I had a powerful dream last night that I want to share.

Posted on 01/08/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

To my regular readers of this blog. I want to share a dream that I had less than two hours ago. It took place between 0415 and 0515 this morning. Warning: If you’re not a regular reader of this blog, this is probably not the best place to begin your relationship with J. Morris Hicks. Might I recommend that you visit the page that contains my “Big Picture” List of Blogs? Hopefully you’ll find something of interest there and will visit my site frequently in the future.

Dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts, yet the mind is not inventing those faces – they are real faces of real people encountered during life but maybe not known or remembered. People have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through their lives, so they have an endless supply of characters for their brain to utilize during dreams.

Back to the dream. As with most dreams, I remember some things vividly but other things not so much. The setting in this dream was some type of retreat, seminar or camp devoted to learning about nutrition, health and the benefits of plant-based eating. I have no idea where I was or who the other people were in my dream. I just know that it was the next to last day of a series of classes and I was giving a group of about 15 people their final assignment.

Earlier classes had been devoted to learning about the various benefits of plant-based eating, recipes, tips for getting into the healthy routine, how to handle social situations, etc.

But, as the course drew to an end, I felt compelled to take it to the next level. So I  challenged them to stop and consider the enormously destructive consequences that are being driven by our love affair with consuming meat and dairy three meals a day in the Western world. Finally I urged them to consider the remarkably simple solution to many of our global issues, beginning with our own health and cost of health care.

I remember telling them…

You are among the less than five percent of the people in this country that have become aware of the crucial importance of what we choose to eat.” You are the vital few with the knowledge to literally change the world — perhaps even be the catalysts that will promote enough change to preserve our way of life and prevent an era of widespread violence, famine, chaos, hunger, anarchy and death all over the globe. This world has never seen what can happen when billions of people start running out of food.

You are among the vital few who know that it takes at least ten times more water, ten times more energy and ten times more land to feed people the Western diet — as compared to a plant-based 4Leaf kind of diet. You also know of the astronomical environmental and social issues that those numbers are driving.

So, for their final assignment, I asked for each of them to go home and think long and hard about what they’re planning to do with that special knowledge that is so rare throughout the Western world. I asked them to do some soul-searching and come back to class the following day, address the class and tell us what you’re going to do to help humankind fix this mess that has been created in the last 100 years, with most of the damage taking place during our lifetimes.

From my own blinding flash of the obvious in 2003, I woke up as I neared the end of this following summation of our situation and a call to action:

We’re eating the wrong food!

It is destroying our health!

It is destroying our environment!

It will lead to the starvation of billions!

It is simply unsustainable for much longer!

What are you going to do about it?

All of this reminds me of the final chapter of our book; it was entitled “A Return to Harmony.” It was indeed a call to action as I ended that brief chapter with the following two paragraphs:

Released by BenBella Books of Dallas Texas in October of 2011

In a world full of sick, obese, or starving people, suffering animals and rapidly disappearing natural resources; how can we possibly not come together and end all of this madness once and for all? Given what you now know—if you don’t take action—what will you tell your adult grandchildren someday when they ask why you didn’t?

Ultimately, your decision is a simple matter of health, hope, and harmony. As each of us begins to take charge of his or her own health, we simultaneously plant the seeds of hope, accelerating the pace with which the human race can return to living in harmony with nature. Since we consider ourselves smarter than all the other creatures, we should be able to figure out how to make our world a better place. The time for that action is now.

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.” —Mahatma Gandhi

With knowledge comes responsibility. You have the knowledge that can change the world. All you have to do is believe that you can. As Steve Jobs said in the ad about the crazy ones. “The people who are crazy enough to believe that they can change the world — are the ones who do.”

As a first step, I encourage you to take 90 minutes and watch the movie HOME. It will help put you in the right frame of mind for promoting change. Even if you’ve already seen it; watch it again. I will never forget the powerful, and sobering, factoid that Glenn Close reported in that movie:

In just the last fifty years, humankind has inflicted more damage on the fragile harmony of Nature than all previous generations of humans combined — for the past 200,000 years.

Now, our Western diet didn’t create ALL of that damage, but it was responsible for a huge part of it. And I am totally convinced that changing what we eat is the single most powerful action that we could take to make things right. Without a doubt, this movie will leave you feeling differently about the role of the human race on our precious planet.

HOME — a great 2009 film; a powerful eye-opener

An exceptionally well-done 2009 movie produced in France; has been seen by millions around the world, but not nearly enough Americans. Features aerial footage in 54 countries.

This powerful movie ends with a series of series of frightening facts along with somewhat of a call to action. But it comes up way short of exhorting us Westerners to get real serious about changing our diet. You see, that’s because the scientists and producers behind this movie are among the 95% of the population that still believe the “protein myth,” the one about our “need” to eat animal protein in order to be healthy. Because of that myth, the most powerful single step that could be taken by humankind never even makes it to the table for consideration.

But, it’s still a great movie — and most of you reading this blog do have that critical knowledge that the 95% majority lacks. And along with that knowledge comes a great deal of responsibility. The movie reports that we have very little time to change; “humanity has no more than ten years (from 2009) to reverse the trend and avoid crossing into the territory of a life on Earth that we have never known.” A few of the final bullet points in the movie illustrate the urgency for action.

  • Over thirty million acres of forests disappear each year..
  • 40% of the world’s arable land is damaged.
  • Species are dying out a rhythm 1,000 times faster than the natural rate.
  • 3/4 of all fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in dangerous decline.
  • The polar ice cap is 40% thinner than it was 40 years ago.Watch the movie with your family — you will know what to do!

Watch the movie with your family — you will know what to do!

Hopefully, my dream will help us all avoid a nightmare.

My dream this morning may have been triggered by two upcoming events in my calendar. Both are in academic settings — the first at the University of Kentucky and the second at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Our book is being used as a textbook for classes at each of those schools and I will be making two of my first presentations to collegiate audiences there next month.

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.

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.

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.

Posted in Activism & Leadership, Big Picture | 6 Comments

Widespread 4Leaf Transition. It’s going to take some time.

Posted on 01/07/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

But it WILL happen. As Dr. McDougall says, and I agree, “Our Western diet is just a fad, and will soon pass.”

Rare will be the person who will still be eating this kind of food in the year 2100.

4Leaf? Regular readers here know what I mean by 4Leaf, but for those who don’t, it simply describes a diet-style whereby we strive to maximize the percent of our calories from whole plants. 1-Leaf is over 20% and the top 4Leaf level is over 80%. 4Leaf eating is not necessarily vegan or vegetarian but eventually leads to a complete avoidance of animal products for most of us.

My prediction. In a hundred years or so, history will record that the period from 194o to 2050 (a mere blink) was an era when the human race briefly embraced a deadly love affair with the most unhealthy, the most harmful and the most inefficient diet-style imaginable. It will record how human health suffered mightily during that period along with the billions of animals who were victims of our folly.

It will also record that it played a major role in the decline of our precious environment, its vast resources and many of its millions of species that make up the fragile harmony of biodiversity on which we depend for our lives.

While I am totally confident that the West will eventually return to a mostly plant-based diet, I am also a realist in terms of how quickly that inevitable transition will take place. As for what will drive that eventual widespread transition in the direction of 4Leaf eating, it will likely be a combination of the following:

  1. Education. How quickly can we dispel the protein myth with our Project Harmony or something similar. The sooner we dispel this myth, the sooner to scientists and environmentalists of the world will start proposing sweeping changes in the 4Leaf direction.
  2. The cost of energy. $20/gallon gasoline would be the best friend of a mass movement toward plant-based eating; with 5 to 10 percent of the energy requirement of the typical Western diet — per calorie of food.
  3. Available land and water. We’re losing arable land the size of South Carolina every year and we’re already experiencing water shortages around the world. Once the smart people realize that we can live just fine on our 4Leaf fare, changes will be coming along in our global feeding model. Remember, it takes well over ten times as much water and land per calorie to produce the food for the extremely inefficient Western diet.

My friend Sal as he ponders the menu at the super-healthy Candle Cafe in NYC

But everyone doesn’t see much hope for change ever happening. One of my regular readers and most frequent commenters doesn’t see much change at all in his world and is not very optimistic about the 4Leaf lifestyle ever catching on in a big way. He writes the following (See my response below):

Jim,

The people you talk about all seem to be receptive to the 4-Leaf diet plan. Wonderful. I don’t get the same reaction to the message and I don’t see any hope in my neighborhood, my gym classes, my neighborhood restaurants, my neighborhood supermarkets.

All I see is obesity, and more obesity. It’s disgusting. Whether Italian, German, Russian, Polish, I’m looking at obese people who will never get the message and don’t even want to talk about it.

New Years Eve, my wife and I went to a dinner and dance at a club, Italian Charities. There were about 150 people in attendance mostly seniors. There were equally mixed ethnic groups-half were Caucasians and half Asian. A portrait of America: Of the Asians, not one was overweight. Of the Caucasians, at least 70% were obese.

The menu was classic Italian American. A nightmare of food fit for the garbage pail. Of the ten entries, not one, let me scream, not one vegetable was served. And even if there were, it would not have mattered. They would have been loaded with salt, olive oil, and cheese. I don’t know what the skinny Asians ate?

Oh woe is me! Follow the food and you will see there is no hope for America the beautiful. Fat, fat, fat is the national anthem and don’t we sing it beautifully.

Jim, I wish I had your enthusiasm, your optimism, your belief system about the 4-Leaf plan. As a die hard pessimist, its never going to happen: America is doomed!

Eat more broccoli! Salvatore Liggieri

Leveraging the simple concept of maximizing the percent of your calories that are derived from whole, plant-based foods

Dear Sal (one of the healthiest 86-year-olds in the world),

I am not surprised that you’re not seeing much interest in 4Leaf in your peer group. Most people that age have almost zero interest in changing their diets for any reason. But, in my case, I live among a totally different populace here in Stonington — with friends and acquaintances ranging from under 20 to over 90.

As for getting any of them to change, I find that it’s a simple matter of “different strokes for different folks.” Almost everyone in town knows that I have written a book on healthy eating and that most of the restaurants will serve you a “Hicks Special” if you ask for it; but the vast majority of the people still have not made any improvements in their diets. But the ones who are ready to listen — and are willing to change — have been seeking me out or have simply started eating differently themselves. At their own pace.

You are probably right; the movement toward 4Leaf is going to be slower than we would like. How long will it take before over half of the Westerners are eating mostly plants? Here’s my projection of the pace of change that we can expect:

First Step. We must dispel the protein myth throughout the Western world. Depending on the prominence of the messenger and the amount of funds devoted to the effort, this could take from five to ten years. (See Project Harmony)

Next Step. After the protein myth has been dispelled, about one million of the best and brightest scientists, environmentalists, college students, journalists, authors and world leaders, will truly “get it” — and will start writing and developing strategies for tapping into the vast superiority and efficiency of a plant-based diet. This phase will take another five to ten years.

The Final Step. It’s all about the taste and availability. As the above two processes begin to unfold, there will be a growing army of chefs, restaurants and food producers that will begin to take advantage of this growing trend. This movement will gain tremendous traction within ten to twenty years and by thirty years from now, around 2040 to 2050, over half the Western world will be eating mostly plants.

Bottom Line. All of the above could happen sooner if the price of oil were to suddenly double or triple.

As I approach my 67th birthday next month, it is not likely that I will be around to see the 4Leaf lifestyle being embraced around the world, but I should be around to see it gain some powerful momentum as I approach my golden years.

Sal, it’s always good to hear from you and always glad to know that you’re continuing to encourage everyone to “eat more broccoli.” Best regards and be well, Jim

PS: For your convenience, here are the last six “big picture” 4Leaf blogs that I have posted. Also, just last night, one of my good friends came up to me, gave me a big hug and told me she was adopting the 4Leaf lifestyle. She even told her physician who of course told her that she would need to find a way to get enough protein. NOT.

Six of the Most Recent 4Leaf Blog Posts in Chronological order 

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

  1. Effortless weight-loss — on the “4-Leaf” road to vibrant health (posted 11-08-11)
  2. 4-Leaf Thanksgiving; “Harmony hike” + healthy feast-to-remember (posted 11-28-11)
  3. 4Leaf — a simple, flexible and powerful path to vibrant health (posted 12-21-11)
  4. In the quest for “vibrant health,” weight-loss is just a bonus. (posted 12-27-11)
  5. Getting started on the 4Leaf path to vibrant health…(posted 12-30-11)
  6. 4Leaf Mentality — Subconscious awareness of the optimal (posted 1-6-12)

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

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.

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.

Posted in 4Leaf for Life, Activism & Leadership, Big Picture | 4 Comments

4Leaf Mentality — Subconscious awareness of the optimal

Posted on 01/06/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

The 4Leaf Mentality -- Subconsciously moving up the 4Leaf scale

Simplicity and a 4Leaf Routine are key.

Now that we’re adding a lot of recipes and conducting 4Leaf Challenges, we’re getting questions about 4Leaf, the philosophy and the reasoning behind the concept. People ask about what is so special about 80% for 4Leaf and whether or not they should ever have a 2Leaf or a 3Leaf meal. These are good questions.

From the very beginning, we wanted to develop a really simple concept that enabled people to understand what a near-optimal diet-style would look like. Remember that the 4Life lifestyle is not about counting calories and percentages; it’s really more of a mentality. Once you know what a 4Leaf meal looks like and feels like, you’ll know what to do; keeping that 4Leaf goal in the back of your mind at all times — and establishing a routine that features a lot of 4Leaf meals.

And there won’t be any 4Leaf police out there checking on whether you scored 59, 79 or 81%. Only you will know what you’re really eating. But even at 59% (2Leaf), you’d be getting ten times more whole plants than the average American. We’re trying to create an awareness; you will decide how high you wish to go up that scale. Yesterday, I drafted this simple phrase to describe that 4Leaf mentality:

Adopting a flexible attitude for promoting health by maximizing whole, plant-based foods in your diet…a much healthier concept than a strict regimen of simply avoiding certain animal products

Everyone can understand what 4Leaf eating means when you tell them the simple concept. Not so much for vegan or vegetarian. As we all know, there are about a zillion definitions for each of them — and many of those definitions, or interpretations, are not health-promoting. Honestly, I don’t know of another dietary program that so clearly illustrates a near-optimal diet — a diet-style that can be defined in two words: Whole Plants.

Granola bar (with yogurt). Check out the numbers on this one -- and that "science project" list of ingredients. I might eat one of these on the hiking trail but would NEVER make it a part of my daily "routine."

Latest example. While typing this blog here at Starbucks this morning, a yacht club friend (a Pfizer scientist) just stopped by my corner with his coffee-to-go and a granola bar. Having begun moving in the 4Leaf direction, he asked me to take a look at the ingredients label on his granola.

While it had a few natural ingredients, it also had about 40 ingredients that weren’t. I joked that it was a good thing he was a scientist so that he could have a chance of understanding what he was eating. The small bar also had 5 grams of sugar and derived over 30% of its calories from fat.

Earlier in the week, I had served Tim my Sailors Daily Oatmeal in my home after he told me the night before that he was looking for a good, “routine” 4Leaf breakfast. So, after hearing my analysis of his granola bar, he decided immediately that he no longer wanted that to be a part of his daily routine. He mentioned that he’s already buying ingredients so that he could take his pre-prepared Sailors Oatmeal to work with him. Tim (28), since reading our book, has already lost 20 pounds in the past few months, and is now approaching his old high school fighting weight.

As for the granola bar, I also reminded Tim that granola was one of the six “not-so-healthy” foods featured in Chapter 10 of our book. Along with yogurt, olive oil, fish, cheese and milk — most people have been conditioned all their lives to believe that all six of these are really good for them. Sad but true. They also believe that they truly need to eat animal protein to be healthy. That “protein myth” is our single biggest obstacle to promoting healthy eating in the Western world. But we have a plan to dispel it; so stay tuned, and check out our Project Harmony.

Authors J. Stanfield Hicks and J. Morris Hicks , 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.

If you like what you see here, 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.

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.

Posted in 4Leaf for Life | 5 Comments