Different Types of Vegetarian Diets
I like to present people with options -- lots and lots of options. Sometimes this is paralyzing. So if you are finding that this approach doesn’t work, then take a short cut. Spend a couple of dollars and download to your computer a series of lectures by Dr. McDougall. They are very well put together, quite entertaining, and very informative.
If You Do Only Just One Thing, Watch This:
Dr. McDougall’s Total Health Solution for the 21st Century
Scroll down the page about 2/3 to the bottom.
Start with “A Common Sense Program”
If you like that segment, then download the other segments
If You Want More Options Keep Reading
For a General Background on Vegetarian Diets in General
Read This Introduction to The Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet
Two Variations On A Plant Based Diet And How to Know Which One Is for You?
If you think any of these possible benefits are potentially worth pursuing, then I can suggest two variations on the vegetarian diet. One is a unrefined starch and whole-grain based diet such as suggested by Dr. McDougall and Dr. Barnard. The other is a non-starchy vegetable (leafy greens, solid green and yellow vegetables for instance), legume (all types of beans), and fruit-based diet as suggested by Dr. Fuhrman.
First, they will both deliver excellent results, but only if you stick to them vigorously. Sure you can fall off the wagon, but 90% adherence is probably necessary to reap the kind of rewards you'll need to get you over the first couple of months when the pain of change is most palpable. Once a couple of months have passed, you'll find that your taste buds have changed. You'll have learned a dozen or more tasty recipes by this time. It will get easier and easier. Soon you'll be wondering why anyone would go back to the old way of eating.
Here's the split in the two dietary approaches. The starchy vegetable-based diet, centers around those foods like potatoes, yams, brown rice, and whole grains. Other vegetables, legumes and fruits are promoted but are second in importance to the consumption of starchy vegetables. The non-starchy vegetable-based diet limits the consumption of food like grains and potatoes, while emphasizing a higher intake of green and yellow vegetables, fruit and legumes.
Some folks find a potato, rice, or grain based diet easier to adopt in the beginning than the non-starchy vegetable diet. Though, for those that adhere to the non-starchy vegetable-based diet, I don't think its really that much harder to maintain once you've gotten a couple months into it and see the tremendous benefits.
How Do People Choose?
First, how sick are you? If you need the diet that reduces weight the quickest, and lowers the blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol the fastest, I would recommend Dr. Fuhrman's non-starchy vegetable diet. If you had a little more time for the rewards to accumulate and wanted something more familiar, then I'd suggest Dr. McDougall's or Dr. Barnard's starch-based diet.
I personally combine elements of both diets.
Unrefined Starch-Based Diet
1) Read These Free on-Line Tutorials:
Dr. McDougall's Free Program: http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html
Make Over Your Diet -- NutritionMD: http://www.nutritionmd.org/makeover/index.html
2) Watch These Videos:
For Free:
For Dr. Barnard's lectures on a vegetarian diet for diabetes, start with the Core Classes at:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/diabetes/support_group.html
For Purchase:
Dr. McDougall's Total Health Solution or McDougall Made Easy can be downloaded for a fee from http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html
Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind by Douglas Lisle, Ph.D. can be purchased at http://www.drmcdougall.com/books_tapes.html. (Dr. McDougall's site won't ship to APO, so I had it sent to my dad who mailed it on to me.)
3) Read These Books:
The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss is available from Amazon.com or Dr. McDougall's website www.drmcdougall.com (McDougall doesn't ship to APO addresses though).
Breaking The Food Seduction or Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes, by Dr. Neal Barnard. Both are available from http://www.pcrm.org/shop/neal/index.html or Amazon.com.
The Pleasure Trap, by Doug Leslie, Ph.D.
Available from Amazon.com or Dr. McDougall's website.
4) Accumulate Recipes:
On-Line Recipe Database:
From the Physician's Committee For Responsible Medicine
http://www.pcrm.org/health/recipes/recipe_archive.html
Cooking Classes On-Line:
There are recipe demonstrations scattered throughout this page
http://www.pcrm.org/health/diabetes/support_group.html
Purchase Books and DVD's
Any of Dr. McDougall's recipe books and cooking DVD's are a great place to start.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html
Non-Starchy Vegetable-Based Diet
1) Go to Dr. Fuhrman's Website at www.drfuhrman.com.
2) Read Eat to Live and watch his video, The Greatest Diet on Earth II, both are for sale in his on-line store. He will ship to APO addresses.
3) Join his on-line support program. He has audio lectures, tutorials, and plenty of recipes. If you sign up for his on-line program first, you will get a free copy of his book.
Web-pages with Good Overviews of a Vegetarian Diet
An Overview of the Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet
Vegetarian Starter Kit -- A More Lengthy Introduction
Physicians And Organizations Specializing in Use of Diet in the Treatment of Disease
Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Promotes a vegetable, fruit, and legume-based diet with limited amounts of starchy vegetables and grains. A little more difficult in the beginning than Dr. Mcdougal's starch-based diet, but for those people that must lose weight quickly and want to get off medications within a couple of days or weeks, this diet will get you there the fastest. It's extremely healthy, and his website has lots of wonderful recipes and educational resources to help you out.
Dr. John McDougall
Dr. McDougall is known worldwide for his best-selling books on health and weight loss. His plant-based diet is focused on the starchy foods we all love but have been told by the low carbohydrate proponents were bad for us. His website is wonderful. He has down-loadable lectures and a on-line program with recipes and sufficient instruction to get you started today. He is a dynamic speaker. I highly recommend his lectures.
NutritionMD
This is another great resource for switching to a plant-based diet. This site uses a similar approach to that used by Dr. McDougall. There are lots of great recipes and educational resources on this site. All of this for Free!
Food For Life for Diabetes
http://www.pcrm.org/health/diabetes/index.html
They published a study showing that a low fat plant-based diet did much better than the standard American Diabetic Association diet in lowering blood sugar levels and getting folks off drugs. See the study here. As a follow-up to the study, Dr. Neal Barnard and his team have developed a website to help others adopt this healthy diet. Check out the on-line videos on this site. Hours and hours of wonderful education on diet and even cooking demonstrations. Just join the on-line video support group.
Dr. Esselstyn
http://www.heartattackproof.com/
Has published several research studies showing how people following his diet have reversed their heart disease. Don't believe it, read the studies yourself. See what can happen if you follow this diet.
John Robbins
Author of several best selling books, the first of which was Diet for a New America. His book The Food Revolution is by far my favorite book on the interactions between diet and the health of our environment.
Dr. Swank of the MS Swank Diet
See my MS diet web-page about this link
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Interesting Articles on a Plant Based Diet
Does Vegan = Health?
Dr. McDougall rightly points out that defining a diet by what it does not contain is somewhat meaningless. The definition of vegan merely means a diet without animal products. What it doesn't tell you is what that person eats. Can you tell me what a vegan had for breakfast or for dinner? Coffee and french fries are vegan. So are some cookies and soy ice cream. A friend of mine in medical school told me she was a vegetarian. I watched her over the next couple of years, and she should have been called a "pasta-tarian" because she didn't eat many fruits or vegetables and ate mostly low fiber processed grains. We should worry less about labels and more about the details. Processed soy foods, vegan cookies, highly refined flour are examples of junk food and should be eaten sparingly. If your food looks more like it came from a garden than from a factory, then you are on the right path. Ever seen a soy hot-dog growing in a field, or a bottle of flaxseed oil popping up through the ground?
Check out Dr. McDougall's article on how not to be an unhealthy vegan: Are You a Sickly Vegetarian (Vegan)?
Return to Moving Toward a Plant-Based Diet
or Continue with the Next Topic - Important: Read This Before Changing Your Diet