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

Losing weight is much easier — when your primary goal is vibrant health.

While we don’t recommend “weight-loss goals” as such, we do acknowledge that your body will naturally seek its ideal weight if you make a permanent commitment to the 4-Leaf lifestyle  in your never-ending quest to achieve and maintain vibrant health for the rest of your life.  (See 4-Leaf page)

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

What about longevity goals? As for goals to reach a certain age; we don’t recommend that either. Again, a lifelong commitment to 4Leaf eating — coupled with adequate exercise, rest and purpose in your life; will very likely bring you an exceptionally long life of vibrant health — while greatly reducing your chances of succumbing to some form of chronic disease.

I recently heard about a guy whose goal was to live to be 150; something about wanting to be in the Guinness Book of Records. But for me, my motivation is two-fold:

1. Maintaining vibrant health throughout my life and avoiding the old nursing home.
2. Making a major difference in terms of executing my tagline of promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth. (See “purpose below)

As we point out in five of the eleven chapters in our book, what you choose to eat affects far more than just your health. A few of us are launching a project called “HARMONY” next week; and if things go as we envision, soon there will be hundreds of millions of people who will hear about the world-changing power of plant-based nutrition. Stay tuned for more news on this initiative.

You can say goodbye to your bathroom scale; after effortlessly reaching your ideal weight on the 4-Leaf Program, why would you ever need it again?

Back to weight-loss. Normally reserved for January, we decided to start talking about weight-loss before Thanksgiving this year — before much of the damage is done. We have observed that weight-loss is much easier — when you’re really not trying to lose weight. Many longtime vegetarians and vegans immediately start losing weight when they switch to 4Leaf eating — maximizing the percent of their daily calories from whole, plant-based foods; still in nature’s package.

There are many examples of people who have lost a significant amount of weight when they didn’t realize that they had any weight to lose. Here’s one that I received from Jean yesterday after reading my blog:

Hi, I really enjoyed this post as it mirrors my experience over the years. In 1984 when I became vegetarian, I no longer struggled with weight control and leveled off at 120 pounds (small-boned 5’5” female). Then in 1997 when I became vegan, my weight dropped to 115 and stayed there. In 2003 when I started following Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritarian approach (a lot of whole foods like your 4 – leaf program), I dropped another 10 pounds without trying and currently maintain that weight.

While the BMI charts claim I am too thin, because of my small frame, my weight seems perfect and I never have to worry about it. For someone who weighed 140 in my teens, I am delighted to know that healthy eating takes care of the weight issue!

Also “weighing in” (no pun intended) yesterday on this subject is Denise:

Your scenario of Nov 15 to June 15 is one that I just lived last year. You are so right on. I dropped weight without trying. I felt great and still do. Most of all, this past summer for the first time in many years I actually looked forward to spending time on the beach in my BATHING SUIT. If I don’t say so myself…..I look great  and I’m in vibrant HEALTH!

A permanent, health-promoting diet-style with lots of flexibility. Diet - Exercise - Rest - Purpose.

Weight-loss goals. In earlier blogs, we have featured the success of Dr. Hurley in Boston. Starting his 4-Leaf lifestyle with a goal of “vibrant health” almost one year ago — weighing in at 208 for a healthy young man (40’s) at 5’10” (a BMI of 29.6 just a hair below the obese range).

About six months later, after effortlessly losing over forty pounds, he confessed that if he’d been asked for his weight-loss goal last year, he would’ve said 185 since he hadn’t been below that weight in decades. But now he’s nearing the 160 mark (not seen since he was 12) and announced today that his wife has just decided to adopt 4Leaf completely. She apparently didn’t like the way she looked in some pictures from a recent wedding. Deciding it was time to join her husband on the 4-Leaf Program, she has already lost 8 pounds in just three weeks. Read their story posted on 7-22-11. 

BMI in the low 20’s — naturally and effortlessly. All three of these stories support the premise that I put forth yesterday. A permanent commitment to the 4-Leaf lifestyle will probably yield a BMI in the low 20’s for most people.

For more information on this topic of effortless and permanent weight-loss, see yesterday’s post: Holiday Eating. Gaining weight or losing? It’s your choice.

Authors J. Stanfield Hicks and J. Morris Hicks, with BMI's averaging 21.0 -- without even trying. I was once turned down for health insurance because they said that I was too skinny.

The “4 leaves of health.” In addition to the 4-Leaf level of eating, I want to broaden the definition today to include the other essentials for optimal health. Consider them the 4 leaves in the book of vibrant health.

1. Leaf #1 — Diet (Eating consistently at the 4-Leaf level)
2. Leaf #2 — Exercise (Daily, outside if possible)
3. Leaf #3 — Rest (Give your body the 7 or 8 hours sleep that it needs)
4. Leaf #4 — Purpose (Find the passion in your life)

The holidays are just around the corner; why not give yourself "vibrant health" this year?

New for the Holidays; Visit our new “4-Leaf Gear” store for some unique gift-giving ideas. This is the ONLY place in the world where you can buy 4-Leaf logo merchandise.

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. 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.

Today (11-7-11) — the ideal time to begin your quest for vibrant health.

Once again, Dr. Greger has provided us with a close look at a scientific report on the topic of BMI scores that are associated with various diet-styles. He carefully analyzes an April 2009 report published by the American Diabetes Association. He took a look at four different diet-styles:

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

1. Meat eaters (meat and/or dairy at almost every meal)
2. Flexitarian (mostly vegetarian but eats meat a few times a month)
3. Vegetarian (mostly plant-based but still eats dairy and eggs)
4. Vegan (consumes only plant-based foods)

But the report didn’t have any data on a 4-Leaf diet-style, where one is getting over 80% of their daily calories from whole plant-based foods; still in nature’s package.

We know that many vegans still eat a very unhealthy diet consisting of lots of high-fat, processed foods like oil, pasta, bread, chips, tofu, etc. Take a look at what the study showed and then let’s guess how “4-Leaf eating” would have fared against the other three.

Analysis of Data from the Video. I took his data and went a step further and included my own data to illustrate the BMI for a typical 4-Leaf eater. At 6-0 and 155 pounds, my BMI is 21. My son (38) has a BMI even lower than mine. With obesity starting at a BMI of 30, I have computed how much a six foot male would weigh at the various BMI levels:

• Diet Style —  BMI — Weight
• 4-Leaf  (me)        21            155
• Vegan                  24            177
• Vegetarian         26             192
• Flexitarian         27.5          204
• Avg. in USA    28.8          213
• Obese Level       30             221

Two 4-Leaf eaters. Jason on the left with a BMI of 20.5 and me with a 21. Our initial goal was vibrant health and we've both eaten at the 4-Leaf level for over five years. We each lost about twenty pounds during the first year.

For a six foot male, the data would suggest the following weight-loss probabilities:

1. Moving from the S.A.D to a flexitarian diet yields   = 9 pounds
2. Moving from flexitarian to a vegetarian diet yields = 12 pounds
3. Moving from vegetarian to a completely vegan diet = 15 pounds
4. Moving from vegan to a 4-Leaf diet (the winner)  =  22 pounds

Weight-loss opportunity; what is your’s?  You can adjust these figures for your own body. Using the above numbers, how much weight can you expect to lose by next summer if you improve your diet-style before Thanksgiving?

• Diet Style     Weight-loss   % Loss
• Flexitarian      9 pounds             4.2%
• Vegetarian      21 pounds           10.3%
• Vegan               36 pounds          16.9%
• 4-Leaf               58 pounds          27.2%

As I’ve said many times before, the problem with all of the designated diet-styles above, only the 4-Leaf one truly describes what you are eating. As we know, there are many definitions for both vegetarian and vegan — and we never know how much oil, pasta, bread and other refined carbohydrates any of them are eating.

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

With 4-Leaf, it’s really simple; just average getting over 80% of your calories from whole plants, still in nature’s package. Try it this holiday season and beyond. Your permanent weight-loss success may astound you. Here are a few other articles on this topic:

Eating 4-Leaf for “vibrant health” — with weight-loss as a bonus

Effortless weight-loss — on the “4-Leaf” road to vibrant health

Weight-loss targets; not recommended — Here’s why

Weight-loss or vibrant health? What is your goal?

How quickly will you lose the weight once you start eating 4-Leaf? That depends on how much you have to lose. Our observation is that weekly weight-loss will vary from 1 to 3 pounds a week for a 220 pounder with 60 pounds to lose. So if you shed an average of two pounds a week for the next 30 weeks, that will put you at your “ideal” weight of 160 in roughly seven months.

If you start on November 15, you should be looking good by June 15 — just in time for swim season. Of course, you better start putting aside a little extra money to buy some new clothes. But we don’t recommend a weight-loss target. Your goal should be “vibrant health” and the weight-loss will take care of itself. Take a look at the links to several articles to the right of my picture above.

For an easy BMI calculator, go to the bottom right corner of the nutritiondata.com website. While my evidence is purely anecdotal for now, I am confident that a 4-Leaf diet-style will yield a BMI in the very low twenties. Try it — then let me know your score to add to my list of anecdotal evidence.

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. 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

For more Dr. Greger Videos, visit nutritionfacts.org

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.