From: Carol B (c-24-17-8-88.hsd1.wa.comcast.net)
Subject: My Story
Date: October 26, 2005 at 11:43 pm PST
I just wanted to share my story about the McDougall program and how it has changed my husband's and my life.
My name is Carol Bittle, I live in Seattle, WA. 38 years old, 5'2 and 151 pounds (current)
I first learned of John McDougall after watching him on Donahue back in 1994 when he was promoting his new 'Program for Maximum Weight Loss' book. I was shocked at what he said, about butters, oils, meats etc. being bad for our body. I went out right after the show and bought the book. Somehow, I instinctively knew that this is the way we should be eating. I told my brother about it and showed him the book that I bought. He MADE me throw the book away in the trash, saying how ridiculous that is and that our bodies need animal protein in order to function properly. Inside, I knew he was wrong. After he left, I retrieved that book out of the trash and continued to study it. I was on the program for about a year and slowly slipped off of it. But I remember while I was on it, every time I passed McDonalds or any restaurant that cooked with oil and all those meats, I had to hold my breath. It was a filthy stench... Icky!!!
In 1995, I met my husband Ron Lightcap (58 years, 5'7 and 171 pounds current), who had a history of hypertension and gout. He would not go on the program to save his soul, but he did cut out the type of meats that he would eat. He switched to poultry and fish, and omitted beef and pork. I thought this was a step in the right direction for him. I once again got back on the McDougall wagon, going through our kitchen and tossing out everything that had oils etc. in it and getting non-stick cookware, brown rice etc, hoping this would make him follow suit. It did not. But I was back onto it for awhile and feeling great while Hubby still had to take his hypertension and gout medications.
In 1998, we bought our first house together and by that time, I fell back off, joining him in eating canned tunafish, Turkey burgers and in 2000, I fell into a 4-year+ long depression where I did not care what I ate or did.
January 2005, I started to pull out of my depression and was starting to care about what I ate again. Still unemployed and not wanting to go back to work in the Corporate world, I got suckered into using and selling Herbalife products. After a week on being on the high-protein mixtures and tablets. I thought to myself, this isn't working, I don't feel right about this, this isn't a natural way to feel better and lose weight, forcing yourself to drink only the 2 shakes plus a small dinner. *A la Slimfast* (I was up to 165 by this time eating all that 'Rich American Food' during my depression.) So I cut that out, and dug out the old McDougall book again and re-read it and switched back once again.
Then in April, after Ron visited the Veterans Admin clinic here in Seattle for his checkup, he came home and I saw him holding a small bag full of pills again. "What did you get this time?" I asked him, and he told me that his blood pressure was 188 over 96 with the blood pressure reading at the Dr's office and they switched his medication from Lisinopril to something stronger (forget the name offhand). RIGHT then and there I told him.. "You are switching to McDougall, no IF's AND's or BUT's!!!!!" and starting that day, I started making him all vegan meals. That weekend we revamped the kitchen, throwing out or giving away to a meat-eating friend all the meat and dairy products we had. The poor guy had his trunk AND back seat filled with bags of meats, dairy products, etc. But he was thankful. I just shrugged and watched him drive away. We made a trip to Costco and Fred Meyer to restock with vegan-type foods. We kept the canned veggies and beans, pickled asparagus, everything we thought that was not meat would be good for us.
Right away, the next day, his blood pressure dropped to around 150/86. I told him that he should take anohter BP pill just for one more day, The third day his BP was like 122/81 or around there (I cant find the records where we wrote them down for the VA). I said, "Thats it, you are now off the medications, if you continue taking them you will get too low of BP and that is just as bad as high BP." (according to what I read in the McDougall books) I felt SOOOOOOOOO good when I threw those bottles of BP meds away (even the new unopened upgrade!!! A month later, he did not need his Gout meds either so in the trash they went.)
So for about 2 weeks, I took his BP every day, but it still hovered around 130/140 over 84/88. It's like "Okay, I threw out the meats and oil, we are eating oil-free, how come his BP is still up there??" We read each ingredient for oil before buying the item. So back to the McDougall book I went, and there it hit me... Salt!!!!! I went back and looked at the canned veggies and beans, even the jar of pickled Asparagus *his favorite* and was SHOCKED at the salt content of those things!!! 240, 310, 550!! and thats just for one serving!!!! There is usually 2 or more 'servings' in every can. Even the canned veggie soups had Huge amounts of salt in them. And I would serve the whole can to him as a meal before he went to work!!! YIPE!! So, another Re-vamp of the kitchen and this time we donated all the canned and misc items to a local churches' food bank. I felt kind of guilty doing this because of someone else now eating all that high salt, but I thought, Well, at least they are eating something tonight and it is not meat! Instead of just throwing away in the trash and wasting it.
After our 'revamp', in a day his bp was back down to normal and in a few days I obtained readings of 117/77, 122/79 etc. And my BP readings were like 114/68. and around there. I was SOOOO estatic!!!! I did not even think that salt also has such a huge impact on BP readings, and that simple things like canned or picked products, even things like Soy Milk has alot of sodium in it!!! But it sure does!!! Now the first thing when my Hubby and I got to the store is to read the salt contents. We shirk at anything over 100 mg, even though we bought low/sodium soy sauce (550 mg) to put into our McDougall book recipes like "Simple Brown Gravy". I tried it the first time with salt-reduced Tamari in it like the recipe calls for, over Brown Rice with frozen peas/corn mixed in, and his BP shot up to 128/85. He is Very sensitive to salt. So, I decided to subsitute the tamari with Worcester sauce (85 mg per Tbsp) and that made alot of differece. It tastes better too!!! :) I cook alot of McDougall recipes from their cookbooks and their site. We have found salt-free or reduced salt canned soups, tomato sauces etc. that we are Very happy with, and they taste Great too!! (sometimes he just wants some soup and when it takes too long to make homemade soup, I feed him canned) Healthy Valley No salt added soups (85 mg per serving all from the natural salts found in the food), Eden Foods items and sauces from Muir Glen www.Muirgeln.com Even our Alleve pain reliever we replaced it with Arnica Montana (I found it at our local PCC store). It really does alleviate pain and headaches!! And Ron uses Glucosamine derived from seaweed to keep his joints healthy.
We did not stop at caring for our bodies internally. We went through the whole house and replaced just about Everything to a natural alternative, from soaps, (we found a very nice smelling natural bar soap made with Oatmeal, and another with aloe and something else in it at Fred Meyer), shampoos, and other bath toiletries, laundry and dishwashing detergent (seventh generation www.seventhgeneration.com) window and oven cleaner, toilet and bathroom cleaner, you name it and there IS a natural product out there that will do the job, no smelly chemicals to make you sick and Very bio-degradeable. We even are buying Feline Pine pellets for our cat box. I am just so amazed and happy at how grocery stores now are taking a more health-conscious approach, even devoting a part of their store, like Fred Meyer, with a Health food and nutritional center. there is an entire aisle just devoted to natural remedies and different vitamins, extracts, etc for all types of health.
I would like to thank you John for sharing your medical findings and facts and that this is TRUELY the way we need to eat, because, as you said in your books, our bodies are designed to eat just plants. We are NOT carnivores or omnivores. But just plain plant-eaters. And now that my Husband realizes that too, he talks to others he meets at the store or through work about this and I print up little pieces of paper with this website on it for him to hand out if the person would like to have one. There is already a couple of people that he works with checking the site out and starting to make a switch. At work, he tells me stories about how he sees his co-workers, strong muscular dudes in their 20's, with their Pizzas that they order or Jack In the Box takeouts, and afterward they are suffering from fatigue and indigestion, "They look Horrible" he says, while after he eats his lunch, he zips around doing his work, full of energy and feeling and acting younger than all those 20 somethings that act like 70 after they eat. *shakes head in amazement*
Even watching Food Network is a pain now, Shows like Iron Chef and Good Eats, I cringe at the oils and meats they all use. On one episode of Good Eats, Alton Brown made up something for the kids. It was Macaroni and cheese, baked, cut into squares, then rolled in egg *like for french toast*, Deep fried!!! And then, after cooling, he offers one to his nephew on the show and says "Dont forget to add salt to that" I am screaming at the T.V. "You are killing your own Nephew you Moron!!" /sighs and shakes head again. Then lately on Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, they have programs about overly obese people and their struggle to lose weight, One lady had her stomach stapled and had an infection afterward, then had problems keeping her food down, which meant a LONG hospital stay, but she did lose some of the weight. But every time I watch those programs, I say to the TV "Go to McDougall Center!! They will help you naturally, you can eat all you want, and they WON'T turn you away!" :)
I am sorry that this is a long post, but just sharing my new thoughts on things and wanted to share this with fellow McDougallers and to say Never Give Up!!!! Go Vegan!!! :) You will save SOOOO much on hospital bills alone that.. it's just mind-boggling why anyone would ever want to go back to the 'Old brain-washed' style of eating we were taught growing up in school. Follow the pyramid!! .. Yea Right!!! :p
Hugs to all of you and Take care!
Carol Bittle/Ron Lightcap
