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Gain John: Hypertension, Lost 66 Pounds, Has Loads of Energy

The fundamentals of the McDougall Program are simple yet often difficult to implement. Star McDougallers have either adopted the Program themselves by learning from our website and books or joining one of our programs. For personalized help, learn more about the 12-Day McDougall Program. For questions on whether a change in diet can help your ailment, learn more about our consultations.
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Before: I weighed 100kgs (220 pounds) and was on five blood pressure medications.

I always believed that I was fat because I had the “bad genes.”

I have been a health conscious person since childhood. Whenever I read a magazine I used to read the health pages first. None of the magazines said the truth about the link between nutrition and health like Dr. McDougall and a few other people such as T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, Neal Barnard, and Michael Klaper.

These magazines said stuff like eat “healthy meats” like chicken and fish, and consume “healthy fats” like olive and canola! I used to believe that eating junk like cakes, biscuits, meat, dairy, and fried food may make me fat but I could always burn off the fat by working out. However, this never happened, as I learnt later that eating such junk would never result in weight loss and optimal health, no matter how much I worked out.

One day when I was about 17 my tongue started sticking out involuntarily and it was excruciatingly painful. I have never felt such pain before. So I rushed to the doctor with my father. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and the doctor gave me five different pills to manage my hypertension and advised me to eat less meat, dairy and other junk, but never said that I was having this hypertension because of eating foods like meat, dairy, fish, eggs, oil, and other junk.

Then I discovered Dr. McDougall through youtube and I have been starch based for about five years now (since 2012). I don’t take any of those medications for high blood pressure anymore. My blood pressure has dropped down to 100/70 and my total cholesterol is 108. I used to weigh 100kgs (220 pounds) and I have lost 30kgs (66 pounds). Now I have loads of energy and bounce around like a bouncing ball. I was never happy being overweight. And from what my sister says my skin has improved a lot since I started following the no oil, starch based diet, which I learned from Dr. McDougall.

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After: I weigh 70kgs (154 pounds) and have normal blood pressure on no medication.

I used to take multivitamins after going starch based thinking, I might not be getting all the nutrients. But after learning the facts from Dr. McDougall’s lectures on youtube, I stopped taking multivitamins and soy protein powders. The only nutrient supplement I take is vitamin B12.

I thank Dr. McDougall for sharing the truth that it’s the food that’s causing most of the health problems. If it was not for Dr. McDougall’s work I would still be fat and sick. I recommend the starch-based diet to all my friends and family for optimal health.

Thank you all so much for your great work.
Gain John