Discussion Board

Q1: What percent of McDougallers have been able to reduce total cholesterol to 150 after 1 year of McDougalling? i.e. starch-based vegan diet, oats 1-2X/day, no meat, no oils, no dairy & cheese.
Q2: Has anyone achieved 150, despite having a small amount of the better nuts and dark chocolate?

I think these things are hard to quantify because we all started at different places. I never had high cholesterol before this way of eating. My TC now is 129, but before this woe, it was a little higher, but still under 150. I'm 100% vegan, but I have had chocolate (it's vegan) and I do have a small amount of nuts. I have only been doing this woe since the beginning of May.

My husband's TC went from 226 on a vegan "no holds barred" sort of diet to 146 in less than three months on a 10% fat vegan diet with occasional meals that included nuts, dark chocolate, or non-dairy cheeses.

The main foods he gave up were hard alcohol, french fries, tortilla chips, and vegenaise.

He continued his nightly habit of a cup or so of so delicious non-dairy ice cream (about 20% fat). It probably helped that he is very muscular in build and works out pretty intensely almost every day.

~ Erin

Darad, after 2.5 years of McDougalling, I have not reached that level. My last result in the spring was 170 mg/dL and I rarely eat anything but veggies and starches. Maybe some of us will not be able to reach that level due to our genes.

I do not eat oats. Has anyone noticed a big improvement attributable to eating oats?

Our experience is that total cholesterol dropped by a fixed number of points after 8+ months on the McDougall WOE. My wife's went from 230 -> 160 and mine went from 187 -> 114. We eat the same. It just seems that she produces more cholesterol, hence the higher number both before and after choosing this WOE. Since we're already highly compliant, we're not sure what to do next. We do add a bit of oat bran to our oat meal if that matters.
Pete

The difficult part of arriving at a particular percentage of people reaching that number is only a small percentage of people actually follow the protocol close enough to get an accurate read. I'd say the number is pretty high for those that are highly compliant. But that is just based on speculation and conjecture. We do have a large number of people that have seen major shifts in their numbers here on the forum. It does seem to correlate well with adherence but genetics takes a role on what it takes to get to that level. Some people make small changes and see large movements in their cholesterol. Others find they have to be diligent about EVERYTHING to get in that range.
f1jim

After 5 years, my TC is 180, in spite of a MWL diet with no exceptions. 2 years ago, my TC briefly went to 148; at the time I was doing 3-4 hours/week of weight lifting, and 3 30 min sessions/ wk on a stairstepper to get my hear rate up. Looking back, I believe that for me to get my cholesterol down requires exercise, and a fair amount of it. I cannot eat oatmeal, unfortunately. Elimination Diet challenges show it to be a problem for me.

I guess this is the reason Dr. Esselstyn always prescribes statins for his patients instead of waiting to see if the diet lowers the cholesterol first. He wants quick results.

Didi

Dr. Esselstyn does not always prescribe statins for his patients. He uses them when he can't get cholesterol under 150 with diet alone. His most famous patient, Dr. Joseph Crowe, achieved a TC of 89 without statins.
f1jim

But 170 is still good. People with no genetic predisposition to high cholesterol can have cholesterol way over 200 from diet. So, I think genetics is a minor player. It's about the food.

I don't know about that. Before this woe, I was vegetarian, but ate cheese and cooked with a fair bit of oils, and also ate a fair bit of processed foods. My tc was still below 150. Cutting out dairy and cooking oils after 1 month brought it down to 129, but I'm not strict. Others on here are far more compliant than I am and have bigger numbers. So it can't all be about the food.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that when I get a blood test in July my TC will have dropped again. Currently it's sitting at 174, which is down from a high of 264 when I started in October, 2011. I have been very good when it comes to what I have been eating. The alcohol (beer) consumption has me a bit worried, as I have tried to cut back but haven't been successful...yet.

My last TC reading 2 years ago was 186( I take no medications)....for me I think Genetics is the reason...Both parents had problems, thought my Dad was able to keep his under 200 with diet and medication.
To be honest..I am not worried about the numbers, because I am a firm believer that you can do all you can diet wise to keep you healthy, but when it comes to genetics..some of us are screwed.

After 12 years as a strict McDougall vegan, my TC remains stubbornly at 170-180. My HDL is good and my triglycerides are low. I have no other markers for heart disease. Blood pressure 90/62 last time it was checked. So I have come to accept that, for whatever reason, my liver wants my cholesterol at around 175. I've thought about niacin to artificially lower it, but that seems ultimately a silly thing to do. Sometimes genes DO have an effect on cholesterol, but as Dr. Essy says, genes may load the gun, but diet pulls the trigger. I make sure to keep the safety on at all times .

Kate

I just started this WOE. My TC on VAD diet (taken mid-May) was 169. It will be interesting to see how much it drops when I have it taken on my b-day in Dec. Ditto to what Katydid said, too, my "gun" may be loaded but it is my diet that pulls the trigger. I like that saying. Will keep it in mind on days craving strikes thanks.