Food allergies rising among children — says study

Posted on 06/21/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Big Story On the NBC Evening News AND in USA Today

How can we expect to not have food allergies when 95% of Americans are eating nowhere near the natural diet for our species? So it comes as no great surprise when you hear about food allergies — among children. At the same time, we know that American youth are are suffering record levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes. And why is that? For the same reason that their parents are experiencing record levels of the same things. From a 6-20-2011 USA Today article by Leslie Smith, Jr (See link below):

Food allergies affect about one in 13 U.S. children, double the latest government estimate, a new study suggests…The researchers say about 40 percent of them have severe reactions — a finding they hope will erase misconceptions that food allergies are just like hay fever and other seasonal allergies that are troublesome but not dangerous…Overall, 8 percent of the children studied had food allergies; peanuts and milk were the most common sources. That translates to nearly 6 million U.S. children.

Just pulled this one off the internet at random this morning; doesn't matter which one you choose, they all have the same garbage on them.

It seems that the only group of people who eat a worse diet than American adults is their own children. What’s the first thing you think of if you hear “kids menu?” If you said anything other than chicken nuggets, burgers/fries or mac & cheese; you’re kidding yourself. I’ve been doing an informal survey looking at kids menus in restaurants across the land for the past few years. There are ZERO healthy foods on 90% of those menus.

My estimate is that children get less than 5% of their calories from whole plants — even less than their parents. We included an analysis of the most popular kids menu items in our book and it was a mighty grim picture. Then, along with a sugary soda or cow’s milk as a beverage, the poor, helpless children simply don’t have a chance. More from the article…

…Some people mistake food intolerances for food allergies. For instance, many people are lactose intolerant, meaning they can’t properly digest milk. That can cause bloating and digestive problems, but not an allergic reaction…Typical signs of a true food allergy include skin rashes, wheezing, tightness in the throat or difficulty breathing.

When we all fail to eat anything remotely close to the natural diet for our species, we can simply expect that there will be problems. But rather than helping people understand what they should be eating to promote health, our health care “system” spends all their time and money addressing the plethora of problems that are driven by our toxic diet. And that’s why we spend $2.7 trillion on “disease care” in this country.

Just yesterday a friend asked me if I knew of any nutritional tips to deal with arthritis. This was my response.

Dear Linda, It turns out that when people eat close to the natural diet for our species, that many of their maladies of the past simply disappear. For arthritis, I recommend that you visit my friend John McDougall’s (M.D.) website. He has observed many successful reversals of arthritis. Here’s one.

If you start eating consistently at the 4-Leaf level of our 4-Leaf Program, I can almost guarantee that you will notice some dramatic improvements in your overall health. As Dr. Campbell has always said, “there is no special dietary regimen for each and every condition;” The natural diet for our species (whole plants) simply promotes health and eliminates most our problems in the process.

What a fabulous way to start my day! Blogging at the Dog Watch Cafe with my fresh coffee from the Yellow House.

Back to the children. Whose fault is it that they are eating the wrong food and suffering with record high levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and food allergies? It’s certainly not their fault. As a parent, you’re the only chance they’ve got. If you don’t help show them the way, they will not find it on their own.

Unfortunately our health care “system” is not going to provide you with much help in your quest to feed your children healthy food. As everyone knows, the “system” is still promoting cow’s milk as a healthy food for humans, while science has shown that it is loaded with casein, a powerful carcinogen. See my earlier post on that topic.

No cow’s milk for humans at any age…even Dr. Spock agrees

Another great view from my perch this AM -- my friends Jennie and Blake's red sailboat, as the Amtrak Acela makes its way through the background -- on her way to New York City.

There is one place that you can find some help; it is my friend Joel Fuhrman’s great book, entitled Disease Proof Your Child. It was the book that inspired my son to clean out his kitchen of all the “toxic foods” in an effort to protect his four children. Order that book today from Amazon, read it and heed it…for the sake of your children. As with my son, your own diet and health may even get better as a fringe benefit.

In closing, what can be more important than what we feed our children? To help you answer that question, you might enjoy reading my 7-1-11 post on that topic: Children — NOTHING is more important than what they eat!

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. 

Study says 1 in 13 U.S. children have food allergy – USATODAY.com.

Posted in Children | 1 Comment

Reaching the mainstream; not just “preaching to the choir”

Posted on 06/20/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

In September of 2009, former President Bill Clinton announced on CNN that he had adopted a plant-based lifestyle with “no meat or dairy” so that his heart could heal itself. During his interview with Wolf Blitzer, he mentioned the works of three great medical and scientific pioneers that had influenced his decision:

  • Dr. T. Colin Campbell of Cornell — author of The China Study
  • Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic — author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
  • Dr. Dean Ornish, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco — author of The Spectrum and Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart disease

    Dr. Dean Ornish, also featured in our book, he is one of the three experts who influenced Bill Clinton to give up meat and dairy and adopt a health promoting diet.

Although counter to the current mainstream nutritional and medical paradigm in the U.S. and other western countries, the works of these three great men have already changed millions of lives. People all over the world have embraced their scientific integrity and overwhelming medical proof that we have been eating the wrong food (for humans) in the western world. They have learned from their books that most chronic disease need never exist and can be easily reversed in many cases.

All three of them are featured prominently in our book and I am so pleased to report that all of them are endorsing our book. Just last week, we received this powerful quote from Dr. Ornish:

What’s good for you is also good for our planet.  Although heart disease and diabetes kill more people each year worldwide than all other diseases combined, these are completely preventable and even reversible for at least 95% of people today by changing our diet and lifestyle. This book shows you how.

—Dean Ornish, M.D. Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Also, as reported earlier, a number of other prominent public figures have provided endorsements; including John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America, Healthy at 100, and The Food Revolution — and one of the most influential environmentalists of the past forty years.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study -- grew up on a dairy farm but stopped serving ANY milk whatsoever to his own family over twenty years ago. The scientific integrity in The China Study has validated the clinical work of a host of medical doctor pioneers.

But are we reaching the mainstream?

Ornish, Campbell, Esselstyn, and Robbins: all powerful names among vegetarians and vegans around the world. Not only have they conducted research and documented powerful findings that support a plant-based diet for all of humankind — they have also provided credibility to the personal choices of millions of people that had already decided to eat plant-based, and they have inspired millions of other people to move in that direction.

But, even with all that progress, the percentage of people eating a plant-based diet in the western world is far less than ten percent. What about the other 90%? What do they think about the works of these four great men? Well, sadly, an estimated 95% of those people have never heard of them. How do I know this?

Since December of 2010, I have spoken at about fifteen Rotary Clubs and other mainstream groups in New York and Connecticut. I always ask how many people have every heard of The China Study or any of these four men, and the average has been about one out of twenty — about 5%.

Alexandra Stoddard -- bestselling author of "Living a Beautiful Life" and 26 other books

This statistic has inspired me to do all that I can to get our powerful message to the mainstream populace of the western world. If this grassroots movement is to gain any traction among the mainstream, we must not limit ourselves to “preaching to the choir” so to speak. We must provide powerful of endorsements from mainstream people — accomplished individuals like:

  • Alexandra Stoddard, who has authored 27 books including Living a Beautiful Life and; with some two million fans, enjoys very high name recognition throughout the United States and abroad.
  • Paul Allaire, Fortune 100 CEO (Xerox 1990-1999) One of the very few Fortune 100 CEO’s who actually served in that capacity twice — for the same company. As a result, he enjoys very high name recognition throughout the upper echelons of the global business community.

Paul Allaire, former CEO of Xerox, shown here with President Bill Clinton (dark suit, red tie)

Both of these very accomplished individuals are friends and neighbors here in Stonington, Connecticut; they have read our manuscript, are regular readers of this blog, have begun a movement toward a 4-Leaf lifestyle and have endorsed our book:

—From Alexandra Stoddard, my neighbor, friend, & writing coach. Author of best-selling Living a Beautiful Life. “J. Morris Hicks’s world-changing book, “Healthy Eating — Healthy World,” is compelling in transforming our health — promoting dietary choices to be over 80% from whole plant foods. Not only will we restore our own fitness, vigor and happiness as we become healthier; we will be celebrating a world-wide paradigm shift by living in harmony with nature on our precious planet.”

— From Paul Allaire, Fortune 100 CEO (Xerox, 1990 – 1999)” We all know we should eat more fruits and vegetables — with this book, we now know why. The authors make a well-documented case for why it is important for your personal health and why it is critical for the health of the planet. A compelling book; it is both informative and a pleasure to read!”

J. Morris Hicks, trying to reach the mainstream populace of the western world.

If you’re one of the 3.2 percent of Americans who consider yourself a vegetarian or vegan, you may want to share this blog post with your “mainstream” friends and family. If we’re going to change the world, we’ll need a lot of help from all walks of life. In closing, I hope you enjoy this last day of spring as the summer solstice is coming our way tomorrow.

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 Activism & Leadership, Grassroots Revolution, Medical Experts | Leave a comment

Longevity, happiness and my “three-legged stool” of HEALTH

Posted on 06/19/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Although we hear about people living longer these days, apparently the U.S. is falling behind other developed countries in some key life expectancy statistics. From a University of Washington report last week, “Despite the fact that the US spends more per capita than any other nation on health, eight out of every ten counties are not keeping pace in terms of health outcomes. That’s a staggering statistic.” From their website:

Researchers from the University of Washington School of Public Health reported the information that led to this post. See link to that study below my signature.

The researchers suggest that the relatively low life expectancies in the US cannot be explained by the size of the nation, racial diversity, or economics. Instead, the authors point to high rates of obesity, tobacco use, and other preventable risk factors for an early death as the leading drivers of the gap between the US and other nations.

We hear a lot about people living longer, but we also hear a lot about people dying early from heart disease, cancer and diabetes. We all know that we’re going to die someday and most of us would probably prefer to pass quietly in our sleep — instead of in a hospital or nursing homes with tubes keeping us alive. To me, it’s more a matter of “health span” over “life span” — and living a purposeful and satisfying life instead of just living a lot of years.

In a nutshell, "Eat your vegetables, go outside and play and get to bed early." -- Image from the Amazon site

When I first began studying about diet and health in 2002, one of the very first books that got my attention was The Canyon Ranch Guide to Living Younger Longer. And I still remember some very simple advice from that book — the “big three” that our mothers all told us, “Eat your vegetables, go outside and play, and get to bed early.”

I wonder how our “life expectancy statistics” would be faring in this country if we were all heeding that simple, yet powerful advice — covering the all-important topics of healthy eating, exercise, sunlight, fresh air, rest, and having fun — all in one sentence. The more I learned about the promotion of health, avoidance of disease, longevity and happiness; the more I realized that, while what we eat is very important, it wasn’t everything.

My three-legged stool of health: Diet, Exercise and Mental Attitude

In addition to healthy food and  the basics (water, clean air, sunshine and ample rest), we also need exercise and a positive mental attitude. I call it my “three-legged stool of health,” and we can’t achieve vibrant health if one of them is missing. Although I didn’t write much about exercise and mental attitude in my book, that wasn’t intended to suggest that they are any less important than what we eat. They’re just more complicated — especially the “mental” one.

For the mental attitude leg of my stool, I am talking about many things: love, family, religious faith, friends, a reason for living, passion, desire to make a difference, giving back — a purposeful life. What makes us want to live? What makes us do what we do? What is our purpose in life? Lots of questions whose answers are different for every human being. For me, I finally discovered my passion at age 58 — a passion that you can read all about in my book and on this blog every day.

J. Morris Hicks -- eating, exercising and living for health; making a difference and having fun

My passion is all about promoting the return to the natural diet for our species for all of humankind. I have no doubt that we should be eating mostly whole plants. Further, I know from Dr. Esselstyn’s heart patients that simply changing one’s diet (to mostly whole plants) can reverse heart disease almost 100% of the time — without suggesting any change whatsoever in the other two legs of my stool; exercise and mental attitude.

I also have no doubt that if we all pursued a 4-Leaf lifestyle in the United States that our cost of health care would drop two trillion dollars, while millions of Americans would be living longer, healthier, and happier lives. Someone asked me recently, “why would anyone want to live to be 105 anyway?” My response, “How about the healthy 104-year old who just had great sex last night?”

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. 

Life expectancy in most US counties falls behind world’s healthiest nations.

Posted in Health in General | 1 Comment