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Hi Jeff,

I am on Mcdougall diet for more than 6 months. I am quite athletic and not overweight, 21 year old, male.

Due to my lifestyle this diet somehow doesnt fit with me. So I decided to replace starch with fruit sugar by Dr. D Graham style but add huge cooked dinner of sauteed vegetables for nutrition. I simply have no time to prepare all healthy starch meals and eating cold rice when I am on the go simply doesnt work for me.

So my daily meal plan would look like this:
For breakfast smoothie made of 250g pitted raw dates with 350g of romaine lettuce, 12g flax seed and 150g celery blended in. Total 800 calories.
The same meal would be for lunch and dinner. Then later in the evening huge meal of sauteed vegetables like broccoli, spinach, green beans and peas.

As a surprise, my blood sugars from date smoothies were much lower than from rice/vegetable based meals at the same calories. 1h after dates it was 120 but from rice about 150.
Such diet looks much much tastier and faster to prepare for me.

Jeff, is it safe to eat so much fruit sugars or base diet on simple sugars exclusively? My fiber content is 90g a day so it should lower the gi of food. However I am confused about all this fructose thing. Wont I get diabetic if basing my calories on fruit?

Thanks for reading,
Den

These issues are covered in these discussions

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10234

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=11932

I lead a very busy active life and travel frequently (50-70% of the time) and have never found this way of life difficult, or time consuming. Just the opposite.

In Health
Jeff

So, as I understand 100% raw diet is not optimal. However if only starch will be replaced by fruit and all cooked vegetables remain, so even more nutrition can be acquired by such diet and not 100% raw.
I put my diet composition on cronometer and got over 200% for all nutrients with 8% fat percentage.

How much is there difference replacing grains with fruit? GI of a meal, fructose?

I think all is the same plus more phytonutriens, fiber and less digestive load. However the biggest difference is carbohydrate composition-fructose and sucrose in fruit. Should it be a concern?

There is no fruit/veg based cultures not for the fact that scientifically well planned fruit diet is unhealthy or unsustainable but because there is simply no availability/affordability for such diet in our modern lifestyles.

At what calorie level?

You are welcome to follow whatever dietary program you choose, however, a high fruit diet is not recommended and the reasons for it are well discussed in the above linked threads.

In Health
Jeff

One more question: If I am on the go I usually eat cold rice with vegetables. I find that it digests worse than cooked warm.
Is there resistant starch increased when rice is cold? So are bioavailable calories less that from warm rice?

Depending on the food, yes. We know it for potatoes and would suspect it for rice too but don't know of any data that actually confirms this.



Many factors impact availability (ie, raw food is much less bioavailable then cooked foods.)

We still get calories from resistant starch from fermentation in the colon.

In Health
Jeff

At approximately 2400 calories, 2000 coming from dates, 400 from vegetables.
I will stick with high fruit for some weeks and see how will feel. Until now I eat high fruit for 3 days and feel no difference that from starch based, only more energy and much lighter feeling on digestion.

However I cannot understand why fruit raise triglycerides and cause other problems for some people, but starch doesnt. What is the cause for such physiological change to happen?

Does the smoothie you outlined represent what you intend to eat most days for breakfast and lunch?
Why not expand the range of fruits instead of such a focus on dates.
What about consuming starches such as winter squashes, sweet potato and potatoes? All are easy to prepare and can be eaten cold.

I do not understand.

Wouldn't it be easier to just prepare a load of Potatoes in the morning or night before for during the day and then when you come home cook a big pot of rice and vegetables?

I'd actually find it harder to consistently get enough fruit - waiting for it to ripen etc.. too much fuss.

I would also note that switching starches for fruits isn't just a 'innocent' change, they're very different.. The fruits will require you to eat elevated amounts of calories, while on starches you can practice moderate calorie restriction ( which has been shown to improve bio markers) without running into macro and micro-nutrient lows...

You'd be better off consuming dry rolled oats as a majority of your calories than from dates for example. Although there's no need to do this.. as they're more dense in uncooked form.

It's up to you in the end. Though I think perhaps it's pretty more rational to go with what has been proven scientifically than go with some craze where all the long term followers seem to pop off early.

Some people are very sensitive to fructose which in some ways digests like a fat (in the liver) rather than like a sugar. Fructose naturally occurs in fruit. Starch converts directly to glucose via digestive and salivary enzymes, goes straight to giving cells energy, and so does not have that issue.

Some things I think that work are:
large portions and nuke to heat, beans and grains do really well. Or nuke a potato or 2, it takes < 10 minutes to nuke a potato.
I just got some whole grain couscous, takes < 10 minutes. Packaged pre-cooked brown rice can be heated quickly. Quick oats are fast.
Jeff's got whole DVDs on 10 minute meals (for which frozen vegetable companies should probably pay him commission! at leats until CSA boxes start coming in).
Also a little forthought and you can have a programmable rice cooker prepare oatmeal on a timer in the morning for example.
Lots of ways to deal speed and-or on the go.

Au contraire! If have time to make a smoothie you have time to make the awesome 10 minute meals in Jeff's DVD:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_fast_food.html

I recommend that you get it ASAP! You'll really enjoy the food, not to mention the ease of preparation!