Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hi Jeff and everyone,

I am a longtime vegetarian---found Dr. McDougall when I was 15yrs. old perusing the bookshelf of the then Mrs. Gooche's in L.A.

I'm 48 now and perimenopausal. Everything is not as it should be (i.e., water retention, weight gain--hormones?--likely). I exercise regularly.

Jeff--I have read your explanations of GI foods, etc. and really believe in a plant-based diet for ethical and health reasons, however, I wonder (since I believe this is the case for me) if it's possible to NOT be able to handle all of the rice, potatoes, and other complex carbs advocated by the plan? Maybe certain complex carbs. are preferable (sweet p. vs. russet idea)?

I have begun thinking about shifting to less complex carbs (even though I love them) to more veggies, fruit, and plant-based proteins. I just don't feel good--I'm retaining water like crazy and it's so strange to me since my overall diet is superior to the average bear's!

Typically, I eat:

Whole grain cereal (the real deal) or oatmeal with fruit and a dollop of soy yogurt for breakfast

Lunch is often times a huge salad with a tlb. of mixed raw nuts and perhaps a dollop of hummus or a piece of tempeh--I used to have rice or a potato too but, now I'm shifting to a tortilla or something with less carbs since I'm not feeling so hot.

Dinner is veggies of all kinds and potato--rice--and then BLOAT.

I do drink decaf coffee and have a glass of wine at night.

I used to eat a chocolate tofu mousse for dessert but, have switched to fruit in an attempt to cut out kcals, sugar, and fat.

Thoughts? Oh, very strange--I'm also craving eggs.

Thanks very much for any advice or suggestions.

Right now, I'm going to experiment with less of the complex carbs but, your recs. would be invaluable to me.

Regards,

V.H.

Hi veggiehead,

Just not eating meat doesn't mean automatic good health. I've found optimum diet for me means no processed foods, very low fat, no sugar, no meat, no dairy, no eggs and very limited grains.

Folks on this board are proud to be able to read the ingredient labels on food and be able to understand the nutrition within. I think that's great but I just skip all that and conclude that if a package has anything in it that I don't understand I don't buy it. Yes, that means I generally buy packages with only one item like rice or perhaps a can of beans that contains salt.

Avoid processed food. Simplify. Good luck.

You hit the nail on the head. We spend so much time deciphering labels, trying to understand and calculate the "food value" of packaged food that we lose sight of the bigger picture. Whole foods, in their most basic form, make up the healthiest things we can eat. Jeff talks alot about the high percentage of stuff on the supermarket shelves that are just not fit to eat and a lot of the confusion would be solved by bypassing the aisles and aisles of over processed, over refined, food and drink. So little outside of the produce section is even worth the time to read the nutrition facts label.

I find it a good exercise to see just what is in the shopping carts of the line in front and back of me. It's most revealing to discover you can get pretty close to guessing the contents of the cart by looking at the people. My cart always looks so spartan, devoid of all the advertising splash. I kind of pride myself on how few processed items I can get away with. I figure people just think I'm dirt poor or cheap!
f1jim

f1jim wrote:My cart always looks so spartan, devoid of all the advertising splash. I kind of pride myself on how few processed items I can get away with. I figure people just think I'm dirt poor or cheap!
f1jim

I sometimes wonder if people and cashiers get frustrated with me when they see all the bags of produce that need to be weighed!

BTW, a while back I started a thread on looking in other people's carts. It got some good responses. I happened to peek at what the firemen were buying the other day (not trying to be obvious, of course!), and noticed that each of them was buying things like salads, vegies and fruits. One salad had chicken, but overall it was looking pretty good--had to wonder if they know about E2 (and I was nearly gutsy enough to ask!).

I'm a "cart watcher" too. Not in a judgemental way, but it's fun to see what other people are buying. And every once in awhile, someone will scope out my selections and say "Hey! That's a great looking cart!"