In our 4Leaf Program, we always stress “vibrant health” as the primary goal. Fortunately, along with that vibrant health for ourselves; as we eat at the 4Leaf level, we also enjoy that wonderfully warm feeling of knowing that we have:
- Inflicted no damage on the environment
- Used as little fossil fuels as possible
- Efficiently used our limited land resources
- Done our part to end the needless suffering of 60 billion animals a year for our dinner tables
These are all wonderful things — and the kinds of powerful motivators that will keep you committed to the 4Leaf lifestyle forever — but if you have a lot of weight to lose, the effortless weight-loss that accompanies all of the above is certainly going to be a welcome fringe benefit.
But, if weight-loss is your primary motivator, then what will motivate you after you achieve your desired weight? Weight-loss should be no more than a one-year process for any of us, and it’s just a fringe benefit of never-ending progress toward a much greater goal — vibrant health for ourselves AND our planet.
A before picture: Dr. Hurley with his wife during Thanksgiving of 2010, just before beginning the 4-Leaf Program with my son J. Stanfield Hicks
And that’s the fringe benefit that is being enjoyed right now by everyone who has shifted to a 4Leaf way of eating for the right reasons. For those who try it for the sole purpose of weight-loss, it just doesn’t seem to work nearly as well.
Speaking of weight-loss, today I would like to share a success story of one of our 4Leaf clients in Boston — Dr. Brian Hurley.
Working with my son, Jason Hicks, Brian was reminded in writing and/or in coaching sessions — every day for several months to not worry about weight and simply focus on “vibrant health.” And Dr. Hurley did just that. Now, with his new diet-style firmly implanted in his life forever, he has revealed a fringe benefit that we know will be permanent — losing 40 pounds in six months and hitting 170 pounds for the first time since he was 14 years old — over thirty years ago. From an earlier post, Brian says…
Dr. Hurley at a recent event, sporting a vibrantly healthy body that just happens to weigh 40 pounds less than it did just six months ago.
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.
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 4Leaf 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 4Leaf eating an enjoyable and healthy part of his life — and will never have to worry about being over-weight again.
The following five books and one DVD can be purchased on Amazon for a grand total of less than $60—and will enable you to understand the overwhelming challenges we face—along with the single most-powerful solution of all.
Six-Pack from Hicks—for health, hope & harmony on planet Earth
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
- A life changer for millions, including James Cameron. Forks Over Knives DVD
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell; the primary book that influenced Bill Clinton to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
- What have we done to our planet? Full Planet, Empty Plates by Lester Brown
- A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
- Food choices are the primary cause of our environmental problems, yet our world leaders, scientists & experts are Comfortably Unaware, by Richard Oppenlander.
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 2 or 3 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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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.
—J. Morris Hicks, board member since 2012; click banner for more info:
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
In my experience with weight loss (and I’ve had plenty), whatever you do to lose weight, you will only keep it off if you keep doing it. There is no “lose the weight and then go back to doing something else.” So a diet needs to be long-term sustainable, because you’ll be doing it forever. The “4-Leaf Program” can and will be forever.