A tiny isle of “health-promotion” in a sea of “avoiding animals”

Posted on 04/25/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

That’s what we felt like at our 4Leaf booth at VegFest

A tiny isle of healthy eating….

Now, don’t get me wrong; I am not complaining about VegFest. On the contrary, they are doing a wonderful job of moving millions of people in the right direction. They encourage people not to eat animal products and thereby do magnificent things for the environment, our finite supply of fossil fuels—not to mention the global suffering of animals in factory farms.

Our 4Leaf Niche. But “just avoiding animal foods” is not necessarily healthy for us humans. And that’s where we have carved out our little 4Leaf niche—offering a way of eating that appeals to a broad range of people for a number of reasons:

  1. Our approach focuses on “whole plants,” it is simple and easy, no calorie counting or portion control.
  2. It is not all or nothing—people choose the wiggle room that they can handle.
  3. Although not necessarily vegan, the 4Leaf eater is very likely consuming a much healthier diet than most of the total vegans out there.
  4. It doesn’t’ carry a stigma like the V words do for many people.

Survey Poster 2The Hartford Show. As was the case in Worcester a few weeks ago, there were lots of long lines for free food and occasionally a line at our booth to take the free 4Leaf Survey. One was a woman named Jan and her college-age daughter, Katie. Jan walked right up and said that she wanted to find out just how badly she was eating. She then proceeded to answer all the questions with confidence and integrity while her daughter looked on with glee.

Young Katie had brought her mom to the VegFest in hopes of convincing her to improve her diet—maybe it was a Mothers Day gift. And some gift it may turn out to be.

As expected, Jan scored at the lowest of our six levels—the Standard American diet, where people get less than 10% of their calories from whole plants. Then they bought our book, thanked us for the survey and walked away happily. And this morning, while writing my blog for today, I received this message:

Just wanted to drop you a line – yes – my daughter Katie actually made me a veggie dinner tonight, and more importantly…it was great – and I ate it!! Guess it’s time to take a big girl pill and do the right thing.

Will be starting your book as well, and I look forward to this new experience and chapter!! Having a milestone birthday coming up  – what better time!! As I say – better late than never!!

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today!! Jan

Now that is exactly why we spend our weekends in some cavernous convention center on a beautiful spring weekend in Connecticut. It’s because of the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives—and in so doing, making a difference regarding the future of our planet.

After the first day of the show, one lady that we met posted a comment on my website just before midnight. I liked it so much that I printed up the following and displayed it on my table next to the stack of books.

From a visitor to this booth yesterday

(posted on my website at hpjmh.com)

Laura Barone says:

04/28/2012 at 11:30 pm

It was my sincere pleasure to meet you today at CT Veg Fest. I cannot put your book down! Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Blessings to you!

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

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to Join our periodic mailing list. For daily updates you can choose to “FOLLOW” at the top of the right column.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our 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.

Please 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

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“Rocking the boat”—Powerful new words from Dr. Campbell

Posted on 04/24/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Thank God for the courage of T. Colin Campbell.

“You can wonder and ask and research anything you like, until you cross the line defined by prejudice and reinforced by the moneyed interests that fund almost all science.” —T. Colin Campbell

During the past year, I have blogged a number of times about scientific integrity, academic freedom and the career of my favorite nutritional scientist—Dr. T. Colin Campbell. After a fifty year career in nutritional science with exposure to the highest levels of academia and government, he wrote the best-selling, oozing-with-integrity “China Study” in 2005.

Seven years later, he is still facing the resistance in academia, government and industry that he has faced throughout his illustrious career. So, now he is about to publish his second book, Whole, (also by BenBella in 2013) and has taken the dialogue to a new level. The following is an excerpt from that new book that he posted on his foundation website earlier this week; his words appear in gray.

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When we live in a system, we absorb a system and think in a system.—James W. Douglass, “JFK and The Unthinkable”

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University—author of The China Study

     When I began my research career in nutritional science, I was naïve to a fault. My childhood environment of hay fields and milking barns did not prepare me for the dark side of science: the greed, the small-mindedness, and the outright dishonesty and cynicism of some of its practitioners. And the shocking examples of how public officials closed their eyes to important findings when they got in the way of their reelection.

     I entered the academy eager to participate in my idealized version of scientific inquiry. I couldn’t imagine anything better: learning new things, choosing which questions to research, then sharing and debating ideas with students and colleagues. I loved the transparency and integrity of the scientific method – how personal opinions and biases faded away before the majesty of real evidence. How a well-conceived experiment was like setting the table beautifully and inviting Truth to dinner. How honest questioning could banish ignorance and create a better world.

     What I discovered is that science was and is and can be just like that – as long as the researcher is careful not to pursue politically incorrect ideas outside the boundaries of “normal” science. You can wonder and ask and research anything you like, until you cross the line defined by prejudice and reinforced by the moneyed interests that fund almost all science.

     Normal science? That’s a strange phrase, isn’t it? What’s normal? I’ll go into this concept in detail starting in the next chapter, when I talk about scientific paradigms (what I call “mental prisons”). For now, let’s just say that a paradigm is simply a collection of ideas that constitutes an agreed-upon story, or narrative, about how the world is. This narrative defines what we are allowed to think, and think about, and is important as much for what it forbids as for what it describes. Normal science means anything that falls safely within those boundaries. “Normal” doesn’t mean “good” or “better” in any way, just a concept that doesn’t rock the boat of general agreement.

     For much of my career I’ve found myself bumping up against the invisible boundaries of that paradigm. In the last few decades I finally decided to blast through it altogether. That’s how I know so much about those boundaries: you have to cross the line to find out where it is.  

—-T. Colin Campbell

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J. Morris Hicks, just trying to do my part to help people everywhere take charge of their health — and so much more.

As we know, the majority of the world’s nutritional scientists have taken the “normal science” road—not rocking the boat of general agreement. But thank God that Colin had the integrity and the courage to “rock that boat” — for millions of lives have been saved as a result.

Further, as I have said on this blog many times, Dr. Campbell has built the scientific, nutritional foundation that supports the clinical results of numerous medical doctors who have learned about the power of plant-based nutrition on their own. In so doing, he has created a bit of momentum that is beginning to be felt around the world. Maybe even some other scientists in his field will also see the light.

Unfortunately, the barriers described in the new book’s excerpt are such that there are few, if any, other notable scientists have joined Dr. Campbell in his transparent description of the failings of our “system.” Perhaps this new book will influence a few of his scientific colleagues to join his war on the dysfunctional system and “academic unfreedom” that is costing millions of people their lives every year.

Since beginning my independent study of the optimal diet for humans in 2002, I quickly became a huge fan of Dr. Campbell and later met him in person in 2005. He and his son Nelson graciously agreed to write the foreword for our book in 2011 and earlier this year, I was honored to be asked to join the board of Dr. Campbell’s foundation. A link to the foundation’s Plant-Based Nutrition course can now be found at the bottom of every one of my blogs.

Since beginning this blog in February of 2011, I have dedicated the following seven blogposts to the work, courage and uncompromising integrity of this great man and dear friend.

  1. Academic “Unfreedom” at Cornell—T. Colin Campbell
  2. Dr. Campbell’s Plant-Based Nutrition Course at Cornell
  3. T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University
  4. Academic freedom in peril? T. Colin Campbell at Cornell
  5. T. Colin Campbell — Ready to play “hardball” with health authorities
  6. Cancer, cell phones, cow’s milk, and Cornell
  7. “Academic freedom” in nutritional science…a scary story

April 28 and 29—Doors open at 10 a.m. both days.

Invitation: Please consider this  as my invitation for you to join me for a few hours at my 4Leaf  booth this weekend at the CT VegFest in Hartford, CT. Here are the details:

  • When? April 28-29, 2012
  • Location: Hartford Convention Center, 100 Columbus Blvd., #400, Hartfort, CT
  • Cost of admission. Free to the public
  • Hours: Saturday from 10 to 6pm — and on Sunday from 10 to 4 pm.
  • Help needed: Working solo this weekend, I could use your help in administering 4Leaf Surveys and in selling books.
  • More Event details ctvegfest.org

Contact me if you’d like to join me for a few hours: Call or text me at 917-399-9700 or email: jmorrishicks@me.com I look forward to hearing from you.

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

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to Join our periodic mailing list. For daily updates you can choose to “FOLLOW” at the top of the right column.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our 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.

Please 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 Academic Freedom, Scientific Integrity | 1 Comment

“Patients pay bigger share of health care dollars.

Posted on 04/24/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Front Page — Above the Fold — NY Times

It's now costing more than housing for many.

With a headline like this—Insurers Alter Cost Formula, and Patients Pay More—it’s certainly going to attract a lot of attention. After reading the entire 1000-word plus article, I concluded that it was just another ploy by health insurers to bolster their profits. The 4-24-12 article leads off:

Despite a landmark settlement that was expected to increase coverage for out-of-network care, the nation’s largest health insurers have been switching to a new payment method that in most cases significantly increases the cost to the patient.

If you’re interested in all the gory details of this situation, I have provided a link to the complete article below. But the headline and the above paragraph tells the story. And as long as we have a system that does not provide financial incentives for making a patient healthy, then no one is ever going to be completely happy with the system.

In a perfect world, all entities comprising our extended health-care system would be rewarded only for making people healthy. But since we have no such incentives, our system perpetually strives to create a perfect balance of misery—system optimization. That occurs when every person and every organization within the system reaches the exact same level of dissatisfaction. Sadly, that’s about the best we can do with this badly flawed system—that includes all of the following”

Patients–Nurses–Doctors–Insurers–Hospitals–USDA–FDA

My guess is that most doctors are very frustrated with the way our system works---and that they would not have chosen the medical field if they knew it in advance.

Our “system” of treating symptoms and calling it healthcare is never going to work effectively. Until we learn to deal with the root causes of all disease, the best we can hope for is a common level of dissatisfaction for all concerned.

Promoting Health? Back to incentives for making people healthy for a minute. You may be thinking that the insurance companies have an incentive to help people get healthy so that the claims will be less.

At first blush, that seems logical. That is until you understand “how the business really works.” As an exasperated insurance rep explained to Dr. John McDougall about twenty years ago:

We, the insurance company, gets a piece of the overall health care pie (of dollars)—the bigger the pie, the more we get.

That single statement explains everything about why our system is not working. I first used it in our book, then later in one of my blogs—provided here for your convenience. Do insurance companies “really” want us to be healthy?

Scientific and medical pioneers like Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn have paved the way for our future system of health-promotion.

The Bottom Line. It has been said that it would be easy to design an effective health-care system—if we were starting from scratch. But, with each passing year, our politicians demonstrate that we’ll never get there via the legislative route. There are just too many special interests involved.

So the only solution is for enough citizens to take charge of their own health. As the number of people doing that approaches a critical mass—with lots of high profile people like President Clinton, things will begin to change. And 100 years from now, our health care system as we know it today will not exist. Disease care will gradually give way to health-promotion and the need for most of our current medical procedures will simply disappear.

4-24-12 NY Times article Health Insurers Switch Baseline for Out-of-Network Charges

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

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to Join our periodic mailing list. For daily updates you can choose to “FOLLOW” at the top of the right column.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our 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.

Please 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 Insurance | Leave a comment