Every once in awhile I receive a note from someone I have never met—who has recently read our book. To hear about how our work is changing the lives of others is a special thrill for us. I received one of those spontaneous notes last week and wanted to share it with you.

The letter came from a 63-year old Pfizer scientist who, like most people, thought that his family was eating a healthy diet already. As he said below, he and his wife have always avoided red meat and have tried to include lots of fruits and vegetables in their diet. But, now in the twinkling of an eye, that’s all changed for John and his wife of thirty years. Perhaps you know people who could benefit from this compelling story. He writes:

Hi Jim,

This powerful movie has been changing the lives of millions since 2011. See link below to order from Amazon.

A friend gave me the DVD Forks Over Knives. My wife is 54 and I am 63. Some years back, as the Curator of the Mystic Aquarium, I did quite a bit of research on fish nutrition and published a couple of diets that changes the way fish are fed in public aquariums. You would think I knew something about nutrition!

My wife and I didn’t eat red meat and tried to include lots of vegetables and fruits in our diet. However, after watching FOK, we simultaneously looked at each other and I said, I’m doing it! She agreed.

I have a pretty good background in biology, so it didn’t take too many charts, graphs and stats to convince me that “something’s fishy” with the food industry. I am used to dealing in things “statistically significant” which is like saying if you look hard enough in the grass, someday you may come across a four leaf clover. Incidentally, I still work with fish—zebrafish in research. Fascinating work, but all irrelevant for more reasons than the obvious ones (like, who needs drugs when you can eat away disease!).

A colleague of mine who also is now working with the zebrafish is an acquaintance of yours and she gave me a copy of your book. As an author in my spare time (5 books published and more to come), I was impressed with the clarity of your writing as well as the excellent research. There was so much where I said. I knew that, but it never came into focus.

I have been on the diet 10 days and lost 9 pounds and bursting with energy. I also had two serious operations on my neck and currently have four of my vertebrae fused. I am usually in at least some pain ameliorated to some extent with massage therapy and acupuncture. At least I got off all of my meds for pain which wasn’t going to happen with the pain specialist I was seeing. However, with the diet, my neck feels almost normal and a bum knee that was operated on some 50 years ago, feels much better, a pain I learned to live with.

We just received the “Forks Over Knives” book and waiting for the recipe book. Saw your recipe section and we will be visiting it often. Also looking forward to visiting Stonington Village and trying out the restaurant you recommended. After all, we only live 15 minutes away, tops! Maybe we will run into you one of these days.

Thanks again for the excellent book and your blog. Both of us will be looking for it every day. So don’t get sick! John

I look forward to meeting John and his wife real soon. You may be wondering, “How does a seasoned Pfizer scientist make such a quick decision to take charge of his health with whole plants instead of drugs?”

He simply is exposed to some compelling facts about nutrition—for the first time in his life. The three sources listed below would be a good place to start for anyone. Posted here for your convenience—direct links to Amazon, where all three combined will cost less than $36:

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Our book: Healthy Eating, Healthy World by yours truly & son
• An essential nutritional resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell

Sailing on the Ideal 18, one of six in the SHYC fleet.

One more thing. There’s another Pfizer scientist who has made some big changes in his diet lately. A yacht club buddy of  mine, he’s 29 years old and only had to read about half of our book to know that it made complete sense to him. Like his colleague John at Pfizer, he knows that drugs are not the pathway to health—they’re simply helpful for very sick people who need some relief.

Without even trying to lose weight, Tim has lost about 20% of his total body weight and he’s only eating at the 2Leaf level on our 4Leaf scale. His father (in his fifties) just underwent some very invasive surgery for cancer—a procedure that Tim is confident could have been avoided had he learned the truth about nutrition early enough in his life to make a difference.

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

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at 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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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

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