Practicing What He Preaches

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From Stroke to success

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Growing up on a diet filled with meat, pizza, and butter, McDougall was overweight. At age 18, he suffered a massive stroke, leaving him with a limp he still carries today. He didn’t, however, change his eating patterns. And he didn’t change his eating patterns at age 22, when he learned his cholesterol was 338 mg/dL. After college, he enrolled in medical school at Michigan State University, where his medical education trained him to believe that his weight was genetic, so he still made no changes.
           
It wasn’t until he moved to Hawaii to practice medicine that he began to think otherwise. He noticed that first-generation Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino workers who ate a traditional plant-based diet were healthier than their children, who ate more fast food, meats, and cheeses.

Convinced that the modern diet was the root of most illness, McDougall crafted a low-fat, starch-based diet and eventually opened Dr. McDougall’s Health and Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California, to help people lose weight, and slow and reverse such ailments as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, serious bowel problems, and multiple sclerosis. He advocates an eating plan of vegetables, whole grains, and fruits, with beans and starches at the center. Those who come to the center get a medical checkup and participate in an intensive 10-day program of nutrition counseling, education, and exercise suggestions.
           
“I’m the luckiest doctor in the world, because my patients get well,” he says. “Other doctors give people pills, I’m the doctor who takes them off drugs.”
           
He and Mary also decided to adopt a plant-based diet. It didn’t take long for McDougall to lose 60 pounds and drop his cholesterol to a healthy 150 mg/dL.
           
The couple continues to eat this way. They get protein from beans, rice, and other plant foods. “All plant foods contain abundant amounts of protein and essential amino acids in perfect balance,” McDougall says. “The truth is, deficiency is impossible on a vegetarian diet based on starches, such as rice, corn, potatoes, and wheat.”
           
Exercise also is an important aspect of the family’s health regimen. John loves windsurfing, and Mary practices yoga; both do a lot of walking. The family does indulge in desserts from time to time, but when they do, they reduce a recipe’s sugar amount or use only fresh fruit.
           
“In large part, because of our health, our time is spent enjoying family, friends, and work,” McDougall says. When his patients follow his advice, he may just lose them as patients. But that’s OK with him. “Sick people see doctors and take medications,” he says. “Healthy people don’t.”     

Heart-Smart Changes
Although McDougall encourages a vegan diet, he suggests everyone adopt at least these three habits:

1. Move the focus of your meal from meat and cheese to starches, such as oatmeal, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole grain pasta, and breads.

2. Stop adding free oils, even healthy ones like olive, corn, and safflower, to your foods. Cook onions and garlic in water instead.

3. Make your health and weight-loss goal to eat more low-fat, nondairy vegetarian (vegan) meals every week.

For information on Dr. McDougall’s Health and Medical Center, visit drmcdougall.com.