John McDougall and The Starch Solution

[ginnyinWI]

I just got this book. Can I really eat a lot of starchy vegetables and grains and lose weight, as long as I stay away from all animal based foods and vegetable oils?

I'm already plant-based but we eat a meal of cod or salmon about once a week, and I have not given up the olive and canola oils. Don't go overboard with them, but...

I'm giving it a try this week to see. It certainly has been easier to not snack between meals so maybe there is something to it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. That's the diet I try to stay on.

I do really well on it. And I lost about 15 pounds over time.

Just eat all natural products - not processed ones. I eat lots of beans and legumes, potatoes and yams and brown rice and oat groats.

I can't just eat vegetables and fruit - I just done get enough energy that way. But Joel Furman has another vegan diet that is a lot the same but instead of complex carbs you stick to beans and legumes. I try to do that if I can and I feel OK. But the complex carbs give me a lot more variation. Then I try to also eat a big bowl of veggies and another big bowl of fruit.

I do drink kefir which is cultured milk that is loaded with live cultures - like yogurt only way more potent. You can get kefir made from soy milk and coconut milk but I think it tastes just awful.

[ginnyinWI]

2. I read Eat to Live first.

And you are right: if you try to subsist on only vegetables and fruit and a tiny bit of whole grains, you end up hungry and looking for less than healthy snacks (tortilla chips, cookies, etc!) a few hours later.

Since I've been eating more starchy things I don't need the in between meal snacks.

I've been an almost vegan for two years, so this change will be just to take out the oil and processes soy fake-meat products. So it should not be too difficult.

I'll be really interested in seeing if my blood numbers get better.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. My blood pressure went back to normal.

That alone is worth staying with the diet.

Just don't buy anything that's been processed.

[ginnyinWI]

4. hope it works for me too.

I'm on two blood pressure meds.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. It took a while - a few months.

I stayed on the diet pretty close for about 6 months and lost weight. My blood pressure is well into the normal range now.

Then I had a little spell where I got really hungry for other stuff and I think I gained some weight back. But I'm back on my diet now.

I've been buying one of the Dell salad kits - about $3.50- and then eating the whole thing so I get lots of greens. They come with carrots and cabbage and sunflower seeds and some dressing. It's a lot easier for me than trying to buy all the ingredients separately and putting them together myself. I end up wasting a lot of food that way.

And drinking kefir has really helped my appetite. I just don't feel hungry when I drink a cup with each meal.