One of our 4-Leaf clients in Boston began his program with my son Jason about six months ago. Jason stressed from the beginning that the most important thing was “vibrant health;” and that effortless weight-loss would be fringe benefit — as your body naturally seeks its ideal weight. Yesterday, I heard from Brian:

This week, for the first time in my life, I had two different individuals tell me that I looked great and SHOULD NOT lose anymore weight. I am asked more and more about what I am doing to lose weight. Like you, I have become accustomed to answering questions including the protein question. Most say they do not know how I do it, but I explain to them I made the conscious decision to improve my health and a benefit I found was weight loss. I am amazed at how interested people are to hear about eating 80% whole plant, but are quick to clarify they could never do it.

You can say goodbye to your bathroom scale; after effortlessly reaching your ideal weight on the “4-Leaf Program,” why would you ever need it again?

Like Brian, I began my quest for vibrant health in 2002. Having never been over 180 pounds in my life, weight-loss didn’t even cross my mind. But when I started eating 4-Leaf in January of 2003, my body quickly started shedding weight — moving steadily from 175 to my current weight of 155 over a period of three or four months. Brian continues:

The other question I get is what is my goal weight. I explain to them I do not have a goal weight, I am letting my body determine it for me. Ironically, if you had asked me at the beginning of my lifestyle change to 4 Leaf, I would have said I would love to get to 182 to 184 lbs. Well, I achieved that in March and today I can tell you that I just reached 170 lbs.

How about that? If Jason had asked Brian his target weight six months ago, Brian might have said 184. Then, after reaching 184, he might have started drifting back into some of his pre 4-Leaf eating habits. And we all know what that means. Goodbye vibrant health and hello gradual weight-gain back to his previous weight. But Brian bought into the vibrant health goal from the beginning, made 4-Leaf eating an enjoyable and healthy part of his life — and will never have to worry about being over-weight again. He continues:

At this stage, the weight is not important and my true focus is what I started out to reach: VIBRANT HEALTH. Thank you again Jason Hicks for introducing me to 4 Leaf, educating me along this journey and most importantly, being a valued friend!! Jim, thank you for your continued support, words of encouragement and creating this site and blog to continue the education process.

Brian’s health coach, J. Stanfield Hicks, in the center of this photo on the trail to Tuckerman Ravine near Jackson, New Hampshire — J. Morris Hicks is on the left.

And thank you Brian for sharing your story with our readers. Americans are obsessed with dieting to lose weight even though studies show that they are rarely successful.

Well over 90% of the people eventually gain all the weight back and move on up the scale to new highs. But, then there will always be another fad diet as the yo-yo roller coaster ride of dieting to lose weight continues indefinitely.

As Brian has found; it’s all very simple. All we need to do is eat the natural diet for our species — whole plants in nature’s package. Nature will take care of the rest. Our 4-Leaf Program is just a simple tool to help everyone focus on maximizing the percent of their calories from these highly nutritious foods.

Seek vibrant health — one of your many rewards will be a trim body at your ideal weight — effortlessly. For other posts on weight-loss, check out the “Weight-loss” category in the drop-down list in the right column.

Handy 5-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.
• Dr. Campbell’s new book: WHOLE, Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. 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

International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.

J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, visit our 4Leaf page and also enjoy some great recipes from Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation