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Dr. McDougall's Right Foods


How It All Began
Dr. McDougall

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The McDougall Program began in the early 1970's when John and Mary McDougall lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. As a plantation physician, John cared for 5,000 people, mostly of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ancestry. He observed that his first generation patients, those born in their native lands and who migrated to Hawaii, were trim and in excellent health. Their children and grandchildren, however, became fatter and sicker. The only thing that changed was their diet. The older folks lived on a traditional diet, mostly rice and vegetables. Their offspring, raised in a modern society, learned to eat richer foods - meats, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and highly processed foods. From this experience, it was obvious to John that obesity and poor health were neither inevitable nor inherited.

When he returned to the University of Hawaii Medical School for further education, John discovered that the scientific literature was filled with research proving that rich foods made people unhealthy. Those same studies showed that people could become well again if they returned to a diet like the one of rice and vegetables that his older plantation patients ate - a diet based on starch, fruit, and vegetables. Incredible! The most powerful medicine ever imagined right there on your dinner plate. John's wife Mary soon teamed up with him and began investigating new and interesting ways to prepare food. She looked through vegetarian cookbooks, which unfortunately were loaded with eggs, cheeses, and vegetable oils. She began to modify her favorite recipes for pasta sauces, gravies, soups, and stews, sharing them with the patients. Eventually, Mary's recipes became sections in John's books, and then her own nationally best selling cookbook, "The New McDougall Cookbook."

Mary and John left Hawaii in 1987, and since then have run the McDougall Program, now located at the McDougall Wellness Center in beautiful Santa Rosa, California.

 
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