J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

–—Margaret Mead

Sometimes, my readers make my daily blog much easier; this is one of those days. After posting yesterday’s blog about the challenge of “reaching the 95% who still eat meat,” I received some great feedback; all of it encouraging, although some more optimistic than others. The first one was from Susan who sent me the quote shown above; I love it. Here are a few of the others:

From Jane. Don’t give up. I’m an elementary teacher, and our children want to learn about food and nutrition. AND, they’re willing to try new things with our encouragement and our assurance that they don’t have to change all at once. Really. They’re just like most of us when we were first “blinded”. 
Faith, Patience and Persistence.

From Stephen. We agree that existing communication methods, while a commendable start, will not get a healthy diet into the mouths of the masses. One good reason for this is the drastic change in the social landscape in our lifetime which has rendered over ninety percent of the public unable to cook for themselves…Therefore, if the public is going to eat healthy, their meals will have to be prepared for them.

From Sal. Your blogs are so inspiring to me but then I’ve been a believer for over thirty years. Your message is difficult to develop into a course of action that will have an impact on the “garbage eaters.” To quote from the Broadway song: The Impossible Dream. That is what all of us, the plant eaters of the world have to contend with. Ten, twenty years into the future…it will never happen. The world will still be slaughtering, butchering, and gorging on the flesh of the innocent creatures. How tragic. (Sal is older than I am and doesn’t see this change happening in his lifetime; but, don’t let his post here mislead you — he definitely has not given up.)

From Barbara. I read a very interesting book about facilitating change. It was called “Switch” and was written by Chip and Dan Heath; professors at Stanford and Duke respectively. Maybe good background reading before the meeting, if you aren’t familiar with it already. (I have taken a look at it and will probably order a digital version of it soon.)

From Brian. Change takes time, persistence and continual education! Excited to hear about project Harmony and let me know what I can do to help.

First, I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. To re-cap my thinking: I am 100% confident that an eventual shift back to a plant-based diet is inevitable. That’s simply because our Western diet of today is grossly unsustainable — in so many ways.

Leveraging the simple, yet powerful concept of maximizing the percent of your daily calories from whole, plant-based foods.

Will it be easy to change? No; but I believe the first step is incredibly simple. In my mind, dispelling the “protein myth” is the key that opens the door for more great thinkers to begin questioning the plethora of harmful, wasteful and unnecessary consequences of our love affair with meat and dairy three meals a day.

A look at the numbers. Let’s imagine that we’re successful in reaching one billion of the world’s wealthiest people over 18 years of age. Let’s imagine that they all hear the “message” about the sufficiency of plant-based eating enough times to start believing it. How many people will make changes? Here’s one possible scenario:

1. 700 million people (70%) totally ignore the message as they really don’t care about the planet or the cost of health care; they just can’t imagine giving up their favorite foods
2. 150 million people (15%), all who claim to be environmentalists, begin to add a few more whole plants to their meals and start experimenting with things like “Meatless Mondays.”
3. 70 million people (7%) start getting serious about eating mostly plants; they now know that it’s the right thing to do, but it may take them some time.
4. 40 million people (4%) “get it” regarding the message of health and environmental issues and start eliminating animal foods one at a time; replacing them with whole plant-based foods.
5. 30 million people (3%), most of whom are under 40, read a few books on the subject, experience a “blinding flash of the obvious” and climb aboard the 4-Leaf train in a matter of weeks.
6. 9 million people (less than 1%) really “get it” and become leaders of change in their communities)
7. One million people (1/10th of 1%), among the brightest and best educated people (those great thinkers) in the world, begin writing, speaking, organizing and planning the urgent change that will be needed to avoid economic collapse, chaos or worse.

So there you have it; the majority of the people ignore the message initially, although some of them will come around later, once the leaders of the world start doing their thing. But I am most excited about the 40 million people described in # 5, 6 and 7. Less than 5% of our initial target audience, they’re the ones that will have the greatest impact.

Authors J. Stanfield Hicks and J. Morris Hicks , working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

The Bottom Line. I would be happy if we just reached that 1/10th of one percent in #7 — harkening back to Margaret Mead’s small group of thoughtful, committed people who can change the world. 

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.

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

—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.

Most of us have been taught that we "need" to eat animal protein, of which there are many sources.

Reaching the 95% who still eat meat. Since beginning my blog nine months ago, I have often referred to the estimated 95% of the American public who still “believe” that they must eat animal protein to be healthy. That is based on my informal poll of “mainstream” non-vegetarian audiences in twelve months of speaking engagements since completing my book.

Clearly, we have not successfully delivered our message to the masses. One of my readers posted this comment on one of my blogs last week; summing up our problem perfectly, Stephen writes:

The statistic of existing 95% carnivorous public you have stated several times tells me one thing about the healthy lifestyle movement – it is not promoting the idea of a healthy diet effectively.

For example, there is now a library of books on healthy diets, several of which are on the best seller list. But, since it is common knowledge that less than 10% of the public read books; then over 90% of the public are not getting the message. Further, the vast majority of readers are not compliant. Clearly, writing yet another health book will not make a dent in this problem.

You are going to need innovative approaches to be heard over the ongoing cacophony of food industry hype. A careful study of how the tobacco industry was tamed in the USA may offer some clues. Stephen.

I immediately wrote him back with this simple message, “You are so right Stephen, hitting the nail squarely on the head.” But what I didn’t tell him was that we had come to that same conclusion long ago and were in fact working on a “special project” to get our message to hundreds of millions of people around the world — maybe even one billion people.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell (author of The China Study) is one of the few scientists willing to speak freely about the dangers of animal-based foods in our diet

Although we know that “science” is on our side, that doesn’t mean that the scientific community is on our side. In truth, it’s a very small group that is willing to speak freely about the dirty little nutritional secrets regarding the plethora of animal products in our Western diet.

We also have a large amount of clinical evidence supporting the superiority of plant-based eating; but once again, there are far more M.D.’s out there eating animal protein themselves than there are physicians committed to a plant-based diet-style — and advising their patients thusly. Notable exceptions are Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, both of whom influenced President Clinton to adopt plant-based.

Further, the American Dietetic Association released a position paper that supported “vegetarian” diets in July of 2009. The press release can still be found on the ADA website, entitled:

Appropriate Planned Vegetarian Diets Are Healthful, May Help in Disease Prevention and Treatment, Says American Dietetic Association

CHICAGO – The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on vegetarian diets that concludes such diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes.

ADA’s position, published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, represents the Association’s official stance on vegetarian diets:

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes…

…The revised position paper incorporates new topics and additional information on key nutrients for vegetarians, vegetarian diets in the life cycle and the use of vegetarian diets in prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. “Vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle,” according to ADA’s position. “There are many reasons for the rising interest in vegetarian diets. The number of vegetarians in the United States is expected to increase over the next decade.”

Vegetarian diets are often associated with health advantages including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, according to ADA’s position. “Vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals. These nutritional differences may explain some of the health advantages of those following a varied, balanced vegetarian diet.” (Link provided at end of this post)

Clinical evidence. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic has reversed heart disease in nearly 100% of his patients -- simply by having them adopt a whole-foods, plant-based diet.

Good news, bad news. The good news is that the ADA has published a powerful position statement that outlines many health benefits of eating plant-based. The bad news is that only a tiny percentage of the American public is aware of this powerful message. Why is that?

It’s simply not the kind of news that our meat-eating public wants to hear, so the media doesn’t “waste” time telling us about it. Oh, I’m sure there were a few news articles in a handful of states back in 2009, but there was never any serious dissemination of this information by the national media. Even now, you won’t find this “position” very easily on the ADA site unless you know what you’re looking for.

Conclusion. Even with scientific, clinical and ADA support for plant-based eating, this message is not getting to the masses; therefore, the percentage of vegetarians in the United States remains at less than 4%. The movie Forks Over Knives is the most effective effort so far in distributing the powerful message regarding a whole-foods, plant-based diet-style. But, one has to actually go to the movie in order to hear the message; and meat eaters are not very interested in hearing bad news about the food that they like to eat.

As Stephen mentioned, books aren’t getting the job done either. Like the movie, most of our books on plant-based eating are being purchased by the “already converted.” For the most part, we’re still “preaching to the choir” and simply must develop a plan to get this planet-saving message to the masses — without them having to read a book or watch a movie to receive it.

Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell University and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Several of us are meeting in Ithaca, New York with Dr. T. Colin Campbell next week to begin to devise such a plan. Some of the ideas on the table are mentioned in these two blogs:  “Thinking differently” and changing the world…and Clinton Foundation seeks ideas to change the world…

The Bottom Line. Until we dispel the “protein myth,” we will not see much movement in the direction of plant-based eating. And until that happens, we will not begin to enjoy the world-changing environmental benefits that will result from a return to the natural diet for our species. And we will not be able to restore harmony with Nature on our planet. FYI, the code-name for our project is HARMONY. Stay tuned.

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, 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.

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

ADA Press Release 7/1/09 – Appropriate Planned Vegetarian Diets Are Healthful, May Help in Disease Prevention and Treatment, Says American Dietetic Association.

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.