Dr. John & Mary McDougall
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More on Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet
John A. McDougall, MD
Last month's newsletter about
our simplified version of the McDougall Diet created much interest
and many questions. Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet is offered
as a way to ease the learning curve for those just starting our
program and a means to increase the efficiency of the regular McDougall
Diet by simplifying food choices. The diet follows the basic
principles of the McDougall Program: starch-based with the addition
of fruits and vegetables, but limits food choices to one kind of
starch and repetitive selections of green and yellow vegetables
and fruits. The same starch and vegetables are eaten everyday.
You can read about the in the June 2006 McDougall Newsletter.
Here are some answers to important
questions that surfaced following the introduction of Mary's Mini-Diet.
What is the most important
lesson I should learn from the Mini-Diet experience?
When describing the excellent
health and youthful appearance of the Native Americans, Benjamin
Rush wrote in 1776, ". . . the old proverb may well be verified: Natura
paucis contenta--nature is satisfied with little . . ." Most
people believe a wide variety of foods is necessary for good health.
This belief favors the food industry and helps sell the 20,000 products
that line the supermarket shelves. Look at the consequences of eating
a diet with a wide variety of foods--hundreds of millions of fat,
sick people living in Western societies.
Why is this diet more efficient than the regular, or even the Maximum Weight Loss, version
of the McDougall Program?
Variety causes people to consume
more food and more calories. Populations of people like rural
Asians, Africans, and Peruvians, are known for being trim and avoiding
diseases common to Westerners, and their diets consist of limited
kinds of foods--a starch and a few locally grown vegetables and fruits.
Fortunately, the foods are designed to be nutritionally complete
long before they reach the dinner table.
As a food is eaten, it becomes
less appealing, but the taste and appearance of other foods remain
relatively unchanged. As a result, more is eaten during a
meal consisting of a variety of foods than during a meal with just
one food, even if that food is a favorite.1,2
So a simple way to decrease
your intake of calories is to make your food choices the same--or
in another term, monotonous. This cuts way down on planning,
too.
Simple meal plans also have
health advantages, especially for those who are highly sensitive.
Simple diets result in fewer challenges from the ingredients,
like proteins, of foods to the digestive and immune systems of the
body--this is especially important for people with allergic and autoimmune
diseases (like asthma and arthritis), and those with inflammatory
bowel diseases (like gastritis and colitis).
Comments on 10 day MMD from the McDougall discussion board
Fern:
Lost 3 pounds in 10 days
I
started this because I was just plain overeating. I was stuffing
myself to the point of having heartburn, but couldn't stop.
Mary's Mini-Diet worked immediately.
Beans bother me.
I
plan to continue this into the foreseeable future.
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Should I eat a different
starch every day?
In the June 2006 newsletter
I did not make clear enough the importance of monotony. As
a result many people who tried the Mini-Diet introduced greater
variety than I had planned by eating a different starch each day,
rather than, for example potatoes everyday for 10-days. The
fewer varieties of foods that make up the meal plan, the greater
will be the weight loss.
Comments
on 10 day MMD from the McDougall discussion board
Rob and Betty:
We've
finally found something that's simple enough to understand
and simple enough to follow! Even the McDougall Maximum
Weight Loss Program gave us too many choices and too many
chances to go astray. But when you know you're having
potatoes, and your second choice is potatoes, how can you
miss? Freshly-made salsa (tomatoes, onion, cilantro,
a touch of salt, and a jalapeņo (seeds and all -- ground up
in the juice of one lime) makes life complete!
(It also makes life weigh a little less -- 8 pounds for Rob
and 6 for me.)
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Can I eat more
green and yellow vegetables and lose faster?
When weight loss is your goal
you can introduce more of the principals of the Maximum Weight Loss
Program into the Mini-Diet. Green and yellow vegetables, like
summer squashes (zucchini), pea pods, lettuce leaves, broccoli,
cauliflower, and sprouts will fill the stomach with fewer calories
than starchy vegetables. Use more of these low calories foods
to encourage faster weight loss. But be sure to consume enough starch
to satisfy your appetite and don't go hungry by restricting the
amount you eat.
Comments
on 10 day MMD from the McDougall discussion board
Roberta Joiner
Re-set my taste buds so simpler foods taste better than they did.
Greater
appreciation of grains, beans, fruits and vegetables!
I won't be ordering a new size 6 wardrobe, but if I lose 2
lb. every 10 days, in 80 days I'll be down 16 lb.
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Should I eat when I am hungry
on Mary's Mini-Diet?
Counting calories is a waste
of mental energy. You have a highly efficient hunger drive that
accurately regulates your food consumption--as long as the correct
foods are placed into your intestine. Problems
occur when foods not designed for the human body--foods too rich
for our systems like candy, meat, milk, cheese, eggs, etc.--are consumed.
Grazing works better for weight
loss and lowering cholesterol--which means snacks are fine.
But snacks should be of the same foods as your meals, like boiled
or roasted potatoes and dry-fried French fries with the diet pictured
above of potatoes--not crackers and pretzels.
Comments
on 10 day MMD from the McDougall discussion board
Malva:
Net weight loss: 3 lb. in 10 days
I was able to eat to satisfaction and not feel deprived.
I suppose if I made it simpler and ate only rice, broccoli and
greens three meals a day (or a couple of jars of baby food),
then I would have lost more. |
Shouldn't I avoid potatoes because they are high glycemic index?
Glycemic index is just one
quality of a food as discussed in the July 2006 newsletter article:
Glycemic Index--Not Ready for Prime Time. Potatoes are high in fiber
and have a low calorie concentration. Potatoes have virtually
no fat to wear (1% of calories). A large potato contains 150
calories. For a man, 10 potatoes a day means 1500 calories--for
a woman 7 potatoes means 1050 calories--which translates into effortless,
painless weight loss. Potatoes are the ideal "diet" food--low
calorie, nutritious, and tasty.
read more›
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