successful Mcdougallers for over 5 years?

[tanyaj]

I would really like to hear from people who have been on the Mcdougall diet or a very similar diet for more than 5 yrs. I want to hear from people who lost weight, whose weight loss remained consistent/stable and who has not strayed far from the path for over 5 yrs.

What is it like at family gathering, traveling to other countries and telling people what you are doing? Do you ever binge eat? How often have you slipped up? How do you fight guilt over not doing it perfectly? Thank you and I cannot wait to hear from you.

[Nutrition4Life001]

I've been eating this way for over 25 years - and have become more consistent and dedicated over the years. Occasional slips have left me feeling like yuck and recognizing that the more I eat a whole food - unprocessed, no animal including dairy - the better I feel and the happier I am. My weight has stayed consistent within about 3 pounds for the past 20 + years.

A good way to get away from eating things you don't want is to let people know that you can no longer eat some of the things you used to eat because it doesn't "set well" with you or that you have developed allergies to some of the things that you used to eat and that you feel better leaving them out. You don't want to make other people feel guilty for being garbalogists or eating things that you know are bad for them. It is better to just acknowledge that this is working for you and leave it at that. If they want to know more then you can explain.

I don't binge on junk. I binge on cherries in strawberries in May, June, blueberries and peaches in July, Pluots and nectarines in August, Apples in the fall, persimmons in November . . . Around the holidays I make healthy alternatives that are scrumptious, seem decadent (but aren't) and allow myself to "indulge" as much as I want.

If I know I'm going some where that won't offer much in the way of choices I like, I fill up on the good stuff before I go, or take food with me. Traveling is challenging, but with planning it can be done.

I don't try to be perfect, but I do aim for 95% . . . I have a few planned cheats. For example, I make a killer pecan pie. But I only do it once a year and spend the other 11 months talking about how great it is and looking forward to it. Then I only eat one or two slices. It is an event. I also eat Alaskan Salmon about 3 time a year (this has become our traditional holiday meal instead of turkey) along with healthy versions of other traditional foods, and maybe a dozen or so organic eggs (per year). I don't need to be perfect, but as long as I daily focus on eating satisfying foods (grains, potatoes, beans, sweet potatoes) and lots of nutrient dense foods (green and other veggies, and lots of fruits) - and recognize how good this makes me FEEL and how awesome my overall health remains (and it doesn't hurt that people frequently complement my complexion and think I'm much younger than I am. . . )

I hope this helps and wish you much success and great health!

[carollynne]

Congrats to you!! this is so cool. I usually just don't go to gatherings anymore, and bring food along with me too. It is getting easier, I hope I can say the same thing too, in yrs to come...

[Potatohead]

I have been eating this way for over 15 years, I lost over 100lbs and have kept it off.
Have I struggled? ....Sure, at times...... I love regular coke, and I really have to stay away from it, because 1 will lead to more..I also like the taste of Earth Balance Spread....but I stay away from that too, because its hard for me to control my use of it.
This way of eating is not just a diet to lose weight....it is a life long commitment....it is so worth it....I am healthier now than I was at 20...I'm 52....I would never go back to eating all the crap I use to eat..YUK

[Gypsy]

Wow, this is such a great question. I've been trying to formulate a similar post but hadn't gotten around to it. I hope many more people answer. Thanks so much. My question was about Star McDougallers...it would be so great if they could all update their successes.

[carollynne]

Yes I find the Star stories to be so motivating, and that can help me tremendously too.
I have to keep away from so many times,that used to cause me to binge straight down into a downward spiral. Chips, cookies, licorice, Hershey's choc candies, mints, scrambled eggs, there is just too many to mention here. but slowly over time, my tastes did change, but I can still crave it all from the smell of certain foods. Or the site of a bag of candy at a store.......
IT is getting so much easier to not do the things that were killing my insides. Hurray for this WOE and the books by Dr Mc Dougall and Campbell and son, and Essy too.

[Ricardo]

Tanyaj,

I am in this kind of diet for almost 4 years. I don’t see why not more years, while alive. (and I believe this diet will give me more years with health to look for my grandchildren). It is a great lifestyle change and I love it. I have little craving when we have lunch or dinner in special occasions, as the table gets full of animal and processed unhealthy food (ice-cream is very dangerous). Even then I make my best to limit getting out of my dear diet.

I am in this diet for fear of getting a heart attack or to loose all the benefits of it. As you can see, I got many good things from the Vegan diet:

1) I lost a lot of extra weight (more than 30 pounds):
2) I got rid of my medicine for blood pressure (14X9 to 12X8):
3) Solved embarrassing "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" digestion problem (I had often to run to the nearest WC after lunch);
4) Reduced statins pills (from 70 mg to the present tentative of 30 or 25 mg);
5) Reversed CAD (as I got a normal PET scan in last April).
6) And now a good result in a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy doc said that vegan and low fat lifestyle prevents against cancer to develop in the colon.

About traveling: it is really necessary to plan ahead, calling the airlines and asking for veggie meals, calling the restaurant and its chef, preparing vegan sandwiches for traveling by car/bus, when invited for dinner at friends house explaining them your diet and mentioning you will be ok with potatoes or very simple veg food. I always eat ahead of this kind of situations. I dont know how to cook, but I will learn with the cook that prepares my meals. That will give me independence in Xmas, New Year and other holidays.

As you see from the above, these are more than the reasons I would need to quit from this diet!
Good luck my friend,
Ricardo

[f1jim]

Well as I look on the calendar I see it's now just over 5 years for me so I just slip under your 5 year window. I have maintained my weight loss and I believe my doctors would agree I have meaningfully turned around my heart disease issue. Much of SAD found still smells good to me. I can't see that changing. I have no desire to re-introduce the foods that put my life in jeopardy over the decades. The longer I do this the better the food gets. I still love the discoveries I make from time to time eating this way. Heck, in the last year I discovered home made hummus and that opened up a whole new world to me. My family and friends have accepted our food choices and have gotten better about working around our choices. I'd like to think that our way of eating has more influenced them than they have us! Some of the concepts we expressed to them have become more mainstream and understood by them so that's made things easier. We don't have many converts to our way of eating yet but that's ok. We still get people telling us we look good and I think they mean it. It beats the silence I used to get.
My wife follows the plan very stringently so we don't argue about food choices or diet related issues. I am blessed by the most supportive, motivating wife, that walks the earth. Neither of us would think about abandoning this way of eating after having it so ingrained. We have traveled many times out of state but are anxious to travel overseas again after a few years absence. We have gotten very good at eating out and staying on plan. I don't believe foreign travel will be a hindrance to us. I'll let you know either this Fall or early Spring.
I know I sound like a broken record many times, but this is not a complex, complicated, way of life. I'd be lying if I said it was always easy, but after 5 years it really has become easy. that's a long way from my fist couple of weeks where I wondered what the heck I was going to eat. I'm now on McDougall autopilot and find it a very comfortable place to be.
f1jim

[PlainJane]

This is exactly what I was looking for!

Since I started reading about this diet and talking about it to my family and friends (perhaps my first mistake!) they have been trying to dissuade me and telling me that it's unhealthy in the long run.

Thank you to those who responded to this thread. I now have some ammunition.

[Ricardo]

Since I started reading about this diet and talking about it to my family and friends (perhaps my first mistake!) they have been trying to dissuade me and telling me that it's unhealthy in the long run.

We vegans hear all the time from family, some friends and even neighbors that what we are doing is radical. I say that radical is to have a heart attack and to have stents and bypasses. After almost 4 years I can now show results.

My major achievement was to reverse my CAD, as I have posted many times. For me there is nothing that others can argument against that. (Even I had doubts about that possibility when I started with vegan lifestyle). The truth is that many people still thinks that fat is synonymous of good health. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I listen to some family members that have a point here and there. That is an opportunity for them to learn something, but it is also an opportunity for me to review what I am doing. Reading again my books makes me to rebalance a few items. This is a lifestyle for the rest of my life and the food and habits can always be improved. For example, my wife asked me if eating so many fruits would be all right. I now see she gave me a hint to check blood mark for glucose. Because of that I decided to reduce the large amount of fruits I was eating. I was doing that because I thought it would not be a problem. Other problem it was I eating much bread with white flour. It raised my triglicerides. Now I am going to reduce bread, substituting it for one banana with oat in the morning plus white tea. In other hand I will eat more potatoes, cassava (yucca or manioc), whole grain bread -starchs as Dr. Mc Dougall says. That may or may not raise again my triglicerides, what I pretend to check in next blood test. As you may see, this vegan life requires us to find a new balance of what foods we like and the positive effects we want.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a general practitioner doctor to see if she gives me all the items that a blood test has to contain to assure that my health has all the important nutrients, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, etc. With the results of my future blood test I may be able to adjust more of what I am doing.

Bottom line: even with small details of vegan diet we can do even better. Going vegan, requires us to check items and to make adjustments.
But nothing is more damaging than the Standard American Diet - Standard Brazilian Diet also! These diets assure us to get coronary, diabetes, stomach, morbid obesity, mental and other diseases.

[AnnaS]

Nine years here--My husband lost 30 pounds; a couple years ago he had to have prednisone treatment for sarcoidosis in his lungs--at that time he put on a little weight again but is gradually losing that now. The most important thing to him was that his cholesterol finally came down to 150 and has stayed there. I think his BMI is 22 (?) anyway he could stand to lose a couple more pounds.

I was already fairly thin but lost 10 pounds and have kept that off easily. My BMI is 19. Both of us felt much healthier and energetic after we started the McDougall plan. Unfortunately I was bitten by a tick, and am undergoing Lyme treatment--I am sure the diet is helping me as it's the healthiest way you can eat.

I never cheat, am not even tempted to. Very rarely (once a year or so) I might have a small cup of coffee, but I am not tempted to eat dairy, meat or oils. I have to avoid sugar and gluten during my treatment.

My husband never cheats, however he has to be somewhat flexible when he's traveling, especially as to oils. Usually though he can figure out a perfectly adequate meal, even in airports.

We will eat this way the rest of our lives, ie, another half-century or so, LOL! I see too many people our age (in their 50's) already sick and dying, having surgeries, it is awful to see. When you start hearing about people younger than you dying of heart attacks, you know there's something wrong. We want something better than that, and are willing to work for it.

[chrisv]

I'm a few month short of 5 years. I will try and answer some of your questions.

weight loss -- I gradually lost to a little below my high school weight, maybe around 30 lbs lost.

"not strayed far from the path" The path has changed along the way, mostly I have found I need to limit fruit and bread somewhat due to high triglycerides. At first I was eating a lot of fruit and bread. Meat does not seem like any kind of temptation, I guess I would eat it if I was starving. Salty, oily food is not sounding very good either. I do occasionally find myself eating some sweet or baked item, if I am hungry and unprepared with some other option. I try to learn from this how to be more prepared, and don't worry too much about it. I also eat the best option in a restaurant sometimes, which could have added oil.

family--- after all this time, they are pretty used to it, and will ask can you find something to eat at this restaurant? It took some adjustment on both sides, they were less polite at first.

guilt-- I don't feel that I have to do this perfectly even though I know that would be the best for my health. I guess I felt a little guilty before, because I thought I should lose weight, but could not seem to do it.

Traveling seems difficult, I just got back from a trip and it is good to be home where I am surrounded by good food. Before it never would have occured to be that a nearby grocery and a microwave and fridge at the hotel provide the best food, now it is a treat to be able to cook in sometimes when traveling.

I suppose I over-eat some days. The only food I am likely to eat too much of are my favorite mcd foods.

[ETeSelle]

What is it like at family gathering, traveling to other countries and telling people what you are doing? Do you ever binge eat? How often have you slipped up? How do you fight guilt over not doing it perfectly? Thank you and I cannot wait to hear from you.

I am responding b/c, while I haven't officially McDougalled for 5 years, I've been vegan for 22 years. I.e., no meat, eggs, fish, dairy, etc. When I started McDougalling I ditched the added fat and the processed crap.

But this part of your question applies to me b/c I've been dealing w/ other people's attitudes towards my WOE for decades now! I was ovo-lacto veg for several years b/f I went vegan, too.

I have not knowingly eaten a single animal product since I went vegan. Period. I did that for ethical reasons and for me, anyway, that's far easier to stick to than doing it for health reasons. I occasionally have "feast foods" (non McD items) now, but they always MUST be vegan.

I approach social occasions by either bringing my own contributions or eating well before going. If I can bring my own (i.e., potluck) I'm good. I just make 1-2 dishes I love, I eat a lot of it, and if there is anything else there I can eat, I have a few tastes. If I cannot bring my own (i.e., going out to eat at a restaurant where I know there will be minimal options), I just eat well before going and get a salad for dinner.

Do people comment on it? Yeah. That's OK. When they say, "I could never do that," I say, "Oh sure you could, if you really wanted to. I really wanted to." If they ask, "What do you EAT?!?!?!" I explain. If it's a potluck they almost always love what I bring, so that helps.

The key is to Be Prepared (like a girl scout). When you travel, take food w/ you and plan to visit grocery stores more often than restaurants. Keep in mind that if you are eating out w/ friends, it's the FRIENDS who are (or should be!) important, not the food. I don't have to have the World's Best Meal--I can get a salad or a baked tater anyway and have a good time w/ my friends.

Hope that helps!

[Spiral]

I've been doing this for less than one year. But I'll provide you my story anyway.

At first the biggest challenge was telling my wife about my new dietary restrictions. She still has not converted to McDougall-ism. For the most part, I have been making my McDougall-ish food and it does take more time than I would like. But I think I can solve that by making larger quantities of the food and freezing some.

I don't really like going out to eat. I used to be a big-time fan of going to restaurants, eating an appetizer, a salad, a large entree and a dessert, leaving the restaurant very over-stuffed. Now, however, I like being "in control" over what food goes into my body. And I no longer look at running up expensive tabs at restaurants and eating huge amounts of unhealthy food as a sport. I have taken up running and participating in 5-kilomoter races as a substitute.

Occasionally I will go off plan, but this is usually only when I am stranded away from my kitchen. And even then I try to keep my straying to a minimum. I also actually look forward to getting back into strict McDougall-ism as soon as possible.

I am 44 years old, male, and I want to avoid heart attack, stroke, cancer and other diseases. Dr. McDougall, Dr. Esselstyn and others say that this lifestyle can help you avoid those ailments and they have persuaded me. So, I'm on board. I really don't crave cheeseburgers anymore. Although I admit that I have thought about letting myself have one on my birthday. But I don't know if I want to do that. I think I would prefer a bean burrito, fully McDougall approved, instead.

[tanyaj]

WOW!! All of these are really great! Please keep them coming!! Hearing from people who have done it 5 years or longer is very inspiring.

I have been vegan since March 2011. I have had no problems eating whole plant base foods and leaving out the animal products. I had already been avoiding dairy because I am lactose intolerant.

The hardest part of the McDougall plan is leaving out the FAT!! I LOVE coconut, chocolate, every type of nut, peanut butter, almond butter, avocados, coconut oil and olive oil. I also really enjoy baking.