John McDougall

John McDougall was an American internist who taught a starch based vegan diet for more than four decades. With his wife Mary, who created the recipes, he ran the McDougall Program, a live-in program in Santa Rosa, California, and he shared his teaching in books, a free monthly newsletter and hundreds of videos. He died at his home in June 2024, at 77.

Best known for

The starch solution: the idea that people do best when starches such as potatoes, rice, corn and beans fill most of the plate, as they did for most of human history. His 2012 book The Starch Solution is the best known statement of it.

Approach

Starches at the centre of every meal, plus vegetables and a little fruit, with no animal foods and no free oils. For maximum weight loss he also took out nuts, seeds, avocado, flour products and most soy, and filled half the plate with non-starchy vegetables.

Main talking points

• Humans are starch eaters: rice, corn, potatoes or wheat fed every great civilization.
• The fat you eat is the fat you wear.
• No free oils, olive oil included.
• Look at your plate instead of counting calories or weighing food.
• A little salt or sugar sprinkled on top is fine if it helps people enjoy their starches.

Books

• The Healthiest Diet on the Planet2016
• The Starch Solution2012
• Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up2006
• The McDougall Program for Women1999
• The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook1999
• The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart1996
• The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss1994
• The New McDougall Cookbook1993
• The McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health1990
• McDougall's Medicine: A Challenging Second Opinion1985
• The McDougall Plan1983