf I start to retch.

3. The recipes in the book seem all very demanding. Do you eat them regularly?

4. What could I take for breakfast and lunch in the office? (Problem: I cannot reheat anything there)

5. I am somehow ashamed to ask, but: I am lactose-intolerant and so I just drank some milk to boost my digestion. :oops: How will I be able to do so when I avoid milk?



That's makes me mad that they were laughing at you! :mad: Oh well!

I hated most vegetables for most of my life, especially raw ones. And fruits. I have experienced the retching! I almost never eat any raw vegetables. Like others have said, concentrate on the starches. However, it is a good idea to learn to like vegetables, and maybe fruits, so you can keep your calorie density low if you need to lose weight, if nothing else. Here are some ideas that worked for me in slowly adding vegetables to my diet:
Skip the vegetables that you hate the most!
Make soups with starches (potatoes, beans, pasta, corn) and add a few vegetables of the kind you dislike the least: onions? celery?
And my favorite at the moment: Add cooked vegetables to a bowl of rice. I have found they taste much better mixed with rice. The texture is very good. The ones I like best are broccoli, zucchini, frozen green beans, asparagus, spinach or any leafy veggies. I very rarely eat these alone. I cut them small and simmer in water, until well done in the case of broccoli and green beans. In a separate small pan I simmer some garlic with cumin until most of the water is evaporated. Take cooked rice out of frig, add the cooked garlic/cumin and microwave. Stir into cooked veggies. I LOVE this and eat it at least once a day. You might like it or something similar. When I first tried it, I didn't like it, but ate it anyway for a few days. Came back to it later, loved it!
I used to cook "complicated" recipes. Now I mostly eat the simplest stuff--oatmeal, plain beans, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, rice and veggies. It took me a while, but now I like simple foods better than anything else.
As far as cold meals in the office, baked potatoes are very good cold. Not that I think they are the yummiest, but they are good. That's what I take most when I am traveling. Another thing I like is baked oatmeal. It is good cold. The recipe I use calls for apples and dates, so I don't know if you would like that.
I am not sure I know what you mean by "boost your digestion," but you don't need milk, either animal or plant. It is unnecessary for health. According to Dr. McDougall.
Willijan
 
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Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:12 pm

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby Vintagesan » Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:39 am

Hey Willijan! At least somebody on this planet can somehow relate to my problem. :)

Actually I do like vegetables - but we usually didn't eat them, i.e. we simply excluded them from our meals. This was not because I dislike them but rather because of my husband, who somehow survived without eating any vegetable for the last 38 years. Except Brussel sprouts I would nearly eat any vegetables. And I do so now. For the past years I cut anything out because my husband wouldn't eat it.

But I really struggle against salad in leafy form. My husband, however, loves it. Like I gave up vegetables, he gave up his salads. (Gosh, from that point of view we are really not healthy for each other :shock: ) And so our meals consisted of pasta/potatoes/rice, some kind of meat + sauce or we had fast food. (By typing this I am really suprised we are still alive) Since I am overweight, losing some weight on this way of eating would be a nice side effect. But to be honest, this is not my major issue. I'm self-confident enough to still like myself, even if I don't look like a supermodel.

Regarding digestion boost: I cannot drink cow milk without problems. ( I know I'm not a baby cow) My whole childhood I suffered from diarrhea and it took me until I was 17, when a doctor finally said "Miss, you are lactose-intolerant. Please avoid dairy products". I cut them out first, but then used even more processed stuff like "lactose free milk". In the end I found it good to know how I react to cow milk and used it, when I had digestive issues. When I had constipation I simply drank a glass of milk and the problem was solved. Since I was never a fan of drinking milk anyway, I started putting 2-3 teaspoonful of milk into my morning coffee. Less milk, same effect. And so I could be certain about going to the toilet before leaving home for the office. :oops: I am afraid I won't be able to control this anymore.

And one additional question: Do I really need to drink that much? In my job it's nearly impossible to leave every 10 mins to get to the toilet. Does it matter when exactly I drink all the water? Because I could drink let's say 1 litre after getting up - that's really no problem for me. And then maybe another litre during my work time? (8 hours)
Vintagesan
 
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Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: Looking for some advice

Postby f00die » Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:32 am

just drink water when you are thirsty. there's no need to schedule it. its just sometimes i drink less than i need and i notice harder movements. ymmv. i know someone who uses milk and cheese for the same purpose you do.
f00die
 
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