At the home of Jason and Lisa Hicks in Holden, MA.

Cookbooks and recipes were shared with all the 4Leaf party people.

One of the biggest challenges for most families after choosing to embrace the 4Leaf lifestyle is the process of figuring out what they ARE going to eat to maximize the percent of their calories from whole plants. You see, most new vegans or vegetarians are most concerned about what they’re NOT eating. But not us 4Leaf-ers.

As such, many of us need the help of other 4Leaf-ers to get started. We have found that many of the typical vegan or vegetarian cookbooks are not much help, since they feature the typical “fake meat and cheeses” that are nowhere close to a 4Leaf meal. In an earlier blog a few weeks ago, I wrote:

The Hicks family has formed a 4Leaf potluck dinner club and will host the first event later this month. Their goal is for people to get together and share their 4Leaf lifestyle, challenges, successes, recipes, questions, etc. The idea is that they will decide on a location and the “host house” will provide the salad, utensils, plates, bowls, etc… The “guests” will each bring a 3 or 4 leaf dish to sample, including copies of the recipes to share. For the first dinner, they’re planning to have 2 or 3 entrees, 2 appetizers and a dessert.

And the dessert could just simply be vegan. They are promoting a 4Leaf lifestyle so there is room for dessert! They are thinking about meeting once a month on Saturday night? They also encourage their guests to bring two things:  cookbooks for people to share and BYOB! Maybe you can make this great idea work for you.

So, how was that first 4Leaf Potluck? In a word, it was fantastic. For me, it was a rare treat to have so many healthy options; and since I am not much of a cook myself, my son asked me to bring along some wine to share. The first event took place on a chilly evening in January and featured fourteen hungry guests, a cracking fire, engaging conversation, a glass of wine, lots of sharing and a vegan dessert that was not 4Leaf but it was mighty tasty.

Salad fix ins by Lisa Hicks---at the kitchen table

More importantly, even though the dessert may have been at the one-leaf level, I am confident that everyone in attendance achieved a 4Leaf score for their entire meal that evening. In my case, even if I had a 3Leaf score for that dinner, I am positive that I had a 4Leaf score for the entire day.

No calorie counting, a reminder. As I have written many times, after you get started on the 4Leaf road, there’s not much need to count calories anymore. With a whole-plant seeking 4Leaf mentality, you will soon be consuming over ten times the amount of whole, plant-based calories than the average American—and that’s just for a daily 3Leaf score. At the 4Leaf level (80% of calories), you’ll be consuming even more.

Among the guests were Dr. Brian Hurley of the Gardner Area Animal Care Clinic that is currently conducting a 4Leaf Challenge for 18 of his co-workers. And by virtue of that challenge, we also had one of his pharmaceutical reps, Drew and his wife, in attendance.

A little wine, a lot of sharing and some VERY healthy 4Leaf dining. That's Lisa in the foreground and Dr Hurley in red.

Two weeks from today, I will be speaking in a classroom at Holy Cross College, where our book is required reading for all the students. The professor who is organizing that event was also in attendance on Saturday night. Professor John and his wife Marty Beth ( a judge) are in the first month of their family’s 4Leaf Challenge so were very happy to be visiting and learning from friends who were further along in their journey.

Yesterday, while skiing in Vermont, I was telling one of my Stonington friends about Jason and Lisa’s 4Leaf Potluck; and she insisted that we start a similar group in Stonington. So stay tuned. Hopefully, today’s blog will inspire our readers around the world to form their own 4Leaf Potluck sometime soon. Also watch for more great 4Leaf recipes from Lisa as their party produced a few sure-fire winners.

Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page.

J. Morris Hicks, author and activist. Working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

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

And if you like what 4-Leaf eating is doing for you and your family, you might enjoy visiting our new “4-Leaf Gear” store. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

SHARE and rate this post below…One more thing, occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard.

To Leaders of Organizations Everywhere

Leveraging the simple 4Leaf principles, we are now prepared to help your organization teach the entire team how to take charge of their own health. Not only will you will be doing something wonderful for them and their families, you’ll also be doing some wonderful things for the health of your enterprise—whether not-for-profit, large or small business, church or school.

We’re Now Seeking 4Leaf Consulting Engagements

Leveraging the simple, yet powerful concept of maximizing the percent of your calories from whole plant foods -- still in nature's package

We’re interested in designing health improvement programs that can be offered to the entire organization—and we’re looking for presidents, general managers and CEO’s who are ready to do something great for their associates—and their bottom line.

Since I began learning about the plant-based nutrition in 2002, I have wanted to find a client company that is ready to put the simple 4Leaf principles to work for their organization.

You see, my entire business career has been devoted to improving processes—all of which  began when I earned my degree in Industrial Engineering at Auburn University in 1968. Since then, I have applied those powerful process-improvement skills to improving productivity, reducing costs and increasing profitability. The same principles can be applied in ANY environment. A few sample projects in my career:

• Slashing inventory-taking costs at the U.S. Coast Guard Base retail store in Honolulu.
• Improving productivity by 400% at a uniform manufacturer in Puerto Rico.
• Raising the effectiveness of the global QA team by 300% at world’s largest hotel chain.
• Improving productivity of the entire Jockey International sales force by 250%.
• Lowering distribution costs by 50% per unit while improving customer satisfaction by 75% at Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation.

Authors J. Stanfield Hicks and J. Morris Hicks, both former process improvement consultants, and the co-creators of the 4Leaf Program.

All of those projects saved the organization a ton of money and provided the consultants with a great deal of satisfaction—-but compared to saving lives, money and the planet all at the same time; those projects all shrink to insignificance. 

You see, I realized in 2003 that I had stumbled across the most powerful process improvement opportunity in the history of the world—and it all boils down to two simple words: Whole Plants.

Not only will we be able to take charge of our own health and help our nation eliminate its #1 problem (the cost of health care), but we’ll simultaneously be addressing the global water shortage, energy crisis, climate change and world hunger. The bottom line is that we’ll be leading the most powerful process possible—to facilitate the return to living in harmony with Nature by the human race.

And, without a doubt, we know that this program works. Since creating the 4Leaf Program in 2009, we’ve seen hundreds of people achieve incredible results by following the simple, flexible and powerful guidelines. We’re not talking vegetarian or vegan here. We’re talking about a powerful diet-style that is much more powerful—and we’re looking for leaders to get this process going around the world.

Looking for leaders. We’re now looking for leaders who are ready to sponsor a 4Leaf Health Improvement Program at ANY organization that employs over 50 people. The benefits are enormous for the organization and for the individuals (and their families) involved.

• Employees and their families take charge of their own health. They add vitality to their lives, lose weight, eliminate most medications, and teach their children the secret 4Leaf path to vibrant health for the rest of their lives.
• The cost of health care for the organization is reduced. The more people who participate in the program, the larger the savings.
• Productivity goes up, absenteeism goes down and the overall value delivered to the customer is improved.
• The well-publicized success of the program leads to more revenue and profits for the organization while influencing other organizations to follow suit.
• As more organizations improve the diet-style of more people, the process gains the momentum needed to begin changing the world—one bite at a time.

Leadership is essential. We really need the active participation of the top leader in the organization. In my experience, the success of any consulting engagement is directly proportionate to the level of support and involvement provided by the top executive: the CEO, President or Managing Director. This active leadership involvement is almost essential; therefore, we’re reluctant to take on a project that doesn’t include this critical element.

While we prefer that the top executive lead the program herself, at a minimum we need to have that leader personally take the 4Leaf Challenge themselves and actively participate in all of the events.

Program Outline — Five Phases

1. 

   Recipe Books on the Piano at the world's first 4Leaf Potluck Dinner Party

   Initial Consultation. Discussing, planning and scheduling the gathering of baseline data: blood pressure, total cholesterol and body mass index (BMI). Team participation is encouraged to foster communications and motivations month the entire group. Consulting fees will be discussed in this meeting (range from $2500 to $10,000) fixed fee for the entire project.

2. Education & Preparation. (4 to 6 weeks.) Reading, studying, meetings, presentations, meal planning, grocery shopping and recipes. All direct reports of the top executive are strongly encouraged to participate.
3. Program Launch. Formal presentation. All hands invited; not just the participants in the program. Media coverage encouraged.
4. Follow-up. The formal 4Leaf Challenge will last from 4 to 8 weeks and there will be follow-up visits during that visit. We’ll also be available by phone or email during this initial period.
5. First 4Leaf Challenge Wrap-up. Another formal meeting to review the individual, team and overall results for all participants. Percent drop in blood pressure, percent drop in total cholesterol, and percent drop in BMI. We’ll also announce how many people decreased their medication dosage or dropped them completely.

Now Scheduling Initial Consultations. If this sounds interesting to you and you’re the CEO, please give me a call and let’s get together for an initial visit (917-399-9700. If you’re not the CEO, maybe you could interest him/her in considering a 4Leaf Challenge for your organization. Or maybe you know of someone who might be interested in doing something wonderful for their organization.

Want a printer-friendly version of our 4Leaf Scoring Chart for your refrigerator? Click chart@4leafprogram.com and we’ll email you the Word doc with a letter-size chart in living color. For more general information on 4Leaf, just visit 4leafprogram.com

A blogger's work is never done. Yesterday at Wachusett Mountain with my oldest grandson, Collin. He ended up on the podium yesterday (first time ever) with a third place finish.

Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page.

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