1. Life on planet Earth began 4 billion years ago. 
2. Since then, millions of species of creatures have lived here and Mother Nature had an eating plan for each one.
3. All of those millions of species have followed her eating plan to the letter—except for ONE.
4. HUMANS are the ONLY species that has not only NOT followed her plan—indeed, we have drifted over 90% from it.
5. That’s right, we now consume less than ten percent of the foods that Nature planned for us to eat—whole, plant-based foods.
6. How do I know what nature intended for us to eat? Four ways:
   • By looking at what animals in the wild, closest to our DNA, eat. The gorilla eats NOTHING but raw plants.
   • By studying healthy cultures around the world who eat mostly whole plants: Tarahumara, Hunza, Abkasians and many others. They live long, healthy lives and have almost NONE of our chronic diseases.
   • Migrant studies from those healthy cultures. When they move to Chicago or Dallas, they start eating the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.)—AND start having the same frequency of chronic diseases as we do.
   • By examining the scientific and clinical evidence, proving in thousands of cases that a simple diet of mostly whole, plant-based foods has the power to reverse heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many other maladies in over 90% of the cases. Former president Bill Clinton was one of those cases.
7. So why are our schools of nutrition and schools of medicine not teaching the world about this wonderful diet-style that could stop chronic disease in its tracks? Why are the news media and our government not telling us about about this powerful, life-saving information?
   

   With industry now controlling our schools of nutrition, is academic freedom dead?

8. The Protein Myth. The almost ubiquitous belief in the developed world that we actually “need” to eat animal protein to be healthy. Almost everyone sincerely believes that myth—including the brightest and best educated people in the world.
9. It’s a safe bet your own family physician is in that group, and as such, he/she and their families are likely to be eating the S.A.D. (with lots of animal protein) themselves.
10. Since they don’t teach much about nutrition in our medical schools, your physician probably has no idea that you can get all the protein you need in just the right amount—from whole plants. Almost all plants have protein in them.
11. Most of what your physician knows about nutrition comes from the same place the general public gets their information: from the daily flow of contradicting, confusing and misleading information on the evening news—much of which is sponsored by the food industry that profits from feeding us that toxic S.A.D.
    

    Does your doctor know how to reverse heart disease?

12. And all of those sources never tell you the big picture about the macro-nutrients that provide us with energy. There are only three of them—and we need to eat all three—carbohydrate, fat and protein.
13. In nature’s eating plan, we’d get about 80% carbohydrate, and 10% each from fat and protein. But with the S.A.D., we get about 40% from fat, 40% from carbohydrate (mostly processed) and 20% from protein (mostly animal-based).
14. And guess what? That animal-based protein we’re eating has been shown to promote cancer (T. Colin Campbell, The China Study).
15. Meanwhile, back to your physician, who is probably not familiar with this little Nutrition 101 lesson. How will he/she react to your quest for better health?
16. Let’s say you hear about all the disease reversal and vibrant health associated with simply eating mostly whole plants, and you decide to consult with your physician before making those drastic changes in your diet. When you do, the chances are 10 to 1 that you will hear more words of CAUTION than ENCOURAGEMENT. At that point, many patients will lose enthusiasm for their food-driven pursuit of vibrant health.
17. Sadly, our collective health is just a small part of the big problem caused by the protein myth. That same myth that has locked the brain of your physician has also locked the brain of our brightest scientists, environmentalists, and most of the leaders in the world: religious, political and corporate. 
18. Since almost all of our world leaders believe the protein myth, their collective brains are LOCKED regarding initiatives that could get us back on track to living in harmony with nature. Hardly any of those leaders are now aware that our food choices are not only driving our out-of-control cost of healthcare, they are also the leading drivers of:
    • Water scarcity
    • Soil erosion
    • Deforestation
    • Water pollution
    • Ocean dead zones
    • Species extinction
    • Climate change—the elephant in the room that exacerbates all the others.
19. World Bank climate specialists reported in 2009 that the raising of livestock for human consumption is responsible for AT LEAST 51% of ALL human-induced greenhouse gasses. That means that our love affair with eating meat and dairy at almost every meal is BY FAR the leading cause of climate change—indeed, it’s larger than ALL other causes COMBINED. It’s also the ONLY cause that can be addressed and reduced quickly.
20. Sadly, the minds of our leaders are LOCKED and thereby not capable of accepting, understanding and ACTING on this world-saving information.
    

    James Cameron, Director of Titanic and Avatar

21. HOW do we UNLOCK those brains? How do we DISPEL that protein myth in time to save our civilization. As James Cameron says, “It’s like we’re all sleepwalking off a cliff.”
22. We must WAKE-UP that sleepwalking public—before it’s too late.
23. And for that we must have LEADERSHIP. With climate change tipping points rapidly approaching, we don’t have time to wait for a traditional grassroots dissemination of this world-saving information. That process, which has worked effectively throughout human history, would take decades, if not centuries, to make much of a difference.
24. But a single POWERFUL leader could make a difference quickly. For this job, we need someone with a global name recognition, deep pockets (financial resources), a reputation for integrity, a passionate understanding of the magnitude of the unprecedented planetary emergency we’re all facing—AND an open mind.
25. That leader, who fully understands the emergency, will almost certainly make this effort his/her #1 priority for the rest of his/her life. He/she will recruit the support of other powerful leaders and will arrange private funding for the largest–and most URGENT–global awareness campaign in the history of humankind.
26. The cost of that initiative would be HUGE, but that cost is irrelevant. Even if it cost a trillion dollars, so what? What good is a trillion dollars (of human money) when our global economy and civilization collapse? Isn’t the future of our children and our civilization worth more than a trillion dollars?
    

    What good is money if there is no food or water? You can’t eat or drink this worthless pile of paper.

27. What can you do? Share this story with every leader you know. When the right leader becomes fully enlightened, things can change quickly. With billions of people now connected through the internet and social media, the time has NEVER been better for disseminating URGENTLY needed information—QUICKLY!!
28. Circulate this article. Find those leaders. Dispel that protein myth. Unlock the brains of the best, brightest, wealthiest and most powerful leaders on Earth. Who are they? Here’s my top-ten list and someone you know may know how to reach them:
29. Pope Francis, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg, Prince Charles, Warren Buffett, Joel Osteen, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama.
30. Let’s get this right—for the children of the world. Let’s get this right—NOW!

Coincident. As I mentioned earlier, all of the above was written on one Atlanta-bound Delta flight from Colorado in 2014. Notice that it has 30 points. In 2007, I wrote another 30-point article on another Atlanta-bound Delta flight. It was entitled 30 Minutes to Live, documenting my understanding of how we all got into this mess in the first place.

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.

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—J. Morris Hicks, board member since 2012; click banner for more info: