The Starch Solution (33 page)

Dinner:
Baked Penne Florentine
, steamed green beans and carrots,
Carrot Cake

DAY 4

Breakfast:
French Toast
sprinkled with cinnamon; sliced cantaloupe

Lunch:
Fresh Tomato Wraps
, steamed kale

Dinner:
Polenta with Black Beans and Mango Salsa
, tossed green salad with low-fat dressing or seasoned vinegar,
Banana Ice Cream

DAY 5

Breakfast:
East-West Breakfast
with warm corn tortillas and salsa

Lunch:
Split Pea Vegetable Soup
, baked potato

Dinner:
Tofu Lasagna
, steamed Swiss chard,
Chocolate Brownies

DAY 6

Breakfast:
No-Huevos Rancheros
, papaya with lime wedges

Lunch:
Quinoa Chowder
, whole wheat bread or dinner rolls

Dinner:
Spicy Lima Beans and Cabbage
, corn tortillas, tossed green salad with low-fat dressing or seasoned vinegar,
Apple Crisp

DAY 7

Breakfast:
Veggies Benedict
, fresh strawberries

Lunch:
Ventana Lentil Stew
, brown rice

Dinner:
Thai-Style Noodles
, steamed cauliflower,
Banana Bread

Enjoy hot or iced herb tea and still or sparkling water with and between meals. If you are hungry between meals, snack freely on:

• Raw or steamed green, yellow, and orange vegetables, including carrots, pea pods, peppers, celery, cucumbers, and broccoli
  
 

• Fresh fruits, including apples, bananas, berries, peaches, grapes, and melons
  
 

• Sliced, cooked potatoes, sweet potatoes, or yams, hot or chilled
  
 

• Corn thins, rice crackers, and whole grain crackers, all with no added fats or oils
  
 

• Whole wheat bread
  
 

• Corn tortillas with salsa
  
 

• Air-popped corn seasoned with soy sauce or nutritional yeast
  
 

• Seasoned nori seaweed
  
 

• Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods cups (available in grocery stores)
  
 

• Any leftovers from meals on the plan or from the recipes in
  Chapter 15
  
 

Follow this more restricted version of the Starch Solution to lose more weight more rapidly.

• Increase the amount of nonstarchy green, yellow, and orange vegetables you eat to about one-third to one-half of the food on your plate.
  
 

• Fill the remainder of your plate with starch.
  
 

• Avoid all simple sugars, including dried fruits and juices.
  
 

• Keep fresh fruits to one or two a day.
  
 

• Avoid flours and flour products, including breads, bagels, and pastas.
  
 

• Steer clear of all high-fat plant foods, such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, and soy-based foods.
  
 

• Eat many small meals a day rather than one or two large ones.
  
 

• Eat a simple meal plan, like sweet potatoes and broccoli or beans and rice with a nonstarchy vegetable. Greater variety results in more food consumed.
  
 

• Don’t eat out at restaurants.
  
 

• Exercise more frequently to burn more calories and to tame an overactive appetite.
  
 

A word of caution: Enjoyment and satisfaction are the keys to successful diet change and weight loss. Avoid becoming too over-zealous about eating very low-calorie green, yellow, and orange vegetables and reducing the starches you eat so much that you feel hungry all the time. It will make the program difficult to follow and increase your risk of giving it up. If you feel hungry, eat more starches.

On the next page is a weekly menu planner that I recommend you copy and fill in with several weeks’ worth of meals. The recipes you choose can be as simple or varied as you like. Start by filling in the daily breakfast sections. This should be easy, because people tend to eat the same items for breakfast every day. In our home we eat oatmeal with fruit almost every morning because it’s simple, tasty, satisfying, inexpensive, and easy to prepare.

Next, choose your favorite recipes to fill in the dinner sections. When doing this, remember to plan your meal around a starch (potatoes, rice, etc.) and keep it simple. Lunches can simply be leftovers from the previous night’s dinner or a sandwich made with one of the spreads from
Chapter 15
and layered with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and other vegetables.

Complete three or four different weekly menus so that you will be able to alternate them from week to week. This way you will avoid the panic that hits when you realize you haven’t planned ahead. Make a weekly shopping list on the back of your menu planners so you will be prepared to buy all of the ingredients when you shop.

My whole life has been centered around food. When things with my alcoholic father got bad, Mom would pack up me and my sister and we’d go on an eating binge of candy, hot dogs, and potato chips. By the sixth grade I weighed nearly 200 pounds.

In high school I brought my weight down so I could enlist in the US Marine Corps. After I was discharged at age 24, it didn’t take long for me to reach over 300 pounds. For most of my adult life, my weight fluctuated between 200 and 330, most often over 300, as I consoled myself with my childhood favorites: meat and cheese.

At age 28 I came across one of Dr. McDougall’s books and, after reading that you could eat all you want, I took it home. I bought 10 pounds of potatoes thinking, “I’ll show him!” The next morning my scale showed a 2-pound loss. This was Nirvana! It wasn’t long before I began adding sour cream and butter to those potatoes, and the weight loss came to a standstill.

Fourteen years later, I managed to lose 99 pounds, dropping from 331 to 232. I had the idea that I could capitalize on this by going on the Atkins diet, which I understood was deadly but also
quick and effective. Once I got below 200, I figured, I’d use McDougall to regain my health. Five years later I’d bounced back to 300 pounds, where I stayed for several years.

At age 50, in January 2005, I decided to give the McDougall plan another try. By August I weighed 288 pounds and by early December, 229. A combination of holiday treats and cockiness from my success led me to stray and my weight shot right back up to 270. I tried Medifast and lost 34 pounds in 30 days, but also developed kidney stones. I have never known such pain.

When I finally committed myself 100 percent to the McDougall Maximum Weight-Loss Plan [see
page 216
], I stopped counting calories, ate only when I was hungry, and ate exclusively from the approved list of foods. I set a goal of 175 pounds, though I honestly could not remember ever weighing that little. Today, weighing 159 pounds at age 55, I have exceeded that goal. My blood pressure is 100/70 millimeters of mercury, my BMI is normal at 22.9, my cholesterol is 117 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), and my glucose is under 100 mg/dL. I wake up in the morning excited about the day ahead and I feel better than I have in years. Food has gone from a way to stuff my feelings to the pleasure of truly tasting it for the first time. The most fun is telling people I eat 85 to 90 percent carbohydrates—some accuse me of lying!

These breakfast favorites will get your day off to a strong start. Many of these recipes also work well for supper or snacking.

Prepared the night before in almost no time, this breakfast makes mornings deliciously easy.

PREP: 5 MINUTES • SERVES 1

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup soy milk or rice milk, apple juice, or water

1 tablespoon currants or raisins

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Sliced bananas, fresh berries, or other fruits (optional)