Diabetes; made in America — or iPhone 5; made in China?

Posted on 10/17/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Which “product” is superior?

But is diabetes a product? That is the question. SNL aired a spoof about the complaints that some Americans have about the new Chinese-made iPhone 5. (see video below) Three fictitious spokespeople from the tech industry shared their paltry complaints. Then, they brought out three peasant workers from an Apple factory in China—and they responded to the complaints. One complaint was “even though we asked for a thinner and lighter iPhone, this new iPhone 5 is just too light and too thin.”

To wrap up the segment, the host asked if the Chinese factory workers had any complaints about American-made products. At first they were stumped—and couldn’t think of anything that Americans made. Audience laughs. Finally, the male worker asked:

“Does diabetes count as a product? If not, we may have to get back to you.”

The new iPhone 5 — too thin, too light

As I have often said, many a truth is said in jest. But this one speaks volumes to the undisputed global leadership when it comes to the “disease care” industry.

Now, weighing in at over 18% of our entire economy (GDP), the world of promoting—then managing disease has become our claim to fame all across the world. No other country even comes close.

Without a doubt, we win the sweepstakes when it comes to the global marketing of the toxic western diet—the primary driver of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, erectile dysfunction, COPD, restless leg syndrome and hundreds more. With internationally renowned brand titans like KFC, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Frito-Lay, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Burger King—how could any other nation even think about equaling the damage we have done?

Here’s the way I see it. If there were a total of 100 points scored in the “make the world sick” global sweepstakes, I would wager that the final score would be something like:

United States 75 —- Rest of the world 25

Now for your viewing pleasure, the iPhone 5 skit (about 5 minutes)

Live from New York—It’s Saturday Night!

Consecutive Daily Blogs (numerals from Texas, home of many beef-loving cowboys who wish us vegan-types would take a hike)

Occasionally, it’s time for a little humor on this blog. Actually, this is the third (out of 621 blogs) whose primary message is humorous. Even so, all three of these blogs have also carried a powerful health-promoting element along with the humor. The other two blogs:

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

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.

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

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.

SHARE and rate this post below.

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

Posted in Diabetes, Humor | 1 Comment

Arthritis, MS, Lupus & more…a total of 81 success stories

Posted on 10/16/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Got a health problem? The right diet for our species just might fix it.

Last week, I heard from a good friend who was asking about a specific medical condition from which she was suffering. Since that time, I have spoken with three Massachusetts-based instructors for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM.org) While searching for information on one of those instructors (the one on Cape Cod), I found “her story” that had been posted on Dr. McDougall’s website in 2007.

The PCRM Food for Life Program features four primary food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes.

And now I have much more information to share with people who solicit advice from me about certain conditions. When I found her story amidst 80 other success stories on that website, I decided to share the entire list in this blogpost. As you may know, Dr. McDougall and his fellow plant-based medical doctors (Barnard, Fuhrman, Esselstyn & Ornish) disagree on a few things, but they all agree on this statement by Dr. Colin Campbell:

“The closer we get to eating a diet of whole, plant-based foods, the better off we will be.”

All five of those doctors recommend a diet that fits within our definition of 4Leaf; a diet that derives over 80% of its calories from whole, plant-based foods. And all of those doctors have had great success with the vast array of maladies covered below in the following list.

I attended an Advanced Study Weekend at Dr. McDougall’s California facility in 2007—the same site where Whole Foods CEO John Mackey brought a large group of his associates.

Scan the list of Dr. McDougall “Success Stories.”  (Not in any particular order)

  1. Cures arthritis & hypertension and saves money
  2. Winning Battle with Breast Cancer
  3. Looking and feeling great in Alaska
  4. 18 Year-old Cures Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
  5. Beyond Veganism
  6. Loses 150 pounds
  7. From Crippled to Running
  8. Recovered, Severe Ulcerative Colitis
  9. Running Marathons, Rheumatoid Arthritis
  10. Stopping a lifetime of weight loss and gain
  11. Overcoming Obesity for Good
  12. Formerly Dying from Heart Disease
  13. Finally winning the weight battle
  14. Conquering my weight issues after 40 years
  15. Standing up to the osteoporosis hype
  16. Goodbye to Migraines!
  17. Learning to Love Myself Again
  18. The path to permanent weight-loss
  19. Woman loses over 100 pounds
  20. Reduces Cholesterol, Cures Arthritis, Helps Others
  21. Listen to your body’s wake up calls
  22. Choosing diet over drugs after a heart attack
  23. Doctor saves self & wife, changing to a vegetarian diet
  24. Beating the Genetic Odds
  25. Diagnosed with MS; food became my medicine
  26. Peter Rogers, MD Heals Self
  27. Elderly, Angina, Reverses Heart Disease
  28. Diabetes, Overweight, High Cholesterol
  29. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  30. Weight Loss, Sleep Apnea
  31. Heart Disease, Cholesterol, Hypertension
  32. Stops Multiple Sclerosis
  33. Cured Endometriosis
  34. Hypertension, Atrial Fibrillation, Overweight
  35. Lost Over 70 Pounds
  36. Compulsive Overeating, Obesity
  37. Hypertension, Marathon Runner
  38. Dermatitis, Arthritis, Bursitis, Tendonitis, Iritis
  39. IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  40. Vegan Family
  41. Depression, Hypertension, GERD, Obesity
  42. Overweight, Athlete
  43. Heart Failure, Coronary Artery Disease
  44. Cures Morbid Obesity
  45. Coronary Heart Disease, Hypertension
  46. Cured Type-2 Diabetes and Obesity
  47. Reversing Heart Disease
  48. Physician, Cholesterol, Overweight
  49. Depression, Heart Disease, Overweight
  50. Model: No Longer Overweight
  51. Cures Morbid Obesity
  52. Lost 135 Pounds: Cures Morbid Obesity
  53. Overweight, Cholesterol
  54. Almost Lost to Lupus
  55. Elderly Recover with Diet
  56. Cures Rheumatoid Arthritis
  57. Heart Disease
  58. Weight Problems
  59. Singer, Overweight
  60. Cures Hypertension
  61. Type-2 Diabetes, Obesity
  62. Obesity, Type-2 Diabetes, Hypertension
  63. Hypertension, Diabetes
  64. Lupus Nephritis
  65. Better Health, Overweight
  66. Hiatal Hernia, GERD, Indigestion
  67. Sheds 90 Pounds, Cures Obesity
  68. Cures Rheumatoid Arthritis
  69. Defeats Cancer and Osteoporosis, Breast Cancer
  70. Cured Relapsing Polychondritis
  71. Cures Obesity: 450 pounds down to 185 pounds
  72. Elderly Recover with Diet
  73. Cures Obesity, Weightlifter
  74. Cures Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  75. Breast Cancer Treated with Diet
  76. Painful Arthritis, Cholesterol
  77. Cures Obesity, Arthritis
  78. Permanently Cures Obesity
  79. Overweight, Cholesterol
  80. Overweight, High Blood Pressure
  81. Overweight, Cholesterol

Regarding the friend who called me last week; she inspired me to write the blog that was posted on 10-12-12. No medical advice here — just life-saving referrals. As for my new friend on Cape Cod, you can find Joanne’s story in the #20 position on the list above. For her own PCRM page, click here. Send her an email and tell her J. Morris Hicks sent you.

My own Diseases tab. In the row of tab across the top of every page, you will find a drop-down list of common chronic diseases that can be prevented, slowed, stopped or reversed with a whole foods, plant-based diet. I created a separate page for each of those diseases. Take a look and take charge of your health today.

As for our own 4Leaf Success Stories, we’ve covered many of them in this blog and may set up a special page for them sometime soon. In the meantime, we love getting emails from all over the world from people who credit our book, blog and 4Leaf Program for “saving their lives.”

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

  1. Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
  2. A life changer for millions, including James Cameron. Forks Over Knives DVD 
  3. 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.
  4. What have we done to our planet? Full Planet, Empty Plates by Lester Brown
  5. A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
  6. 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

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.

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

Nutrition Certificate

Posted in M.D.s---Health-Promoting, Testimonials | 4 Comments

Global Water Crisis. More “confusion over clarity.”

Posted on 10/15/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

The water crisis and the food crisis go hand in hand…

And the “blinding flash of the obvious” solution to both is right under our noses. It’s what we put in our mouths. The simple fact that our western diet requires well over ten times more water (per calorie) than a plant-based diet tells the entire story of what we must do.

And we will. It is inevitable. But, we’re not hearing that kind of clarity from our well-meaining officials. After reading a very disturbing article in the New York Times last week about the water dilemma in India, I decided to do a little research. I quickly discovered the website of the World Water Council (See link below). Lot of good information about the “problem” but not a great deal of clarity about the solution.

Out of probably 2,000 words on the home page, I scrolled down until I found this paragraph about saving water resources. Check out the last sentence:

Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving of water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing.

With urbanization and changes in lifestyle, water consumption is bound to increase. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, knowing that growing 1kg of potatoes requires only 100 litres of water, whereas 1 kg of beef requires 13 000 litres.

And it’s not just beef and potatoes. All animal-based foods are big players when it comes to the champions of wasting water. And ALL plant-based foods are huge water consumption bargains by comparison.

So why don’t they tell us where most of the waste is taking place? The first sentence above mentioned “agricultural, industrial and domestic” uses of water. But they failed to mention that agriculture accounts for a whopping 75% with most of that water going to feed the animals that we eat.

A young girl getting a drink of water in India

If we cut out the food animals and only grew crops for direct human consumption, we’d not only solve our water crisis, but we’d free up millions of acres of farmland that could be returned to forests and other natural habitats so desperately needed by our declining ecosystems. Meanwhile, more news from India—and the world’s fastest growing population. From the New York Times article below:

Of all the challenges that face India, few are more pressing than how it manages water. In vast cities like New Delhi, where showers and flush toilets have become necessities for a rapidly expanding middle class, groundwater has been depleted. New Delhi once had many ponds and an open floodplain to absorb the monsoon and replenish aquifers; now the sprawling city has more concrete and asphalt than it has ponds and fields to absorb water.

In the countryside, where a vast majority of Indians still live, a combination of free electricity and inadequate regulation has led farmers to deplete untold groundwater supplies. In some places the water table is so low it no longer helps sustain roots, so even more water must be pumped up. In addition, soils have been degraded by chemical fertilizers, so they require even more water.

618 consecutive daily blogs — with numerals today from the rear license plate of  a BMW in Monaco

The Bottom Line. As with food, the problem with our water is only going to get worse unless we get serious about embracing the obvious solution. As the World Water Council reports:

  • 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water
  • 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation

The movie HOME reported that the amount of water in the world has been constant for billions of years. In fact, it’s the same water that we use time and time again. The problem is that we have seven billion humans competing for that same water and right now, the wealthiest 25% of us are using far more than our fair share. Just like we’re doing with our food.

The first two links below are source articles mentioned above. The others are links to some of my previous blogs on this topic:

Want to help solve the water crisis and the food crisis? Simply learn how to promote your own health by eating a whole foods, plant-based diet. By doing so, you’ll be saving water, land and energy. By promoting this concept to others, you’ll be making a huge difference. Pay it forward—make sure your future great grandchildren have water to drink— and food to eat. Here’s how to get started:

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

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.

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

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.

SHARE and rate this post below.

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

Posted in Water Pollution & Usage | Leave a comment