Dr John McDougall- Pro Starch, Anti-meat/dairy, Swears It's Anti-cancer

[Rafael Lao Wai]

My bloat is quickly going away, and I imagine all the anti-estrognic effects of the vegetables plus the lack of inflammation from starch is contributing to me quickly slimming down. My mother has commented on how much slimmer I look, and I've only done this for 2 days. This has lead me to conclude that a large portion of my chubby appearance is due to the water retention and bloating effect of starches. Not too mention I feel in general much lighter, and all I have to do is eat consume fruit/sugar and I instantly have a large amount of energy to go on runs and workouts. When consuming large starch meals I'd constantly feel heavy and depressed, and I'd have to force myself to workout.

I think one of the reasons why many bodybuilders have a very bloated belly is that they use starch as a main source of carbs. Some blame this on carbs, but starch and growth hormone are more likely causes, in my opinion. Rice, oats, pasta, potatoes and so on do have a lot of carbs, which will stimulate insulin, but if it was insulin the culprit, then protein would also contribute, since, for example, beef is more insulinogenic than pasta. What is really happening is that the starch is harboring a lot of bacteria, which will produce endotoxins and gas. The very presence of bacteria in the gut will already activate the TLR-2, and the endotoxins they produce will activate TLR-4, so I don't think it's just gas accumulation, but it's also intestinal inflammation making the digestive organs dilate. Also, it seems to me that the very starch grain might be irritating to the intestinal lining. This will make it harder to have clean, full bowel movements. This group of factors (endotoxin, intestinal irritation, gas, accumulation of feces)will produce the huge bloat that so many bodybuilders experience.
I have experienced this with rice. Although it makes me feel good overall, the intestinal irritation slowly creeps up if I eat big amounts, and over time, my belly gets bloated and full. I accidentally didn't eat rice these past two days, and my belly is feeling much better. I notice the same thing with fruits. Sugar just digests so well and the energy lasts longer. Looking back, I've always felt very good after eating sucrose, and always naturally gravitated towards sweet things, but I was afraid of eating a lot of sugar, because of all the anti-sugar propaganda. It would be impossible to get enough calories on a low-fat diet with starch as the only carb source. Unless one used baked starch, which I'm not sureif it's a good idea.

 

[olive]

I am interested in @olive 's daily intake too. I am assuming you weight train as well, what kind of programming do you follow for that (mainly interested in how intense it is / frequency)?

How do you handle hunger/satiety with low protein and I'm assuming fairly low fat too? Not sure it's sustainable for someone who is fatter and has appetite problems. Ray peat himself has issues going too low on protein, and he doesn't even lift. Not saying I don't believe you just wondering how you manage it?

I’ll lay out a normal day:

Wake at 7AM
Brew French press with coffee/green tea/yerba/pau d’arco
While it’s brewing skip rope for 3-ish minutes to get lymphatic fluid moving
Sit down in the sun and drink a few cups of coffee/tea brew while stretching and allowing sun to hit retina
Cold-only shower
Shea butter moisturiser (topical stearic acid)
Make a big fruit/greens shake;
- 2 cups cranberry juice
- 2x kiwifruit
- 2x carrots
- 1x pineapple
- 50g baby spinach
- 50g frozen blue/black berry
- 50g jejube (chinese red date)
- 50g capers
- few shakes of pepper, rosemary, thyme, ginger, mint
- 5g taurine
- 5g kelp
- 1.5g calcium carbonate
- 1g l-threonine
- 500mg l-tyrosine
- 100mg niacinamide
- 100mg olive leaf extract (20% oleuropein)
Throughout the day I’ll drink 2L of the coffee/tea brew, 1L of coconut water and snack on apples/dried figs/dried apricots/medjool dates
At the beginning of the week I’ll cook up a batch of kale in coconut water and chicken broth, then store it in the fridge - I eat a ~1cup per day
Throughout the day I try to walk for at least 10 minutes in the sun; usually just to the grocery store and home
For dinner it’s usually as much rice or potato I can eat with 100-150g shellfish or grass fed red meat cooked with a little red palm oil
- for example tonight’s dinner was 1cup (dry) basmati rice cooked in 2g palm oil and chicken stock, 150g cannelloni beans, 50g dried cranberries, 100g prawns baked in garlic, lemon juice and parsley
After dinner I take 5g glycine to offset methionine from the shellfish/red meat
If I haven’t eaten sufficient calories I’ll supplement with medjool dates/honey/dextrose powder
Bed by 10PM

Today’s macros came to:
- 73g protein
- 528g carbs (-58g fibre = 470g net carbs)
- 11.7g fats (2.1 mono, 2.6 PUFA, 3.8 saturated)

I hit all my micronutrients except:
- 1300mg/1500mg calcium
- 985mg/1500mg phosphorus
- 1.5ug/2.4ug vitamin b12

Highlights:
- 7000mg potassium
- 650mg magnesium
- 1500ug vitamin K
- 15.3mg vitamin E

I supplement with 80mg aspirin (health natura) twice per day

I supplement with Vitamin E when cranberry juice isn’t available

Twice a week I’ll eat 2x pasture raised eggs for choline

Once or twice a week I’ll eat hard goats cheese with fruit for dessert (for the extra calcium), always with a coffee to offset beta-casomorphin

Twice I week I deadlift; one heavy day (1x5 reps) and one lighter day (2x10 reps)
Each week I add 2.5kg to the bar on the heavy day, deloading when necessary
When I deadlift I drop the bar from the top, only doing the concentric movement

Twice a week I’ll do pushups to close-to-failure

After working out I consume the following mixture:
- espresso shot
- 1 cup fruit juice (cranberry/pomegranate/orange)
- 50g dextrose powder
- 2g baking soda

Regarding your question regarding hunger; I honestly struggle most days to hit my caloric intake and often force myself to eat a bunch of medjool dates or honey to ensure I don’t become catabolic

 

[ecstatichamster]

@ecstatichamster What do you think Dr. McDougall is wrong about?

the need for a plant based diet

He is right about very high carbs, low fat. It does actually seem to cure type 2 diabetes for instance.

 

[Cirion]

Thanks for the detailed post.