Anyone try The Starch Solution diet?
 

Hi, I am 100 pounds overweight and I have been looking for a better way to lose weight and get healthy. I have unsuccessfully tried Overeaters Anonymous, WW, Low Calorie, Hypnosis, Low Carb (12x), vegan,and even fruitarian. As I have gotten older I just can't last more than a week anymore. I recently found John McDougall's Starch Solution. Before I try it I was wondering if anyone has had success with it and if I can do it long term. Thanks.

I'm really hoping you get some replies. I'd never heard of this diet until reading your post. I just looked it up and it has curious.

Me too! Quite honestly I don't know how to eat anymore. Eat carbs, don't eat carbs you'll stress out your pancreas . Eat fat, no fat makes you fat! Low calorie is the way, no eat high calorie fruitarian and you can run marathons. Don't run marathons, it will harm your heart. There is literally a positive and negative for every food and exercise out there. The starch diet is probably crap too. Or really good! Who knows....lol.

I could have sworn I replied to this but it's not here, is it? LOL I never heard of this plan and googled to read about it. Right now it would not be a very popular plan as most people are leaning toward eliminating or limiting starchy carbs. As a diabetic I couldn't do it because starchy carbs spike my blood sugar and I have to limit them. Having said that, this could be the plan for you. We are all different. Our bodies handle things differently. I don't think it would work long term unless you really don't like animal protein. I couldn't do it, personally for that reason.

One thing I was wondering about, it says no eggs, but on the sample menu the breakfast for the first day said "french toast." How do you make french toast without eggs. Maybe you have to buy the book to understand that. I can't imagine life without eggs.

Ok folks! I have just been charging around finding out how to log in again after not being here so long. Why have I not been here? Well I brought the Starch Solution and did it. I went from a top weight of 110kg to my current weight of 65kg. I have a BMI of around 22 and no weight problems and I love my life and my diet.

I have no affiliations with starch solution or Dr Mc Dougall. I did it, it worked. Easy.

Any questions?

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I have now just been reading the replies. Yes, it is a high carb, vegan diet. Yes, it works.

Now, I am not a diabetic, or a doctor, or a nutritionalist, but I have listened to a debate between Dr McDougall and Dr Atkins. It is long, but basically Dr Atkins says by removing carbs you can get rid of the symptoms of diabetes. Dr McD says eat his way and you can get rid of the disease itself. Dr Atkins AGREES but says who would want to give up eggs and bacon, it's not necessary as you can hide the symptoms eating his way.

So it would seem to me as long as you get your doctor to hold your hand why don't you give it a try? What is there to lose (except weight and diabetes)?

And yes I know all about the low carb movement. I have on my shelf 'good calories, bad calories' ' life without bread' wheat belly' 'Against the Grain' 'trick and Treat' 'Primal Blueprint ' and others, and I have read them all, and done them, and failed to lose any significant weight. Yes, I lost some, but not much. The weight came off with The Starch Solution.

BTW female, in my 50's and menopausal!

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Hi autodidact,
Thanks for the info. What do you eat the most of and how much? I think I would do well eating rice and pasta and potatoes. Also, I have 2 of John Bingham's books. Don't jog as my shins and knees hurt when I do, but I apply his words to walking.

Hi Carboman,
I am of Irish descent, and a potato freak! I keep a bowl of tiny new potatoes in the fridge for snacking. My staple diet is big stews and soups over a baked potato. Or twice baked potatoes dipped in said stews. Vegi stews of course. I don't eat as much rice as I am not so keen, but there is no reason why not.

I hesitate to say one can eat as much as one wants as people like me are quite happy to 'eat into the pain' but actually that is getting better now, and I am more moderate, but it is good for volume eaters.

As I have become much smaller I have had to be more careful. For example I don't eat much bread now, not even my own whole grains, home ground sourdough. I do need to watch the calorie density, but this is a small person issue, and has only been the case as I got under 24 or so BMI. I could eat bread and remain at 24.5, but I choose not to.

I do eat like a little piggy though! Porridge with banana and berries for breakfast, fruit for snacks, lunch a baked potato with Dahl or stew or curry poured over, dinner, soups, or bean burgers and salad, or curry and rice....yum yum yum!

You have to learn to cook with no oil, and eating out can be a problem. However I rarely eat out, and when I do I eat vegan and don't worry about it. I have a low density day the next day. But if I ate out more than once a month that would be a problem.

There is a McDougal forum for starch solution people too.
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Thanks Autodidact,
I love hearing real reviews. Looks like I found a new diet plan! Fingers crossed....

I love the fact that folks can succeed so well with such drastically different approaches! It gives me hope that there's a plan for everyone. :)

Just what I was thinking. And even the same person needs different plans at different times. I lost a lot of weight with low carb, but now trying to trim 10 lbs & I cannot tolerate it at all. Carboman I hope you'll post what it's like as you go along .Best wishes to you!

I believe you are right. I tried so much, so many diets and other people were having success but I wasn't. Even though I would be totally compliant. I even went zero carb....totally, and joined Charles Washingtons Zeroing in on Carbs group. And kept it up for an entire year. And I still didn't lose much weight. And other people were losing left right and centre!

Eventually I Go high carb, low fat and bingo, off comes the weight and now I am skinny. And an ultrarunner to boot!

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Hi Sundove, I'll weigh myself in the morning and see how I do after a few days. Should be easier than low carb. I'll post my results here.

Yes, Dr. McDougall's plans work. I have done his Maximum Weight Loss Plan and lost a ton of weight. This particular plan does not allow flour products at all. His Starch Solution is I think one of his recent books. I have that one too. I am starting a plan today. I always seem to come back to vegan or nearly vegan plan to lose weight. The forum where you can learns loads is at www.drmcdougall.com

You will shrink.

So I tried the Starch Diet for a couple of days and I felt really bloated. My weight jumped to 292 from 285. Not sure why. So I panicked and low carbed for a few days. Got back to 284 but went to a hockey tournamernt and ate everything and drank a few beers. Still 285 so that's kinda cool that I didn't add much weight. Now I don't know what to eat. Really low carb and really low fat aren't realistic if you aren't at home. Thanks for your help. I need to figure out a new plan.

Carboman Thanks for the update. Sorry that it didn't work for you, but now you have information to help you figure out a WOE that WILL work. Don't give up--there will be something that works.

Carboman,

Either you do low carb, high fat or low fat vegan. The reason you put on weight is because you ate the carbs your body needed and you paniced and went back to low carb, thus the water weight is gone. You can do the Starch Solution and eat the low carb veggies if ya want, but you won't be satisfied, you need the starches to be full and satisfy your needs.

I drank beer while doing Dr. McDougall's plan and lost weight. I did adhere to his plan to the T and felt great. And it was not light beer either.

As for eating out, that can be tricky. Wendy's has baked potatoes and salad, Taco Bell has bean burritos, just don't have the cheese on it. Or take some snacks with you if you know food is not available.

Changes do take time, he does say it's not an all or nothing program, it's how much you do that reap benefits.

Carboman,

the weight you have won is perfectly normal, your muscles and all the cells of your body filled with glycogen and water. It is a necessary step. You can go slow on the carbs in the begining by going much more heavily on the veggies. The weight will come of slowly at around 1.5kg/week or so. If there is no weight loss, just go more towards fruits, or more towards veggies. The issue with your high fat diet is that it causes atherosclerosis to progress or at least to not regress, and ages you as combustion of carbs produces more antioxidant co2. Read about the randle cycle, and all the studies about how a high fat diet causes diabetes / insulin resistance. This diet is also way cheaper, is followed by billions of people since ages and there was never a diabetes crysis, quite the opposite. Check out the works of neal barnard, caldwell esselstyn, nathan pritikin and the others. Yes maybe the low carb diet keeps you in a better position than a normal diet, but nutrients, antioxidants, phytonutrients and minerals come from plants, not so much from fat/oil/butter/animal foods.

May the veggies be with you ; )

Love me starch solution!
 

Stark Solution is the perfect diet in my opinion.
I have tons of energy and lots of food choices. I've lost 8 lb in a month and only need to lose 30 lb total. Key is no flour and no fat, no oil.

Today I had overnight oats with berries, vegetarian chili, and stir fry over rice.

The other key thing that keeps me happy is that you can drink alcohol because it's fat free 🙂

Negatives are difficulty eating and restaurants and a lack of salad dressing options.

Look up high carb hannah via youtube or facebook...I believe this is what she follows and has had tons of success with it. Everyone is different of course.

Hopefully you're not drinking too much alcohol. I think everyone (even Dr. McDougall) agrees that heavy alcohol consumption is bad for you, for example it increases your risk of several types of cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25422909
"Alcohol increases risk of cancer of oral cavity and pharynx, oesophagus, colorectum, liver, larynx and female breast."

Small amounts of alcohol probably won't hurt you, but also doesn't seem to have any benefit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997174
"Meta-analyses adjusting for these factors find that low-volume alcohol consumption has no net mortality benefit compared with lifetime abstention or occasional drinking."

There are lots of healthy nut-based dressing recipes, but I don't think Dr. McDougall would approve of them. Another option is to replace the dressing with spices. I think everyone agrees that spices are healthy.

I think McDougall is anti-fat for no good reason. Nuts and avocado have been shown to have various health benefits, and I'm not aware of any studies which show that nuts or avocado are bad for you. If you know of any such studies, please post a link, as I'd be interested in reading them.