Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I've been a follower of Dr McDougall since ~1992. Have been to a few of his conferences, Veg Source conferences, and even saw him debate in Vegas.

Health wise I was "OK", (especially comparing me to the norm), but just too much weight and I was eating the SAD. Years ago I remember going to a Veg Source conference, getting my cholesterol checked and it was almost 180. Disheartening.

I wish I could say I read Dr McDougall's books and was 100% compliant. But as the years have gone by, I've also learned from Drs Esselstyn, Campbell, Jeff and others. Then Dr McDougall's Starch Solution. Learning to eat with way less salt. "No oil" as Dr Es says.

Putting it all together, I got my lipid panel results from Kaiser this morning. I'm over the moon. I'd like to share with family and friends, but they don't understand, you folks do. Total chol--124, Trig--46, LDL--66.

It's taken lots of years, and certainly not in the same catagory as Nicole, but eating so much meat/dairy my whole life, just took a long time to flush out.

My younger brother just had a pacemaker installed this week and my sister had a stent installed ~5 years ago. And to think we can make ourselves heart attack proof by just what we eat.

What I like about this forum is you folks are serious. This is not a game. Thank you all and especially a big thanks to those above.

Congrats! That's wonderful to hear! GO YOU!

Fantastic news, Mike. Happy McDougalling!

Mike,

Would you mind posting your starting Cholesterol numbers just to get a perspective. Congrats. How long it took for numbers to finally settle?

Thank you for posting this. It is hard for people to be patient sometimes. They want instant results, and will give up if it takes too long. This is proof that change sometimes doesn't happen overnight, but will happen if you stick to it. Good for you!

LOL...I know what you mean about nobody else really caring about your lipid panel numbers but us! Congrats...those are absolutely great numbers that you should be proud of. You're heart attack proof!!

That's AWESOME!

I love hearing about how this WOE creates cumulative health gains, and protecting yourself from heart disease is HUGE.

I get what you mean about people not caring about cholesterol numbers anywhere but here - nobody in my real life except my husband and parents could give two hoots about how eating this way has changed my life, OR my cholesterol.


Sorry to hear about your brother's pacemaker

Congrats! You are right that we are happy to hear about your numbers! You are inspiring.

Thanks for posting. It takes a long time for some people, including myself, to get their head wrapped around this way of eating after a lifetime eating the typical Western diet. I have noticed that it usually takes a life-changing medical problem or a family member having a health crisis to shock people into changing their diets. However neither of those things happened to me. Instead, little insidious problems began to appear over the course of many years. That's one reason I was in no hurry to change. However, my health problems began to mount up and I finally decided to switch to a plant based diet.

Yes, this is the group of people that will definitely understand your reaction to your blood work. I love the fact that we have the range of peoples situations to draw from. From people like myself that knew they were at deaths door to those that just didn't feel quite up to snuff. I do think it's easier to jump fully on board if you have major issues confronting you. But that doesn't mean there are not thousands of people concerned before things get desperate.
The benefits you have experienced are usually not reproducible with pills or procedures. Nor are the benefits cumulative like they are with a healthy diet.
Congrats on the results and good luck with the next milestone you have for your own health.
f1jim

Thank you all for commenting on my post.

I like the comment about "sticktoitiveness". To be honest, I've questioned what I've learned from Drs McDougall et al. but no matter what, I've always have come back. The science is just there and it seems to me, undeniable.

What led me to Dr McDougall was a book my wife was reading called "The Rice Diet" by Walter Kempner. I realized then it was science and again, irrefutable.

It surprises me that people don't look at this from a common sense/scientific stand point. Like another commenter said, it usually takes an extreme situation before someone tries the McDougall diet. Look at his seminars, the average age looks to be over 60.

As far as charting my cholesterol, before its been anywhere from 145 to 200, but my triglicerides/LDL had never been so low. Part of that was removing alcohol a few years ago and then Jeff N posted an article on FB about salt and that really turned my life around in a good way.