With the help of John Robbins—back in the spring of 2003, I experienced my blinding flash of the obvious when it comes to what we should be eating. After beginning my quest for knowledge about food in late 2002, I read about fifty books before devouring John’s Diet for a New America over Memorial Day weekend.
I had already learned all about the health benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet but had not connected the dots regarding the environment, our energy supply, world hunger or the suffering of animals.
Diet for a New America helped me connect those dots and suddenly conclude:
Oh my God, we’re eating the wrong food!
In addition to Diet for a New America, I have also learned a great deal from some of John’s other books, particularly The Food Revolution and Healthy at 100. Along with Dr. T. Colin Campbell and a few medical doctors, John has been one of my primary mentors when it comes to grasping the big picture about the food choices of the human race.
What’s good for our health, is also good for the planet — and all of her creatures.
Not only did John help me see the big picture, but he also wrote an endorsement blurb for our own Healthy Eating, Healthy World:
“J. Morris Hicks has done us all a tremendous service. He has put together a simple, clear, and profoundly helpful guide to the extraordinarily powerful benefits of plant-strong nutrition. If you want to be healthy, read this amazing book. In a world hungry for hope, this book arrives at precisely the right time.”
Although I have not met him in person, I remain a huge fan of John Robbins and just recently came across the following video in which he talks about his latest book, No Happy Cows. Take a couple of minutes and get to know this great American writer and activist.
In my opinion, John Robbins has probably done more than any single human to help steer us all back to the natural diet for our species. He’s been talking about GMO longer than anyone and he has tirelessly gone about helping to make the world a better place–passing up the opportunity to be wealthy. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about him:
Robbins is the son of Irma Robbins and Baskin-Robbins co-founder Irv Robbins. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969, and received a Master’s Degree from Antioch College, in 1976. Rather than following the ice-cream parlor legacy of his father, he left the company to seek a life he found more rewarding.
He and his wife Deo were married on March 10, 1967. Robbins advocates a plant-based diet for personal and environmental health. He updated these ideas in his 2001 book The Food Revolution, which includes information onorganic food, genetically modified food, and factory farming. His 2006 book Healthy at 100, published by Random House, was printed on 100% post-consumer non-chlorine bleached paper, a first for a book from a major U.S. publisher.
A victim of the Bernie Madoff scam, you can help this great American by buying his books and spreading the word about his wonderful work.
- For sale on Amazon: No Happy Cows by John Robbins
- Also on Amazon: Diet for a New America
- Also on Amazon: Healthy at 100
- Also on Amazon: The Food Revolution
- Also on Amazon: Reclaiming Our Health
- John’s website: www.foodrevolution.org
February 2, 2014 update. I first published this blogpost in July of 2012, over a year before meeting John in person for the first time. That took place at a plant-based summit of 24 people at James and Suzy Cameron’s Santa Barbara Ranch in November of 2013. We have since become good friends and fellow environmentalists as we work together to help preserve Mother Nature’s ability to sustain humankind as a species.
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 latest 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 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.
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J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
Reblogged this on Fiction, Media and More . . . . and commented:
If you have not watched “The World According to Monsantos” do yourself and your family a favor and do so now.
John Robbins was a big influence on me as well. Thank you John.
John Robbin’s books changed my life 24 years ago as well. I still recommend his books, The China Study and your book as well to my patient’s.
In 1991 I paid attention to John Robbin’s book and VHS video “Diet for a New America” and Dr. Michael Klaper’s book “Vegetarian Nutrition – Pure & Simple” and VHS video “A Diet for All Reasons.” I even showed the two videos at noontime meetings of our “Making A Difference Club” (MAD Club) at “The Aerospace Corporation” in El Segundo CA. They both got it completely correct over 24 years ago and both are still going strong today!! The MAD Clubs at the various Aerospace Industries produced joint weekend workshops to rapidly “transform” people’s lives for the better, based on the “experiential” programs of “est”, Actualizations, Lifespring, etc. Such transformative education to make participants much more effective and fulfilled in life is still available, and est has evolved into this : http://www.landmarkeducation.com/
I see that “Landmark” events are available in 68 U.S. cities! I highly recommend jumping into these “Blinding Flash of the Obvious” educational happenings to greatly enlarge a person’s box of reality and effectiveness.
On another note, my health education effectiveness has been increased by posting my materials in the free “Dropbox” online “Cloud”! I had to find such a new site because Apple closed down the .me system. Here is a link to a memo on how I use Dropbox:
Click to access 1aDropboxOnlineEtcJul12.pdf
Especially go to http://chinaoneorcutt.com to see the material that I put in Dropbox for my favorite Chinese food restaurant!