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My favorite refutation of Dr. John McDougall (The Starch Solution) comes from Mark's Daily Apple:

My Escape from Vegan Island

Quote:

My wife’s parents have been strict vegans for nearly thirty years and are ardent followers of Dr. McDougall. McDougall’s own story involves having had a severe stroke at age 19 from which, at 59, he still limps. He became an MD and eventually realized that diet was an important part of the health equation. He’s a very likable and charming guy. I had a few superficial discussions with him, even attended a few of his nightly lectures. His heart is certainly in the right place, but I fear he is leading people down a wholly inappropriate dietary path. At the risk of oversimplifying, the basis of his program is that almost all starch is good, all fat is bad and meat of any kind is deadly. It is, in his words, a “starch-based” diet, high in grains and legumes.

If I ate a "starch-based” diet, high in grains and legumes, I would be in the hospital and they would be baffled about what was wrong with me.

Quote:

But he does imply that when you eat vegetarian, you can have all you want…and therein lay the source of much amusement for me. The lecture would adjourn and everyone would line up for the buffet line which would, at virtually every meal, include copious amounts of breads and rolls, rice, potatoes, pasta, beans, some anemic-looking steamed vegetables and a romaine-only lettuce salad. No dressings allowed. The only fat I could see was in the guacamole that served as a spread. The desert table had a variety of fruits and at least two choices of so-called “healthy” cakes. The drinks were generally overly sweetened fruit drinks.

This takes me back to the 90's, when I lucked into a free mountain climbing machine and tried low fat. I kept myself in a size 12 that way. With low carb, then keto levels, I'm now a size 6/8. Better results.

AND I'm not tooting like a steamboat heading upriver. One of the amazing things about NOT eating sugar and starch, grains and legumes, is that such embarassing gas issues have essentially vanished.