| On September 1, 2020 we completed our first online course, 12-Days to Dynamic Health, with 28 participants. During our live-in programs, we provided the food for all meals and snacks. In our online course, participants were learning from home and had to do all the cooking for themselves. For the past 34 years, nearly 6,000 people have attended our residential programs where the food was prepared in a professional kitchen, by trained chefs and served in a group setting to each participant. How will our participants do with cooking at home? This was a real concern for us. To our pleasant surprise, cooking at home was a highlight and turned out to have significant advantages. Participants were given a McDougall meal plan ahead of time to help in preparations for the course. This gave them the opportunity to gather the proper foods and basic ingredients to begin preparing their meals before the course started. We also recommended cooking in batches to ensure they have plenty of food on hand. We also gave participants the option of following a Mary’s Mini menu, a simplistic meal plan that is easy to follow while still achieving outstanding results. Mary’s easy program is based on using one starch with the addition of a few vegetables and/or fruit at each meal. In addition, each participant received personalized assistance by a dedicated Support Specialist who was readily available to (virtually) work with them in their kitchens. This included guidance for meal planning and shopping, to cleaning out their pantries and batch cooking. Shortly after the course began, the participants became friends. They were batch cooking, sharing recipes and eating together during our morning and afternoon group chats. Many of them also cooked along from their own kitchens during our batch cooking class demonstration! What surprised us the most was how much each person preferred the experience of cooking at home, especially those who had participated in a past residential program. Instead of having the burdens prior residential participants faced leaving our live-in program (such as being greeted with temptations at the airport and on the plane, not to mention how to survive the first days back home), everyone learned how to prepare the food themselves during our online course which made the transition to better health seamless. The day the course ended, participants were armed with confidence after having spent 12 days directly with the entire McDougall Team who answered all of their questions, offered tips and resources and supported them every step of the way. And this is only the beginning! Our participants now have a full year of access to their dedicated Support Specialist to help them navigate through anything that may come their way. | 