4Leaf

Taking charge of our health for most people is a simple matter of eating a superior, health-promoting diet for the rest of their lives. Our trademarked 4Leaf for Life approach was designed as a simple tool to help people focus on maximizing their consumption of the healthiest of foods — whole plants still in nature’s package.

For lots of healthy recipes, visit Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

A truly healthy diet is all about what you ARE eating — not what you’re avoiding. And while we don’t recommend the consumption of any animal products, this program is not necessarily vegetarian or vegan. After all, you could eat nothing but potato chips and Diet Coke and call yourself a vegetarian — but that would definitely not be a healthy diet.

As Dr. Joel Fuhrman has said many times, “” You must get the majority of calories from unrefined plant food for optimal health.” He adds…”Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.” So that’s the “positive” advice we want to build on in this program — focusing purely on maximizing the percent of your calories from the healthiest foods — and not worrying about having an occasional piece of fish or cheese. Want to estimate where you now stand on our 4Leaf scale?

Take the 4Leaf Survey to find out

Using 4Leaf Survey results to improve your diet & health

Introducing our 5-part series on 4-Leaf eating. So, to get started with 4Leaf eating, cruise through the following 5-part series (2 minutes each) and you’ll have a pretty good idea how this program works.

1. 4Leaf eating, Part 1–Intro & Chart
2. 4Leaf eating, Part 2–Current diet
3. 4Leaf eating, Part 3–Fat & sodium
4. 4Leaf eating, Part 4–Shopping
5. 4Leaf eating, Part 5–Outside the home

Our 4Leaf Program is just a simple tool to help you promote vibrant health, protect yourself against chronic disease and very likely prevent you from ever having to spend a single day in the old nursing home.

Introducing the 4 leaves of health. Recognizing that the achievement of vibrant health includes more than just your choice of food, on 11-7-11, we included the other three major drivers of our health:

• Leaf #1 — Diet (Eating at the 4Leaf level every day)
• Leaf #2 — Exercise (Preferably outside doing something you love every day)
• Leaf #3 — Rest (Give your body the 7 or 8 hours sleep that it needs)
• Leaf #4 — Purpose (Find the passion in your life)

Most Recent 4Leaf Blog Posts in Chronological order 

1. Effortless weight-loss — on the “4-Leaf” road to vibrant health (posted 11-08-11)
2. 4-Leaf Thanksgiving; “Harmony hike” + healthy feast-to-remember (posted 11-28-11)
3. 4Leaf — a simple, flexible and powerful path to vibrant health (posted 12-21-11)
4. In the quest for “vibrant health,” weight-loss is just a bonus. (posted 12-27-11)
5. Getting started on the 4Leaf path to vibrant health…(posted 12-30-11)
6. 4Leaf Mentality — Subconscious awareness of the optimal (posted 1-6-12)
7. Widespread 4Leaf Transition. It’s going to take some time. (posted 1-7-12)
8. Massachusetts 4Leaf Challenge — Update on Day 7 (posted 1-10-12)
9. 5Leaf for lunch, 4Leaf for the road and 4Leaf with friends. (posted 1-18-12)
10. 4Leaf Health Improvement Programs…lowering costs & more. (posted 1-30-12)
11. World’s first 4Leaf Potluck Dinner Party–January 28, 2012 (posted 2-1-12)
12. Dan’s “Down & Dirty” 4Leaf Meal Plans for Men (posted 2-6-12)

More 4-Leaf Posts to check out

1. Sailors Daily 4Leaf Oatmeal my favorite meal of the day (uncooked)
2. Sailors Super 4Leaf Lunch (or dinner) easy, delicious and super healthy
3. Effortless weight-loss — on the “4Leaf” road to vibrant health
4. Holiday Eating. Gaining weight or losing? It’s your choice.
5. FIRST EVER “news” about our book and 4-Leaf Program
6. “Vibrant health” via the simple, positive “80-20,” 4-Leaf Program
7. Why does it all have to be so confusing? A reader asks…
8. Keeping it simple with 4Leaf…
9. Transforming a beautiful meal into a “4Leaf” meal…
10. “4Leaf Restaurant Challenge;” creative chefs = great taste!
11. Texas 4Leaf meal…not an oxymoron
12. Turning not-so-healthy meals into 4Leaf meals
13. Breakfast in the garden…and other ideas for “4Leaf eating”
14. Eating a near optimal 4Leaf diet…in a toxic world
15. Some “not-so-healthy” foods — a reminder (series of six posts)
16. An unsupportive spouse…the single biggest challenge to eating 4Leaf
17. Readers call for “Recipe Help” in establishing a “4Leaf” habit
18. Celebration! not deprivation…discovering the complete joy of eating
19. Our brand new “4Leaf” logo — representing the world’s first…
20. “Vibrant health” via the simple, positive “80-20,” 4Leaf Program
21. Keeping it simple with 4Leaf…
22. Brown vs. Yale — in the first ever “4Leaf Challenge”

For the record, we didn’t develop our 4Leaf Program in a vacuum. Rather, we built it on the solid foundation of the following common ground — and well-documented body of knowledge: the works of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, as chronicled in The China Study, and the trail-blazing work of five traditional MD’s who learned about the power of plant-based nutrition long after their medical school days were over.

That common ground is best summarized by Dr. Campbell’s statement, “The closer we get to a diet of whole, plant-based foods that better off we will be.” You can read about the five brave medical pioneers who have put that statement into action by visiting Common Ground Among Medical Experts. Want to hear from a doctor who just completed the 4-Leaf Program? Check out the PS below…

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at heatlhyeatinghealthyworld.com

PS: Here’s what a 43-year old doctor (a recent 4Leaf grad) in the Boston area had to say about our program..

Thanksgiving of 2010, while visiting my family for the holiday, I decided enough was enough. At that moment, I had to do something to change the direction I seemed to be going over the course of the past couple of years. I had topped the scale at my heaviest weight in 10 years, my cholesterol was high, I was tired all the time, and had absolutely no energy.

Fortunately, I joined a local gym and J. Stanfield (Jason) Hicks, my personal trainer, introduced me to the 4Leaf Program. To put it simply, it has changed my life and continues to be the eating portion of my permanent healthy lifestyle. To date, I have lost 33 pounds (lowest weight since I was 15 years old) and my cholesterol is back in the “normal” range though I would like to achieve the heart healthy level of less than 150. For those of you committed to getting healthy, look NO further. From Brian H., a happy subscriber to this daily blog, Want to tell your friends about 4-Leaf? Just tell them to go directly to www.4leafprogram.com and that will take them directly to this page.

If you like what the 4Leaf lifestyle is doing for your health, you may want to Visit our new “4Leaf Gear” store for some unique logo items.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survaey It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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