The Passing of a Plant-Based Great | Dr. John McDougall

On June 22, 2024, one of the plant-based greats died. 

📚 Dr. John McDougall was the author of 13 best-selling books.

🏆 A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

👨‍⚕️ A member of the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

🌱 He created the McDougall Program, which has helped thousands of people eliminate unnecessary medications while reversing and healing serious health problems.

💪 He was a fierce advocate of a low-fat whole food plant-based diet.

💚 Dr. McDougall was loved by many.

🕊️ He was 77.

After his family announced his passing, the comments on social media started pouring in. Most of the comments I read were very sweet and touching. It was clear that Dr. McDougall had impacted many lives.

But some comments made me think that people need a general reminder that 100% of humans have a 100% chance of dying—even the plant-based eating advocates and experts. It’s the one thing that will eventually happen to all of us. 

I used to be terrified of death. I was too scared to think about it, talk about it, read about it, watch movies about it—I would avoid anything and everything that had to do with it. 

When my big sister, Kirstie, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2018, I knew it was time to face my fears and start shining some light on it. Scary things are always scarier when you don’t acknowledge them. So I started reading books about death, listening to podcasts on the topic, watching documentaries, going to Death Cafes where people are encouraged to talk about their relationship with death and grief, following YouTube channels and IG accounts that talk about it—I dove in head first because I didn’t want my fear of death to get in the way of showing up for my sister, myself, or my family as Kirstie faced her terminal diagnosis. 

And it helped. 

I still don’t like that we all die.
That I will die.
That my cat, Sweet Pea, who is curled up next to me right now, will die.
That Dr. McDougall died.
That everyone I love will die. That my sister died on August 7th, 2023 (listen to this heartfelt podcast episode Kirstie and I recorded just a month before she passed). 

No, I don’t like it at all. But I am less afraid than I used to be, and more open to the reality of it. Death exists. Okay, I stubbornly accept that. 

And here’s the thing. Death will happen no matter how much kale we eat. How much we exercise. How much animal protein we don’t eat. If we smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. Even if we’re teetotalers (side note, I 100% thought this was spelled “teatoler”), at one point or another, we all have the same fate. 

A good friend of mine had a sister who meditated often, never ate meat, never drank, never smoked, and lived an all-around healthy lifestyle. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in her 50s, and she died a few years later. Her mom, on the other hand, lived well into her 80s on a diet of vodka, ice cream, and Virginia Slims.

The point of eating healthy and having a healthy lifestyle is not so we can live forever. That shit doesn’t work. We do it so we feel as good as we can for as long as we can. 

I didn’t know Dr. McDougall personally, but he seemed to feel pretty damn good as he went through his life. The answer to why he died is easy—because that’s what humans do. 

My love goes out to Dr. McDougall’s family and friends. It’s so hard to lose someone you love. He will be missed by the plant-based community, and his work will live on and have a ripple effect for generations to come.

Did Dr. McDougall influence you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Xo
Molly 

Resources on death that I’ve found helpful 

Websites 
Listen to this great interview on death I did with a director of a funeral home in LA (more resources in the post) 
Find a Death Cafe in your area 
The Order of the Good Death (all around fantastic resource) 
The Centre for Sacred Deathcare 

Books 
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty
Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani
It’s Okay that You’re Not Okay by Megan Devine
Even Vegans Die by Carol J. Adams MDiv, Patti Breitman, and Virginia Messina, MPH, RD
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche