Ep. 329: A Tribute to Trailblazers - Honoring the Legacy of Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Baxter Montgomery, and John Robbins

Today, on what is a day of Thanksgiving here in the United States,  we want to take a few minutes to honor three extraordinary men—Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Baxter Montgomery, and John Robbins—who we’ve recently lost. These weren’t just leaders in the whole food, plant-based movement—they were trailblazers, mentors, and fearless advocates for health and hope.

Dr. McDougall taught us that food is medicine and that living your principles matters more than pleasing critics. Dr. Montgomery showed us the power of compassion in medicine and the importance of giving everyone access to real, whole-food nutrition. And John Robbins…he opened hearts and minds, inspiring millions to think deeply about how our choices on the plate affect the world.

So today, as we continue their work, let’s remember: living plant strong is about courage, consistency, and compassion -and- it’s about taking their message and carrying it forward in our own lives and communities.

They didn’t just teach us about health—they gave us hope. For that, we're thankful.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I'm Rip Esselstyn and you'relistening to the Plant Strong podcast.
I want to welcome you all to aspecial episode of the Plant Strong
podcast. Today, on what is aday of Thanksgiving here in the United
States, I want to take a fewminutes to honor three extraordinary

(00:20):
men. Dr. John McDougall, Dr.Baxter Montgomery, and John Robbins,
who we've recently lost. Theseweren't just leaders in the whole
food plant based movement.They were trailblazers, mentors and
fearless advocates for healthand hope. Dr. McDougall taught us

(00:41):
that food is medicine and thatliving your principles matters more
than pleasing the critics. Dr.Montgomery showed us that the power
of compassion in medicine realand the importance of giving everyone
access to whole food plant,strong nutrition. And then John Robbins,

(01:02):
he opened hearts and minds,inspiring millions of us to think
deeply about how our foodchoices on our plates affect the
world. I feel humbled that Iwas able to stand on their shoulders.
And because of them, countlesslives have been transformed. They
didn't just teach us abouthealth, they gave us hope. So today,

(01:26):
as we continue their work,let's remember, living Plan Strong
is about courage, consistency,and compassion. It's about taking
their message and carrying itforward in our own lives and communities.
This episode, which features afew short clips from their guest
appearances on the Plan Strongpodcast, is my tribute to them. And

(01:49):
my invitation to you is tohonor their legacy by living boldly,
eating wisely, and spreadinghealth and hope wherever you may
go. For them, I give thanks totoday and every day.

(02:14):
I had a another enlightenmentthere on my plantation and that I
was taking care of first,second, third and fourth generation
people. First generation beingborn in their native land. In this
case, we're talking aboutKoreans and Chinese and Japanese
and Filipinos primarily. Andthe first generation, they learned

(02:35):
a diet of rice and vegetables,and then they moved to the Big island
to start a new life. And theyhad their families, and their families
were influenced by westerneating. So the second generation,
they ate more rich food andthey got more overweight and sicker.
And by the time you got to mythird generation patients and I was
taking care of all fourgenerations of people, my practice,

(02:58):
I could see it right before myeyes. You know, the genes didn't
change. The environment on theplantation hadn't changed for 100
years. But here I saw thisdrastic change in health where my
first generation, they neverwere overweight, they were hard working
into their 80s and sometimes90s. You know, they had never had
diabetes, never had hearttrouble, breast cancer, colon cancer,

(03:18):
prostate cancer, no autoimmunediseases. This is my first generation.
But as I mentioned, as thesecond generation, third generation
learned the western diet, theybecame progressively more ill because
they were being poisoned. Thisis food poisoning, Rip. The. I have
to explain on those terms, andI do these days so that people can

(03:40):
understand it. This is food poisoning.
You know, there's two basicbeliefs that most people hold that
I think you would say are nottrue. And the first is as we age,
we naturally become fatter andsicker. That. That is a complete
falsehood.
Correct.

(04:00):
As we age, we become patternslike that. But most people think
that's the case.
I learned that from myplantation patients. Absolutely untrue.
Yeah. So it's the food. It'sthe food. It's the food.
It's the food. Yeah.
Again, I want you to know,John, what a giant you've been in,
in my life. And so manypeople, so many people admire you

(04:21):
and Mary and just allowing usto literally stand on your shoulders,
on your head, on every part ofyour body, as we have done our best
to, to spread this, thismessage that you have been standing,
standing behind since the late1970s. It's just remarkable. I want

(04:41):
you to know how much I loveyou. I love your, your passion, the
way you've always challengedthe system, the way you have led
with the truth. And you're,you're unwavering. You were absolutely
unwavering. And, and I lovethat about you. And the world is
a better place because of Johnand Mary McDougall. So thank you

(05:03):
so much.
Well, thank you, Rip. We'vegot an army to build. You know, it's
going to take, it's going totake a lot of us. And so, you know,
the fact that you've got afollowing that's dedicated and understands
the truth and they're tryingto spread the word too. Whatever
your talents are, I just wantto say something to your viewers.
Whatever your talent is, usethat to spread the word, because

(05:29):
we have to do it. The stakesare so high.
And so I started lookingoutside of the medical literature.
I started reading the laypress, and you read a lot of things
about this snake oil, knowpotion, et cetera. But the common
denominator was a healthydiet. And the common denominator

(05:50):
of the healthy diet was plantbased foods. And that was one thing
that I noticed. And out ofsome strains, for some strange reason,
I happened to take this rawvegan chef course. I took a weekend
crash course to become acertified raw vegan chef. And in
that crash course, I wasintroduced to plant based nutrition.

(06:12):
We learned how to makewonderful raw dishes. And my life
turned around in an amazingway. I felt 18 years old and I was
somewhere around, I don'tknow, 39, 40 at the time. And that
introduced me to this world ofplant based nutrition. I not only
continued that lifestyle, butI started applying it to patients.

(06:34):
What I noticed that, you know,applying this natural food diet to
patients had an amazing impacton their lives. These patients, I
mean the patients I see are,they range from being in the ICU
to barely out of the hospital.The hearts are beating at 10%. They've
had bypass, they've hadstents, they have devices. And so

(06:57):
these were the patients I wasmanaging. So I remember in particular
one lady who had an injectionfactor of 10%. The heart and marmor
should beat about 55 or 60%,hers beating at 10%. She had had
four vessel bypass, threestents since the bypass. She was
a diabetic, she had arthritis,in a wheelchair, on oxygen. When

(07:17):
her husband wheeled her intomy office, she was on 21 medications.
I looked at the medicationlist and I thought to myself, well,
my goodness, you know, am Igoing to add medication number 22,
23, 24? And so I asked themone question, said, do you have a
juicer? And they said yes. Isaid, great, here's what we're going
to do. And I started writingout these juicing recipes. So don't

(07:37):
eat for the next 10 days, dothis raw juice detox. And I would
call her and check on her andwe adjust medication on the phone.
But she came back in 10 days.Walking, talking, no oxygen, feeling
great. This is just 10 daysnow. I work in the world's largest
medical center. I've beenworking in world's largest medical
center for 25 years. We havethree heart transplant centers and

(08:01):
walking distance. There's fewplaces in the world that has a technology
equal to or greater than whatwe have here. So I've seen the best
that medicine has to offer,the greatest that medicine has to
offer from the traditionalstandpoint. So, and my center is
just four miles south of that.I refer to them as Goliath and we're

(08:22):
David. And so for me to havethe impact on these patients lives
who had gone througheverything that the world's largest
medical center had to offerwas very impressionable. Not only
that, over the years I've hada number of patients who were too
sick to get bypass surgery,too sick to get interventional cardiology

(08:44):
procedures. I've had in thosepatients, we've Been able to turn
around in the hospital withdetox, some patients for hospice.
With heart faith, we turnaround with detox. You know, as John
McDougall says, it's the food,the food, it starts with the nutrition
and the body has to cleanseand heal first and foremost. And,
and this is something that welearned, you know, over two decades

(09:08):
ago.
Do you know how many copieshas Diet for New America sold? Is
it like over 2 million?
Yeah, 30 something languages and.
Yeah, that, that it isphenomenal. I mean, that you really,

(09:29):
that book launched the modernhealth, health food movement. I mean
it literally did. I mean itwas like the linchpin of the zeitgeist
that made this all happen.Because I think you for the first
time connected all the dots asfar as, well, this is the best way
to eat for health and theenvironment. And if you really want

(09:51):
to be compassionate for theanimals. I mean it was such a, such.
A piece and to address worldhunger issues. I mean, I made a decision
for my conscience and for my.I didn't know why I was on earth.
I wanted to find out why. Iknew it wasn't to make more ice cream
and sell more ice cream. Andthis whole idea, the commercialism

(10:14):
of our culture that's takenover and made people feel. I mean,
it's, I think it's a disgracehow, how the inequality of wealth
that we have, the degree ofit. I mean, it's not, it's not right
and it's not healthy and it'snot good for anybody. And the pursuit
of wealth for its own sake andthe measurement of who we are as

(10:36):
people, that we feel bad aboutourselves and ashamed if we, if we,
if our income isn't to acertain level, I just find that degrading
to us as human beings. Likewhen I sit down to a meal and say
grace, take a moment just torelax and center and feel the gratitude

(10:58):
I feel to have this food. I'malso thinking about the farm workers.
I'm thinking about the guysthat drove or the women that drove
the trucks, the people thatdug the wells, all the people whose
labor, you know, on, on the,in the, in, in the process of food
production made it possible.The, the companies that are risking
their investments, the, theinvesting in healthy food. But you

(11:23):
know, there's some risk inthat for them financially. Everyone's
involved is making sacrificesand, and undertaking efforts. And
I'm, I'm the, I'm therecipient of this food and I get
to eat it. Yeah, I paid forit, but I don't want to forget the
people. You know, I don't knowwhere our compassion is, but we better
find it.

(11:44):
Yep. Well, I think you say inthe book that our society needs to
regain its soul.
Yeah. And we have this ethicof that the goal is unlimited consumption.
I would love to see our goalbe unlimited compassion. You know,
why don't we work to create aworld where it's safe for people's
hearts, safe for their love,safe for their. Their. Their. Their

(12:06):
joy, safe for their. Theirpeace. You know, that. That's the
world where I think the humanspirit would most. Most thrive. And
who knows what problems wecould then solve.