Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

bob2200 wrote:I have replied to this thread because Dr. William Harris of Hawaii, in the July 2009 monthly Vegetarian Society of Hawaii presentation ( http://www.vsh.org/videos.htm ), claims that less than a tablespoon/day of ground flaxseed caused him harm.

I saw an earlier video by Dr. Harris where he said that he had a problem with easy bleeding after taking 1 tsp of flaxseed a day for 3 years, and that when he cut down to a lesser amount, the bleeding problem went away. The same thing happened at another time when he was taking DHA supplements (5 capsules/day) and went away when he cut it down to a lower dose. He thought that it was because of EPA (one of the omega-3 fatty acids). It didn't seem to have anything to do with his thyroid. Was that the problem he referred to in the July 2009 video (which I have not watched)?

somnolent wrote: Was that the problem he referred to in the July 2009 video (which I have not watched)?

Basically, yes. It was worse than just easy bleeding, like draining ounces of blood that had pooled inside the body. I elected to tack onto this thread because it already addressed concerns about eating flax seed.

Thanks bob2200 and Jeff. --Clary

bob2200 wrote:

Clary wrote:

bob2200 wrote: Dr. McDougall has said he doesn't recommend flaxseed for most people.

Will you reference where he says that, please?

It was in an e-mail in response to my e-mail today. I too remember the flax seeds on the breakfast food table at the live-in program. As I recall, they were not ground up (but it was 2 years ago).

JeffN wrote:

Clary wrote:

bob2200 wrote: Dr. McDougall has said he doesn't recommend flaxseed for most people.

Will you reference where he says that, please?

I remember someone posting here on the board that flaxseed is served daily at the meals at the live-in programs. I wonder if they are suggested only for certain people who are attending, or ????

Thanks, Clary

Flaxseeds are available at the program and are usually out every morning at the breakfast buffet.

Some people are specifically instructed to include them and some are specifically told to avoid them. Every one is there for different reasons.

Remember, omega 3s exist in all plant food and flax seeds are not required if someone wanted to avoid them and in the amounts allowed, would not cause any problem for most anyone. This is covered in a few other threads.

In Health
Jeff

I went off my flax seed intake from 2-3 tbs. about a month ago but soon added back 1 tsp. I found when I went totally off it my brain didn't function well. Reasons I even began taking it at all was that I was losing my hair as well as my memory was going downhill.

I could use a good substitute for flax to help take away these symptoms so I can get off it totally, especially with this news.

green jeanne wrote:I went off my flax seed intake from 2-3 tbs. about a month ago but soon added back 1 tsp. I found when I went totally off it my brain didn't function well. Reasons I even began taking it at all was that I was losing my hair as well as my memory was going downhill.

I could use a good substitute for flax to help take away these symptoms so I can get off it totally, especially with this news.

\

That's weird, Were you eatting enough total calories? I exchanged a couple emails with Dr. McDougall and he says that it's impossible to not get enough of all the fats when eatting a Whole Food diet when total calories are met. Then i asked him what if you never eat any of the faty plant foods like seeds/nuts/ fatty fruit and he said it's still impossible.

I am not sure that it is impossible to become deficient. Here is my story. I had a mysterious rash for about a year. The dermatologist didn't know what it was. I finally tried omega-3 supplementation (from algae and flaxseed) and the rash finally went away. When I stopped the omega-3's, the rash came back. Now I am transitioning from the supplements to ground flaxseed, since the latter is a whole food. So far so good. Maybe it was not a true deficiency -- maybe my ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 was off -- but if it could happen to me, it could happen to others.

Are you a woman? Maybe women need a little more total fat.

I am a woman.

Almost every food there is can act as a goitrogen. I contacted the USDA about soy and they sent me back an email saying that it isn't a problem unless you are not getting enough iodine.

But they said beware of lettuces because of thiocyanates. So I looked into that and they are in just about everything. Plus the lettuce I was buying at a norther California farmers market was actually being grown down in perchlorate valley aka southern California and the perchlorate is a big problem for the thyroid.

Then I read some studies that that iodine is now considered the most common cause of hypothyroidism and that there are multiple studies showing that keeping daily intake below 100mcg will prevent and reverse hypothyroid and conversely that communities started seeing more cases of hypothyroid when iodine supplementation was started.

So I figure that you can have too much or too little iodine and that either one can be a problem depending on the rest of my diet. It's all a balancing act.

Since I eat a lot of foods that have the thiocyanates and phytoestrogens, I don't worry about consuming iodine, but I also don't eat a lot of high iodine foods.

That seems to work fine.