Confusion over Clarity…Lots of “information” — not much help

Posted on 08/08/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Four examples for your Monday morning reading pleasure

Just in the past few days, I have been inundated with tons of information about health and weight-loss — the kind of information that continues to reinforce the “confusion over clarity” that Dr. Campbell spoke about in The China Study. 

Kirstie Alley, the Jenny Craig role model for weight-loss

1. New York Times article on celebrity weight-loss advertising. This was a lengthy article exploring the problem that advertisers have when their paid “celebrities” put the weight back on. There is a link to that article below, but I wouldn’t recommend that you waste your time reading it. A brief excerpt:

Famous people, however, play out their weight struggles under glaring lights. It’s hard to forget commercials of the actress and former Jenny Craig spokeswoman Kirstie Alley lustily drooling over the program’s sanctioned fettuccine, or of her triumphant disrobing on “Oprah” to reveal her new bikini body in pantyhose.

It’s equally hard to forget photos of Ms. Alley, after regaining the lost weight and then some, again on “Oprah”: this time more conservatively dressed and contrite. Or, more recently, falling with an audible thud during a lift on “Dancing With the Stars.”

A ton of information -- but not much clarity when it comes to promoting health.

2. The September issue of Men’s Health magazine. You may be wondering why I subscribe to this magazine. It’s only so that I can stay up to date with the reality of what’s out there — it also had a neat “fashion section” this month; something that appeals to me as a former fashion executive with Ralph Lauren. But for true health promotion, I would give this magazine an F grade.

Case in point: “12 Perfect Muscle Foods” read the article headline on the cover. The article itself on page 94 was entitled Lose the Last 10. Blast that last bit of fat with this meal-by-meal plan. With a meal plan that includes at least one form of animal protein at at every meal, Dr. Esselstyn would tell you that following this plan will ensure that you develop heart disease.

Sprinke - Eat - Lose Weight; another medical doctor with another fad weight-loss system

3. The Sensa Weight-Loss System. Here we go again, another medical doctor (Dr. Alan Hirsch) has come up with a gimmick diet for the masses out there who will always be looking for a way to lose weight without giving up their favorite foods. I stumbled across a TV infomercial last night and the only reason I watched even five seconds of it was so that I could tell you about it. With a very slick website at trysensa.com, here’s the pitch:

Lose 30+ pounds without dieting. Sprinkle on your food, Eat and enjoy, Lose weight.

Here’s how one independent review described the product. “Sensa is a diet aid that claims to help people lose weight fast. Sensa is basically a diet aid and appetite suppressant that is supposed to help people lose weight by cutting down the amount of food they eat. It should reduce the amount of food people want to eat by making the body think it is full, helping people lose weight without feeling hungry and depressed.”

So I checked out the reviews on Amazon. There were a total of 12 reviews; 5 of them were “5 stars” (excellent) and 7 of them were “1 star (terrible). Makes you wonder who paid the first five people. Here’s what one of the unhappy people had to say:

I tried the product for 3 weeks, stopping in time to return it for my money back. Although there is no mention of specific side effects in the literature that came with the product, I experienced (highly acidic and burning) diarrhea when I used the amount recommended. I did not experience any weight loss during this period.

Cool APP -- but pretty much worthless when it comes to promoting health

4. The “Fooducate” App for my iPhone. Actually this is a pretty harmless little tool; but unfortunately it’s not going to help many people improve their health. I downloaded it for free and tried it out on a few grocery items in my kitchen.

Here’s how it works: You use your iPhone to scan the barcode in the grocery store and, when it beeps, you can see a summary of nutritional information on your iPhone. Unfortunately, the information is of little value to me. At least on the Nutrition Facts label on the product, you can compute “in your head” the approximate percent of calories from fat; the Fooducate product does not do that. Cool, but not very helpful as it quickly delivers information on over 200,000 products — with an estimated 99% of them packaged and highly-processed.

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No gimmicks here...just leveraging the simple, yet powerful concept of maximizing the percent of your calories from whole plant foods. Simple, positive, flexible and powerful.

So what kind of iPhone App are we going to have for our 4-Leaf Program? My son and I were talking that over recently and agree that we don’t want to have an APP just for the sake of having one. We want it to truly help people promote health and effortlessly lose weight by eating at the 4-Leaf level. We have a few ideas for a helpful APP that deals only with whole, plant-based foods. 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. 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

PS: 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 Celebrities, Healthy Eating 101 | 1 Comment

Helping our loved ones — without alienating them

Posted on 08/07/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Yesterday, I blogged about the “collegiate army that will change the world” by leading the human race back to the natural diet for our species. Then, I got a series of comments that I would like to share with you now. First, from Sal in New York, who posted this comment beneath yesterday’s blog:

New York City

And the children shall lead them. And if they don’t, then it’s doom.

You must be an optimistic person because I don’t see any hope that change will come to impact the world. I recently attended a wedding and of the 200 guests there was only one request for a vegan meal and that was from me. Dismal. In my circle of people I’m still considered the food freak. “Plant based food”…you have to be kidding, give me a nice juicy steak…and the world struggles on in its ignorance.

The young are immortal until they become mortal. –From Sal in New York

I can certainly understand where Sal is coming from; he has been a vegan for a very long time and hasn’t seen much movement in that direction from his own circle of friends, family and co-workers. But change is happening nevertheless and, while most of my friends still eat the typical Western diet, many of them are beginning to make changes. Rather than proselytize, I decided to tell my story in a book — using good old engineering logic in a manner that will resonate with those who are ready to listen. My response back to Sal…

Yes, I have always been called an optimist, and sometimes a dreamer, and I am glad of it. But as an engineer, I am also a realist and understand the “huge mountain” that we have to climb together. I am copying the reader that first told me that phrase — Frances, a woman who lives on the Isle of Wight. I wanted to make sure that she saw your comment.

I know that the numbers are staggering, but I also see things beginning to change. And, as I said in the blog, it’s the young people that are changing the most. And I am going to do all that I can to help them change the world. Too bad you didn’t go to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding; apparently you had to order a “special meal” if you didn’t want the standard vegan fare that the wedding party was eating. Best, Jim

The Isle of Wight -- home of my friend Frances

About an hour ago, as I was preparing to head out for my “daily blogging corner” at the Starbucks in Mystic, CT, I received a very thoughtful note from Frances (on the Isle of Wight) who I mentioned in my note to Sal. Her note goes right to the heart of the matter — how to reach loved ones with a powerful truth — without compromising good relations.

In my case, I wrote a book — for Frances, she is working through her strategy one person at a time. Maybe her words will help others in similar situations. She wrote:

Hello Jim,

This comment chimes well with me.  Your blogs have been developing a crescendo of intensity, like a relentless drum beat.  The message will reach those that are ready to hear it, whether they be idealistic youth or aging baby boomers!

I have sent a copy of The China Study to the father of my daughter-in-law, and I have sent a copy of Disease-Proof Your Child to her (she is at present breastfeeding my 3 month old grandson).  The person I would dearly love to convince is my son but I am avoiding the creation of a battleground.  I shall need patience to reach him, through my example and my cooking. I have recently bought Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and am exploring the oil-free recipe ideas.

The family home is the place where attitudes to food are learned.   My son has learned from me and he is now the chief cook in his household but the problem is that my message has now completely changed, so I have got to get the new one across without being labeled as a batty old granny!  This problem preoccupies me all the time. Regards from Frances

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

Thank you Sal and Frances; I am confident that many readers will benefit greatly from your contributions. And thank you Frances for the “crescendo of intensity, like a relentless drum beat” descriptor of my blogs — I will take that as a huge compliment from my eloquent friend on the Isle of Wight.

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

PS: 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 Social Challenges | 1 Comment

To the collegiate army that will change the world — this is for you.

Posted on 08/06/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

The challenges are formidable, but there is great hope on the horizon.

Fifty-four days until our book-launch party on September 29

While proofing our book for the final time yesterday, I stopped and asked myself a question. How it could be possible for any person to not want to take action — after learning about the staggering toll that our Western diet is taking on this world? In one of the last sentences in the book, I asked this question:

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?

Then, I remembered the single biggest obstacle to change that we are facing — the fact that over 90 percent of the adult population in the Western world still believe that we truly “need” to eat animal protein to be healthy. They also know that their food is very important to them and, armed with that perceived “need” for protein, they are not likely to make many changes — regardless of how compelling the reasons.

One of my favorite campuses in New England, Harvard University in Cambridge, MA

But there is great hope on the horizon. It’s the young people of the world who care about the environment, care about the animals, care about their fellow man and care about doing the right thing for all concerned. And they absolutely love to get behind a “cause,” particularly one with the potential to change the world.

While researching for our book, I found that America’s college students (18 to 24) who totaled 17.5 million in the 2000 census are six times more likely to describe themselves as vegetarian as compared to all adults in the country. A whopping 18% described themselves as such last year — compared to just 3.2% for all adults. That is HUGE — and it is great news for the prospects of making some big changes in the way we feed ourselves in the Western world.

While I was surprised (and delighted) to find that 18% statistic last year, I have known for a long time that young people are much more likely to take action if they have enough information. During my eight years of study on this topic, it became abundantly clear to me that the young folks truly “get it” in much greater numbers than do people in the older generations. The old folks are still clinging to their “out of sight — out of mind” mentality, whereas the young are ready to take action. The good news here is that they are the leaders of the future and comprise the primary audience to whom I was speaking as I wrote the 57,000 words of our book.

The leaders of the grassroots revolution to change the world...one bite at a time.

With an estimated 20 million college students today, my dream is that our book will become somewhat of a “field manual” for the collegiate army that will lead the grassroots revolution to reclaim our health and our planet and end the global madness that has been driven by our harmful, wasteful, cruel and unsustainable Western diet.

In the absence of true leadership among our elected officials and captains of industry, we must look to the young to lead us out of the incredible mess that our generation has created. Want to help get this thing rolling? Please forward this post to every person under 30 that you know. While waiting for our book, they can take a look at the complete Introduction that I provided in yesterday’s post.

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

PS: 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 Book Promotion | 4 Comments