Dr. John & Mary McDougall
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Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet
Not a Lifestyle, But a "Diet"
John McDougall M.D.
After working with thousands of people over the past 28 years, Mary (McDougall) believes it is time to introduce a trimmed-down, fast-acting modification of the McDougall program--referred to from now on as "Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet." The principles are the same as with those of regular McDougall diet: it is starch-based with the addition of fruits and vegetables. The difference is the goal is to lose weight quickly with as little effort as possible. You know, a "diet"--not really a lifestyle change. This is a temporary "quick fix" to be used as a tool for people overwhelmed by the initial challenges of starting on the McDougall program and/or to boost their progress when they feel that changes are coming too slowly. Yet, this is a nutritionally sound program that you, too, may want to follow for a long time, if not a lifetime.
In the early 1980s we (John and Mary) went on an "all potato and greens" diet for 10 days--just for the experience. We had hash browns for breakfast, baked potatoes and steamed frozen vegetables for lunch, and mashed potatoes with a salad for dinner. Yes, we were bored towards the end, but we each lost 10 pounds, felt great, and continued our love for potatoes.
Important Note:
This instructional material offers you a significant opportunity--to regain your health and enhance your
personal appearance. However, diet is powerful medicine. Do not change your diet or start an intense
exercise program if you are seriously ill or on medication unless you are under the care of a physician knowledgeable in nutrition and its effects on health. Do not change medications without professional
advice. When appropriate, share this message with your doctor.
Can anyone eat so simply?
You may be thinking "No one would follow such a simple eating program." What if for reasons beyond your control, like political turmoil resulting in extreme poverty, you were forced to eat a simple diet? You would do so, rather than die!
Many populations living in such stark conditions, for example people in rural areas of Poland and Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, have lived in very good health doing extremely hard work with the white potato serving as their primary source of nutrition. Their survival depended on potatoes. You could do the same if required, and the reality for millions of people living today is that their survival, too, depends upon a simple diet--but for the opposite kind of malnutrition than that of the Russians and Poles. Then the threat was under-nutrition, and now it is over-nutrition. Dying from heart disease, cancer, and type-2 diabetes is usually slower than starvation, but often more painful.
The truth is simple diets are among the most nutritious. Throughout history almost all human inhabitants of Planet Earth have consumed simple diets. Eating basic foods is an especially powerful tool to regain lost health and appearance.
Examples of simple eating by trim healthy populations living today:
Japanese - rice
Peruvians - potatoes
Papua New Guinea Islanders - sweet potatoes
Rural Mexicans - corn
Each of these starches is combined with a few locally grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Simple Diets are Popular Diets
Because of effortless preparation and no-thought planning, simple diets are perpetually trendy, like "the cabbage soup diet" and the all-you-can-eat "grapefruit diet." Mary (McDougall), prior to meeting John 34 years ago, periodically followed these same diets with success. Her own invention, however, was "the baby-food squash diet." This simple program kept her pencil thin by such negligible effort as heating a jar or two of baby-food she bought at her local supermarket.
So was this nutritional foolishness? Was she risking her health for simplicity and weight loss? Before condemning Mary's diet as a dangerous fad, guaranteeing, at least, protein deficiency, look over the nutrition provided by a simple starch, such as squash.
Nutrients in Winter Squash (mashed):1
41 Calories in one-half cup
% of calories as protein = 8% (WHO recommendation is 5%)
% of calories as carbohydrate = 90%
% of calories as fat = 2.5%
Cholesterol = 0 mg
Dietary Fiber = 8 grams/100 calories (Milk and Beef = 0 grams)
Calcium = 81 mg/100 calories (Milk = 119 mg/100 calories)
Iron = 1.7 mg/100 calories (Beef = 1.1 mg/100 calories)
Squash is also very low in sodium and high in potassium with an abundance of vitamins (other than B12*) and contains all of the other nutrients essential for excellent health.
*B12 should be added as at least 5 micrograms daily after 3 years on any version of the McDougall Diet or if pregnant or nursing a baby while on the diet. |
Will Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet Satisfy Me?
People naturally love the flavors found in starches, vegetables, and fruits because we are anatomically and physiologically designed to consume and enjoy these foods. Remember, the taste buds on the tip of your tongue respond to carbohydrates (sweet) which are found almost exclusively in plant foods (the exceptions are milk and honey).
A landmark experiment was carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25 years old and a woman 28 years old.2 For 6 months these two people lived on a diet primarily of white potatoes. (A few additional items providing insignificant nutrients were added: a few fruits, coffee, and tea. Because they were losing too much weight, pure fat--containing no other nutrients--was also added.)
Could a diet of potatoes meet their nutritional needs? Even though they were both physically active (especially the man) they were described as, ". . . in good health on a diet in which the nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato."
Did they like this diet? The report stated, "They did not tire of the uniform potato diet and there was no craving for change."
Starchy vegetables, like potatoes, are very appetite-satisfying. In an enlightening experiment, 38 separate foods were fed to subjects and a rating of their level of satisfaction (a satiety index) was determined every 15 minutes for 2 hours after the meals.3 The highest satisfaction level was produced by boiled white potatoes, and it was seven times higher than the lowest index for croissants. Potatoes were almost 5 times more satisfying than a Mars candy bar and twice as satisfying as beef or cheese. Starchy vegetables satisfy the hunger drive--fatty foods leave you craving.
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