McDougall

[Guest guest]

Hey guys, no trashing our allies!! John McDougall, MD, was one of the

first credentialed " authorities " who regularly addressed veg

conferences on this side of the pond, and at least back when I was a

veg activist, he was always available to speak (tho' as he built up

his practice into a business, he started flying in!) at our open-air

Saturday veg celebrations.

 

[sound of rocking chair] Why, back in 1989, I was eating dinner at a

veg conference in Arcata, Calif., when Dr. McDougall was rushed into

the dining room for a quick meal before his talk. He sat at my table

and -- obviously a type A -- spent his 10-minute dinner reading

through an 8-inch stack of journal articles. He ate a few bites, then

rushed off to give his talk. (In the years since, he has gotten a lot

more polished and relaxed, and is a great speaker.)

 

His first book, The McDougall Plan, was one of the only reliable

references for vegetarians back when it came out. He always

extensively cites peer-reviewed research.

 

He has a great back story. Basically, he grew up in Wisconsin (maybe

on a dairy farm? ate lots of dairy as a kid) and had a stroke at age

18 or 19, which led him to stop smoking and inspired him to be a

doctor. But when he started practicing medicine, none of the people

he was treating were getting better, so he thought he'd missed

something and went back for another residency. He discovered he'd

learned what they had to teach. So then there he was in Hawaii --

might as well practice in paradise -- and noticed that the older

folks who'd worked on plantations all their lives were pretty healthy

but the younger generation had all the chronic diseases that most

Americans eventually get. He was surprised because med school had

suggested links between genetics and disease, and clearly something

else was at work. After some investigating, he figured out the older

folks ate rice/veg and the young'uns ate junk. That was the crucial

link that led him to investigate the influence of diet on health. His

basic insight was that most cultures feasted on high-fat, high-meat,

etc. infrequently, but modern American culture treats every meal as a

feast, which is causing epidemic rates of preventable heart disease,

cancer, diabetes (NIDDM), etc. Moreover, he figured out that many of

these can be prevented by radical changes in diet -- the

health-promoting diet cuts out all animal products and all added

fats, salt, sugar. (For people who are not trying to solve some

health issue, he still advocates no added fats, but says some small

amount of avocado, tofu, etc., is acceptable.)

 

Back up a little. He made the food/health connection when he was

still a resident and tried to counsel his patients, but was warned

from doing so by the chief resident, who said, basically, " not on my

watch " and told him he'd never make a living at medicine if he

planned to tell people to change what they were eating, because

people won't do it (and that if he expected all his patients to get

better, he'd have no repeat business -- the bread and butter of the

profession). McDougall thought he *could* make a living if all his

patients got better because his clientele would be successful people

who had everything except some niggling (0r worse) health problems

that they could never get a handle on. He would solve this problem

that no one else could, and he'd get repeat business by word of mouth

from people whose quality of life had improved beyond their dreams.

 

IIRC research has shown it takes a couple weeks to change a habit, so

his 2-week live-in program is designed to appeal to people who have

health problems and might go on a spa vacation, while at the same

time offering health monitoring (to monitor meds) and palate

retraining (wholesome food). He also has books and dvds for people

who want to try it at home, so it's not as if someone who's motivated

*has* to pay the big bucks. Or anything -- newsletters are free

online with recipes and synopses of med research.

 

I think he's a great example of a " professional vegetarian " who has

shown lots of integrity in the way he does business -- he never

watered down his recommendations to appeal to a wider audience (he

never advocated egg whites and cow yogurt, for instance), and he has

not been coopted by any special interests. He has also seemed to

treat his venture as a business from the beginning, with " branding "

(using his name to identify his health-promoting diet) and collateral

products (books, dvds, trips to Costa Rica, etc.). And though his

orientation from the beginning has always been health, he had a

lovely article in one newsletter where he said that, after so much

exposure to all the other reasons, he has come around to the

animal/environment arguments.

 

Another high-integrity professional vegetarian who also seems to be

building a good business is Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate

Cooks. She used to provide recipes free on her website, but in the

past year or two has started charging a fee for packets of 5 recipes

on a theme.

[Guest guest]

Cool, Our biggest allies are at www.gerson.org and www,gersonmiracle.orgDr. Max Gerson appeared before members of congress back in 1949with the results of 50 terminal cancer patients that he cured with a vegandiet. He was poisoned shortly after that. His work lives on with his daughterCharlotte Gerson healing thousands of documented terminally ill people with a vegan diet. No other cancer cure traditional or alternative comes close to the Gerson regimen for a success rate. Check it out.arrow wrote: Hey guys, no trashing our allies!! John McDougall, MD, was one of the first credentialed "authorities" who regularly addressed veg conferences on this side of the pond, and at least back when I was a veg activist, he was always available to speak (tho' as he built up his practice into a business, he started flying in!) at our open-air Saturday veg celebrations.[sound of rocking chair] Why, back in 1989, I was eating dinner at a veg conference in Arcata, Calif., when Dr. McDougall was rushed into the dining room for a quick meal before his talk. He sat at my table and -- obviously a type A -- spent his 10-minute dinner reading through an 8-inch stack of journal articles. He ate a few bites, then rushed off to give his talk. (In the years since, he has gotten a lot more polished and relaxed, and is a great speaker.)His first book, The McDougall Plan,

was one of the only reliable references for vegetarians back when it came out. He always extensively cites peer-reviewed research.He has a great back story. Basically, he grew up in Wisconsin (maybe on a dairy farm? ate lots of dairy as a kid) and had a stroke at age 18 or 19, which led him to stop smoking and inspired him to be a doctor. But when he started practicing medicine, none of the people he was treating were getting better, so he thought he'd missed something and went back for another residency. He discovered he'd learned what they had to teach. So then there he was in Hawaii -- might as well practice in paradise -- and noticed that the older folks who'd worked on plantations all their lives were pretty healthy but the younger generation had all the chronic diseases that most Americans eventually get. He was surprised because med school had suggested links between genetics and disease, and clearly

something else was at work. After some investigating, he figured out the older folks ate rice/veg and the young'uns ate junk. That was the crucial link that led him to investigate the influence of diet on health. His basic insight was that most cultures feasted on high-fat, high-meat, etc. infrequently, but modern American culture treats every meal as a feast, which is causing epidemic rates of preventable heart disease, cancer, diabetes (NIDDM), etc. Moreover, he figured out that many of these can be prevented by radical changes in diet -- the health-promoting diet cuts out all animal products and all added fats, salt, sugar. (For people who are not trying to solve some health issue, he still advocates no added fats, but says some small amount of avocado, tofu, etc., is acceptable.)Back up a little. He made the food/health connection when he was still a resident and tried to counsel his patients, but was warned

from doing so by the chief resident, who said, basically, "not on my watch" and told him he'd never make a living at medicine if he planned to tell people to change what they were eating, because people won't do it (and that if he expected all his patients to get better, he'd have no repeat business -- the bread and butter of the profession). McDougall thought he *could* make a living if all his patients got better because his clientele would be successful people who had everything except some niggling (0r worse) health problems that they could never get a handle on. He would solve this problem that no one else could, and he'd get repeat business by word of mouth from people whose quality of life had improved beyond their dreams.IIRC research has shown it takes a couple weeks to change a habit, so his 2-week live-in program is designed to appeal to people who have health problems and might go on a spa vacation,

while at the same time offering health monitoring (to monitor meds) and palate retraining (wholesome food). He also has books and dvds for people who want to try it at home, so it's not as if someone who's motivated *has* to pay the big bucks. Or anything -- newsletters are free online with recipes and synopses of med research.I think he's a great example of a "professional vegetarian" who has shown lots of integrity in the way he does business -- he never watered down his recommendations to appeal to a wider audience (he never advocated egg whites and cow yogurt, for instance), and he has not been coopted by any special interests. He has also seemed to treat his venture as a business from the beginning, with "branding" (using his name to identify his health-promoting diet) and collateral products (books, dvds, trips to Costa Rica, etc.). And though his orientation from the beginning has always been health, he had

a lovely article in one newsletter where he said that, after so much exposure to all the other reasons, he has come around to the animal/environment arguments.Another high-integrity professional vegetarian who also seems to be building a good business is Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks. She used to provide recipes free on her website, but in the past year or two has started charging a fee for packets of 5 recipes on a theme.

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